I am fairly certain that this entire book was written on the back of several paper napkins on the bus ride to the publisher's...

More than half the book takes place in the tunnels and seems to consist mostly of filler babble. The most interesting thing that happens in the tunnels resulted from a risk that was very unlikely to have been taken, given the circumstances, so it seemed very convenient and gratuitous.

The book is chalk-full of bad writing, horrible editing errors (multiple cases of character confusion... saying Darius when they mean Damien, for example), and continuity errors. The Casts are so obsessed with trying to make these characters seem like "normal teenagers" that they come across seeming shallow and moronic. I mean, what teenager in their right mind is going to be thinking about what boy they want to kiss when the world as they know it is crumbling around them?

A fantastic example of the sloppy and embarassing writing, is when the writers devote an inordinate amount of time talking about the girls' cute purses, which they must be sure not to leave behind in the tunnels. Given the fact that in book four, the girls fled the HoN mid-ritual-circle and unable to break their hand holds as dangerous chaos erupted behind them, it seems unlikely anyone was worried about something as trivial as a freaking CUTE purse. Not to mention the fact that they would have had to have been holding their purses throughout the whole ritual in the first place, which also seems very unlikely (if not downright LAME).

The characters continue to be an unnerving mix of endearing and annoying qualities. The twins are still unbelievable cartoon characters, Zoey is still the self-conflicting love-obsessed-horny-but-I-don't-wanna-be-a-ho she was in the other books, and Hunted comes with the added bonus of a really embarassingly racist portrayal of an African-American girl who is the polar opposite of Shaunee.

As the icing on the cake comes from the return of the love triangle. If you weren't already sick and tired of Zoey's constantly shifting and conflicting affection, you will be very tired of it after this book. And, just like in Marked, Heath-- despite his earlier and rather vehement rejection of Zoey, makes a mind-numbingly unlikely and painfully gratuitous re-appearance which will leave you wanting to rip your book in two.

BUT... having said that...

If you've made it through the first four books, you might as well keep going and read this one, too. As with the first four books, despite how earth-shatteringly bad the writing is, you can wade through all of the embarassing and poorly written crap and somewhere beneath you'll find the makings of interesting and endearing characters, and a compelling plot.

It'd be kind of like rummaging through a dump... it's trashy, smelly, embarassing, and downright awful, but somewhere beneath all the garbage there are little treasures waiting to be discovered. It takes a lot of work, and for most people it's not worth it, but if you can stomach it you might find something worth keeping.

Oh, to go back in time and encourage the publisher to hire a GOOD writer to write this series. If they had, they might have really had a true gem and a rival for Twilight on their hands.