The Hunt

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. 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 show more 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. 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 show more 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

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda (#1)
Pages: 304
Release Date: May 8th, 2012
Date Read: 2012, May 13th-17th
Received: ARC via NetGalley
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Recommended to: 15+

SUMMARY -
Don't sweat, his father said. Don't let them smell you. Don't let them see the hair on your chin. Don't laugh. Don't cry. Don't widen your eyes.
Gene has followed these rules for years. Long after his father died. Long after he was forced to live alone. He has lived among the vampires, one of them, in the dark, his life in danger at every moment. If they realize what he is - a heper, a human they will devour him that very second. When Gene is chosen to participate in the Heper Hunt, the first in 10 years, concealing his true identity may be harder than anything he's show more every done. Especially when he may be so much closer to his own kind than he thinks.

MY THOUGHTS -
The Hunt. Oh goodness - where to begin? I really enjoyed it, in a cringing, "Oh my GOSH that's disgusting!" kind of way. Is that even possible?! It just tripped me out. I don't do vampires, and the only other vampire-related book I ever read was about vampire bats and I hated nearly every second of that book. So I was surprised I liked this as much as I did. But still. Gross. :/

CHARACTER NOTES -
Gene pretty much made The Hunt for me. That and the writing, which was stellar. Gene is the kind of guy you wan to be buddies with. Maybe you even want to be his girlfriend. Underneath all this "hide from the vampires" stuff, he's such a cool guy. His discovery of romance and love just made him all the more appealing.

Now, Ashley June. Ashley June. She is one tripped out character. And I loved her. I won't (can't) say too much about her, but I seriously loved her strength and poise. And that's about all I can say. (If you must know, I guessed everything about her the moment she was introduced at school...just sayin'.)

Now, there are some NASTY vampires here. Ashley June may be tame, but that's not normal. Ha! The others are just...EW. That's all I can think to say, because really, they all team up to suck the blood from humans. And it's described. And I have not gotten over that scene. I need a barf bag Every. Single. Time.

STORY NOTES -
The first 100 pages or so were good, but they lacked intensity for me. It had some scary, disturbing things, but...not enough to wow me - just enough to keep me going. Then, BAM! Wowza! The rest of the story jumped at me. So much happens, so much mystery is involved, and the climax! GASP! It was like, 75 freaking pages of OHMYFREAKINGGOSH WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! Ahem. Composure obtained...

Now, this story is gross, because vampires are not glorified and the Director is scary as hell and Gene could be devoured at any second. There are scenes, quite a few of them, that involved eating raw meet with blood running and - yuck. Still squeamish. Hence, the lower rating.

But I will be continuing this series. Andrew Fukuda is highly trained in the art of torture by a few small words. And by small words I mean Lauren Oliver style - like the last words of the book. Where everything blows up in your face and you can't breathe.

SO. Obviously, I have to know.

And while I can't say much about either of these things, I loved:
1. The romance. It was flipping amazing!
2. Gene's work with the Hepers. Wow! Such a neat dynamic!

So bravo to Andrew Fukuda, even though I'm still recovering. I say well done! (That's how I like my meat, ya'll. Not fresh. But, you know, no hatin'.)

SUMMING IT UP -
Scary and yucky but totally flipping cool! If you're not totally disgusted, you'll most likely enjoy it! (Oh, but what was with the armpit sex? That was bordering on Twilight-glittery-vampire-funny!)

For the Parents -
You heard me. Armpit sex. Spin the bottle, Ashley June and Gene are forced into a closet, they have to, erm, do that. It's just so weird. But it's not explicit, not really. Just that it's a source of pleasure for vampires. Besides this and the nasty violence, nothing. Ages 15+ show less

The Hunt was a refreshing new take on the vampire story. Normally I am not a fan of books written in the male perspective, but The Hunt was extremely well done. In fact it has one of if not my favorite male point of views. Gene is intelligent, thoughtful, and resourceful. He has had to live his entire life hiding that he is a human. One of the things I found most interesting about this is Gene sees himself differently from the humans/hepers that are in captivity. He more so identifies with the vampires. In this The Hunt presents a very complex view of how we see ourselves and will make you wonder what you would do in his situatio. Gene's female counterpart Ashley June intrigued me from the very beginning and kept it up throughout the show more whole book. Readers will constantly wonder is she a blood thirsty vampire or maybe she is a vamp with a heart. There is one part in the book where she describes what she wants from Gene and it was absolutely beautiful. I can't think of any book that describes what someone witha one sided love wants more. This book has so many wonderful components it is hard to describe them all. If you are someone who likes their vamps mean this is the book for you! They are superior, mean, and as blood thirsty as ever! The only negative or part of The Hunt that threw me for a loop was the "armpit" thing, but I'll let you discover that for yourself.
The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda is a must read for 2012! If you liked the movie Daybreakers you should give this a try.
***I received this book for free in exchange for my honest opinion through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program show less

Also at http://lisally.wordpress.com/

Gene is a human in a world of vampires. He has survived by living among them, going to school at night, sleeping in the day, and hiding his natural functions and mannerisms. When a lottery is announced, the prize a chance to hunt some captive humans, Gene is unexpectedly a winner. Now, Gene must find a way out of the hunt, while under the constant watch of people who would devour him in a second.

The Hunt has a great premise, and it’s good to see a different perspective on vampires. Early parts of the story regarding the lottery seem a bit too reminiscent of The Hunger Games, but fortunately the story focuses lest on the competition than on Gene’s alienation and rediscovery of his own humanity. show more The story certainly kept me reading, but problems with the underlying logic hampered much of my enjoyment.

There’s an earnest attempt at making the vampires unique for this story, but the depiction seems inconsistent. The vampires act almost human one moment, and then like complete monsters the next; it’s hard to believe that the sight of a food source (a human) would eliminate most rational thought. It’s also unclear whether vampires are born or made. There are vampire children and elderly, yet at one point it seems Gene’s father is going to transform into one after being bitten. The vampires also don’t sweat, yet they apparently urinate. It’s also odd that in a society not too different from our own, the vampires don’t seem to give each other names.

The world building is weak also. Being a vampire is the norm, and humans are considered extinct. How long has been the case? Is vampirism fairly recent, or have vampires dominated for most of history? There is also a strange mix of technology; the vampires have the internet, but no cars. How does email work if no one has a name? The vampires also refer to humans as “hepers” which doesn’t make much sense. The prefix “hepa” refers to the liver; does this mean the vampires don’t have livers?

The novel is still entertaining despite these inconsistencies, and there are some good hints at some larger mysteries. The Hunt has potential, but unfortunately its problems are a bit too many to ignore.

A review copy was provided through Goodreads.com First Reads program. show less

There's something not right with the folks in Gene's community. While like other people, they go to school, do their homework and goof around, they also have this irksome habit of scratching their wrists, popping their necks, mating with their elbows and of course a little thing that involves eating humans.

Vampires make up the vast majority of the living..er nonliving society in The Hunt. Almost all the humans have become extinct and the vampires live off animal blood and raw meat, forever squelching the blood thirst that with even the mention of a human makes them frenzy with desire. Most carry on just like normal humans would, they attend school, eat three meals a day, have jobs and go home to sleep...upside down hanging from the show more ceiling during the daylight hours. Needless to say, these vampires are scary, their evil and have no shred of human emotion. Not one of them would save you, date you or even care if you were a child....the objective is to eat humans and its a violent bloody death, granted while most of the humans have been eaten, one is always on the look out for a survivor.

Gene, a human living among the vampires was trained by his father and knows how to blend in. His mind has been so trained to think, feel and pretend vampire actions, that he flies easily under the radar. Obviously there are some dangerous and scary close calls, but our smart, loner protagonist fools them all night in, night out. Things become a challenge however when the government decides to announce they are holding captive humans awaiting a much overdo game called The Hunt, where a special selected group of teens from the school will get to participate in hunting down the released humans and having a glorious feast. Gene along with a few others get their numbers pulled and its off to training and heper hunting. What the vampires don't know is that the vampire game masters have upped the ante and have trained the humans with weapons, good nutrition and survival skills. They don't just want a feeding frenzy, they want sport, fun and gruesome murders.

Once the group gets to the training center, things really start looking bleak for our hero Gene. There is no source of water and dehydration and body odor kick in faster than he could imagine. Other vampires even though they see the Dome and know humans, aka the hepers are in it, cant stop picking up the smell of a fresh human. Crazy with lust and the frenzy that begs to take over them, they don't realize the smell is coming from their own classmate and each day that Gene doesn't find a source to clean himself brings him that much closer to discovery. The Hunt may start sooner then they all realize and how can one boy stand up to them all?

This hunt, this world of the truly grotesque, the lost in all its evilness of fleshy desires, was truly a terrifying, suspenseful ride. I cringed at the disgusting parts, I got nervous at the intense parts, I was sad in the lonely parts, I was swoony during the romantic parts {minis elbow closet} and I was shocked at the ending. The pace kept me alert and while I thought I had everything figured out, things were still a surprise once surfaced.

Fukuda's writing was a thrilling, nonstop ride that I couldn't set down. Compared to his debut Crossing, this author proves again that he has beautiful talent to make you love an outsider. From the suspenseful plot to the killer cliffhanger, The Hunt for sure is my favorite vampire novel this year. show less

*I was provided a copy of this E-book by Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any way for them.

Review:

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. These are the rules Gene has followed his whole life. At night he pretends to be one of them, the creatures who have hunted his kind to near extinction. Gene knows he's lucky to be alive. If they found out.....well he didn't want to think about that. Unfortunately that's the price you have to pay when your a Heper(human)living in a world full of vampires.

I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. Early reviewers didn't seem to favor it at show more all, so when I was approved to read The Hunt I pushed back doing so until closer to release. When I finally sat down and read this book I was gripped instantly. Without giving to much away the book opens with a voiceover. The character later revealed as Gene is telling the story about a little girl who wanted to go to school. She snuck out, attended class and even made it through part of the day. Her downfall was the teacher calling for naptime. All of the students rushed to their perches on the ceiling but obviously the little girl could not, so her ruse was found out and she was eaten down to the very bone. This scene took me by surprise and I immediately proceeded to devour (no pun intended) the rest of the book in one sitting.

I don't want to give the book away since I really think it's worth discovering for yourself, so my review will be spoiler light. The Main characters Gene and Ashley June are chosen for The Heper Hunt. While Ashley June is thrilled obviously Gene is not. I found this to be interesting. Gene while a Heper himself draws a distinct line between himself and those he is doomed to track and kill. He is civilized, they are not. If that meant killing them so be it. Gene is one of the best Male protagonists I have read in a good long while. He starts out as this almost dead Character. He has no emotions, no spark of life to him. All the things that define a human would get him killed so he buries them down deep. It is almost easy to forget he is human he is so cold. As the book progresses and the facade starts to crumble, we get glimpses of his real human personality shining through. I must say this made for great reading.

Ashley June on the other hand. While she was a decently written character, I did see the clear path where her storyline was heading. I think she has a larger story to tell but I was a bit let down when my predictions for her were right. I also wanted to know more about the world. While we learn that society has been this way a long time, we don't learn how it ended up that way in the first place.

In the end this was a great book, with many surprising moments, lots of action and even a little romance along the way. The ending while a bit predictable was satisfying! I really am looking forward to reading the next book in this series. I definitely suggest picking up this book when it releases May 8th and giving it a shot. I will be giving The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda 4 Stars. show less