Wednesday 30 May 2012

The Hunt

Andrew Fukuda
8 / 10



From the blurb: Seventeen-year-old Gene struggles to survive in a society where humans have been eaten to near extinction by the general population. When Gene is chosen to participate in the government-sponsored hunt for the remaining humans, he must learn the art of the hunt but also elude his fellow hunters whose suspicions about his true human nature are growing.

I'd read a synopsis of this book in a few different places and was very eager to read it. But nothing had prepared me for the vampires. That's right, it's about vampires. They burn in the sun, itch when they find something funny, and hang off ceiling mounted footholds to sleep. And they desperately hunt Hepers - the handful of humans left on this earth.

Gene is one of those humans, and I really felt for him from the very first page. Both of his parents are gone and he is alone in this unforgiving world, but he marches through life with a grim determination that is, quite frankly, impressive. He shaves every day - his legs, his chest. He wears fake fangs. (He doesn't drink blood, thankfully. Eurgh!) He's horribly lonely, but he doesn't dwell on it. And then he's thrown into the Hunt, and everything he knows becomes useless. He has to hide his nature from vampires in close quarters and pretend to hunt those just like him - without so much as deodorant to stop them from smelling his sweat.

There's a twist about a third of the way through the book that isn't even nearly a surprise, concerning a certain young woman. But other than that, the plot is extremely well paced, throwing both Gene and the reader from action to rest and back again. Fukuda doesn't quite manage to make you forget that Gene is the main character and therefore probably won't die, (as managed in Hunger Games, where I was constantly fearing for Katniss' life) but there were a lot of very tense moments. The final arc of the story, however, whilst maintaining the writing's fluidity and confidence, seemed a little uncertain. (I know, that sounds contradictory!) Technically, the writing style was still great. But the plot felt like it lost its way a little.

However, this was a really good read, and an interesting take on vampire lore in a saturated market. I'm looking forward to the sequel. The accompanying short story can be found on facebook here (opens in a new browser window), and is fantastic! I actually preferred it to the main story. It's gripping and practically spoiler free, so if you're unsure about buring the book, try this as a taster!

You'll probably like this if you enjoyed 'Glass Houses' by Rachel Caine, 'Blood Red Road' by Moira Young, or 'Mortal Engines' by Philip Reeve.

I haven't been able to find any information about the sequel yet, but Fukuda's other book is called 'Crossing' and was published in June 2010.

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