Book Review: Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

    Listen, did I have it on my 2025 bingo card that I'd be reading another Hunger Games novel? No, I sure didn't. Admittedly, after the last one, I was unsure what to expect from Haymitch's story - Snow's novel was (for me at least!) underwhelming, at times confusing, and overall a prequel which felt at times pretty removed from the original series. 

    Not this one. I think what made SOTR so good for me was that it hit ALL the nostalgia that we were wanting from the last one - I'm talking Easter eggs GALORE. Every time a new character hit the page, there was some connection to the original cast of characters, and I think that for me, it made this story feel like coming home to a series that I hadn't known I missed. Not to mention that the story felt well paced, the character development made sense, and we now have a good understanding of why Haymitch is the way he is towards Katniss and Peeta. I appreciated that underlying theme of obscuring truth, something which in todays political climate is important to understand and be able to interact with. I think Collin's brings this theme into her writing in both subtle and overt ways (poor LouLou!), and while reading this book you begin to feel this creeping fear that the government of Panem is not too far removed from current governments today...

Favourite Quotes: “I love you like all-fire.”  

“They will not use our tears for their entertainment.”

Recommended for: every damn person who read The Hunger Games growing up!

Book Info:

Title: Sunrise on the Reaping

Author: Suzanne Collins

Published: March 18th, 2025

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Pages: 387

Summary from Goodreads: 

When you’ve been set up to lose everything you love, what is there left to fight for?

As the day dawns on the fiftieth annual Hunger Games, fear grips the districts of Panem. This year, in honor of the Quarter Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.

Back in District 12, Haymitch Abernathy is trying not to think too hard about his chances. All he cares about is making it through the day and being with the girl he loves.

When Haymitch’s name is called, he can feel all his dreams break. He’s torn from his family and his love, shuttled to the Capitol with the three other District 12 tributes: a young friend who’s nearly a sister to him, a compulsive oddsmaker, and the most stuck-up girl in town. As the Games begin, Haymitch understands he’s been set up to fail. But there’s something in him that wants to fight... and have that fight reverberate far beyond the deadly arena.

What were your thoughts on this book? Feel free to start a discussion in the comments!

Happy reading, 

Mari

Review: Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett

 

I'm choosing to believe it was fate that I saw this book at the thrift store during a reading slump. Especially since I first spotted it in someone's hand and they (miraculously) put it back on the shelf. Well, their loss.

 

Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries follows the titular professor's time studying faeries in a cold, distant country. Her attempts are hampered by her awkward social skills and eventually by the charming academic rival that follows her north.

 

Fawcett's book arrived during the height of BookTok and publisher's obsession with fae and faerie romances, so when I first heard about it, I chalked it up to being much the same. But anything to with academia always pulls me in. Maybe its my brain's own desire to catalogue and draw connections? I'm not sure. So I gave this book a shot. And wow, it felt like a breath of fresh air. Fawcett's world and characters feel far more connected to Naomi Novik's tales of Slavic folklore and Marie Brennan's Victorian dragon academics than it did to faerie romances and stories I've read and heard about in the past. In my opinion, that connection stems from the underlying respect and gravitas the book holds for folk and oral histories. Emily, as a character, lives and breathes folk and faerie stories, and her love is built on a respect both for the faeries she studies and also the people whose lives are intertwined with the fantastic. Even the residents of Hrafnsvik, who originally see Emily's search as naive and perhaps dangerous, come to understand and respect her knowledge and skill. I've seen fae romances in which their existence is equated to elves, or portrayed as an overwhelmingly powerful and unknowable "other" force. Fawcett's book, like other tales focused on the folklore aspect of fae, treats them with the same respect and understanding one might hold towards the ferocity of nature. Which is arguably what likely inspires many faerie stories.

 

On top of that, Emily and Wendell have such a beautiful, believable bond. I like any book couple with a "I love you. I will kill you for doing that, but I love you" energy, and these two both have it in spades. And on top of that, the book knows when to give their relationship space to breathe, and when to hone in on their feelings. I think, and I hate to repeat myself, its the sense of respect both characters have for each other that makes for a believable and enticing romance between them. 

 

I have yet to pick up the other two books in the series (each copy is $30+ in Canada!), but if fate (or faerie magic) wants to drop them off at the thrift store again, I won't hesitate to grab them.

Book Info:

Title: Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries

Author: Heather Fawcett

Published: January 12th, 2023

Publisher: Del Rey Books

Pages: 317

Based on this, try: A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan, Half a Soul by Olivia Atwater, Uprooted by Naomi Novik, An Enchantment of Ravens by Margaret Rogerson

 

Catch you next time,

Aleks