The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda Review and Guest Post!

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?

Goodreads Summary

This dystopian stands out from the rest.  The reader will be thrown into the story from page one and unable to put the book down.  What would the world be like if there were more vampires than humans?  What if you were the only human left? 

Gene has been taught to blend in with the vampires, to hide in plain sight.  He is all alone as far as he can tell, he might just be the only human left...or so he thinks...  Gene discovers that there will be another "Hunt," where a few lucky vampires will be able to hunt down humans.  When Gene learns he is to be an integral part in the Hunt, he has to figure out how to approach this latest trial while learning a few things about both himself and his past that will leave his head reeling. 

Gene's character was one of the best male characters I have had the chance to read about.  He is brave, smart, and funny.  It's amazing how calm he is in front of hordes of vampires.  There is a love interest, one who has the potential to either make Gene very happy or get him in a lot of trouble.  I loved their interactions, especially when Gene had to be so careful to keep his "humaness" from showing.  The other characters were all interesting to get to know, the reader will love how many vampires are shown as "irredeemable."  The vampires aren't supposed to be pitied in this book, the humans are...it's a refreshing change. 

Overall, the plot was incredibly fast-paced and the ending was perfect.  This reader will be looking for the next book!  This book is recommended to young adult/teen readers.

4 Stars



Find this book:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
The Book Depository


GUEST POST/INTERVIEW:



1) What was your main inspiration behind this book?

The Hunt likely began while watching Adam Lambert’s performance of Tears for Fears’ Mad World on American Idol. The following lyrics made an impression, and stayed with me for days afterwards.

Went to school and I was very nervous
No one knew me, no one knew me
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson
Look right through me, look right through me.

From those lyrics, a single image popped into my head: of a boy sitting in a classroom, desperately lonely despite the many students around him, wanting to be ignored. This boy had a secret, I came to see, one so awful that if it were ever made known his otherwise civil classmates would--in a split second--kill him. I pondered what that secret might be. When it came to me, I literally jumped out of my seat: the boy was the only surviving human in a world filled with vampire-like creatures. No existence could be lonelier or scarier than that.I had my protagonist, and from that point on the story kind of came together quickly.

2) Why did you choose vampires as your paranormal?

Before penning The Hunt, I was a little tired of all the vampire-related entertainment out there, be it in books, TV, or movies, and I vowed that vampires would never see the light of day in my next book. Well, wouldn't you know it, a vampire wrote himself into my first page, and - pesky creature - refused to move. Would not budge. At all. But the story started to take of, vampires and all, and I got really sucked into the story. I kept writing in part to find out what happened next (I was a true pantser) and in part because I thought this was quite a different, almost subversive, take on the whole vampire genre.

3) Is the main character similar in personality to you or based off of anyone you know?

Gene is a sympathetic loner whose loneliness is none of his own fault. That was me during a long-ago chapter of  my life - a few years of high school, to be exact. During the months I wrote The Hunt, I dredged up some pretty painful high school memories. Writing it proved to be emotionally quite exacting but, I think, worth it in the end.

4) Vampires scratching their wrists?  How did you decide on that idea? It's very unique.

I wanted the vampire-like creatures to have a few human traits (like a sense of humor) which were expressed in non-human ways. Laughter is a uniquely human expression of humor which I thought could be creatively manipulated. So why have my creatures scratch their wrists? I have no idea. It could have been anything: picking their armpits, scratching their nose, wiggling their ears, rolling their tongues. You'll have to ask my creative subconscious, and people, you do not want to go there.

5) There aren't too many books written from the male point of view, do you think that point of view might add something different to a book as compared to a female point of view?

Write what you know, is one of the most basic axioms of writing. I know what it is to be a male teenager. I was one for seven years. I don't know what it's like to be a female teenager. That's not to say authors can't write across gender lines - many have, and with great success. But because it was a challenge I didn't feel compelled to tackle at the time, I decided to write from a male POV. And I'm glad I did; thus far, the feedback has been very good. Female readers tell me that it's a refreshing change, while reluctant male readers tell me they're glad for an easier access point into a YA book.


6) Give the reader five reasons why he/she should pick up your book.

YOU will love this book!
You WILL love this book!
You will LOVE this book!
You will love THIS book!
You will love this BOOK!


7) What are you working on now (if you can reveal anything)?  Do your readers have more to look forward to?

I'm hard at work on the sequel to The Hunt. Expect more world-building, more character development, more romance, more action, more suspense. And a species name we can finally give to these vampire-like creatures who eat humans because saying "vampire-like creatures who eat humans" is a mouthful! (hmmm...wrong choice of words?).

This product or book may have been distributed for review, this in no way affects my opinions or reviews.