You don't pick up a Suzanne Collins novel expecting a happy ending, but Sunrise on the Reaping completely and utterly shattered me in a way no other book has before. I went in braced for a brutal tragedy—it's a Hunger Games prequel, after all—but what I wasn't prepared for was how profoundly it would move me.
Sunrise on the Reaping is, without a doubt, the most beautifully tragic book I've ever read. When I finished reading it for the first time back in March 2025, I spent about a full hour sobbing. I wish I were exaggerating, but that's how much this story hurt, and how deeply it moved me. I honestly don't think I'll ever recover.
