CBR Bingo: Purple
If you’d asked me six months ago if another Hunger Games prequel was necessary, I’d have said no. I read the original trilogy around the time that they came out and fully enjoyed them but haven’t re-read them since. I did watch the movie of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and had mixed feelings (the earlier timeline was interesting, but I didn’t really care for Snow as a protagonist) so didn’t end up reading the novel. But enough people whose opinions I usually agree with liked Sunrise on the Reaping, and I liked the idea of reading about Haymitch’s backstory, so I figured I’d give this one a go.
I honestly didn’t remember too much about Haymitch’s time in the games from the earlier (or later, I guess, depending on how you consider them) books (other than the obvious fact that he wins and that his year had twice the usual number of tributes), which may have been for the better as I didn’t immediately know everything that was going to happen. There’s an inherent difficulty in writing a prequel where the end result is already known to the reader, and, while I think Collins’ did a pretty good job with it, some of the emotional moments didn’t exactly hit for me. When new characters are introduced that I knew had to die, it was hard to get invested in their well-being as I was just waiting for them to be killed off.
Haymitch as a character was an interesting contrast to Katniss, because where she was mostly a lone wolf (excepting alliances with Rue and Peeta), Haymitch is very much a natural team player. He only gets chosen for the games because he is trying to defend his girlfriend, and while he initially intends to go it alone, he joins a large alliance without much prompting. He’s also much more well-informed than Katniss. Where she was used by her allies as a figurehead (mostly without her knowledge), characters are fairly upfront with what they want from Haymitch. It was also interesting to see the younger versions of other notable characters pop up in their earlier days.
The plotting isn’t the strongest – there’s a lot of setup and they don’t get to the games until well over halfway into the book, which I would have liked to have been earlier. The ending also feels a bit rushed (and as my review title notes, quotes Poe’s “The Raven” way, way too much).
If you ask me now if this book was necessary, I’d probably still say no. However, I did still like it, and I’m not mad that it exists. I’ll probably see the movie when it comes out.