The Hunted

The Hunted was the first book I ever “reviewed,” if you can even call it that. I was Google-searching the book back in 2020 while working on my wiki for the series, and Google popped up, asking if I wanted to leave a review, so I shit out a one-paragraph, nothing-sauce review. I later stumbled across it, copied it to my blog, and have been intending to do a proper review since. I bring this up because I said I didn’t remember the plot very well in my original review. I’ve since read it 2 more times, and now I have a much better understanding as to why I didn’t remember it well.

It’s endless drama, and hyper-descriptive detail about every little thing. I always want to reference the first episode of an online machinima I love, show more called “Red vs. Blue.” where the character Church says “Okay, okay, look… they’re just standing there and talking, okay? (getting angry) That’s all they’re doing. That’s all they ever do, is just stand there and talk. That’s what they were doing last week, that’s what they were doing when you asked me five minutes ago. So, five minutes from now, when you ask me, “What are they doing?” my answer’s gonna be, “They’re still just talking, and they’re still just standing there!”[Citation]

The Hunted is slow as fuck, at the start of the book, it goes into extreme detail about how disfigured and gored Carlos is, despite technically not being “dead” yet. There’s an entire chapter or two, where Carlos is chatting with a nameless character I’ll call “The Amazonian”, and then another couple of chapters where Damali and her team meet the Brazilian guardian team. This isn’t to say I mind a slow-paced novel or anything, but next to nothing happens. There are a couple of action scenes scattered about and another concert, but it feels like a pseudo-retelling of books 1 and 2.

Berkfield is paranoid about the underworld.
Carlos is a master vampire trying to play double agent and protect Damali from a threat while playing the vampire council.
There’s a concert.
The Guardian team is jumpy around Carlos, despite him saving their asses, time and time again.

I have to squeeze past this book to enjoy the series as a whole. It has its fun moments, but it’s mostly just a fucking slog to get through. I like to re-read books, and unless you’re an obsessive purist like me, who has to read every story, I’d honestly suggest skipping book 3 in subsequent re-reads. Even if you skip it entirely, you’re really not missing out on much aside from the Brazilian Guardian Team’s introduction and a little bit of lore exposition here and there. I think it’s genuinely the weakest book in the series.

The Hunted starts with Carlos, nearly dead in the desert. He’s revived by The Covenant, but his existence is kept a secret from Damali for some reason. Damali’s in an all-around bad mood, thinking Carlos is dead, and when an obviously-terrified Berkfield confronts her in an alleyway, she brushes him off. I feel like as a Guardian, and a Neteru, she really should have clued in on his experience with the supernatural, and given him the time of day, if not for mental closure, at least so he could protect himself. He’s not seen or heard from again, until the epilogue, which seems like a super random cameo, as if to say “Hey, remember this guy from books 1 – 2? Ok, just checking.” Much like this book as a whole, you could cut his scenes and wouldn’t miss a thing.

Carlos doesn’t want to meet back up with Damali but agrees to do so. The guardians let him into their compound, and then start talking about what a dangerous threat he is to them all. They all treat Carlos like he’s Fallon Nuit, despite using his body as a shield to protect them from the forces of hell, with ripening Neteru in his nose. Then why even let him into the building!?!? It’s hard not to hate the guardians for constantly shitting on Carlos for being a “master vampire” when he’s clearly not taking the opportunity to rip their hearts out and repeatedly goes out of his way to help them. It makes the entire cast cum off as ungrateful, bipolar fucking assholes. The Neteru Guardian Team are vampire exterminators, I get that. But they’re constantly shitting on the one fucking vampire who is trying to help them, has body blocked them from danger, and is trying to redeem his soul and return to the light.

Damali and Carlos flip-flopping doesn’t help. Carlos and the team keep the Brazil threat a secret from Damali, and she gets pissed off. Rightfully so, but she also “breaks up” with her soul mate because he doesn’t want to go to Brazil with her to handle it together which makes no sense. Brazil is his territory, he’s the North and South American master, and for some inexplicable reason, he goes from wanting to take down whatever’s killing humans there, to keep Damali safe, to not wanting to go. Damali and Carlos have their lovers spat, she acts as if she’s done with him and goes to Brazil where she constantly goes on about being single. Meanwhile Carlos instead opts to kick in lair doors and get his territory back in line off-page, instead of protecting his Neteru/soul mate/”Package”, which makes no sense. Why the fuck is he so focused on killing weaker vampires, when his soul mate is in a foreign nation hunting an unknown threat?

Damali goes on and on about how she and Carlos are done, some Brazilian guy flirts with her, and she tells him she’s in a relationship. Carlos can telepathically tell some guy is hitting on her and he’s suddenly team “Let’s go to Brazil!” again. The moment Carlos shows up in Brazil, Damali’s over her anger, and can’t wait to hook up with him again. He takes her to his lair, he goes to feed, and when she’s in his lair, she’s suddenly mistrusting of him. Damali goes from being angry with Carlos for bailing on her and keeping secrets, to wanting to go to his lair to fuck some more, to being jumpy and mistrustful of him like her guardians at the drop of a needle; and then she breaks up with him again.

All of the characters in this book cum off like fucking mentally unwell, irrational psycho’s with ridiculous mood swings and unclear priorities. Damali and Carlos act like a couple of high school kids, bickering and breaking things off and getting annoyed with each other who can’t decide if they love each other, hate each other, want to fuck, or mistrust each other. Kamal, the leader of the Brazilian Guardian Team seems to be the only fucking person in the book with a level head, and getting through The Hunted is honestly a combination of exhausting and boring. show less

Well, I've gotten through Book #3.

I enjoy the world around Carlos, the vampire. The council, the intrigue, that sort of thing. I don't understand hardly any of it. This is the most confusing book series ever.

But - there's WAY too much angst here! I want more vampire hunting! More battles! Hold off on that drama, girl! It wears me out, it's stilly, it makes no sense. There are parts of this story that I like but parts that are so eye rolling.

It's also terribly confusing. I never understood a thing about the demons and the were-demons and the Neterus and the guardians and whatever else went on.

And an entire chapter to have sex? Really? That got old quick. And another entire chapter with these weird guardian dudes feeling show more oh-so-uncomfortable about Marlene maybe hooking up with an old boyfriend? No one can handle hormones? Why are hormones even running rampant in this book? What's the big deal you found out your boyfriend wanted to do a were-demon because she was hot and sexy? Grow up! show less

I am a total fan of this series. When I got the book from the library I was really excited. I was actually kind of made that "New Moon" by Stephenie Meyers was standing in my way of reading a more adult vampire romance story.

What I really enjoy about Banks writing in this series is that she gives you a little more information on the background of the characters and their history with each book. As the story moves along the rules of the vampire world are reveled and shows how much thought that she put into this series. One of the main problems that I had with "New Moon" was that the characters (particularly Bella) were not growing and developing. I don't have that problem with this series. In "The Hunted" the main character Damali show more continues to not only grow as a person but her skills as a vampire hunter continue to improve. I also like watching her relationship with Carlos develops and grow.

Unfortunately, Banks still has not still has a problem with language in this book. The slang that she uses seems a little forced to me and outdated. I have gotten use to it, so it is not a major issue with me now but it still bothers me. Another problem with this story is that the characters end up in Brazil and she doesn't make the switch. What I mean, is that all the Brazilian characters use the American slang terms and now the actions (fist pound which is also outdated unless you are Obama or older). It takes away from the feel that the characters are in a foreign place. Everyone they meet also somehow seems to know English (that could be because they are all for the most part paranormal creatures) not very believable (Yes, I know it is a vampire story). show less

#94, 2006

The third in the Vampire Huntress series, this book was a lot longer than the other books, with a more intricate plot. I did enjoy the book – the story is getting interesting, but I found the length a bit daunting at times (and I’m not intimidated by long books; I just need them to really engage me). I felt like I was reading and reading and reading, and not really making much progress – the book didn’t grab me and pull me in like some books do. On the plus side, though, I didn’t find the use of slang as distracting in this book. I don’t know if she’s cut back on it, or if I’ve just gotten used to it. This book has some pretty steamy sex scenes, too, although in a way, I found the romantic aspects almost show more oppressive. There is a LOT of angst going on here, for a number of characters. Which, in one way, is interesting, but I did find it almost too much at times.

I think I will keep reading – I know there’s at least one more in the series, and maybe more. I do hope the next one isn’t quite as dense, though. Then again, maybe I won't bother. I've got so many other books around here to read. show less

I have to say I definitely liked this better than the first two in this series. And after reading the teaser for The Bitten at the end, I'm anxiously looking forward to that one now too.

Granted like the first two, the writing style got to me at times. Were it not for the fact that the characters tend to say a lot of useless and unimportant stuff, I might've gotten lost in the dialogue sometimes, partially because of the dialect they use... is it called hip hop or black, I'm not sure... and also because Damali sometimes seems to go on and on in her head about nothing at all. Fortunately, any time this happened, it wasn't detrimental to understanding what was going on.

In this book, Carlos is able to fight his ever-strengthening vampire show more nature because of his love for Damali, and has become a valuable resource to the Guardian team. I'm glad to see his place is secured in future books. show less

I found much not to like about this book. With 100 pages to go I had to force myself to keep going, a situation I find myself in very rarely.

Essentially it's lots of teen-angst emotional crap, partly from Damali, who might have an excuse, but from a load of people that should know better. Then there's badly handled supernatural power politics, so poorly handled it was frankly unbelievable. I know supernatural and believable don't necessarily go together, but you've got to believe, sometimes, that the characters are doing things that are right for them.

Round it off with Brazilians who talk more like they're from the ghetto than from a tropical Portuguese speaking country and blah.

In the story line, Carlos and Damali finally shag. It's show more meant to be big and momentous, but it all fell a bit flat for me, and dragged. That's the first 45% of the book. The next 45% is a load of guff about people lying, or not, or the angst as the relationship gets tarnished (insanely hard and fast) - I wanted to knock heads together.

The last bit they sort of get their act together, but rather than the big climax it was more a sense of blessed relief it was all over.

I'm sad I own the next book in the series. It will be a long time before it gets near the top of my "to read" pile after this. show less

So we open up knowing that Damali & her gang are depressed. I'm not entirely sure why they're all depressed – they just kind of are. I think it's because they escaped from the tunnels of hell but Carlos – a vampire who none of them knew – didn't. This also really depresses Damali who expresses this by having a random vampire kill, just because and decides to have a reunion with an old friend, drink booze and spend some time reminiscing and being depressed

We know they're depressed because they spend an awwwfully long time telling us that they're depressed. No, really, this is like 15% of the book here, spent telling us how depressed they are. They might rename the “exposition room” to the “moping room.” I honestly didn't show more think I'd finish this book because that first 15% was almost impossible to read. Somehow, I managed. I wish I hadn't. This book makes me feel I have to go back and re-read Sunshine, our only DNF review because if I got through this I owe McKinley a second chance!

Anyway, Carlos, has survived! Yay, I guess? He is found by the surviving priesty-dudes and taken to a secret location to recover and be offered a deal – he fights the good fight for 7 years and his soul will be redeemed (because, y'know, nearly dying to save the Neteru and the world? Totes not enough). There then follows page after page of Carlos saying how horny the Neteru makes him and how there's some vampire women out there and they make him horny and zomg so horny and hungry and horny and – for gods' sake Carlos, go get some alone time with your right hand already.

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