Fans descended on Waterstones in York for the release of the latest Hunger Games novel.

On Tuesday 18th March Suzanne Collins’ latest book, Sunrise On The Reaping was launched.

Waterstone’s in York opened its doors early at 8am on Tuesday to launch the highly-anticipated book, selling exclusive copies to the first 30 people who arrived. Sadly, I was about 34th so I got a regular copy.

As The Hunger Games has such a large global fanbase it’s of no surprise that there was a queue of around 60-70 people extending from Waterstones even before the doors had opened.

Emily, a Waterstone’s employee, said: “We sold out, we sold around 150 copies, we think we would have sold even more if we had the stock but yes it was very popular.”

“It beat the release for Onyx Storm which was our most recent big launch which is why we opened earlier because we knew it was going to be busy.”

What To Expect

Suzanne Collins’ latest book is set 24 years before the events of the first hunger games book and after the series prequel, A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Sunrise On The Reaping follows the story of the well known character Haymitch Abernathy and his experience in the 50th Quarter Quell (a special hunger games that takes place every 25 years).

We witness his time in District 12 from reaping day through to his win in the games that had him named Victor, as we know him to be. The development of Haymitch’s character perfectly progresses into the image of him in the previous books as an adult, we witness the start of his rebellion and cheeky attitude and why he became the withdrawn alcoholic from the original Hunger Games books.

Although its set before the time of Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, the book includes a number of familiar characters to the joy of fans. Without too many spoilers, we get Effy and Haymitch’s first time meeting and where Effy started out in the life of the District 12 Victor – we learn that she’s always been likeable.

Fans will be pleased that Suzanne Collins’ has answered questions that were being posed following the release of the series prequel, Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes in 2020. Including the link between Lucy Gray and the Victors of District 12, new connections have been made between existing character stories to perfectly link up the series and fill in the gaps.

Collins’ succeeds in maintaining the same tone and emotion from her previous books. She continues to show the consistent violence and unfairness that the Districts faced from the start of The Hunger Games. The section of the book that shows Haymitchs’ time in the arena includes all new mutt creations and a number of surprises we haven’t heard of happening before. Fans are in for a wild ride of excitement.

As always the pace of the writing and plot keeps you drawn in from the start, never dragging anything out or rushing through. Overall it follows a similar structure to the first Hunger Games book.

Sunrise On The Reaping did not disappoint. I’m sure it won’t disappoint you either. Go and get a copy now.

Remember: May the Odds be EVER in your favour.