Monday, May 7, 2012

THE HUNT by ANDREW FUKUDA



The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda is published by St. Martins Press and will be released on May 8, 2012 and has 293 terrifying, heart-thumping delectable pages!


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?


THE FAERYS VIEW


The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda was completely out of this world! Literally not of the world we live in now, that’s for sure but the book it’s self completely blew me away. It was one of those books that I sort of put off reading thinking “okay, another dystopian novel to slog through” and don’t get me wrong, I love them more than anything but sometimes there’s so many that just don’t meet my expectations. The Hunt did more than meet my expectations, it ROCKED MY WINGS to the point I was buzzing all over the place!


What an amazingly thought out plot! Gene lives his life with a society of vampires that have taken over the world. Yes, there’s a few ‘hepers’ here and there but most of that, Gene believes, is fantasy talk. Gene himself is a heper; I‘m sorry but I can’t get past the similarity between heper and heifer! Prime meat just walking around, the only difference is that the hepers know they’re hunted. One drop of blood and the vamps would be on them in a wild frenzy. Every evening, Gene has to shave the hair off his entire body except his head, make sure he has absolutely no body odor, he has to constantly remind himself not to laugh, clear his throat basically not to show any heper emotion at all. When the vamps laugh or show emotion, they scratch their wrist. It’s a bizarre world that he lives in and one mistake and he’s a goner.

There’s one girl in glass with shiny red hair and she’s so beautiful that Gene has a hard time keeping his eyes off her but he's caught her looking at him more then a few times, too so he has to be extra careful. They don’t go by names, they go by seat assignments such as D-4 but he has always called her Ashley June. He’s been all by himself since he was 9 years old but he remembers everything his father told him so he’d blend in.

When he and Ashley June win the ‘heper hunt’ and get invited to the palace to go on the first ‘heper’ hunt in 10 years, he really starts to worry. The take him right from the school with none of his prep pack, the more nervous he gets, the more like a heper he smells like but on the way there the others blame it on the fact that they’re getting closer to the heper colony.
Once Gene is at the colony they have 5 days of ‘festivities’ where Gene spends most of his time trying to not smell or dehydrate since the vamps don’t require fluids other than blood. Luckily for him there wasn’t enough room in the dorms so they put him in the library, a circular area that actually gave him some clues. He’s also in for the surprise of his life and this surprise will help him have a chance at getting out alive!


Andrew did the cleverest Character portrayals I’ve ever seen. Each vamp, although alike was different in certain aspects. They were creepy beyond all measure and just reading about Gene being in school with them gave me goose bumps that had goose bumps. Eating meals in the Palace was a particular 'delight'!
I thought my husband was going to have to peel from the ceiling with a crow bar more than once! There were plenty of ‘crow bar’ moments, trust me; that’s just how creepy, dark and eerie these vamps are portrayed.
As far as world building, again, I kept waiting for Gene to expose himself either by a cut or his smell...something! *Mild Spoiler* There was one exhibition where a heper was devoured and it wasn’t pretty [crow bar moment] The way the palace was set up by the heper colony, Gene could watch them during the day-that’s the one advantage he had over the vamps. They couldn’t watch during the day because the frenzy would hit and they would kill themselves to try and get there under the dry summer sun and what Gene found out was surprising. The only other heper he’d been around was his father and his father was always pounding ‘the rules’ into his head, which was good because that is what kept Gene alive.
Everything combined made The Hunt one of the best Novels I’ve had the pleasure to read in a long time. I devoured every word on every page and when the willies took over it was a delicious sensation! It's sinister, twisted and it kept me on high octane the entire book.
Andrew Fukuda is one Fan-Faery-Tastic Author that I look forward to reading more of in the future, especially the follow up to The Hunt!


THE FAERY SAYS THAT THE HUNT BY ANDREW FUKUDA ROCKED MY WINGS AND THEN SOME!

5 comments:

  1. I think I would just like to read it too see if there is a chance for humankind

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  2. I went from never hearing about this book to seeing 2 rockin' reviews for it! Oh yes, this means I do need to read this one. I am curious as to what gave you the willies! You know the twisted part totally sold me. ;)

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  3. Oh wow! I just started seeing this one around lately. And love that you LOVED it so much!

    Do hope you feel better dear. And sounds like this one kept you awake to keep going. ;) Take care, and keep resting as you need. ***HUGS***

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  4. I'm so excited to read this one! I'm glad that you really liked it!

    Thanks for the review!

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