You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
paperbackd 's review for:
The Hunt
by Andrew Fukuda
It’s The Hunger Games with vampires. Deliciously creepy bat-like vampires, whose superior strength and single-minded bloodlust have led to humans (hepers) becoming pretty much extinct. Think zombie/alien apocalypse but with intelligent, super-fast and super-strong vampires instead. Humans didn’t stand a chance.
Our protagonist, Gene, has perfected the art of survival by impersonating the people around him. Every day he washes the heper odour from his skin, shaves off every noticeable hair on his body and does his best to control the facial tics and expressions that could give him away at any moment. But when he is chosen as one of the lucky few to participate in the Heper Hunt, he is taken from his home and forced into the spotlight, knowing that it’s only a matter of time before he is discovered – and eaten alive.
The Hunt is an addictive, fast-paced read that had me holding onto the corners of the book for dear life at some points. Fukuda is a superb writer, particularly of horror, action and gore. There’s a lot of gory scenes in The Hunt and Fukuda doesn’t hold back with his descriptions. Unfortunately, the story was slightly let down by huge, gaping plot holes. Like, how on earth Gene managed to survive for days – and the years before those days – without discovery. Why go to all the effort of hiding among them? The Heper Hunt itself is also very bizarre and the reasoning given for the Hunt seems contrived. Once the story gets going though, these questions are quickly forgotten.
Fukuda’s vampires are brilliant, one of my favourite new takes on vampire lore, bringing vampires back from sexy to scary. There’s also some pretty big plot holes concerning their bodily functions that are never resolved, but like I said, with storytelling like this, it’s easy to let the plot holes slide.
The characters aren’t likable or trustworthy, which only makes them that much more compelling to read about. Fukuda plays on the readers’ expectations, delivering shocking twists that I definitely didn’t see coming. It was certainly a bizarre experience to find myself siding with the fleeing hepers, against Fukuda’s protagonist. And it was fascinating to see the world through the eyes of Gene, a human who has spent so many years pretending not to be human that he has begun to lose himself and his humanity, and views himself as a creature apart from his fellow humans.
All in all, The Hunt was a great read. And after that shocker ending, I’m definitely looking forward to reading the sequel!
Our protagonist, Gene, has perfected the art of survival by impersonating the people around him. Every day he washes the heper odour from his skin, shaves off every noticeable hair on his body and does his best to control the facial tics and expressions that could give him away at any moment. But when he is chosen as one of the lucky few to participate in the Heper Hunt, he is taken from his home and forced into the spotlight, knowing that it’s only a matter of time before he is discovered – and eaten alive.
The Hunt is an addictive, fast-paced read that had me holding onto the corners of the book for dear life at some points. Fukuda is a superb writer, particularly of horror, action and gore. There’s a lot of gory scenes in The Hunt and Fukuda doesn’t hold back with his descriptions. Unfortunately, the story was slightly let down by huge, gaping plot holes. Like, how on earth Gene managed to survive for days – and the years before those days – without discovery. Why go to all the effort of hiding among them? The Heper Hunt itself is also very bizarre and the reasoning given for the Hunt seems contrived. Once the story gets going though, these questions are quickly forgotten.
Fukuda’s vampires are brilliant, one of my favourite new takes on vampire lore, bringing vampires back from sexy to scary. There’s also some pretty big plot holes concerning their bodily functions that are never resolved, but like I said, with storytelling like this, it’s easy to let the plot holes slide.
The characters aren’t likable or trustworthy, which only makes them that much more compelling to read about. Fukuda plays on the readers’ expectations, delivering shocking twists that I definitely didn’t see coming. It was certainly a bizarre experience to find myself siding with the fleeing hepers, against Fukuda’s protagonist. And it was fascinating to see the world through the eyes of Gene, a human who has spent so many years pretending not to be human that he has begun to lose himself and his humanity, and views himself as a creature apart from his fellow humans.
All in all, The Hunt was a great read. And after that shocker ending, I’m definitely looking forward to reading the sequel!