Suzanne Collins’ new Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping, is the first installment in the series since 2020’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Suzanne Collins ’ new Hunger Games prequel, Sunrise on the Reaping, is the first installment in the series since 2020 ’s The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Readers are reacting with huge eyes to the revelation of certain plot developments, watching the movies on laptops and letting out little sobs when noticing moments that hit different.

Suzanne Collins has always seemed to want to prove herself to be a writer who can do more than just exploit a powerful concept.

The death scenes in Sunrise on the Reaping deliver little spikes of surprise and pain.

Sunrise, like the first book in the original trilogy, forces an innocent point-of-view character to face the Games for the first time.

As a Hunger Games prequel, it’s a reminder that successful rebellions like the one Katniss will eventually lead are often preceded by years of stops and starts—that acts of resistance don’t always pay off immediately. If BookTok is any indication, in 2025 people are finding themselves ready for their escapism to include a little bit of David Hume , as a treat. And if this prequel sells as well as its predecessors, expect to see Collins ’ imitators line up once again, to volunteer..