Author: Andrew Fukuda
Series: #1 - The Hunt
Format: Hardcover
Release Date: May 8th, 2012
My Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
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?
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?
My Review:
So I thought this was going to be an odd turn of dystopians, and it was. This is more of a dystopian that breaths sci-fi. It's got a more sci-fi in the novel than really dystopian, which through me for a bit of a loop, but at the same time has these great build worlds and situations that is life and death constantly. A mystery brews and while I got close to trying to understand what was going on in the book, the conclusion eludes me. Frankly I thought the book did a great job molding two ideas together, and while it's not a top notch book, it's just shy of that mark.
Gene is your normal boy that lives in a world that's so far from normal that I'm not sure he would even know what the past/regular world would be. Imagine a world in which humans were an endangered species and the ruling group is Vampires. So anything that causes you to sweat, smell different, any emotion, not sleeping upside down, etc. will be a giant neon flag pointing to you as a human and you'll be dead in a few moments. The world is so vicious and violent that it's a miracle that something as simple as a tan hasn't sold Gene out.
While the world is so vicious there is a second part that hammers that whole bit home. Vampires view humans as a delicacy and The Director (a sort of president) puts together what's called The Hunt in which "randomly" selected vampires go to a compound and hunt down kept and bred humans. It's a game to them, but when Gene gets selected it turns toward anything but a game. However as the candidates are getting prepped, Ashley June is selected in the contest as well and is the crush to Gene.
The romance is rather a backseat and Ashley actually helps push the whole story forward, keeping the fear, suspense, and thrill going. I loved Ashley's involvement, and I don't want to talk much about her, because she plays a rather large key in some of the mystery going on. She is just so down to earth, but yet there is a rather large bit that is puzzling about her. Gene is capable of hiding amongst all the vampires, but Ashley makes him look ridiculous. She's just so much better at subtlety that there screams more to her character and you don't get to see much of that and I hope she appears much better in the sequel.
I loved the book, it was great the worlds were perfect. How everything just flowed together, the thrill never really left me and I don't really stay in that suspense for long. Fukuda did a great job in this novel weaving so much complexity in the plot and how the mystery is formed and contoured, that when the cliffhanger came, I wanted to run to his house and demand answers. However there are some that may not find the suspense and thrill all that intense or frankly even there. The way the world just breathes anger and thirst is so great, and I enjoyed it.
While this book isn't one of my favorites, out of all the sci-fi/dystopians this was just up there. Give it a try, I am sure that some of you will hate this book, but on the off chance, this book has a lot that it brings to the table.
Gene is your normal boy that lives in a world that's so far from normal that I'm not sure he would even know what the past/regular world would be. Imagine a world in which humans were an endangered species and the ruling group is Vampires. So anything that causes you to sweat, smell different, any emotion, not sleeping upside down, etc. will be a giant neon flag pointing to you as a human and you'll be dead in a few moments. The world is so vicious and violent that it's a miracle that something as simple as a tan hasn't sold Gene out.
While the world is so vicious there is a second part that hammers that whole bit home. Vampires view humans as a delicacy and The Director (a sort of president) puts together what's called The Hunt in which "randomly" selected vampires go to a compound and hunt down kept and bred humans. It's a game to them, but when Gene gets selected it turns toward anything but a game. However as the candidates are getting prepped, Ashley June is selected in the contest as well and is the crush to Gene.
The romance is rather a backseat and Ashley actually helps push the whole story forward, keeping the fear, suspense, and thrill going. I loved Ashley's involvement, and I don't want to talk much about her, because she plays a rather large key in some of the mystery going on. She is just so down to earth, but yet there is a rather large bit that is puzzling about her. Gene is capable of hiding amongst all the vampires, but Ashley makes him look ridiculous. She's just so much better at subtlety that there screams more to her character and you don't get to see much of that and I hope she appears much better in the sequel.
I loved the book, it was great the worlds were perfect. How everything just flowed together, the thrill never really left me and I don't really stay in that suspense for long. Fukuda did a great job in this novel weaving so much complexity in the plot and how the mystery is formed and contoured, that when the cliffhanger came, I wanted to run to his house and demand answers. However there are some that may not find the suspense and thrill all that intense or frankly even there. The way the world just breathes anger and thirst is so great, and I enjoyed it.
While this book isn't one of my favorites, out of all the sci-fi/dystopians this was just up there. Give it a try, I am sure that some of you will hate this book, but on the off chance, this book has a lot that it brings to the table.
