Welcome to my weekly segment, Waiting on Wednesday, where I look at upcoming books that I am planning to order and review in the next few months and which I think I will really enjoy.  Stay tuned to see reviews of these books when I get a copy of them.  In this latest Waiting on Wednesday, I highlight an upcoming entry on a major series that I’m particularly excited for, Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins.

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I know that many fiction fans, including myself, were very excited earlier this year when it was announced that Suzanne Collins had another entry in her iconic Hunger Games series on its way.  That book, Sunrise on the Reaping, looked set to be another intriguing entry in the series, and there are already plans for a new feature film based on the upcoming novel.  Well, the cover and plot synopsis for Sunrise on the Reaping has just been released, and I just had to feature it in a new Waiting on Wednesday post right away.

I feel that pretty much everyone reading this blog will be familiar with the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, either through the novels or the blockbuster films.  An intense and clever young adult dystopian series, the Hunger Games follow teenage protagonists as they attempt to survive brutal death tournaments and deadly political strife occurring outside the games.  The original Hunger Games trilogy is beloved for very good reason, and I personally enjoyed listening to the trilogy on audiobook after watching the first film.  Collins has already expanded the series once since the original books, with the awesome prequel The Ballad of Songbirds and Serpents, which was also turned into another impressive film, and I think we all knew that additional books in this series were inevitable.

As such, I was both unsurprised, and extremely happy, when the next book in the series, Sunrise on the Reaping, was announced.  Currently set for release in March 2025, Sunrise on the Reaping will be another prequel novel and will provide a more detailed look at one of the more intriguing events mentioned in the original trilogy, the second Quarter Quell.  This event was already partially summarised in the second book, Catching Fire, but I am particularly keen to see it play out in full, especially as you will dive into the mind of one of the series’ more endearing and memorable characters.

Plot Synopsis:

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

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.

Now this is a book with a lot of potential.  I have said a few times over the years that a novel focussed on Haymitch’s time in the second Quarter Quell would make for a great read/movie, and I still believe that to this day.  The already cool Hunger Games concept is doubled in insanity and intensity as they have twice as many participants trying to kill each other.  The scenes that show the games are always the most compelling parts of a Hunger Games book, and I’m hoping that having extra participants is going to result in a longer and more compelling book.  I am also intrigued to see the previously discussed events second Quarter Quell play out in more detail, especially as it sounded really cool in the quick summary Collins previously gave us.  Seeing it on the ground with the actual action and death is going to be pretty epic, and I can imagine that there are going to be so many over-the-top scenes.

Another reason why I am particularly looking forward to Sunrise on the Reaping is that it will finally show the series from Haymitch’s point of view.  A heavily traumatised individual who tries to cope through alcohol, Haymitch has always been a distinctive and complex character, whether its in the book or being played by Woody Harrelson, but you never gotten a full glimpse into his mind.  This new book will give a lot more context to Haymitch’s psyche, especially as you are going to witness all the trauma that turned him into the dark, cynical being we all know and love.  I am also keen to learn more about some of the other District 12 characters featured in Sunrise in the Reaping.  These characters were again only hinted at in the previous novels, so it will be interesting to see them as fully fleshed out protagonists, and I am curious to see what sort of relationship they have with Haymitch.  All of this, and more, is quite exciting to me as a pretty massive Hunger Games fan, and I know I am going to love getting all this additional detail about these iconic characters and events.

Between my existing love for the Hunger Games series, the potential content for this new book, and the intriguing synopsis above, there is no way in hell that I will not be reading Sunrise on the Reaping as soon as it comes out next year.  Sure to be loaded with some amazing sequences and a complete look at a complex protagonist, I feel that Sunrise on the Reaping is going to be particularly epic.  This is currently one of my most anticipated books of 2025, and I cannot wait to get my hands on it.