Sat Apr 05 03:00:00 UTC 2025: ## BookTok’s Thirst for Coriolanus Snow May Have Backfired: Suzanne Collins’ New Hunger Games Book is Brutally Dark
**NEW YORK**—Suzanne Collins’ new *Hunger Games* prequel, *Sunrise on the Reaping*, has taken the literary world by storm, selling over 1.5 million copies in its first week. The book, a dark and brutal exploration of Haymitch Abernathy’s youth, is significantly grimmer than previous installments, focusing on the horrors he endured in one of the deadliest Hunger Games. However, its success isn’t limited to traditional dystopian fiction fans; the book is also exploding on BookTok, the bookish corner of TikTok.
The unexpected popularity on BookTok is particularly noteworthy, given the platform’s reputation for celebrating romance and “hot men” in fiction. The platform’s users are reacting with a mixture of awe and horror to the book’s graphic content. Many videos show users emotionally distraught after finishing the novel.
This unexpected success has spawned a hilarious theory among BookTok users: that Collins wrote the brutally dark *Sunrise on the Reaping* as revenge for the countless “thirst edits” dedicated to Coriolanus Snow, the villainous dictator, following the release of *The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes* film adaptation. These edits, which romanticized Snow, went viral, even inspiring a response from the film’s production company, Lionsgate.
BookTok users are now jokingly blaming their collective obsession with Snow for the book’s intense brutality, with some even pleading with Collins to end her supposed “revenge.” While it’s unlikely Collins intentionally crafted the book as retribution, the incident serves as a humorous reminder of the potential consequences of romanticizing fictional villains. The unexpected viral success of *Sunrise on the Reaping* on BookTok ultimately highlights the unpredictable nature of online trends and the power of fan engagement, even when that engagement involves a little bit of (self-deprecating) guilt.
First Piper 