Suzanne Collins, author of ‘The Hunger Games’ series will be continuing the saga with the release of ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’, a prequel to the original 3 books and sequel to the most recent ‘Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’, on March 18th.
This newest edition to the series will be set 40 years after the event of ‘The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes’ and 24 years before the events of the original books, specifically focusing on the events of the 50th hunger games, which were also the second quarter quell, the year Haymitch Abernathy won the games.
While we don’t have a ton of information on Haymitch’s games, there are certain things hinted at in the movies and described in the books that give us an idea of what to expect for his book which will be told from his perspective in a similar manner to the original 3 books in the series that were told from Katniss’s perspective.
As we know from the original trilogy, a quarter quell is the 25th anniversary of the hunger games set to be ‘celebrated’ every 25 years (25th games, 50th games, 75th games, etc.) The Catching Fire novel from this series covers the last quarter quell we see happen and gives us very limited information on the first and second quarter quells. Some of the information given include how each quarter quell has a special theme to make the games more appealing for capitol viewers. The 25th hunger games had districts vote for the tributes sent into the games, the 75th hunger games only reaped tributes from the existing pool of victors in each district as well as having a clock shaped arena with a new threat in each sector every hour.
For the 50th hunger games the game makers reaped twice the number of victors from each district, meaning instead of 1 male and 1 female tribute there were 2 males and 2 female tributes per district making the total number of tributes for the 50th hunger games 48 as opposed to the standard 24. The game makers also added features to the arena of the games by making this arena the most beautiful landscape any of the tributes and viewers had ever seen with a beautiful flower field and a snow-capped mountain in the distance. It was even said by Katniss in catching fire that when her and Peeta had watched footage of Haymitch’s games for training they watched the tributes enter a state of shock as they gazed upon the arena, with some forgetting to jump off their marks at the end of the countdown marking the beginning of the games.
Despite how beautiful the arena looked it would quickly prove to be another capital trick as every single part of this arena was said to be poisonous. From the scent of the flowers, to the water from the stream, to the fluffy golden squirrels that were actually carnivorous, the beautiful butterflies that had a poisonous sting and the candy pink birds with long thin beaks, every single aspect of this arena was altered by the capitol to take our tributes including the snow capped mountain that was said by Katniss to have been a dormant volcano that became active towards the end of the 50th games. Besides the descriptions of the arena and knowing how Haymitch won, everything else about what he experienced in that arena is unknown and so is the government of Panem at this time, other than knowing that Snow is president we know nothing of his rise to power following the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.
A few weeks ago Suzanne Collins released an excerpt from ‘Sunrise on the Reaping’ that reveals many things fans did not know prior to this. The first and biggest being that every year the reaping takes place on the same day, Haymitch’s birthday. From the original Hunger Games book we know that Haymitch won his games and became the only mentor for district 12 tributes meaning every year from the 51st-74th games Haymitch watched two children from his district die in the games until Katniss and Peeta.
The excerpt from the new book also introduced us to Haymitch’s mom, little brother and girlfriend. Haymitch’s father dies in a similar manner than Katniss’s father does, explosions in the coal mines of District 12. In the first hunger games book we find out that Haymitch has no family by the 74th games and is an alcoholic due to snow murdering his mother, little brother and girlfriend after seeing the way in which Haymitch won his games as an act of rebellion seeing as he won by leading the last remaining tribute to the edge of the arena, ducking when she threw her axe toward him causing it to rebound off of the force field and bury itself in the tributes head leaving Haymitch as the victor of the second quarter quell.
Along with releasing an excerpt from the upcoming book Suzanne Collins also described her headspace for writing this book as she had previously stated she would not be adding more to the series unless she felt necessary. She attributes her inspiration for adding to the series to David Humes, a Scottish philosopher and historian who was known for questioning human’s ability to distinguish moral goodness from badness and how that enables us to make moral decisions with her focus for this book being the use of propaganda as well as looking at the power of those who control the narrative, with her saying,
“With sunrise on the reaping I was inspired by David Humes’s idea of implicit submission and in his words ‘the way in which the many are governed by the few,” said Collins. “The story also lent itself to a deeper dive into the use of propaganda and the power of those who control the narrative where the question ‘real or not real?’ seems more pressing to me everyday”
I can definitely say I have been looking forward to this book since the last one was released and I hope Suzanne Collins goes on to write more prequels to the original series, possibly giving us more books sharing the perspectives of Finnick during his games or maybe even Johanna during hers. For now, fans are ecstatic to not only have a book for Haymitch, but a corresponding movie set release in late 2026.