It was saur good y’all — I love Haymitch and I always will!!! This man has suffered SO much. Ugh. Also??? Maysilee? ICON. I loved every scene she was around for. She made me laugh. She made me cry. What can’t she do? (I mean there is clearly the one thing but uh)

^Completely agree, Ariana!! I already loved Haymitch's character even before this book, but I didn't expect to love Maysilee as much as I do now. She was such a fun, well-rounded character, it almost made me wish the book would've turned into an alternate universe where she and Haymitch both manage to survive somehow, even though I knew it wouldn't happen.

Not to mention how much I loved Wyatt and Louella and Lou Lou too. And Ampert!!! Ugh, the way Suzanne Collins writes such interesting characters and makes you love them even though you know they're not going to have a happy ending

And don't even get me started on Lenore Dove and Haymitch's ma and little brother. I still can't think about it too much without tearing up

Completely, 100% agree with everything you both said!

Maysilee was everything. Loved her. Loved all her scenes. Needed more of her.

The fact that we (well, anyone who has read the Hunger Games books or watched the movies) go into Sunrise on the Reaping KNOWING how much pain and grief we're about to experience is crazy and Suzanne Collins Pulls. It. OFF.




I will say, however, that I thought the sheer volume of references to/inclusions of characters from the OG Hunger Games trilogy was... a lot. While I was reading the book, I was initially thrilled when characters I knew featured, but that thrill didn't last because it felt I was being bombarded with 'HEY, REMEMBER THIS CHARACTER? HEY, LOOK WHO IT IS! BET YOU DIDN'T EXPECT TO SEE THEM HERE!' and it was hard to suspend my disbelief at the time.

Now that a few days have past, and I'm looking at it in a different light, I can see how each inclusion had its own purpose. Seeing the bond Haymitch shares with Mags, for instance. Knowing more about how and why a rebellion was able to take place in the 75th Hunger Games and the parts that Beetee and Plutarch had in the present. Don't talk to me about Ampert, though. Talk about heartwrenching. How Wiress ended up the way she is.

I didn't think Effie needed to be included, but it was still nice, and established how she got started as an escort for District 13. Other things that weren't necessarily needed but that I appreciated were the origins of the Mockingjay pin and the inclusion of Burdock Everdeen. Definitely escaped me who he was at first, oops. Same with Asterid.