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.
From Goodreads:Winning means fame and fortune. Losing means certain death. The Hunger Games have begun...
In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, the shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.
Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before--and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.
From Goodreads:Sparks are igniting.Flames are spreading.And the Capitol wants revenge.
Against all odds, Katniss has won the Hunger Games. She and fellow District 12 tribute Peeta Mellark are miraculously still alive. Katniss should be relieved, happy even. After all, she has returned to her family and her longtime friend, Gale. Yet nothing is the way Katniss wishes it to be. Gale holds her at an icy distance. Peeta has turned his back on her completely. And there are whispers of a rebellion against the Capitol - a rebellion that Katniss and Peeta may have helped create.
Much to her shock, Katniss has fueled an unrest she's afraid she cannot stop. And what scares her even more is that she's not entirely convinced she should try. As time draws near for Katniss and Peeta to visit the districts on the Capitol's cruel Victory Tour, the stakes are higher than ever. If they can't prove, without a shadow of a doubt, that they are lost in their love for each other, the consequences will be horrifying.
From Goodreads:My name is Katniss Everdeen.Why am I not dead?I should be dead.
Katniss Everdeen, girl on fire, has survived, even though her home has been destroyed. Gale has escaped. Katniss's family is safe. Peeta has been captured by the Capitol. District 13 really does exist. There are rebels. There are new leaders. A revolution is unfolding.
It is by design that Katniss was rescued from the arena in the cruel and haunting Quarter Quell, and it is by design that she has long been part of the revolution without knowing it. District 13 has come out of the shadows and is plotting to overthrow the Capitol. Everyone, it seems, has had a hand in the carefully laid plans--except Katniss.
The success of the rebellion hinges on Katniss's willingness to be a pawn, to accept responsibility for countless lives, and to change the course of the future of Panem. To do this, she must put aside her feelings of anger and distrust. She must become the rebels' Mockingjay--no matter what the personal cost.My first review of The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, MockingjayMy second review of The Hunger Games,
Catching Fire,
Mockingjay My Review:
I loved reading these books! I wasn't planning on rereading the original trilogy, just the new book, but after reading Haymitch's story, I had to reread again! There were details, big and large, that I wanted to see, revisited with this new knowledge. But boy does this have a lot of spoilers!
We knew going in that everyone that Haymitch loved was killed by the Capital, and that plus his memories of his games, and all the ones that he had to mentor were why he was a drunk. But to find out that he hadn't been interested in alcohol except to brew it before, that hurt. Or that his love, Lenore Dove, raised geese, and at the end of the trilogy, he did, too? Pain.
All that we learned in this book, was fantastic for worldbuilding, and awful for the characters. Like I hadn't considered what District 12's tributes did before Haymitch won for mentors, and we got to see that there. Though it makes me wonder when the change for who the mentors were became the victors, after the 10th when it was the school students (and look how badly that went.) We got to meet Katniss' parents and get their names, Burdock and Asterid, which was so interesting. But it also brought up a question about the movie-they changed how Katniss got the Mockingjay pin, instead of from Madge, it was from Greasy Sae. That the book's owner, Maylisee was a fellow tribute of Haymitch, has me thinking. My best idea is that the family got rid of the pin after she died, so they can keep some kind of continuity.
There was so much that we didn't know, or was presented wrong. Like the fact that Haymitch wasn't actually reaped, but trying to protect his love, which caused the Capitol to pick him. That Beetee had a son-and because of his rebellious actions, said son, just 12, ended up in the arena for the 50th Hunger Games, ouch. Plus there was the whole thing with the Newcomers, and how the non-Career district tributes outnumber the Career tributes, and if they worked together, they could win over the Careers. That it got erased, urgh!
In the interview, there were 2 things mentioned. One was how this book was about propaganda and showing what they want to show, and implied submission. The way his games were manipulated, how his actions were kept hidden, there was so much they didn't show, and they manipulated the order in which some things occur. The other, is that there's only 2 named characters in both prequels and the original trilogy-Snow and Clerk Carmine. That they were Lucy Gray's fellow Covey members, and then in this book it was Lenore Dove Baird, Tam Amber and Clerk Carmine Clade, and then in the trilogy that it was just Clerk Carmine. The impact that Snow had on music in District 12 because of that, another part of this book that hurt. But that connection was why I had to reread the trilogy because I don't remember Clerk Carmine, fiddler, at all, so I had to see where he was mentioned, but I think I found the only mention-at Finnick and Annie's wedding, he's the fiddler.
The book tells us that Burdock's mom was Covey, making him a cousin of Lenore Dove. The question is, is Maude Ivory Lenore's mom, or Brudock's? It does seem to imply that Maude is Lenore's mom, since Lenore's died in childbirth, and Maude is dead, but there's no mention of the state of Burdock's mom. I just want to stick to the Maude Ivery is Katniss' grandmother theory!
Another thing that hurt was the team tokens that Effie comes up with, because of Katniss' mockingjay pin. That Haymitch had been given a similar token right before his games, made by Tam Amber, the same person who made Katniss' pin? Of course I understand why he buried it, but that he got another gold token for another Hunger Games, yeah.
I might be alone in this, but I don’t want any more prequels. We know who survives, so it hurts getting to know characters who we know are going to die. Plus, all of these games, We know that there is going to be another game afterwards, that children are going to keep dying. And it hurts. So I don’t really want to linger in that pain. Maybe some short stories, to see what it's like being a victor, and having to mentor 2 kids, both of whom have a good chance of dying, year after year, since we haven't seen that part of the story yet. Though that wouldn't be from the perspective of a teen, unless they won when they were really young.
Loved reading these books, and I'll read any other books by Suzanne Collins, including more in this world!
Author: Suzanne Collins
Series: The Hunger Games #0.5, 1, 2, 3
First Read: February 17th, 2012, April 3rd, 2012, June 8th, 2012
Second Read: Read: November 21st, 22nd, 22nd, 2013
Third: Read: September 11th, 11th, 11th, 2020
Fourth Read: October 26th, 26th, 27th, 2023
Read: March 18th, 18th, 19th, 19th, 2025
Source: Bought
Reason Why: Love her writing and this series, and they're 2025 Dystopia Books and Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2025 Books, and Sunrise on the Reaping is a WoW Book!
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Published: March 18th 2025, September 14th 2008, September 1st 2009, August 24th 2010
Sunrise on the Reaping:
 |
| 5/5 Hearts |
 |
| 5/5 Books |
 |
| 5/5 Stars |
