Suzanne Collins, the author of the Hunger Games series, returns and this time she focuses on Haymitch Abernathy.

However, with the looming 50th Hunger Games set on his birthday, the setting is Dim and palpable. Luckily, Haymitch finds solace in his family, friends and lover: Lenore Dove, a covey girl (shoutout to Lucy Grey).

It is hope that takes centre stage again, but this time, it is a dismal portrayal of its feebleness. Unlike Katniss, Haymitch is groomed much earlier in the reaping process to be defiant—to refuse the capital a chance to use him for propaganda or use his friends as tools.

He enters the games with an alliance that resembles the quality found in ‘Catching Fire’. The careers are portrayed as dislikeable and possibly outnumbered by the unity of the other districts. He is emboldened from the very beginning to start thinking about the ‘arrangement’ between capital and district and whether it MUST remain this way. The novel’s title is a reference to this topic: a conversation with his lover that establishes that just because the sun rose yesterday, does not mean it will always rise. Things can change.

While the consequence of rebellion is not new to Suzanne’s books, the level of loss and crushing turmoil found within these pages, officially destroys the glamorous idea of being a rebel, of being a hero.

It explains how hope can be manipulated and abused, while also possessing the power to embolden and encourage.

This book is a masterclass on the power of narrative; the power of the stories we tell ourselves and how they can blind us to the power of unity.

My only criticism? I would have loved more musings from Plutarch. His commentary adds a level of depth to these books that I covert.

Overall, Sunrise on the Reaping is a flawless depiction of how easily we submit to injustice, and how the power of new narratives can break that daze.

Stories still matter, Suzanne Collins proves that with this masterpiece.