Sunrise on the Reaping, Suzanne Collins

Book Title: Sunrise on the Reaping

Author: Suzanne Collins

Series: The Hunger Games #0.5

Date Started: April 24th  2025

Date Completed: April 28th 2025

Genres: Dystopian, Action, Adventure

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

This book seemed to come out of nowhere in the wake of the Ballad movie, and yet it's oh so timely. Collins is not only taking a beloved character like Haymitch and portraying a nearly unrecognisable yet wholly aligned character arc, she's adding to her tapestry of what dystopia really means. It felt like things built slowly at the start, and then all at once - but looking back, everything had its place in an impressive performance.

Suzanne Collins only writes when she has something to say? By the time of publication, one would wonder how she could have possibly predicted the current state of the world the book would be born into. But of course, she could, she's been saying it from the beginning. This is what sets her dystopian world apart from all the others; there is an intrinsic recognition of where we in contemporary culture sit in her narratives, and the slippery slope we stand on in privileged countries. The way we access media, how we view others, the lasting importance of the 'posters' we do or do not ignore. You think you're Haymitch or Katniss or Lucy Gray? Look again, because that's not the story you're being told.

The references to other events in the series are frequent but mostly ungratuitous. It's such an interesting place to tell a story in the timeline, between generations but at a point where everything we know about the world and characters is in play as we race towards what's coming, and see how what has come before has made it so. Collins knows this and, other than a few off-hand unnecessary name drops, she's only strengthening a story I'm convinced she knew right from the beginning.

As much as the social commentary and Collins' talent for thrilling action, this book is also just enjoyable to read. I raced through it, having bought it on a whim on a bad day, and funnily enough stories about dystopia but people keeping their humanity within them was just what I needed. The epilogue was truly moving, and oh I would love to write an essay on the use of music in these books, its place in social resistance, traditional storytelling and artistic freedom. I'm very glad Collins has continued to lean into this, and I can't wait to see Francis Lawrence bring it to life on the big screen.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin

Book Title: Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow

Author: Gabrielle Zevin

Date Started: April 5th  2025

Date Completed: April 18th 2025

Genres: Contemporary, Adventure

Quality Rating: Five Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Five Star

Final Rating: Five Stars

Review:

Sometimes when you finish a book you feel like there's this space in your heart that suddenly so full, and desperate for the pages to keep being there to turn. Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow was like that for me. It filled up something within me. Some call it pretentious, and honestly I understand that - but it was more nuanced for me. Arrogance with soul and vulnerability is just being a human in a room you're scared of sometimes. I just fell for this book, entirely.

I have never ever read a representation of a creative partnership like this; the good, the bad and the very ugly. It was so resonant for me, and it made me realise that I often forget that most people will never experience it. I adored that all the characters were genuinely impeded in their lives by their flaws - and by the end, they're not solved. They've just learned to live with them and that in itself was really their growth.

Zevin clearly loves video games truly, and I loved that their inclusion in the book wasn't inaccessible and full of self-gratuitous references, but rather explorative of that medium of storytelling. I knew some of the titles, didn't recognise others, and had played only a few of them - but the story was so celebratory of the craft in general the experience was enriched just from learning about them within the context of the characters' own ambitions on the field. I spent most of this book feeling like I was reading my own life - despite the many strong differences to my own experiences. But that's escapism at its most magical and transformative - just like a video game is.

A Heart Full of Hatred, Derek Landy

Book Title: A Heart Full of Hatred

Author: Derek Landy

Series: Skulduggery Pleasant #18

Date Started: March 31st  2025

Date Completed: April 5th 2025

Genres: Fantasy, Adventure, Action, Thriller, Horror

Quality Rating: Four Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Four Star

Final Rating: Four Stars

Review:

The highlight of my year is the new Skulduggery Pleasant book coming out - okay, slight exaggeration but it's something that I always look forward to and enjoy when it comes back around. I have a thousand things to say about the combat, the tone, the magic and the world and where the people fit into and rage against it - but go read my other 17+ reviews of the other books in the series for those because they remain consistent and steadfast.

The evolution of this series never fails to impress me. Of course there's a special connection when you read a story as a kid and it then grows and develops into more mature and complex territory alongside you. But the Skulduggery Pleasant series is so politically conscious, socially aware, and chooses to do something powerful with that it has a special place in my heart.

I'm really enjoying the character focus over plot hijinks in this new trilogy. There's still the classic action adventure, the punching, the world-threatening disasters, the punching, the dry humour, and the punching. But the conflict arises more often from why the characters want to punch each other, rather than the punching happening first and questions asked later.

I'm also very much enjoying where Valkyrie is in her arc. We've progressed from the 'I'm unkillable' to 'I'm very killable, that's scary, but you'll have a hard time trying' and that's really cool. Credit where it's due for giving the same character who we've followed for literally nearly 20 years (that's terrifying) new arcs as they grow. It's what so many sequel series fall down in - twisting their characters into different people to try and give them something new to grapple with - but something that of course people continue to do. We don't overcome one problem in our life and live happily ever after.

On a final note, Derek finally heard my request for more Tanith and I'm very pleased. But I still don't think it's a kids series.