When is new book ‘Sunrise On the Reaping’ releasing and why will it traumatize ‘Hunger Games’ fans?

Only a few years following her novel, A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes, Suzanne Collins is at it again. Her newest venture is entitled Sunrise On the Reaping and if you couldn’t tell already, will take place in The Hunger Games universe.

Collins’ original trilogy became a craze in the YA community and could arguably be called the cause of many of the similar teen-centric dystopian books we saw of the era. Concluding in 2010, the three books in The Hunger Games series endured comparisons to Battle Royale but took on more American societal issues than the Japanese cult favorite.

The books take place in Panem, the dystopian world that was once the United States. After an attempt at rebellion, the government instills a law that forces children to compete in a televised fight to the death with only one winner. Collins takes on themes of American capitalism and desensitization to violence and brutality. Most important of all, The Hunger Games is about as anti-fascist as you can get.

Though the original trilogy was completed, current events make the material more relevant than ever. Collins came up with the Coriolanus Snow prequel, A Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes in 2020, and now she returns with another prequel story set in the world of Panem, which is starting to look too much like our own.

Release date, characters, and plot of Sunrise On the Reaping

Fans of the series have been all a-twitter with the news of the upcoming book, especially since a film adaptation is already in the works. Readers, however, can expect to return to Panem on March 18, 2025. For its part, the film will be released the following year. Fans should be aware that this won’t be just any prequel. Though some may be interested to see the origins of Mags or even Finnick and Annie’s love story, Sunrise On the Reaping will feature the most anticipated story of all. The synopsis for the upcoming book is as follows:

“Sunrise on the Reaping revisits the world of Panem twenty-four years before the events of The Hunger Games, starting on the morning of the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games, also known as the Second Quarter Quell.”

Eagle-eyed book readers will remember that the Second Quarter Quell happens to be the game that Haymitch Abernathy won. Yes, our favorite hard-drinking mentor will finally get his time to shine in the upcoming book. In previous stories, fans got a slim glimpse of what the Games were like for Haymitch.

In a word: Traumatizing.

No Game is a walk in the park, but in Haymitch’s case, it was arguably worse than the normal fare. For the Second Quarter Quell, President Snow had the inspired idea to double the number of tributes for the event. Instead of 24 so-called contestants, there were  48. Haymitch had to contend with 47 other potential victors and did all he could to make it out alive. Haymitch mentions that the only reason he was lucky enough to be the first recorded District 12 victor was his ingenuity. 

His final act was using the force field around the arena as a ricochet platform, and when a girl from District 1 threw an axe at him, he ducked, causing it to bounce back and end the Games. But it is hard to say that anyone really wins The Hunger Games. While it seemed his trials were over, they were just beginning. For his efforts, President Snow killed Haymitch’s entire family as well as his girlfriend because the way he won challenged the Capital. This led Haymitch down the road of alcoholism and addiction, which is sadly not uncommon for Victors.

Haymitch is a beloved character in the world of The Hunger Games, but even though we know some of the details, centering an entire book around him is something that fans have been waiting on for a long time. Seeing his backstory fully fleshed out will provide fans with context to show that his course treatment of his mentees was just a coping mechanism for all the trauma he endured. 

As Haymitch is the Victor of that time, he is of course guaranteed to appear in the book. Other characters, however, have not been confirmed as of yet. It is likely fans will see glimpses of his family and life in 12 decades before Katniss’ time. There is also a question of who Haymitch’s mentor will be and if we will see him develop affection with the other Victors he cultivates down the line. Readers will be waiting in anticipation to see this exciting and inevitably heartbreaking new story come to light when Sunrise On the Reaping comes out in 2025.