Andrew Fukuda

I have read numerous books about WWII, but this is the first one that included the Japanese-Americans that were placed in internment camps in this country. I was totally blown away by this authors ability to grab my heart and wring out every emotion possible. You see, I knew what America did to our own countrymen,but Mr.Fukada told this story in such a way that I felt shame, sadness, embarrassment, anger and bewilderment. The story of Charlie and Alix moved me so much that I would laugh and show more cry in the same paragraph. Wonderful book, wonderful story, wonderful author. Thank you for the opportunity to read this amazing book.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. show less

Review courtesy of All Things Urban Fantasy

In THE HUNT, Andrew Fukuda created a terrifying yet irresistible world where humans are all but extinct. He introduced us to Gene, a teen forced to hide among the very vampires who would devour him if they discovered he was human. In THE PREY, Gene and the small group of humans he helped escape are on the run, following cryptic clues left by Gene’s father in search of The Promised land, the last human outpost in the world.

THE PREY picks up only show more seconds after THE HUNT ended with Gene and the escaped humans fleeing down the river with a pack of salivating vampires in pursuit. Right away the excitement level is sky high and it stays that way throughout the book. If possible, the world is even more frightening in THE PREY, and this time, it’s not because of the vampires. The Mission, a hidden human village, will rile your blood with it’s vile Elders and barbaric, misogynistic treatment of women. It’s a whole different kind of scary and supremely tragic.

Beyond The Mission, we learn a lot more about Gene’s father, aka The Scientist. We also see the relationship dynamics shift between Gene, Sissy, and Epap in very unexpected but intriguing ways. My absolute favorite thing about THE PREY, however, is the way seemingly insignificant details from the first book were revealed to have monumental significance in the sequel. It showed just how much planning has gone into this series from its inception. There is nothing better for a reader than being able to fully trust an author, and after THE PREY, I have full confidence in Andrew Fukuda and his story.

Sequels are tricky business. So often they fail to evoke the same feelings, recapture the same sense of wonder as the first book. With THE PREY, Andrew Fukuda had a huge task ahead of him with his follow up to the book I described as “violent, scary and compulsively readable with an ending that will leave readers salivating for the sequel.” So what’s the verdict? THE PREY is one of those truly rare, and elusive books that surpasses its predecessor. Everything that made the debut so amazing is amped up. The terror, the outrage, and the adventure. There are no details yet about the next book in The Hunt series, but I’m as ravenous as a starving dusker to get my hands on it.

Sexual Content:
N/A show less

Oh, holy butter, THE HUNT is such a smooth and unputdownable read that I hardly know where to begin with this review. If our world was set in THE HUNT, Andrew Fukuda is like the master of all vampires, and I would gladly crack my neck with excitement because I am absolutely salivating for the next installment! I had said earlier this year that DRINK, SLAY, LOVE was absolute love-at-first-sight, and comparitively THE HUNT rises up to the challenge and proves to be true-love-at-first-bite. show more Vampires, your comeback is nigh – and I totally LOVE what these authors have done with them!

THE HUNT will immediately suck readers into a world where vampires come out on top in regards to survival of the fittest, and Gene may be the last free-roaming human left - although he cannot exactly announce that to the world. The vampires may love humans, but their love is not strictly in the platonic sense. I cannot imagine how hard it is for Gene to hide his humanity and train himself to be unnoticeable among his predators. Gene is quite the intelligent young man, but he realizes that any misstep means certain and unpleasant death. As a person who tends to wear her emotions on her sleeve, I would probably fail epicly in maintaining a cool façade. I do wonder what exactly Gene expects for his life since it seems that he may have a lonely future ahead of him with no particular desire to stir any trouble. Until he gets selected to join the Hunt and comes into contact with the human captives.

What Andrew Fukuda brings to the table is a strong and cohesive world where night becomes the new day, and all the characters definitely help to create such an interesting dilemma where readers constantly wonder if there are others like Gene who have lived under the radar and also if higher powers DO know about Gene but choose to keep it quiet. Who exactly is the man behind the curtain? Who is vampire, and who is human? Who can be trusted, and who will stake you in the back? THE HUNT deftly buildS up the suspense into a satisfying yet game-changing conclusion that will leave readers anxious to find out where the series will go in Book 2 – and who will prove fit enough to survive.

Deliciously innovative, wholly addictive, and solidly dystopic, fans of LEGEND, The Hunger Games, and DIVERGENT are sure to devour THE HUNT in one sitting, drool to the point of embarrassment, and immediately demand seconds. NOW. Andrew Fukuda has delivered an impressive debut that brings all the tricks to the table, and something tells me that the next installment will be just as well-crafted to perfection. show less

Nope.

Nope nope nope.

I keep seeing the word “original” used to describe this book, as if that automatically means “good”. It doesn’t. Originality is a nice quality when seen in combination with other positive things, like strong characters, excellent world building, or vivid imagery. Originality on its own just means somebody hasn’t thought of it yet. It’s new.

I might come up with the idea of writing a story about vampires that live in trees and communicate by doing gymnastics. show more Original? Sure. Good? No, it’s just dumb.

So, when I read about drooly vampires that laugh by scratching their wrists and make out with each other by doing some kind of weird elbow move, am I impressed because no one has ever come up with this before? Nope. Because it’s just dumb.

I was wavering on this anyway, and then I got to the part where the main character is being fed incorrect information about humans and starts imagining the “wrong” ideas humans might get about vampires (who I think are just referred to as “people”, but we know what they are). He then lists a bunch of the traditional vampire traits, as well as many from contemporary novels, as if they’re the ridiculous ones. Insufferable.

I looked up some reviews of the book, confirmed that it wasn’t going to get any better, and happily stopped reading on page 88.

I picked this up because of the author blurbs (despite the word “unputdownable”, which I hate), mainly the one by Richelle Mead, who I usually like, and because it was marketed as being like Hunger Games with vampires. Well, of the latter, I should have known better. You can’t get a dystopia these days without Hunger Games being mentioned in the marketing, and it's never true. But I’m going to hold the blurb against Richelle Mead for a while. show less