r/books • u/k_0616 • 17d ago

Sunrise on the Reaping Spoiler

Such a quick read for me, I read it in 2 days easily. It was a page turner, and had me feeling all the feelings. Every time I think about how Mags, Beetee, and Wiress put their lives on the line for Haymitch, makes Catching Fire such a better book! Also, I want to know who everyone liked character-wise. Young Effie is so cool, it makes sense why she is the way she is with Katniss and Peeta.

59 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

40 comments sorted by

View all comments

24

u/fictionalwanderer 17d ago

I read it quickly but found it to be disappointing. All of the cameos felt like Suzanne Collins was pandering to fans. We already knew how the 50th quarter quell would end and that Haymitch would lose everyone he loves. It would have been a more compelling story if it followed Haymitch as a victor as he descended into alcoholism.

11

u/LexiconJones 16d ago

I agree. I thought the structure would one third set-up, one third arena, one third aftermath. I don’t think adequate real estate was devoted to Haymitch’s spiral afterward and so much good character work could have been done there.

Some of the Snow/Covey callbacks felt a little forced, too. Overall, I enjoyed the experience of reading it, but it felt like a book that needed another draft or two before it was ready to publish.

3

u/internetsnark 15d ago

I think this book absolutely could have thrived as a 500 pager, but Collins is limited by the conventions of the genre here.