The Hunt (The Hunt, #1) in And So It Begins Reading Challenge

Apr 30, 2012 Paula Phillips rated it it was amazing

Up until recently, I was never a really big fan of Dystopian but with the sudden surge in the genre , it is hard not to read half a dozen Dystopian novels and then end up going OMG , I actually enjoy these types of books. What is Dystopian to all you adults out there ? Think 1984 but modernized and written for the Teenage audience. From the very first page, Andrew Fukuda's new book "The Hunt " has you captivated as you are drawn into a world which seemed to be a cross between The Hunted by Chery ...more

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Feb 18, 2012 Carrie Ardoin rated it it was ok

Shelves: arc-tour, dystopia, vamps, what-a-letdown

Gene, who barely remembers that that is his name, is the last living human in a world of bloodthirsty creatures simply known as the people. Since they are the population of the world now, that is what they are called. Humans have been extinct for ten years--or so everyone thought.

When one day the leader of the people declares that humans, hepers as they are called, are not extinct at all. In fact, there are a few left--who will be hunted for sport. The hunters are picked through a lottery, and t Gene, who barely remembers that that is his name, is the last living human in a world of bloodthirsty creatures simply known as the people. Since they are the population of the world now, that is what they are called. Humans have been extinct for ten years--or so everyone thought.

When one day the leader of the people declares that humans, hepers as they are called, are not extinct at all. In fact, there are a few left--who will be hunted for sport. The hunters are picked through a lottery, and to his horror, Gene is chosen to become one.

As he prepares for the Hunt, Gene must always keep control of his human senses and faculties. For the slightest misstep could mean his death in a group already on the verge of tasting human flesh. This becomes more difficult when Gene finds himself falling for a girl he knows he cannot have. Will Gene and the few surviving humans make it through the Hunt?

OOOOOOOK. Where to start. I will start with the negatives so I can end this review on a positive note.

I had issues while reading. A lot of issues and questions. First of all, in every other vampire book I have read--and that is a LOT, encompassing all types of vamps from sparkly to ruthless--a vampire has ALWAYS had the ability to detect if someone is vamp or human, no matter how much they attempt to disguise themselves. I find it RIDICULOUSLY hard to believe that Gene is still surviving as the only human (not to mention passing for vamp!) in the midst of these vicious creatures. Especially when I read about how crazy they go when getting the slightest whiff of human, nevermind human blood. So I had to suspend my disbelief QUITE a bit just to even get past the first few chapters of this book.

Also, the word vampire was never used...so I'm not quite sure what to call these creatures. Vampire is the only term I know that fits.

Other things that bothered me:
--The vamps find it disgusting that humans eat fruit, as they exist on raw, bloody meat. But they are OK with eating cake and ice cream?? OKAAAAAAYYYY...
--Gene eats the bloody meat everyday, but it doesn't make him sick. I noted a sentence that said something about it being pasteurized, but still. I am left to guess that he built up a resistance over so many years of doing it.
--Gene is NEVER revealed as human in front of his vamp classmates, but (view spoiler) I find that hard to buy.
--What is the armpit-to-elbow action? Is that making out? Is that sex? It was never clearly explained.

Finally, and this is a big issue in so many dystopian books lately...what the eff happened to make the world as it is? Whyyyyy are there so many vampires????

The only characters I liked in the book were the hepers in the dome. Gene was thickheaded, and Ashley June was weirdly persistent for reasons I didn't get. By the time Gene had made decisions to do things, I had already asked myself like ten pages earlier, "Why doesn;t he just do this....?"

So by now you're wondering how I enjoyed this book even a little bit. Well, I would have to tend to agree with you. For the most part, I was too busy asking questions in my head to really like it. But when the plot FINALLY took off at the end, it got kind of better. And the twist at the end made me go, "WTF?"...so I will probably end up reading the next book. Andrew Fukuda can only get better from here, I think. ...more

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