Two dozen teens locked in an arena for a fight to the death. A tyrannical government with a childish president. A cast of characters so intricate that tears are shed for each and every one. The sparks of a revolution igniting an entire generation.

This is the world of Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, which reinvented the entire dystopian genre 17 years ago.

Since the first release, there has been a sequel, a threquel, and now, two prequels. Sunrise on the Reaping is set 40 years after the events of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes and 24 years before the events of The Hunger Games, telling a story that connects the two.

The novel centers around Haymitch Abernathy: an iconic character from the original trilogy whose backstory was largely unknown. To readers before this year, he was a grumpy drunk who was one of the main reasons for the main characters, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, surviving. Since the completion of the trilogy, fans have been speculating over his story.

In the 2009 sequel, Catching Fire, the smallest of details were revealed about Haymitch’s story, further fueling fan curiosities. 13 years afterward, Collins announced the new book, which would settle the speculation once and for all.

Overall, Sunrise on the Reaping was thoroughly enjoyable. However, it lacked some of the impressiveness that made Collins’ last four books as spectacular as they were. Before this book, we had only received hints about Haymitch’s story, but I still didn’t feel as though anything earth-shattering was revealed. It was a good book, but not Hunger Games good.

I enjoyed the new characters, but even more, I loved searching for easter eggs from the other books. No spoilers here, but there are cameos from characters in the original trilogy (especially Catching Fire) and from the first prequel. This book ties those two timelines together, filling in some of the gaps between Lucy Gray Baird and Katniss Everdeen, as well as fleshing out more of the complex characters who are the victors of the Hunger Games.

Then there’s the issue of casting. So far, four cast members have been revealed for the planned movie adaptation of the novel. They are Joseph Zada as young Haymitch, Whitney Peak as Lenore Dove Baird, Mckenna Grace as Maysilee Donnor, and Jesse Plemons as young Plutarch Heavensbee.

This cast so far seems to be quite a good fit, with the teenage characters mostly being played by actors in their late teens or early twenties. Zada, the lead, certainly looks enough like a young Woody Harrelson (Haymitch’s actor in The Hunger Games trilogy). However, he has only appeared in unreleased projects so far, so it is difficult to judge his acting skills at this point. Haymitch’s love, played by Peak, will only share a few tragic moments of screen time with him, but her role is still vital to the story and to Haymitch. Rachel Zegler, who played Lucy Gray in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes movie, has already expressed her support of Peak, saying, “I know she’s gonna’ do the Baird name proud.”

Despite some moments of disappointment (mostly due to my high expectations), Sunrise on the Reaping is truly a fantastic book, even if it doesn’t quite live up to others in its world. An untold story has been told, and now we know just what tragedies formed one of the most beloved characters of the original trilogy.

Four stars.