May 8, 2012
St. Martin's Griffin
Young Adult | Dystopian Fantasy
The Hunt #1
Pages: 304
Source/Format: NetGalley/eGalley
Rating: ★★★
Author's Website | Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Don’t Sweat. Don’t Laugh. Don’t draw attention to yourself. And most of all, whatever you do, do not fall in love with one of them.
Gene is different from everyone else around him. He can’t run with lightning speed, sunlight doesn’t hurt him and he doesn’t have an unquenchable lust for blood. Gene is a human, and he knows the rules. Keep the truth a secret. It’s the only way to stay alive in a world of night—a world where humans are considered a delicacy and hunted for their blood.
When he’s chosen for a once in a lifetime opportunity to hunt the last remaining humans, Gene’s carefully constructed life begins to crumble around him. He’s thrust into the path of a girl who makes him feel things he never thought possible—and into a ruthless pack of hunters whose suspicions about his true nature are growing. Now that Gene has finally found something worth fighting for, his need to survive is stronger than ever—but is it worth the cost of his humanity?
REVIEW:
The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda was an interesting read, but one riddled with
holes. The world-building had almost no sense behind it:
- could vampires
procreate, and if not, how did they turn new vampires?
- since they could
smell a drop of blood a mile away, why couldn’t they smell blood running
through a human’s veins?
- how could humans
live among vampires by pretending to be them? Surely the vampires would smell
human stink on them? (as evident when the lucky winners go to the Institute and
start smelling “hepers”—aka humans.)
- how did the vampires
get to the top and the humans nearly extinct?
- where in the fudging
world is this book set? United States? Africa? Your mom’s house?
- why horses, when you
have advanced technology? What purpose do horses serve and not cars (even
though it seems like cars also went extinct?)
- why stay a human
when there are SO MANY obstacles and fears of being eaten?
- why is Ashley June
so creepy?
And that’s just a
portion of what bothered me about the world-building. Gene, however, is quiet
weird. He also believes he’s so, so, so smart (and so do everybody else in this
book), but it’s really the “uneducated, untrained” hepers that are the smarter
ones, especially the female.
Oh, how angry I was
when I read the last page of The Hunt.
This book could have been a really good standalone, but, again, things were
thrown in to make the ending not only a cliffhanger, but also leaving us with
more questions. My problem is that I’m not sure these questions will be
answered in the books to follow—and should I really read them?
But, see, I really did
enjoy The Hunt. There was something
gripping about it and I had to know what was going to go on—I kept reading and
reading and reading, but the lack of a decent world gave me a headache and most
of the time I wanted to hit Gene. He was a lackluster character, and holy crap,
what was the point of explaining what simple things are that readers know—what smiling
is, crinkling, etc. I mean, I totally understand that he’s probably one of the
last humans on earth, but holy crap, I KNOW what that is!! You are just
dragging me out of the story and do. Not. Want. That. To happen at all. EVER.
Speaking of characters—Ashley
June. What was UP WITH HER?! Why was she so creepy and stalker-ish? I don’t
understand this characterization. Was it supposed to be a play on the usual
paranormal books where the guy is creepy and stalker-ish? Because if so, I
totally didn’t get that and thought it was creepy (to be fair, I think when guys
are creepy and stalker-ish is odd and don’t understand the whole “OMG I LOVE
YOU!”) Also, I just read the summary, and am I supposed to believe Gene and
Ashley June are in love? That’s kinda a spoiler, but am I? Because I didn’t get
that in the book. Ashley’s SO IN LOVE with Gene (which I don’t understand), and
he says he has feelings for her, but… there’s no chemistry between the two.
I just don’t know.
However, the ending? I liked that. The climax and such leading up to the big
reveal. It was definitely heart pounding and nerve inducing. But that last page
made me angry… all the loose ends were tied and he had to unravel one for a
cliffhanger ending. Le sigh. I just
don’t know about this one, to be honest. If it sounds like your thing, totally
read it. If it doesn’t, well, you know what to do.
Other Reviews:
Xpresso Reads: 2 Hot Espressos
Literary Exploration: 5 Stars
Good Choice Reading: 4 Stars
Iiiiinteresting. Now I'm curious about this one, but cliffhangers drive me nuts, especially if it doesn't feel natural.
ReplyDeleteI have read this one (and have it as an upcoming review)...I COMPLETELY agree with you. Especially about Ashley June - I actually mentioned her creepiness in my own.
ReplyDeleteI ended up liking it more than I than I would, but still have major mixed feelings about it.
Amanda @ Letters Inside Out
I really liked this one, but I agree with you on everything you didn't like, actually. I asked pretty much all the same questions, and too many at that. What was with the horses pulling buses and carriages? What happened to normal cars, trains, etc.? Where did the story take place? That was never even hinted at other than in a desert. Ashley June was seriously shifty. I didn't trust her until her sacrificial act in the very end. I totally thought she'd betray Gene! Why was she written like that?
ReplyDeleteAlso, I thought Gene was going to fall in love with Sissy, but then that never went anywhere. Why was Sissy played up as so brave and smart if she didn't really do anything significant on her own? How did Gene shave his face when he didn't have a razor at the Institute? I could never figure that out. And, when he finally found water, he had to drink from a standing pond that the hepers all bathed in. Ew... Although, who's going to complain if you're near death? Are there any good vampires who don't live to eat hepers? Do they all have such an uncontrollable urge to eat them that they can't think of anything else more exciting to do? It got on my nerves.
Still, the book was good and I loved the irony in it. I just wrote my second review of this book in your comments. LOL.
@Cathy, ha ha, LOVE your long comment! yeah, you bring up SUCH great points. I think he shaved with a knife or something? but I mean, I've tried to shave with a little razorblade I have to cut hay bail strings and it does NOT WORK AT ALL. it seems like the author thought something would work and then when you actually think about it, it doesn't really work all that fantastic. honestly, I did NOT get the lack of cars. a) they'll get you to your destination faster and b) you have all this technology but not cars? wtf?
ReplyDeleteI did like the book, but there was so many questions for the world-building. I mean, when I write a draft, I question myself about the world so I DON'T have these holes--and yes, they aren't perfect, but it gets me that much closer to a good world. I just wish it was expanded on more.
Wow, this book looks all over the place rating wise. The summary sounds really good, but your review is making me think I should skip this one. A lot of what you brought up is exactly things that would bother me too! No setting inclination is definitely weird!
ReplyDeleteAlso, "Your mom's house?" totally made me laugh.
haha, Preet, I'm glad you read that part! I am such a teenager sometimes...
ReplyDeleteThat review cracked me up.
ReplyDeletethanks, Jen. ;)
ReplyDeleteIf you think you've had enough with vampires, you might want to read just one more book. And "The Hunt" is it. This book takes the sparkle off vampires and shows them in an entirely different light. They're not the minority hiding from us and silently preying. They're the majority living, going to school, and working. The few humans alive are hiding and praying. Or they're being prepared for The Hunt.
ReplyDeleteGene's a heper and he's doing his best to go unnoticed in the vampire world. There are far too many cues that'll give him away. He can't sweat or they'll smell it and know. He can't react in any human way.