Nearly 20 years ago, Suzanne Collins published “The Hunger Games,” a dystopian novel about a young woman forced to compete against other adolescents in a fight to the death for the entertainment of the masses.
That book was a smash, spawning two more — “Catching Fire” and “Mockingjay” — about Katniss Everdeen, plus a prequel, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” about the series’s villain, President Coriolanus Snow. Now Collins is back with another prequel, “Sunrise on the Reaping,” about Katniss’s mentor, Haymitch Abernathy. The book comes out March 18.
With five books and four movies to keep track of, you’d be forgiven for forgetting some details of the “Hunger Games” world. Here’s what you need to know before reading “Sunrise on the Reaping.”
What is Panem?
Panem is a fictionalized, future version of the United States. People in the country’s 12 districts, which loosely correspond to regions of the U.S., toil to supply resources to the Capitol, where the rich and powerful live. (“In school, they tell us the Capitol was built in a place once called the Rockies. District 12 was in a region known as Appalachia,” Katniss says in “The Hunger Games.”)
In the poorest district, 12, people regularly starve to death or die in coal mining accidents. Capitol citizens, on the other hand, are so wealthy that some people take tonics to make themselves throw up so they can feast on even more food. They are known for their outlandish fashion and are waited on by avoxes, enslaved people who have had their tongues cut out as punishment for treason.
About 74 years before the events of the first “Hunger Games” book, the districts rebelled against the Capitol. The ensuing civil war culminated in the Capitol obliterating the most powerful district, 13. After the rebellion, the government created the Hunger Games to punish and control the remaining districts.
What are the Hunger Games?
Every year on July 4, all district children between the ages of 12 and 18 are entered into a lottery, and one boy and one girl from each region are selected to compete in the Hunger Games. The “tributes” must battle one another in an arena to the death; the one left standing is rewarded with riches, as is his or her district.
In “The Hunger Games,” Katniss competes in the 74th Hunger Games. The televised competition, which is required viewing for all citizens, includes a macabre sort of athlete’s parade, interviews, opportunities for betting on and sponsoring the tributes and technical spectacle within the arena, including planned weather events and bioengineered creatures, or “mutts.” Katniss and Peeta Mellark, the other District 12 tribute, become the first joint victors; in “Catching Fire,” they and other previous winners must return to the arena to compete in the 75th Games, also called the third Quarter Quell.
In “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” Collins shows us the origins of many of the Games’ features. The 10th Hunger Games is the first with a master of ceremonies, and during its broadcast, the Capitol (including a young, ambitious Coriolanus) decides to mandate viewing of the blood bath, and to allow citizens to send resources via drone to their favorite competitors. “Sunrise on the Reaping” bridges the gap between the two timelines, focusing on the 50th Hunger Games, or the second Quarter Quell. Like the third Quarter Quell, this one features a horrifying twist, with twice as many tributes as usual reaped from each district.
Who are the major players?
There are many notable “Hunger Games” characters that could show up in the new book. Here’s whom to keep an eye out for.
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Haymitch Abernathy is the protagonist of “Sunrise on the Reaping.” Readers first met him in “The Hunger Games” when, as the only surviving victor from District 12, he served as Katniss and Peeta’s mentor — alongside their Capitol escort, Effie Trinket. Initially, Haymitch is a mean, cynical drunk, but he proves to be surprisingly savvy and protective of his mentees through the 74th and 75th Games, and eventually helps orchestrate the Second Rebellion that topples Snow’s regime. In the initial trilogy, readers also learn that, after Haymitch won the 50th Games at age 16, his family was killed in retaliation for his winning strategy.
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Maysilee Donner is a female District 12 tribute in the 50th Hunger Games. In the initial trilogy, Maysilee’s mockingjay pin, which is passed down to Katniss, becomes a symbol for the Second Rebellion.
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In “Catching Fire,” readers met several former victors who predate “Sunrise on the Reaping” and could pop up as mentors; one of the duties of former Hunger Games winners is to guide future competitors from their districts. These include Wiress and Beetee, two tech geniuses from District 3, and District 4’s Mags, who sacrifices herself in the third Quarter Quell to save Katniss and her allies.
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Coriolanus Snow is the president of Panem and the Joker to Katniss’s Batman. (You know a villain is Big Bad when he is beefing with a child.) “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” focuses on his journey as an orphaned, 18-year-old student from the Capitol trying to reclaim his family’s fortune, which was lost during the Rebellion. While serving as a mentor for Lucy Gray Baird, a District 12 tribute who wins the 10th Hunger Games, Coriolanus comes up with many new features that presage his rise to power and his turn toward brutal authoritarianism, as well as his affinity for poison.
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In the initial trilogy, Caesar Flickerman is the campy host and commentator of the Hunger Games who interviews the tributes before they enter the arena. His probable ancestor Lucky Flickerman shows up in “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes” as the Games’ first master of ceremonies.
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A member of the Heavensbee family has also appeared in every “Hunger Games” book so far. In the initial trilogy, Plutarch Heavensbee is the designer of the 75th Games, and the eventual leader of the District 13 forces in the Second Rebellion. In the prequel, Hilarius (eye roll) Heavensbee is a mentor in the 10th games alongside Coriolanus.
Why does it always come down to District 12?
I have a theory.
In Panem, the people of District 12 are seen as too poor, downtrodden and uneducated to do more than work the mines and provide death fodder in the Hunger Games arena. The series focuses on the few times a District 12 tribute wins, despite those odds. But in the initial trilogy, Katniss’s dedication to her family is used by the Capitol and the rebel leaders alike to further their own agendas.
In “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” Snow’s mentorship of a District 12 tribute changes the Games forever. And in each story, the most downtrodden citizens are made complicit in their own oppression: When they win, they also lose.
You’ll have to read “Sunrise on the Reaping” to find out the details of Haymitch’s story. But the prevailing theme is that the District 12 candidate is always the underdog. And if you live in a society where your mere survival is considered a threat to those in power, well, it’s probably time to rebel.
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