7 Books Like Sunrise on the Reaping Where Survival Is a Spectator Sport

In Sunrise on the Reaping, Haymitch Abernathy has to survive the Second Quarter Quell while the Capitol decides which version of his story Panem gets to see. That second fight is what makes Suzanne Collins’s novel stick. A deadly competition can reward the people watching with a favorite to cheer for, a stranger to blame, or the comfort of believing the rules are fair. Collins discusses that power to shape the story in her Scholastic interview about the novel.

If you want another arena where the crowd matters, start with Chain-Gang All-Stars. Pick The Running Man if you want to see viewers become part of the hunt, or Battle Royale if what stayed with you was the state’s power to turn classmates into opponents. The four adult picks are marked below. Plot details are limited to the setups.

The seven books at a glance

Violence levels are editorial estimates. Moderate covers action and peril with limited graphic detail. High includes on-page killings or severe injuries. Very high means frequent or particularly graphic violence.

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1. Chain-Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah

Adult · Very high violence. Graphic arena combat, severe injuries, and prison abuse.

Loretta Thurwar and Hamara “Hurricane Staxxx” Stacker are lovers, teammates, and stars of Criminal Action Penal Entertainment. The program makes money from death matches between incarcerated people who fight for a chance at freedom. Thurwar is close enough to that prize for the audience to follow her progress like a championship run.

A fan can genuinely want Thurwar to get out and still help sustain the business that puts her in the arena. Adjei-Brenyah keeps that contradiction in view by moving between fighters, viewers, employees, and protesters. Read this first if you want a book that asks how much good it does to cheer for a person inside a system your attention helps fund.

Find the Pantheon hardcover of Chain-Gang All-Stars on Amazon.

2. The Running Man by Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman

Adult · High violence. Shootings, bloodshed, and fatal injuries.

Ben Richards enters a deadly game show because he needs money for his sick daughter. The network sends professional hunters after him, and viewers can earn money by reporting sightings. The game reaches beyond the TV set because the people who see Richards on the street have a reason to give him up.

The network also gets to tell viewers who Richards is. Once it gives them a villain to chase, turning him in can feel like doing the right thing. Of these seven picks, this is the most direct about what an audience member can gain from joining in.

Find the Scribner trade paperback of The Running Man on Amazon.

3. Battle Royale by Koushun Takami

Adult · Very high violence. Frequent graphic killings of teenagers.

An authoritarian government takes an entire junior high school class to an island and forces the students to kill one another until a single survivor remains. The cruelty lands because the students already have a history together. An old friendship or a classroom grudge can change how someone reads a classmate’s next move.

Takami puts the emphasis on what the state can make ordinary people do. The regime can point to a survivor as proof that its contest ran as designed, while readers see what it took to reduce a whole class to one name. Pick this if the reaping’s destruction of a community hit you harder than anything the Capitol put on television.

Find the Battle Royale: Remastered paperback novel on Amazon.

4. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins

YA · High violence. Deadly arena violence involving teenagers, plus executions.

If you skipped the earlier Panem prequel, go back to the 10th Hunger Games. Coriolanus Snow mentors District 12 tribute Lucy Gray Baird at a time when the Capitol is still figuring out how to get people invested in the Games. Betting and sponsorship give viewers reasons to follow individual tributes, and Lucy Gray’s skill as a performer gives them someone to remember.

Read the two prequels together and you can see how a format gets established. During Lucy Gray’s Games, the Capitol is still learning what gets people to tune in. By Haymitch’s Quell, those habits give the Capitol a ready-made way to tell the audience what it just saw.

Find the Scholastic Press hardcover of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes on Amazon.

5. The Long Walk by Stephen King, writing as Richard Bachman

Adult · High violence. Repeated shootings of teenage contestants and sustained physical distress.

One hundred boys start walking. The military enforces the pace, and only one boy will survive. Spectators line the route to see the walkers go by. For the crowd, it’s a sporting event that comes through town. For Ray Garraty, every mile makes it harder to stay upright and keep pace.

The roadside setting makes this King novel feel different from The Running Man. The crowd can stand close enough to recognize a boy and cheer for him. Then the walkers move on, and the people on the roadside get to go home. Pick this if you want a story that spends enough time with the contestants for their small acts of kindness to matter.

Find the Scribner trade paperback of The Long Walk on Amazon.

6. All of Us Villains by Amanda Foody and C. L. Herman

YA · High violence. Lethal magical attacks, bloody injuries, and death threats.

Seven families in Ilvernath each send a champion into a deadly tournament for control of a source of high magick. The contest used to be a local secret. A tell-all gives it an international audience and hands this year’s champions information about rival families that their predecessors never had.

There’s a sharp twist here for readers drawn to Haymitch’s fight over what gets seen. Publicity still turns teenagers into objects of fascination, but the same revelations can weaken the families that have kept the rules in place. Read this if you want a fantasy where outsiders learning the rules changes what the players can do.

Find the Tor Teen hardcover of All of Us Villains on Amazon.

7. The Sunbearer Trials by Aiden Thomas

YA · Moderate violence. Combat, injuries, and the threat of ritual sacrifice.

Every decade, the god Sol selects ten teenage demigods for a competition that replenishes the sun’s power. The winner carries light to the temples of Reino del Sol. The last-place contestant is destined for sacrifice. By the time Teo is selected, the sacred rite has also become a televised event with sponsors.

The crowd has a reason to believe in the trials: the rite helps keep their world safe. That makes cheering feel like civic pride, even as the spectacle asks viewers to celebrate a teenager’s sacrifice as an honor. This is the gentlest pick for readers who want the pressure of public competition with less graphic violence.

Find the Feiwel & Friends hardcover of The Sunbearer Trials on Amazon.

More from Books of Brilliance. Read why Collins starts Haymitch’s story on his birthday or brush up on why the Second Quarter Quell had 48 tributes. If you’ve finished the book, see our Sunrise on the Reaping ending explained.

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