Sunrise on the Reaping

There are plenty of books that I read over the years, and the thing that I learned is it's dangerous to go back to a world that you once loved. When it involves prequels, it appears that they're either guilty of over-explaining or familiarity. I went into Sunrise on the Reaping with my head held high, and my mind open. So very precise, very emotional and really in Katniss' point of view and I thought, ‘Well, would it really be worth making a novel about Haymitch or would it just be filling in holes that were better left unfilled?’ What I found was a book that was more engrossing than I thought it would be; but not as engaging as the series it was derived from.

It was the tone of the first section in District 12 that attracted me to this and was very similar to the first few pages of the original trilogy. Haymitch awakens on the day of the reaping, and he is facing real-life challenges. Problems that have nothing to do with the Games, problems like work, filling the cistern for his mother, about Lenore Dove rather than anything to do with the Games, making his world feel ordinary like Katniss’s hunting routine once made hers feel lived-in. It's the little things that do a lot of work here: Flour sack shorts, with Capitol emblazoned on them, mother who has no option to simply throw anything away. Those touches re-established the reason for the series in the first place. When the story gets into the Quarter Quell and the arena itself, it gets a little more interesting. There's more that goes into the games than the choreographed brutality: Haymitch's relationships with the other tributes (particularly with the younger girl that he feels responsible for, and the uneasy alliance that he forms with the other characters, like Maysilee). I also reacted to the way that he's drawn into this kind of protective role and it's a natural extension of the reluctant mentor that we know from the trilogy, but that isn't explored as much as it could be in the novel.

The less successful aspects of the book were when the series reached out for some connections to the rest of the series. Some of the old names were nice (Mags, Wiress, Beetee, Plutarch) but after a while, it was more of a continuity list. The same tension is expressed in a part of the arena plot. The arena's design and how to utilize it to his best advantage was a bit of a stretch for a boy with virtually no education, or any formal preparation, but it did create some pretty awesome moments. Katniss knew that nothing had come easily for her – it was all because of her life in the Seam. A couple of Haymitch's more clever moments here were like the plot needed a clever solution, not one that organically came from the character that he was.

What the novel does well, however, is to detail how Haymitch becomes the character he did in the original trilogy. The parts after the arena are the most important, most colourful in the writing. However, Collins doesn't make the survival the victory, and he recounts all of the losses that ensue, and how the Capitol's grasp extends beyond the Games. His relationships (with his family and most importantly Lenore Dove) humanise those losses, which are not abstracted in political terms. The real question of the novel now becomes apparent: It's not so much how he won, but what it cost him. It's all in keeping with the moral and emotional logic always adopted by the series.

I would rate this book as 4/5 stars. While it's not quite as fresh or as focused as the original trilogy, and at times has too many familiar faces and connections. For the most part, it's a story that needs to be told and a history that Haymitch needs that isn't retrofitted. I have seen a lot of long series and more than a few prequels that didn't need any justification but this one makes a case for itself if the books that it follows are in a completely different genre.