Savannah Miller, a 26-year-old researcher at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, has admired dystopian novels since childhood. On Tuesday, March 18, 2025, she was among hundreds of fans who gathered at Barnes & Noble in Manhattan’s Union Square to celebrate the midnight release of Suzanne Collins’ latest book, “Sunrise on the Reaping.”
“As a kid, you focus so much on the plot and the action,” said Miller, who has been reading the “Hunger Games” series for half her life. “As an adult, I connected to the characters a lot more and had more of an emotional response. I also appreciated the writing a lot.”
“Hunger Games” fans worldwide gathered in bookstores to celebrate Collins’ fifth novel in the blockbuster series, which depicts a post-apocalyptic society where combatants fight for survival on camera. Attendees in New York, some dressed as characters like Haymitch Abernathy and Effie Trinket, participated in scavenger hunts, solved “Hunger Games”-themed puzzles, and competed in trivia games so challenging even Collins’ editor David Levithan, admitted he couldn’t answer them all. Many attendees on Monday night were women in their 20s and 30s who had loved the books in middle school and renewed their attachment when Collins resumed the series five years ago.
“I’ve been reading the books since I was 12,” said 23-year-old actor Ella Dolynchuk. It’s a big part of my life, my childhood, and I love reading them as an adult when I can really understand them.
“Sunrise on the Reaping” had already reached No. 1 on Amazon before its publication and is expected to be one of the year’s biggest fiction sellers.
Although the book was embargoed, some fans posted videos on social media showing off advanced copies obtained prematurely, including from Los Angeles Airport and bookstores in Canada. According to Scholastic Inc., the four previous books have sold tens of millions of copies and have been published in 55 languages.
Celebrating the launch of sunrise
Film adaptations helped launch the career of Jennifer Lawrence, who starred as Katniss Everdeen, grossing more than $3 billion worldwide. A screen version of “Sunrise on the Reaping” is scheduled for November 2026, with Francis Lawrence returning as director. Collins had initially planned to end the series after “Mockingjay” in 2010.
However, she surprised readers and the publishing world by announcing a prequel, “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a decade later. Levithan was among those caught off guard by Collins’ decision to continue the series. “She decides, and then she springs it on me,” he said at the launch event.
Sunrise on the Reaping
“Sunrise on the Reaping” is set 24 years before the original “Hunger Games” novel, starting with the reaping of the Fiftieth Hunger Games. Drawing inspiration from Greek mythology and the Roman gladiator games, Collins mentioned the Scottish Enlightenment philosopher David Hume as a muse for the new book. “With ‘Sunrise on the Reaping,’ I was inspired by David Hume’s idea of implicit submission and, in his words, ‘the easiness with which the few govern the many,'” Collins said.
She also highlighted propaganda and narrative control themes, with the question “Real or not real?” resonating deeply. The novel centers on a teenage Haymitch, who will become Katniss’ sardonic, alcoholic mentor, and introduces references to various other characters and subplots from previous books. New York Times reviewer Jennifer Harlan described the novel as a “propulsive, heart-wrenching addition” to the series, adding “welcome texture to the cruel world of Panem.” People magazine’s Lizz Schumer noted that some passages reference current events, including themes of control and ridicule.
