Review: Sunrise on the Reaping (The Hunger Games #0.5)

Sunrise on the Reaping, Book 0.5 of The Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins

Published By: Scholastic
Publication Date: March 18, 2025
Date Read: April 12, 2026
Genre: YA – Dystopia
Source: Bought
Format: Hardback
Pages: 387

Add to Goodreads | Add to Storygraph

When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight . . . and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

“I did mess up. Big time. And I will pay for it with my death and with the broken hearts and lives of everyone who loves me.”

There are no words for how excited I was to read Sunrise on the Reaping. I have always, and will forever be the ultimate Hunger Games fangirl. It’s the series that made me obsessed with YA Dystopian fiction and still to this day, no other book in that genre quite lives up to my love of The Hunger Games. So why, I hear you asking, have I left it so long after this book released to pick it up? Honestly, I wasn’t ready for the heartbreak of Haymitch’s story. I love Haymitch as a character, and I wasn’t quite ready for his emotional trauma.

I really loved Haymitch’s story, as heartbreaking as it is, and once again I loved to see how these games were so different from Katniss and Peeta’s games. One of the things I really loved about The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes was seeing how it all slotted in to the main series, and that was once again my favourite part of this book. I loved seeing all the familiar characters that we know when they are older, and to see how their stories all started and developed throughout Sunrise on the Reaping. Haymitch’s Games are a bit more similar to the modern day games than they were in Ballad, and I truly just love to see the development through all these prequel books.

One thing that I do miss is the unknown of the original trilogy. I loved Sunrise on the Reaping but I do feel like the stakes just don’t feel as high because we already know who wins the games and who is going to survive and who isn’t. I do feel like this does affect my enjoyment a little bit and so I end up not loving the prequels quite as much as I did the original trilogy. Sunrise on the Reaping was a fantastic read and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment, however I didn’t feel like it was quite as soul-crushing as I was expecting. I saw everyone saying how much they sobbed at this one, and I didn’t. Maybe I’ve now just become desensitised to the devastation of this world, but I didn’t find this one any more heartbreaking as the other books. They were on par for me.

The Hunger Games will forever be a favourite series of mine and despite me not loving Ballad and Sunrise quite as much as the original trilogy, I will forever read anything Suzanne Collins writes in this world as I just adore it. If she decides to write more, you know I will absolutely lap it up. Sunrise on the Reaping was a fantastic visit back into the cruel world of The Hunger Games and it’s one I would definitely re-read. I’m so glad I finally caught up and read this one.

“Fire is catching, she’d say, but if this one burns down the arena, I say good riddance.”