Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins

Welcome to the Second Quarter Quell!! 50 years since the rebel uprising. 50 years of the Capitol reminding the Districts of their defeat. This year, four tributes from each district must enter the arena.

Plucked from the crowd after a Reaping gone wrong, Haymitch Abernethy is ripped from District 12 and sent to the Capitol. A boy from the Seam, Haymitch is out of place in the glitz and glamour the Capitol projects, but as entering the arena looms closer, the embers of a new rebellion are taking light. Who can Haymitch trust as his life is put on the line?

With a target on his back, and the threat of harm to the people at home, Haymitch is throw into an arena where nothing is as it seems but then again, neither is Haymitch. Fleeing from the Careers, a pack of Capitol trained tributes, and his new found allies, Haymitch questions his place in the Capitol's plan and what awaits him back in District 12 if he survives.

Sunrise on the Reaping is an excellent sequel to the Hunger Games Trilogy, while also building upon the new lore laid down in A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Within the chapters are sprinkled subtle nods to characters that we will eventually meet in later books and those that have lived and died before we join Katniss in her first Games, but are vital cogs in the rise of the rebellion. Sunrise cements the wicked, twisted ways of Snow, now president of Panem, as he makes the life of the districts even harder (punishment for Lucy Gray Baird fleeing from him) and keeps the Capitol under his thumb by reminding them: that even in the Capitol, you are not immune to the wrath of President Snow.

With another Hunger Games Prequel announced, we will no doubt see more about how the Hunger Games evolves towards the 74th and 75th Hunger Games, more of President Snow's aptitude for torture and the flames of the rebellion growing stronger.

Snow always lands on top, but fire is catching.