Same Book, Second Look - The Hunt by Andrew Fukada

Published: May 2012

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Pages: 293

Copy Provided by: Bought

Summary: Goodreads

Summary:

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?

Review:
(feeling a little bold today so I've added some subheadings...)

Third Time's a Charm!
So Curlypow was the first to review The Hunt.  You can read what she thought here.  Next, Special K did a review.  You can read her thoughts here.   I had heard so many great things about this title that I thought I should bump it up my TBR list.  After I downloaded the first few chapters on my reader, I was hooked!  The Hunt is a fast-moving thrillride if you like a Dystopian world that has been overtaken by vampires. 

Moo says you
There are several things I want to discuss in this review.  As much as I enjoyed this book, humans were constantly referred to as Hepers.  Which sounds awfully close to the word - Heffer (a cow).  My mind continued to automatically correct the world Heper to Heffer throughout the book.  Similar to a mental spellcheck.  It was rather distressing.  The theme of domesticating humans as food continued throughout the story as Fukada progressed by talking about the Dome and incorporating it into the Hunt.  Andrew, did you mean to play this little mind game/association on us readers?  If so, brilliant!  if not, here's that ISU idea people!

What's in a name?
Something that was incredibly odd (also brought up by Curlypow) was that the characters did not have actual "names".  Gene referred to them by giving nicknames to qualities that stood out such as Crimson Lips, Phys Ed and Ashley June (the vamp he is crushing on).  This method was brilliant and I actually did not notice the lack of name reference until about 1/3 of the way through the book.

When the Prey becomes the Predator
So Gene (we don't actually learn his first name until part way through the story) is a human trying to live hidden in a world of vamps.  The thing is, he lives among them and has a very strategic routine to blend in.  His rigorous training to avoid detection was stunning.  I found myself feeling sorry for him and his lack of actual human interaction.  Imagine trying to be something you are not for your entire lifetime!  The idea of the hunted hiding among a sea of predators....just when you thought your life couldn't get any more dismal.

Like living under a microscope
Some of the Hepers lived under a dome and were supplied with basic necessities and a few luxuries as well. It was an interesting concept because the vamps would monitor and learn from them.

Mr. Fukada gave me as a reader, a lot of food for thought.  There were so many interesting aspects to this story that had me question a lot about the way we live as a community.  That being said, there were also many holes in this story but I was able to overlook them due to the great storyline.  I would whole-heartedly recommend The Hunt.  I would even recommend it as an ISU title due to the themes you could pull from the vampire community and relate to culture today.

Macmillan Audio has graciously given us a link to a clip from the book - http://media.us.macmillan.com/video/olmk/macmillanaudio/TheHunt.mp3.  Listen to it and then let me know what you think.  Hooked yet?