Hunter

Maybe I was sufficiently warned from other reviews, or maybe I'm just used to Lackey's style at this point, but I had no trouble getting into this book. The start was slow, but I genuinely enjoyed being slowly introduced to this weird science fiction/fantasy world. It's incredibly complex, with its mythology and politics, and I love that Joy is at the center of it; she's keeping the secrets of the place where she grew up while also playing the game and being a good Hunter for the higher-ups.

I love the way relationships between the characters is developed is amazing. I felt like I had emotional connections with the characters almost instantly, and whether that's because Joy is so well developed and I felt such a connection to her, or show more because all the characters are developed well, I don't know. Probably a combination of the two. One of my pet peeves is how romantic relationships are often developed in YA books, particularly. It all too frequently takes center-stage, even in a book like this one, where it seems like the pressing danger of the Othersiders should theoretically take precedence. Luckily, Lackey knows what she's about and focuses on the story rather than the romance. There is just enough of the whole this-guy-is-cute-I-want-to-date-him thing.

My absolute favorite part, however, is how well the mythology/fantasy elements are tied together with the science fiction/post-apocalypse elements. I love how religion and fairy tales are almost given the same level of importance in this new world, where Othersiders seem very much to match a lot of the folk tales and legends found in old stories. And the ways they fight these supernatural creatures with a mixture of magic that the Hunters have within them and the tech developed by the military is also really cool; as I said, I was fascinated by this science fiction/fantasy fusion. I found it incredibly compelling.

Super excited to start the sequel!

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

Percy Jackson meets the Hunger Games, with Scott Westerfield's Ugly series.... and a small dash of regency era pomp?

I really wish before the book had started, that there was a disclaimer that there was something like Grounder speak ala the 100.... instead I dead serious thought the narrator had seriously dropped the ball too many times.

The idea over all is interesting, it definitely feels a little too juvenile for my normal reading but I am interesting about the series so I will continue a ways.

My high school students picked this for book club this month. I read it. I feel...unsettled...and not entirely in a good way. And now, I present to you the longest review I have written thus far on Goodreads.

GOOD:
I liked the world: a future society (in what was formerly the U.S.) plagued by monsters from every mythology. That blend of dystopia and fantasy is pretty legit.

I want to read the next one. I want to know what happens. So she did something right with her story. Then again, I'm a naturally inquisitive person who persevered through all FOUR of Colleen Houck's terrible tiger books to satisfy my curiosity.

Also, the hounds! Okay, so I grew up with three brothers during the initial Pokémon craze when kids would physically attack show more each other over holographic Charizard cards. I collected cards, too, but only the cute Pokémon. I gave the rest to my brothers because I just didn't care about them if they weren't adorable. Occasionally, I'd steal a brother's Game Boy Color and play his Pokémon game (which pissed him off, understandably) until I remembered that there weren't a lot of cute common Pokémon and I got bored. All that to say, that the hounds were like cute Pokémon for me. I loved them, but the battles and other monsters and such...I just didn't care that much.

BAD:
The back flap said that the author has written over 100 books in 25 years...which explains why this felt like reading a draft. The writing was juvenile, repetitive, and often just plain lazy. Also, the lingo that characters use in this futuristic society is unimaginative at best.

It's basically the Hunger Games all over again, but with magic and less compelling. I loved the Hunger Games, so this is only a half-complaint...

The main character is definitely a Mary Sue, which on the one hand I hate (obviously), but on the other, I don't totally mind because it lets me project my own notions of who that character ought to be. I would have preferred a memorable, flawed, kickass heroine. In general, the rest of the characters were flat, too.

UGLY:
The apocalyptic event that unleashed all these monsters upon the world? Blame the Christians for nuking everyone! I understand that the author (and lots of other people) are disgusted by the actions and attitudes of people who call themselves Christian. Even sometimes people (like me) who DO try to follow that self-sacrificing, pacifist, radical, homeless, compassionate Jewish rabbi...we mess up. We're selfish, vicious, apathetic, sheltered, and unloving all the time. I won't make excuses; it's sin and it's not okay. However, in my opinion, painting all the "Christers" as one-dimensional, warmongering, ignorant, judgmental fools is intellectual laziness and poor character development. When Joy tells off Mark for almost sharing his beliefs, she has a smug inner monologue about how she hates it when people push their beliefs down her throat...and yet, the author does that throughout the novel. Usually, I embrace reading viewpoints and beliefs that differ from my own, but this was just frustrating.

AND NOW, I'm going to go put the next one on hold at the library because despite all the irritation and disappointment, I believe it could get better and I want to give the author another chance. And okay, sure, I just want to know what happens next, so (Mary) sue me. show less

I like. It's a weird combo - a post-apocalyptic fantasy YA. The (modern, our) world destroyed itself, and this story is set a few decades later as the survivors are beginning to build up a solid society again - except they also have to deal with creatures out of myth and fairy tales, most of which really want to kill humans. The title Hunter is Joyeaux Charmand, a 16-year-old with the innate power to battle the Otherkind, who is traveling to join the main group of Hunters in the (world's? continent's?) biggest city, Apex. Joy is a little bit too good - she achieves high ranking very (almost ridiculously) quickly - but she has had considerable training and more experience than the Hunters of Apex realize. Politics, the way Hunters are show more treated in the city (as vid-stars - under constant surveillance, and with fans following their "adventures"), good friends and bad enemies - Joy runs into a lot of stuff that's new to her or at a higher level than she's experienced before. I get a little bit of the Herald vibe - but not from all the Hunters, just Joy and a few more. This might be like the Heralds at the beginning of things, before the burning desire to help people became a primary characteristic - or possibly the Heralds always had it (because of the Companions' Choice), but the Hunters only have a few with that impulse highly developed. Although the Hunters have Hounds, and by the end of the book we learn that the Hounds can have ethics that differ from their Hunter's, there isn't the magical ethics thing that the Companions have. Good book - a lot of interesting events adding up to a very powerful story arc - and an excellent beginning to a series. It is going to be a series, right? There's more? After all, we don't know who set the Vamp on Joy's friend, or who helped Ace, or...lots of things. I do find it odd that the monastery has "representatives of nearly all religions, except Christers" - why the limitation? There's some pretty powerful magical aspects to Christianity - and it's at least as well represented as in Judaism or Islam. I know less about other religions, but I don't think there's more magic in Buddhism, for instance, than for the Peoples of the Book. It may just have been convenient for the story, but it struck me as odd several times. And it was amazingly clean for an ARC - I think I found one flat-out typo (a matter of quote marks) and a few paragraphs that could use some editing. Other than that, nothing to distract me from the story (OK, aside from the fact that the publisher sent me a PDF which is a PAIN to read on my usual devices - I much prefer epubs, they reflow better). A book I enjoyed and a series I'm looking forward to.
Reread - I picked up a lot more background info this time through, including answers to why the Christers are set apart (by others, and internally). It helps that I have now read the second book in the series, which gave a lot more answers and tied together multiple threads that were loose ends in this book. Excellent series, I'm eagerly awaiting the third book.
Fourth reread - it's still a lot of fun, and I notice different things each time. A very rich story.
And another reread - Wonderful as always. Next! show less

this book is set in a future world where a mysterious "Diseray" occurred and created a crack in the universe that allowed many disgusting monsters to come forth into our world. These monsters vary in size and strength, and often look similar to creatures we know from fairy tales and folk tales, like "redcaps" or "fairies," but they're all deadly to humans. So some very few special humans-- who have developed the ability to summon magic--are trained as Hunters and have the fulltime job of tracking and killing Monsters. Our heroine, Joyeaux, is 16 and has been a Hunter in her small village for several years. But now she's been ordered to move across country to the big city and be a Hunter there, and that's where things get interesting and show more this book starts to sound a little like a dystopian Hunger Games-wannabe. In the city, where citizens are safe behind walls, Hunters live together in a dorm-like situation and all of their hunts and activities outside the Wall are filmed, 24/7, for broadcast on their own personal reality tv channels. Hunters develop followings and fan clubs, become celebrities, and compete for ratings and rankings. It's all very hard for Joy to adjust to, having come from a monastery where Hunters worked together, not as competitors. The magical trappings of this world are really cool--Joy can summon Hounds from the other world, monsters that are doglike and loyal and helpful to her, yet also are supernatural killing machines with lots of special powers. She can also cast other spells. There's a lot of politics and backstabbing, of course, as in any good dystopian/sf thriller, and the frequent action scenes are intense and exciting to read. I also loved Joy's sarcasm and humorous narration. show less

Wow. It's been awhile since I've ready any Lackey--I found the Valdemar? stuff too simplistic and the characters
one dimensional, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. Even with the obligatory romance that every writer seems to think YA needs. (I must have been the only teenager that thought life was too interesting to bother with boys. It colors my thinking). She has stayed away from the (dramatic music) love triangle, although I almost thought it was in the works at one point.

There was some talk of this being a mashup of the Mockingjay series, but I don't really get that feeling. I found that series VERY depressing. Joy is a good person who enjoys life and the people around her. She's humble, intelligent and has a great sense of self while show more remaining a teenaged character rather than an adult stuffed into a teenaged body (as some YA characters are).

Joy is a bit a a Mary Sue when it comes to magic, but not enough to ruin the story so far. As an indicator of how much I liked it, I purchased the Kindle & audiobooks for #2 and pre-ordered #3 in Kindle. Looking forward to how things shake out.

I just read over some reviews. A LOT of folks didn't like it, but I did appreciate one comment: "What it is is a paranormal/mythological/post-apocalyptic/dystopian mashup. "

EDIT - I forgot to mention the audiobook, I went between it and the Kindle version. The narration was well done. I could picture what I was seeing and I liked the author's variances from character to character. show less

This is being billed as Lackey's first YA novel, which is a bit surprising since she co-authored a YA trilogy with Rosemary Edghill a few years ago, and since a big part of her readership is adolescents. (Does someone in the marketing department think that 'YA' and 'dystopia' are synonymous?)

In any event, this is a well-written post-apocalyptic YA dystopia. It follows Joyeaux Charmand, a young, magic-using Hunter from the hinterlands sent to the capital for further training in fighting the dangerous Othersiders who have menaced all of humanity since the collapse of civilation centuries ago. Once there, she is shocked to discover the inequalities and deceptions being practiced. She is also quite surprised to discover that she--like all show more of the Hunters in Apex City--has become a vid star, with ubiquitous cameras broadcasting her every move for the entertainment of the populace. And there are more dangers to be faced than just the Othersiders.

Although this is fairly obviously intended as the first in a series, it does stand alone reasonably well. The world-building is nicely thought-out, and the plotting is good, but the characters lack a little something. Lackey is usually very good with characters, particularly her adolescent viewpoint characters, but Joyeaux isn't quite up to her usual standards. Joy is still an appealing character, however, as are here friends and allies. I would not hesitate to recommend this to fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent. show less