"We return to Panem for the 50th annual Hunger Games, the Quarter Quell and the story of Haymitch Abernathy. "
Fans of The Hunger Games series finally learn Haymitch’s story as we get an account of his Hunger Games. Following The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, The Hunger Games prequel that explored a teenage Coriolanus Snow, Sunrise on the Reaping begins with the reaping of the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, where in District 12 sixteen year old Haymitch tries not to think too hard about his chances.
By now readers of the series will come to recognise the spectacle and horror of the games and the Quarter Quell delivers them in abundance, with double the amount of tributes chosen for the Games. Perhaps this time there's more emphasis throughout on appearances, on how the story will be told to the citizens of Panem, although perhaps I merely noticed this emphasis more now than I recall doing as a teen when I first read the original trilogy. There's a constant undercurrent of thought about what is actually being shown back home of Haymitch’s time in the arena, his desire to rebel weighed against his desire to keep his loved ones safe and how the whole narrative can be edited to tell an entirely different story.
Haymitch’s character is expanded and becomes more fleshed out in Sunrise on the Reaping. It continues the trend of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes to bring new stories from the world of Panem while adding infinitely more depth to the story we already know and love. I’m sure I’ll be joining many readers in heading back to The Hunger Games to read it with this new context and see if there is anything else to discover now this new layer of story has been told.
