In the Quarter Quell of the 21st century, Suzanne Collins’ fifth installment of “The Hunger Games” saga, “Sunrise on the Reaping” arrived in bookstores early on March 18. Collins used her power to commentate on implicit submission and propaganda, while breaking hearts with a story we’ve held close since 2010. 

Reader’s should absolutely read “Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” before picking this one up. And if you haven’t read the original trilogy, what are you doing here? The shadow of Lucy Gray Baird is still on District 12 and the Covey, and to understand the full timeline of events readers need to go back to the 10th games.  

Haymitch Abernathy, the crass drunk who sticks with Katniss in the OG trilogy, gives us his version of events, the truth of his victory in the 50th Games; a truth he is the last alive to tell. In celebration of the second Quarter Quell, the Capitol reaps double the tributes, giving us 48 kids to be dead by the end of the book.

Maddy on Goodreads wrote, “This book doesn’t just explain why Haymitch is broken. It makes you feel every single piece of him shattering.” 

From the first few lines, Collins does not shy away from the wretched nature of life in Panem. Each page draws a new layer of lore for character’s we grew to love in the OG Trilogy. The details Collins’ adds to the story and characters we know are doubly damaging when we connect where they are in Sunrise and where they ended up in “Mockingjay”. 

Collins stated in the past that she only writes a new Hunger Games book when she has something to say. With the direction of our society at large, perhaps another Hunger Games novel is drafted. Collins has three generations of victors to choose from, as well as those who were never tributes. (I vote for a Plutarch or Tigris story next. I’d also accept an Annie story.) 

“I always start with the underlying ideas – in this case, implicit submission, the uncertainty of inductive reasoning, propaganda, love,” Collins said in a Q&A at the end of the book. “When I land on implicit submission and its dependency on propaganda, Haymitch’s story was the natural one to tell.” 

Collins opens the book with a collection of quotes from George Orwell (“1984” and “Animal Farm”), William Blake, and philosopher David Hume.

About implicit submission, Hume said, “Nothing appears more surprising to those, who consider human affairs with a philosophical eye, than the ease with which the many are governed by the few; and the implicit submission, with which [people] resign their own sentiments and passions to those of their rulers… As the Force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is therefore, on opinion only that government is founded.” 

Collins revisits the idea through the novel by way of dialogue and Haymitch’s attempt to fight the capitol. Plutarch Heavensbee is entering the games of this novel, saying to Haymitch, “Do you think the desire for freedom is limited to the districts?” challenging the idea of implicit submission. 

Plutarch is saying Why do we allow it? Why do we put up with it? If the force to change things lies with numbers, and people outnumber the government, why are we submitting to them? 

The same can be said in today’s environment, with political attacks on immigrants, LGBTQ+, women, education, and freedoms. Why are we allowing a convicted felon to revoke legal statuses of migrants and flying them out without due process? Away from their families, friends, and lifes. 

Hume would say it’s a matter of opinion. On some collective and unconscious level, there’s an opinion that the people in government have the power, authority, or ‘right.’ Plutarch would blame lack of organization, citing the years of playing the games, years of sending children to their death before the full plan came to fruition (OG trilogy).

Haymitch says, “because we don’t want to end up dead.”

David Levithan, author and editorial director at Scholastic Publishing, said, “One of the things I love about Ballad and  Sunrise is that they make the series about ‘the long game,’ showing that the events of the trilogy don’t happen because the right girl shows up at the right time, but because of decades of planning.” 

Collins gives us some of the most heartbreaking stories of the series yet, revisiting the victors we knew in the trilogy and expanding on characters and their values that Katniss didn’t show us in her story. Haymitch’s perspective rips down any curtain hiding the atrocities of the capital, from Beetee’s story to how Effie became who she is. 

“‘Catching Fire’ was pretty much a horrible family reunion,” one commenter on TikTok said. 

“Sunrise on the Reaping” peeled back the mask of Capitol practices that were dismantled in the OG trilogy. Where readers theorized the true power and authority of the Capitol (i.e., Did they pull Prim’s name in the reaping as punishment for Katniss climbing the fence to hunt?), Sunrise shows readers that yes, the Capitol does have that power. 

The 50th year of the Games has allowed the Capitol to reach a pinnacle of treachery. Collins does not hold back on the tactics used by President Snow and fellow gamemakers; reminding us that despite Tom Blyth’s wonderful portrayal of young Coriolanus Snow, that man is still very much the villain. She also had plenty of time to come with new, terrifying mutts to throw at the tributes. 

Collins said, “Emotionally, [Haymitch’s] loss is the greatest because he has the most to lose.” 

“The Hunger Games” was originally released in 2008, with its second and third installments in the subsequent years. The books were immediately challenged in public schools, citing “anti-government” sentiments. (Yeah, if the government is sending kids to fight to the death each year, we’d all be pretty anti-government.) It did not stop the wave of YA Dystopian Fiction novels that followed (“Maze Runner”, 2009, and “Divergent”, 2010). 

In a 2018 interview with “The New York Times”, Collins said about the origin of “The Hunger Games”, “I wanted to continue to explore writing about just-war theory for young audiences…Just-war theory [is] an attempt to define what circumstances give you the moral right to wage war and what is acceptable behavior within that war and its aftermath…When we enter the story, Panem is a powder keg and Katniss the spark.” 

The idea of “The Hunger Games” can be drawn all the way back to the myth of Theseus, when 14 Athenian youths were sent into the Minotaur’s labyrinth as remuneration for King Minos’ war with Athens. This practice was enlarged in the fictional country of Panem, who celebrates every 25th Games as a “Quarter Quell.” 

Collins used the outline of Haymitch’s story recapped in chapter 17 of “Catching Fire” for this novel, but “knowing that the narrative had been manipulated into a piece of Capitol propaganda gave me a lot of freedom as well.” 

This novel proved that there are many stories to tell when it comes to the citizens of Panem, and they each deal with different aspects of living under a tyrannical government with a ruthless ruler. 

As well as a deeper historical account of Panem, geography comes into play in Sunrise. The idea that District 12 is situated in modern-day Appalachia, and Haymitch’s proclivity to southern sayings from today, had me reading the entire book in a southern accent, much like Rachel Zegler’s attempt in the Ballad movie. 

Zegler herself has embodied the fight against implicit submission with her unwavering protest against treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Disney’s “Snow White” renewal bombed at the box office, with Disney executives placing the blame on Zegler’s outspoken politics and not the ruthless way they cut her hair for the movie.

Since “Mockingjay” is known as the end of the series, is Sunrise a prequel cash-grab by Scholastic? That model is nothing new, from Rowling’s “Fantastic Beasts”, to the “Star Wars” prequels and “The Hobbit” renewing “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Either way, Collins could release a 73 part series (minus Games 10 and 50) featuring every victor and it would be eaten up. 

In the very end, Haymitch kept the promises he made in Sunrise, even when it took another 25 years and a stubborn Mockingjay to end the reapings. 

Both Scholastic and Lionsgate are eager to get Sunrise on the big screen for its fans, establishing a release date for “Sunrise on the Reaping” on Nov. 20, 2026. A teaser went out earlier this week, featuring a volcanic clip of this story’s arena. Cast announcements are expected over the next few months, with production beginning later this year (Capitol permitting, of course).