My reading of the newest addition to the Hunger Games series, “Sunrise on the Reaping,” was accompanied by dread and an undeniable knowledge that it would not end well — a feeling that has mirrored my emotions since the 2024 presidential election.

I would warn of spoilers ahead, but the content already feels familiar.

“The Hunger Games” series has long been a social and political commentary, yet many readers have missed or sidestepped this aspect in exchange for the romances, dramas, and thrills of the plot.

Author Suzanne Collins seems all the more determined to address her political themes in her latest addition to the series, which have never been subtle and are largely relevant.

In “Sunrise on the Reaping,” Collins does not subdue when it comes to commentary. She begins with quotes from George Orwell, William Blake, and David Hume, immediately setting the tone of the book, eliminating any questions of its purpose or message.

Audiences have been perceptive of Collins’ newest book and eager to delve in. Molly Roberts, the children’s manager at Prairie Lights, reported that since its release, the bookstore has sold 121 copies of the book.

“On its release day, we sold through the display we had put together,” Roberts said.

The story follows 16-year-old Haymitch Abernanthy, who was first introduced in the original trilogy as District 12’s only living victor and mentor to Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. Abernathy is reaped into the Hunger Games on the 50th anniversary of the games and the uprising against the elite ruling class: the Capitol.

Citizens of the Capitol flourish and prosper, while those of the districts suffer. They strut about in ridiculous fashions, wasting money and resources foolishly, much as the wealthiest in our nation do — the wealthiest who are given inequitable tax breaks, while others struggle to make ends meet.

Prices on nearly all products are expected to increase as a result of President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs, with the nonpartisan tax foundation estimating the average American household will pay $2,100 more per year for products as a result. Low-income households are likely to be hit the hardest, while the wealthiest Americans will remain largely unaffected.

Much like Panem’s President Snow, President Trump also demonstrates an abuse of power: issuing executive order after executive order without any regard for his constitutional constraints or the checks against his powers, leading some legal experts to deem it a “constitutional crisis.”

If Collins’ real-life allusions weren’t obvious enough, Collins explicitly states, with no lack of irony, that the day of the reaping on which children are condemned to death, is not only Abernathy’s birthday but also the fourth of July.

Abernathy decides upon entering the Capitol that he will not be complicit in their games, that he will actively fight them every step of the way, make them own what they’re complicit in, and force them to admit that the tributes and those in the districts are people, too. He questions the compliance of himself and others in the games as well.

As a young Plutarch Heavensbee asks, “The question is, why didn’t you?”

I don’t want to be a part of the generation or country who’s asked this when it’s become too late.

At the end of his games, Abernathy watches a carefully crafted, propagandized recap of his games. Deaths are concealed or altered, details of rebellion and inter-district unity are omitted altogether. It is likewise noted that all history of District 12’s former victor, the subject of Collins’ last book released in November of 2023, has also been scrubbed.

But us readers already know this too well.

With the current Trump administration’s actions to conceal unsavory history and controversial topics, this is a ballad that has been sung time and time again.

Across the federal government, agencies have been erasing evidence of women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community from their websites. An executive order has been issued calling for the removal of “improper, divisive, or anti-American ideology from the Smithsonian and its museums, education and research centers, and the National Zoo.” Such acts have furthermore been paralleled to Germany in the thirties.

Indeed, Collins didn’t predict the U.S.’s political predicament. She merely relayed the histories that we have been doomed to repeat. The Nazis were far from the first and will not the last to persecute and attempt to erase entire groups of peoples, including people who were Jewish, Roma, Black, people with disabilities, and many more, aided by the same extremist propaganda from which Collins draws her inspiration.

Such erasure makes us feel more alone, hopeless, and deserted. It persuades us into thinking protests for our own livelihood are insignificant and unnecessary. But neither us nor the protests are. We are far from alone, our protests far from insignificant.

To top off Abernathy’s game recap, a camera zoom-out reveals the arena as a whole to depict a giant eye, leaving no allusions that the government is always watching — that some version of Big Brother will always be there.

The book ends with devastating consequences for Abernathy at the hands of his rebellious actions. And while such consequences may seem far off or implausible, and may be to such a degree, I’d remind you of the students, scholars, journalists, and residents who have vanished or been deported after having demonstrated their freedom of assembly and speech rights.

Avid fans, readers, and followers of “The Hunger Games” knew well before the book’s release that Haymitch’s story does not end well. And thus, with every ill-fated decision or action while reading, apprehension grows, yet we are unable to change the course of action and can only stand by as helpless witnesses.

But we are not helpless bystanders, nor are Collins’ characters. We must stand up against what we know is wrong, cruel, and inhuman. That feeling of dread and worry means we are human, that we care, and that’s more than many can speak to.

Books that demonstrate themes of civil disobedience and skepticism toward ruling powers are for everyone, and everyone should read them. While “The Hunger Games” series may be marketed as a children’s or young adult genre, there’s something to be learned for all ages.

Our current administration has overstepped time and time again. They exert powers that are not lawful or fair and that err to the oligarchic or fascist governments of dystopian novels rather than the democratic institution enshrined in our Constitution.

We must not be complicit. We must heed what the cautionary writings of Collins, Orwell, Blake, and Hume warn of.

Fire is catching, and we will not allow the sun to rise upon a fascist regime.