Francesca Sylph
Suzanne Collins’ latest return to Panem is her best yet. Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) adds layers upon layers of lore, enriching everything we thought we knew about the Hunger Games world.
At age twelve, I begged my mother for archery lessons.
The first Hunger Games (2012) movie had just come out, and I had devoured all three books in less than 48 hours. I braided my hair just like Katniss and dreamed of hitting a bullseye. My mother said no, which, in retrospect, was the right decision.
“Haymitch’s tragedy is set in stone from the beginning”
Giving a clumsy twelve-year-old with absolutely no hand-eye coordination a bow and arrow sounds like the start of a children’s safety advert.Look twice before you cross the road, don’t talk to strangers, and never play with weapons (even if Jennifer Lawrence makes it look so cool).
Now aged twenty-four, I have grown out of my Hunger Games phase, or so I thought.
When I picked up a copy of Sunrise on the Reaping, I was expecting a nice little trip down memory lane. What I got instead was a perfect prequel and the missing puzzle piece of Hunger Games lore. The first few pages instantly transported me back to when I was twelve and obsessed.
What is Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) about?
Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) is the fifth book and second prequel to be released in The Hunger Games world. Chronologically, it takes place 40 years after The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020) and 24 years before the original trilogy.
The story follows 16-year-old Haymitch Abernathy as the Capitol ‘reaps’ him for the 50th annual Hunger Games. As we know, it is a Quarter Quell year, which means that the Capitol decides on a uniquely cruel set of rules.
“Talk about the worst birthday ever”
In Catching Fire (2009), the tributes were selected from the previous pool of victors. In Sunrise on the Reaping (2025), double the number of tributes are selected, two boys and two girls from each district. Haymitch leaves behind his friends, family, and true love to fight for his life against threats both inside and outside the arena.
That is the last spoiler-free thing I’ll say about Sunrise on the Reaping (2025), so proceed with caution! Here are the most important puzzle pieces of Hunger Games lore we learned and how each one fits together so perfectly.
Another unconventional reaping
As if being born on Reaping Day wasn’t cruel enough, Haymitch wasn’t even supposed to be reaped in the first place. When fellow District 12 teenager Woodbine Chance hears his name, he decides to make a run for it, only to end up with a bullet in his brain.
Haymitch’s girlfriend, Lenore Dove, tries to comfort Woodbine’s mother and tussles with some Peacekeepers. Haymitch tries to help and, in doing so, inadvertently seals his fate as Woodbine’s replacement.
Talk about the worst birthday ever, am I right?
If Haymitch’s reaping sounds eerily similar to someone else’s, that’s because it is.
“The parallels to Katniss are almost poetic”
The Capitol sends Haymitch and Katniss to the slaughter like sacrificial lambs—not because their names were drawn, but because they couldn’t stop trying to save someone they love.
Lucy Gray and Lenore Dove’s Covey roots
Lucy Gray Baird invented “haunting the narrative.”
After disappearing at the end of Songbirds and Snakes (2020), the fate of Lucy Gray has always been something of a mystery.
She first appears in Sunrise on the Reaping(2025) as District 12’s lone, forgotten victor. Even though her name, face, and possibly body are buried, her songs continue to live on.
When Haymitch visits a small Covey cemetery, he discovers one grave for Lenore Dove and two others for Maude Ivory and Lucy Gray. Lucy Gray may have a headstone, but her mystery remains unsolved. Did she die at the hands of Snow in Songbirds and Snakes (2020)? Or did the Covey search for years, fail to find a body, and build an empty grave?
“The pin is not only a Covey heirloom, therefore, but also a symbol of the revolution”
Speaking of Lenore Dove, Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) confirmed what fans have been theorising since The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2020): Haymitch’s girlfriend is Covey, and a Baird at that.
After her mother died during childbirth, Lenore Dove’s adoptive uncles, Clerk Carmine and Tam Amber, raised her. Although we don’t know her mother’s identity for certain, we can take a pretty good guess that it’s probably Maude Ivory.
Katniss Everdeen’s Covey roots
We also learn, more surprisingly, that Katniss is Covey too. Her father, Burdock Everdeen, is not only Haymitch’s best friend but also a distant cousin of Lenore Dove.
Katniss is also connected to the Covey through her Mockingjay pin, the origin story of which is finally revealed in Sunrise on the Reaping (2025). Tam Amber crafted the pin for Maysilee Donner’s 13th birthday. She takes it into the arena, and after her death, her niece, Madge Undersee receives it.
In the first book of the original trilogy, Madge gives the Mockingjay pin to Katniss. The pin is not only a Covey heirloom, therefore, but also a symbol of the revolution. Lucy Gray would be proud.
Plutarch has been playing the long game
In Catching Fire (2009), Plutarch is introduced as the Head Gamemaker and a secret rebel. We knew that he had been working on the inside for a while, but in Sunrise on the Reaping (2025), we find out just how long.
Plutarch and Beetee—forced by the Capitol to mentor his son as a cruel punishment—recruit Haymitch to help blow up the arena.
“Haymitch transforms into the drunken, town recluse from the original trilogy”
The rebellion wasn’t born when Katniss and Peeta defied the Capitol with a handful of berries. Instead, it had been simmering in secret corners, watching and waiting for the right moment.
Unfortunately, the 50th Quarter Quell was not the right moment. Haymitch was unable to blow up the arena. Instead, the Capitol crowned him a victor, patching him up, parading him around, and punishing him for a failed act of defiance.
Haymitch’s heartbreaking story
Haymitch’s tragedy is set in stone from the beginning, which makes it all the more heartbreaking. When Haymitch returned to District 12, he saw the ashes of his mother and brother, burned alive in a house fire. He later reunites with Lenore Dove, accidentally feeding her poisoned gumdrops planted by President Snow.
“Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) is, without a doubt, the missing puzzle piece”
After watching the love of his life die in his arms, and at his hand, Haymitch transforms into the drunken, town recluse from the original trilogy. He pushes away anyone left who may care for him and drowns his grief in alcohol, growing even more bitter and angry at the world.
In the epilogue, which takes place after the events of the original series, Haymitch finally allows himself to heal. He opens up to Katniss and Peeta, telling them his story, “our story.” He remembers Louella, his first sweetheart, and Maysilee Donner, the mean girl turned sister figure. Most of all, he dreams of Lenore Dove, the love of his life, who finally forgives him.
Sunrise on the Reaping is the missing puzzle piece
Sunrise on the Reaping (2025) is, without a doubt, the missing puzzle piece. I feel like I barely scratched the surface of Suzanne Collins’ layers upon layers of lore.
From Haymitch failing to ignite the rebellion, thus laying the groundwork for Katniss, to the legacy of Lucy Gray Baird. Sunrise on the Reaping enriches everything we thought we knew about the Hunger Games world.
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