The new Hunger Games prequel book, Sunrise on the Reaping, takes place roughly 24 years before the start of Suzanne Collins’ original book trilogy, which gives Collins the chance to include younger versions of a whole host of legacy characters. Sunrise on the Reaping doesn’t just bring back Haymitch Abernathy — Katniss and Peeta’s eventual surly mentor, who narrates the events of the book — he comes with a whole host of other characters who appeared across the original Hunger Games trilogy. Some readers have complained that this comes across as simple, indulgent fan service.

But Collins has always been methodical and deliberate about what she includes in her text. For instance, she never revealed the names of Katniss’ parents until Sunrise on the Reaping, even though she says she parsed out their full backstories: “Her parents have their own histories in District 12 but I only included what’s pertinent to Katniss’s tale,” she told Scholastic Press in a 10th-anniversary interview.

The characters who return for Sunrise on the Reaping are all specifically and thoughtfully included, for more than just gratuitous name recognition. They’re here to make a significant point about the nature of political rebellion and resistance against tyranny.

[Ed. note: This post contains some major spoilers for Sunrise on the Reaping.]

The previous Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, also brought back some familiar characters, but because it was set more than 60 years prior to the core trilogy, there weren’t as many........

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