Every time a new Hunger Games book is released, it bumps up in my favourites. First the og trilogy, then TBOSAS, and now Sunrise On The Reaping.

So what can I say about this book?

In the beginning of Sunrise On The Reaping, I was almost bored. Haymitch read so young, cocky in a way a lot of teenage boys are. And I couldn't find a way to properly digest it. But as the story went along, and as he was forced to grow up way too fast, I yearned for his adolescent character voice back. I yearned for him to have his childhood back. This book opened me up, sewed toxin into my heart and stitched me back up.

It's politically relevant, it's explosive, it's both so detached but also so close to grief and emotion, and it throws us through the arena, through extreme amounts of loss, through pain and anger and joy and love found and love lost, and gives us a whole new view on Haymitch Abernathy, the alcoholic mentor of Katniss and Peeta in the original trilogy. It puts his actions and his behaviour into a whole new perspective, and it teaches us to never assume why somebody has an issue with substances, and to never assume the way someone lives their life.

To explain the political relevance of SOTR is to expose a truth about today's media that many refuse to see: the media lies. Stories and videos are being manipulated to better a certain party, artificial intelligence is creating lies people are starting to mistake for humanity. We're all being watched. At the beginning of the book, Suzanne Collins quotes George Orwell. It sets the tone for the whole story. Alongside that, with the process of the reaping, it shows us in a whole new light about how innocent people will always be the victims of war, and how the media presents stories in a way that draws the attention away from the real problem.

Suzanne Collins appears every so often, releases a novel that is such a smack in the face what with political environment, and disappears again, and I have so much admiration for her, and her way of feeding a mass of people a message through fiction, in ways many authors of today fail to do. She is a staple in fiction and a mentor for resistance. She sees horror and tells it how it is. She encourages change.

I cannot begin to articulate how important this book is to me, as an artist, a sayer of truth, and as a member of the generation inheriting the world from the people in the past who decide to destroy it.

Everyone should pick up the Hunger Games series at some point in their lives. I say I have many favourite books, but these books will always, ALWAYS be an important part of my childhood and an important part in my life today. These books will always be my favourite.