Sunrise on the Reaping
Suzanne Collins
The 2025 novel the film is based on. It follows Haymitch Abernathy at the 50th Hunger Games, more than two decades before the first book.
About 400 pages, roughly 8 hours.
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Read it before you watch it: Sunrise on the Reaping
Sunrise on the Reaping is the 2025 Hunger Games novel about Haymitch Abernathy at the 50th Games. This guide covers what to read first, how long it takes and where to go after the film.
The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping
The release date in U.S. theaters.
- Francis Lawrence directs the film.
- Lionsgate is the studio releasing it.
- It adapts the 2025 novel by Suzanne Collins, who also wrote the first Hunger Games book.
Announced details checked .
Read this first
Start with the novel the film is based on. If you have never read The Hunger Games, read that first for context, since Sunrise on the Reaping looks back at the world it introduces. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a separate prequel you can add if you want more.
The Hunger Games
Suzanne Collins
The first book in the series, and the world that Sunrise on the Reaping looks back on.
About 397 pages, roughly 8 hours.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Suzanne Collins
A separate prequel about a young Coriolanus Snow at the tenth Hunger Games, set earlier still.
About 528 pages, roughly 11 hours.
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Where to start
Read Sunrise on the Reaping first if you want the story as the author wrote it. It follows teenagers forced to fight one another, so expect violence and loss. If you have never read The Hunger Games, begin there, then come back to this one. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is a separate prequel and can wait. After the film, The Giver is the gentlest next read, while Divergent and Scythe are fast and written for teens. Battle Royale and Red Rising are far more graphic, with extreme violence among young people, so they suit mature readers only. Finishing the book before the film opens leaves you free to compare the two afterwards.
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