<This is
the fifth Hunger Games novel.>
<Chronologically,
it occurs 40 years after TBoSaS and 24 years before the THG trilogy.>
The odds will be ever in someone’s favor. But whose?
Panem is readying for the Fiftieth Annual Hunger Games. In honor of the Quarter
Quell, twice as many tributes will be taken from their homes.
Two girls and two boys. In District 12, Haymitch Abernathy tries not to think
too hard about his odds, especially since he has extra tesserae in order to
receive extra food rations for his family (mom: Willamae; 10-year-old brother:
Sid). His birthday is never one to truly celebrate, landing on reaping day as
it does, but he does want to be with Lenore Dove Baird, the girl he loves.
Unfortunately, Haymitch’s name is called without being drawn. He’s torn from
his family, Lenore, everyone he knows in District 12, and as the Games begin,
he knows he’s been set up to fail. His fellow tributes are Louella McCoy (a
12-year-old who’s like a younger sister to him), Maysilee Donner (the snobbiest
girl in town) and Wyatt Callow (an oddsmaker and the son of a Booker Boy). Does
he want to die? No. Does he expect to die a painful, gruesome death? Yes. So,
if he’s going to die no matter what, he wants to die fighting a fight that will
reverberate beyond the arena all the way to District 12. If he can, he will drown
the arena if the arena and the Career tributes don’t end him first.
It took
me almost a year since its publication to read, but once I dove in, the
propulsive storyline propelled me quickly through this YA science fiction
dystopia. Because I already “knew” Haymitch from The Hunger Games trilogy,
I rooted for his character and so was easily swept up in his story, brutal and
broken and gut-wrenching as it is. It’s a formidable edition to the canon, and
it’s explosive in its portrayal of an authoritarian government with
totalitarian control. There is jet propulsion to this book that is upsetting,
agonizing, raw and candid, but it makes it all the more provoking, emotional
and exceptional. There is rage. There is compassion. And there is inspiration.
Perhaps one day, there will be hope and no sunrise on the reaping.
Also
reviewed by me: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
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