Book Review: The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda
#1 in The Hunt series
Release Date: May 8, 2012
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Pages: 293
Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Summary

From Goodreads:

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

This book is fabulous!

Ok, maybe fabulous is a word with a little too much sparkle connotation, because these vampires? So do NOT sparkle! They don't sip your jugular with chic poise. They don't talk about breaking with tradition to be a human's one and only. They don't even engage in sarcastic flirt-banter.

No, when these vampires scent human blood, they pretty much turn into a cross between zombies, piranhas, and me at an all you can eat pastry buffet. But with all the delicate finesse of medieval torture methods (drawing and quartering, anyone?).

Which is all to say that "fabulous" doesn't exactly covey the right message. But, hey, I like gore (unless it's in a movie because then I'm too squeamish to watch), and Andrew Fukuda definitely delivered on the ick factor.

Plus, it was nice to read a book about dangerous vampires when the vampires are, you know, actually dangerous for a change.

"For fans of The Hunger Games"

Oh barf, did I just go there? Look, I know it's a pretty lame marketing gimmick to pull the whole "THE NEXT HARRY POTTER!" or "FOR FANS OF TWILIGHT!" because, really, they're usually pretty big stretches, but I can't help myself this time.

I mentioned this already in my mailbox, but it bears repeating: If I am Legend had a sequel and that sequel had a baby with The Hunger Games the result of that glorious union would be The Hunt.

The I am Legend parts

Gene is a human trying to dupe everyone into believing he's a vampire in a world where humans are thought to be extinct (because the vampires ate them all). In some ways, the vampires do look like humans. But in more ways than not, they're totally different (and I'm not just referring to the maniacal feeding frenzies).

Oh Edward, let's make out!

All of this made me think of I am Legend (the great book, NOT the comparatively crappy Will Smith movie or the good but very different from the book Charlton Heston movie, or the other one I disliked so much I won't even mention).

It made me wonder what life might have been like for Robert Neville (I am Legend) if he had went the incognito route instead of the bunker route. I was fascinated with the mental exercise of imagining this life Gene was leading and all of the painstaking steps he needed to take in order to blend not just physiologically, but also culturally.

The Hunger Games parts

I'm such an impatient reader, and really, not much happens at all for a good long while. Normally I'd be complaining right now about how I had to wait almost 200 pages before the action even kicks in and the hunt itself doesn't even start until after page 220. In a book that's only 293 pages long, normally I'd be pissed, or at least totally bored.

But I wasn't either. I was enthralled.

It's like how in The Hunger Games where you have to read through pages and pages and pages before the games even begin. But instead of being boring series stretching filler, the pages are actually filled with really fascinating stuff.

The Hunt is like that. Plus, there's the actual, you know, HUNT, which is also similar to the idea of the games, but twisted. I can't say much more without giving stuff away, but think more along the mutt dogs end of things and a whole lot less sweet Peeta moments (there really is only the very tiny beginnings of romance, even though the blurb makes it seem like it's more of a focus).

It's not scary like ghosts scary, but it's SCARY

The whole beginning let me get into Gene's head and really appreciate how utterly horrifying life must be like for him. I don't think I could have done what he did. I had thought Cormac McCarthy's The Road was the ultimate literary example of Hell on Earth, but Gene's life in The Hunt might take the title.

Yep, bleaker than that.

At first the vampires seemed pretty similar to humans, but the more time I spent as a fly on the wall in Gene's world, the more I realized how very different they are. The stroke of genius is that Andrew Fukuda didn't just focus on the big differences (like the whole devouring humans thing—though he does describe their blood lust in terrifying, disgusting, awesome detail).

Just as much time is spent developing the little things like tiny behavioral tics, social mores, and emotional expression. He makes his vampires very similar to humans, but then skews them so they're all slightly off. It was...unsettling.

As much as I love it when an author throws me into the action right away, I think that would have cheapened The Hunt. It would have been just another action book about battling evil paranormals, and while that's nice, it doesn't exactly set itself apart as something more. It also wouldn't have been anywhere close to scary, and The Hunt? SO FREAKING SCARY!

Have you ever watched a scary movie where you know something terrifying is about to happen but the director drags it out with the creepy music and the made-you-looks but you just know it's all winding up for something so frightening you're going to sleep with the lights on for the next week? And the longer it takes for the Big Event to happen, the more wound up and tense you get? And you're practically peeing your pants in fear from all that build up and anticipation even though nothing all that scary has even happened yet?

Yep, that's pretty much what I had going on with The Hunt.

THAT'S how it ends?!?!

Look, I knew there was a cliffhanger when I started this. And I knew, based on how things were shaping up and how few pages were left, that I would be left hanging at a pretty exciting point.

But I was so NOT prepared for what actually happened. It wasn't like I got left hanging in the middle of a bunch of action. It wasn't even like that Vampire Diaries episode where one of my favorite characters was shot and then the episode ENDED RIGHT THERE.

No, this was all that, plus a HUGE BOMB WAS DROPPED and then the book ended! No character reaction, nothing. Just BOMB, The End!

I never appreciated how much closure that scream actually gives.

But, ack, I don't know, it was so good and such a perfect point to end things because it was like that last final kick in the gut that really punctuated how emotionally gripping and awesome The Hunt really is, but, but, oh man, how can you do this to me Andrew Fukuda?!?!

Why no Special Shelf?

The Hunt is also like The Hunger Games in that it is very much part one of a story. Because of that, I'm holding off Special Shelf judgment until I read the entire story arc. If the rest of the series stays a the level of this first installment, though, then this will totally be a Special Shelf series.

Bottom line

This is the kind of serious YA that I could totally hand to an adult reader and not get "the weird look" (and, I WILL be handing this to a few of my adult library patrons who like The Hunger Games).

I don't exactly want to hug this book or sleep with it under my pillow at night, but that's mostly because it's a creepy, scary read and so not quite the hug-inducing type. But, I will be buying a copy for myself and ordering another for my library.

I am most definitely continuing on with the series, but not only because of the killer cliffhanger (you didn't have to manipulate me like that Andrew Fukuda! I was already obsessively seeking out sequel info by chapter two). The sequel promises all sorts of gory, pulse-pounding action, and I am ALWAYS on board for that!

Explanation of rating system: Star Rating Key 

Do you have any questions about The Hunt that I haven't addressed?
Feel free to ask in the comments!

The Hunt releases today, so NO MORE WAITING!
Add it on Goodreads
Buy it on Amazon

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The Enchanted Chocolate Pot Blog Fest!

I often say that I'm not creative and that I am an absolutely abysmal fiction writer, so I am always super impressed when already creative authors take things a step further.

I can think of few better examples of this than the birth of one of my favorite books, Sorcery and Cecelia, or the Enchanted Chocolate Pot by Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer.

Haven't heard of it? You are missing out! Imagine if this lady:

Got together with this lady:

You'd pretty much get:

And if THAT weren't enough to convince you about the awesomeness level in this book, check out the origin story that goes along with it!

"The correspondence between...New York Times bestselling authors [Patricia C. Wrede and Caroline Stevermer] began first as a hobby: two writers writing to one another in character as two young girls in Regency-era England where magic is acceptable practice, but danger lies around every corner as a result. Their names are Kate and Cecy: Wrede as Cecy, and Stevermer as Kate.

After some time, Wrede and Stevermer’s letters accumulated to such an extent that a book was born."

-Open Road Media

Isn't that cool?! Sorcery and Cecelia is finally making its debut in e-format, and to help celebrate the release I'm allowed to share one of the original letters with you today!

This is Wrede's First move in the Letter Game she and Stevermer decided to start playing for fun back in April of 1986. There were no rules of the game, except the notion that each writer must remain in character for all the letters, and that no one is to reveal where they hope to see the story go: therefore fostering an authenticity behind the uniquely co-written story. So, when Wrede wrote this first letter as Cecy, she was completely unaware as to how Stevermer/Kate would reply.

-Open Road Media

Click on the picture below to make it larger to get a glimpse "behind the scenes" of the making of one of my favorite historical fantasies ever.

But wait, there's more!

Stay tuned next week when you can get another peek into the world of writing. This letter above is the unedited "game" edition, but next week I'll have the cleaned up version that appears in the book. I don't know about you, but I love seeing how a piece of writing changes and evolves. You'll also get the opportunity to weigh in on which version you prefer!

Do you know any cool writing "behind the scenes" stories?


Have you ever played a game like this? I'd love to, but I don't think I'm creative enough to pull it off!


Have you read Sorcery and Cecelia?

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DNF: The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

Did Not Finish Explanation

The Book of Blood and Shadow by Robin Wasserman

Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley

Read pages: 250 of 432

I'm SO torn about this book! I am absolutely in love with the premise. Secret societies, letters from the past, conspiracies, clues, a mysterious book, and it's all based on actual REAL life things! It's so, so beyond cool.

I don't like these people

Main character Nora is that New England boarding school type of character (not that New England boarding school students are actually all like that) who embodies that "affected cool" where they're all world-weary and detached. Think Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.

This type of character and I almost never get along, mostly because she strikes me as trying waaay too hard (plus, she'd probably scoff at me if I tried to extend something as puerile as a sleepover party invite).

We just don't mesh well. I mean, I'm all about the pink and the sparkles and the OMGBLSAHIOFH!!!11!!1!Yay! I'm not sophisticated enough to hang in her circles and speak like I'm trying very hard to construct Really Deep Poetry with my every uttered thought.

With the exception of Chris (who bites it in the blurb...but takes about 150 pages in the book), all of the other characters turned me off. Nora's boyfriend straight up creeped me out. He's more controlling than Twilight's Edward and he's scary quick to enrage. He's also a dark-corner-sulker, which I don't find very attractive.

I wasn't buying the characters. They're incredible geniuses with photographic memories, get stellar grades, and of course all of this comes naturally to them. And they look like runway models. Oh, and they're mega rich (except for the MC, who complains about not being rich but basically lives the life of a rich person anyway).

Yeah. Ok. And to make matters worse, despite their incredible mental powers, they make the DUMBEST decisions imaginable (an enigmatic past and stalker tendencies do NOT make a good foundation for trust!). They're all TSTL and between their noxious personalities and astoundingly BAD decision making skills, I was hoping the secret society would hurry up and knock the rest of them off.

Where is the exciting mystery?

But whatever. I would put up with those people if I could get into the plot (which is awesome). But, I was also really not liking the execution.

It's sooo sllooooowww. There's a lot of talking about boring stuff I don't care about. Yeah, your brother died, you're sad. Oh, does this cute guy think you're pretty? Wait, your BFF who is gorgeous and randomly bends her body like a sexy gymnast all the freaking time (who does that??) is sleeping with your secret crush and you feel really conflicted about this? WHO CARES FOCUS ON THE CENTURIES SPANNING MYSTERY!

Ok, ok, these interpersonal things were well done. They're just not for me. I would have cut out the dead brother arc entirely, but then again *I* almost never like dead anyone arcs (unless they're ghosts). I like adventure! Intrigue! I don't like long monologues about the MC's "perfect day" when the sun was shining and she found a pebble that was smooth and poignant and then the whole day was cast in shadow when she realized her best friends were having a very different kind of perfect day without her.

Yawn. For me.

Plus, it takes forever to say really simple things. I know, the writing is all about showing off Nora's smarty pants status, but here's an SAT word I'd like to introduce her to: PITHY. Spit it out already.

Or, if we're going to ramble on about minute details, can the rambles please be about the super interesting mystery and stack of old letters?? THAT I would love to dissect with nerdy obsessiveness. My favorite parts were when we got to read the old letters Nora was translating.

Sadly, the mystery parts are glossed over and doled out in a choppy manner with little bits given out here and there amid a whole bunch of irrelevancies and Nora's boring thoughts and feelings. Big puzzles were presented, but they were all quickly resolved in absurdly unbelievable ways.

Bottom line

There was so much potential, but the overall package just does not work with me. I do want to find out what happens though, so, I don't know, I may pick it up again at some point in the future, especially since then I'll be able to read it as a real book and not have to deal with reading on my computer (which is a sucky way to read a book and always lowers my tolerance).

Have you read The Book of Blood and Shadow?
I hope you liked it more than I did!
Does the mystery get good enough that I should pick it up again?

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If I like...Court Fantasy

...then I might like...

"If I Like..." is a feature here at Small Review where I pick a book or bookish feature and then ask YOU for similar book recommendations!

Last time we played this game I asked for suggestions for one of my library patrons, and you all totally delivered! We've been working our way through your recommendations and she's been loving them. I even got a thank you card with sparkles! Sparkles!

So, seeing how awesome you all are at giving sparkle-gift-inducing-recommendations-of-pure-win, I am now coming to you with a plea for help for myself.


Find me books like:

 

The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen
Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder
Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers
Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith

Who is the recommendation for?

Me! These are my absolute favorite types of books and I'm always looking for more to add to my Special Shelf.

Middle grade, YA, and adult books are all welcome!

More of this, please:

Court intrigue! Slow burn romance! Slow burn plot! Evil court vipers! Strong but imperfect main characters!

Men with swords is also always a plus. A real historical basis is also nice (like in Grave Mercy) but it isn't necessary at all (like in all the others).

But not this:

Remember in Princess Ben when she had all those secret passageways at her disposal and she DIDN'T use them to spy? Yeah, please no disappointments like that. Also, please no insta-love and slooooow plots. Or wimpy guys.

A series is ok, but if it ends on a cliffhanger, pretty please give me a heads up!

So what do you think, can you help me find more books like this? Is there anything YOU'RE looking for?

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DNF: Castle of Shadows by Ellen Renner

Castle of Shadows by Ellen Renner

Received: ARC from publisher, via NetGalley

Read pages: 115 of 400

I was really torn about DNF-ing this book because it has SO much potential and I really wanted to love it. I felt invested in the idea of it and I had a real hard time accepting that the reality didn't exactly mesh up with my expectations.

Just take a look at all of these awesome points:

• An adorable cover
• A princess
• A mysteriously missing queen who, we later learn, was up to all sorts of secret things.
• A mad king mourning his missing wife
• A kingdom on the cusp of revolt
• Political intrigue!
• A gardener boy who accompanies the princess on her quest to find her mother and save the kingdom

Doesn't that sound great?!

But...eh, the princess, while nice enough, was mostly "stock cute orphan" mixed with "stock precocious girl" and I was never able to connect with her or even care about her. The mad king was more the pathetic king and I couldn't care less about the missing queen. Actually, I kind of hated her and I don't even know why considering I never even got to meet her.

The gardener boy had the most personality and potential, but he didn't have much page time. Charlie takes a bratty approach to dealing with him. I wanted her to hurry up and get to the burgeoning crush kind of MG boy-girl relationship, which I'm sure happened eventually. Or, barring that, I wanted her to at least be nice to him.

I guess I could have overlooked all that if the plot were interesting, but it was sooo sloooow. This book is massive at 400 pages long, but almost nothing important happened in the 115 pages I read. I only got a tiny smattering of rumors regarding the revolt, but there was no sense of imminent danger and the political intrigue bits were practically non-existent.

By the time I DNF-ed, Princess Charlie had only just managed to break into her mother's locked room of secrets. I need a more intrepid MC than one who takes over a quarter of the book just to figure out how to snoop.

The story was nice enough and maybe at that point things would have finally started happening and Charlie would have finally grown a personality, but I was so mired in a a sludge of meh that I could not force myself to find out.

Bookworm1858 explained my feelings perfectly when she said, "...this book did not [have magic]. Not magic as in a plot point but as in casting a spell on me while I was reading."

And that's it exactly. No magic. 



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Small News: Moving!

Moving to Texas!

I'm hitting the road again for another road trip to Texas (but this time I'm bringing all my stuff along with me). I'll be on the road until May 2nd. At that point I'm hoping to get my internet connection set up ASAP, but I've heard horror stories of it taking up to a month! I hope that doesn't happen! 

Which is all to say that I'll be sans internet for an indeterminate amount of time. I'm sure I'll be able to find free wireless connections here and there, though, so I'll be able to pop in and read all of your comments (which will considerably brighten my no doubt happy-but-stress-filled-moving-days). 

But don't despair! I've scheduled posts to appear for a few weeks while I am away, so you can still get your Small Review fix. I have some reviews, a few DNF-explanations, an If I Like This feature, Cover First Impressions, some author interviews, giveaways, a blog tour stop, and some very cool letters. I hope you enjoy!*


*I've noticed Blogger's schedule feature has been a little wonky the past week or so. Perfect timing? Of course. Hopefully it will work while I am away, but if it does not, rest assured there will be posts as soon as I have internet access!   

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Author Interview: P. G. Kain

Please Welcome P. G. Kain!

P. G. Kain writes books for tweens that look absolutely adorable! The first series begins with a girl trying to get her boyfriend to dump her. I love stories that turn the expected on its head like that. The second series began this March and the sequel is already coming out in June. Yay for No More Waiting! I haven't read either series yet, but both sound fun are going on my "screen for library girls" TBR.

P. G. Kain was nice enough to stop by today and answer some of my very important questions about his books.

Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads

Q: Which one of your characters do you most want to slap or give a verbal tongue lashing to?

A: The main character in "Famous for Thirty Seconds," Brit is a bit of a brat. She booked her first commercial when she was six months old and has seen her face on everything from candy bars to juice boxes. When she returns from a year living abroad and finds out that she is no longer at the top of the heap in the commercial world, her reaction is less than gracious. Brit is determined to get her place back. Determination itself is not bad but, like most people, when you are overly focused on a goal you miss all the other opportunity coming your way. For Brit this opportunity comes in the form of a very cute boy named Liam.

Q: If you were transported into your book, which scene would you most want to reenact?

A: In the first two books of COMMERCIAL BREAKS each character books a spot at an amusement park. They shut down the park in order to film the commercial and they get to ride the rides over and over again without waiting in line.

Q: Which one of your character’s brains would you want to pick the most?

A: In "Dumped by Popular Demand" my first book for tweens, Dorie Dilts uses scientific principles to solve her social problems at school. She finds the scientific formula for achieving popularity and even though things don't go exactly as planned she is still the smartest character I have ever written. Dorie is way smarter than I am which creates a bit of a problem when you have to write her dialogue.

Q: Which scene do you think will surprise readers the most?

A: I think readers will be surprised to find out how much work goes into booking a commercial. You have to go on so many auditions just to get a callback. Once you book a part it's a lot of fun but it's also a lot of hard work. The girls in COMMERCIAL BREAKS are amazing professionals. They know their lines, hit their mark and arrive on time. Sure it's fun to go to a wardrobe fitting and try on scads of sparkly new dresses but when you are in that sparkly new dress filming the same scene over and over, the glitter looses a bit of its shine.

Readers should add Famous for Thirty Seconds to their To Be Read list if they like...

Books about:
   Professional acting, modeling, TV, commercials, behind-the-scene scenes, romance, friendship, friendly competition and insider secrets 

Books/movies like:
     Smash, Glee, A Chorus Line, Violet on the Runway.

About Famous for Thirty Seconds:

Brittany Rush is the face of Gotta Have It candy bars, the hands of Write On pencils, the hair of Knot Me Not detangle spray and the voice of Mom, It’s Delicious! soups. Brittany has been appearing in commercials and print ads since her backside was the official derriere of Simply Dry Diapers. When Brittany showed up at a callback some girls would actually just get up and go home since they knew it was almost impossible to compete with her. 

However, a month after her twelfth birthday, Brittany’s mother tells her that the entire family is moving to Hong Kong for a year. Brittany is forced to take a brief but agonizing break from her commercial career. After a year of being just an anonymous kid in a foreign country, Brittany is more than ready to return stateside to her steady diet of go-see’s, auditions, callbacks and bookings in NYC. 

Within 48 hours of landing at JFK Brittany’s agent Judith Lister of the A Lister’s Agency has three go-see’s for Brittany. When she shows up to the first go-see, she expects the spotlight to start shining on her again but instead she finds that, in the year that she has been gone, she has changed from being the cute kid to watch out for to just one of the many pretty girls waiting her turn. Will Brittany be able to steal back her spotlight? Or will she discover there's more to life than being a commercial success?

About Dumped by Popular Demand:

Dorie has just moved from California to New Jersey. For most kids this would be horrendous, but for Dorie it's the chance to conduct the most important scientific research of her young life. She is determined to pour all of her scientific abilities into an experiment that will, once and for all, make her popular.

Dorie calculates the trends, habits and attitudes of the most popular girls at school but finally has her eureka moment when she discovers that the three most popular girls at school, aka "The Holly Trinity," have each dated and been dumped by the cutest boy at school, Grant Bradish. All scientific data points to the solution that Dorie has to get Grant to date her and dump her in order to secure her desired popularity. It's an impossible yet hilarious task for girl scientist, Dorie Dilts.

Thank you so much for stopping by, P.G. Kain!

I love "behind the scenes" books like that! The Commercial Breaks series reminds me a little of the Secrets of My Hollywood Life series, which is a very good thing. I'm also really curious to find out how Dorie is going to go about putting her plan into action. What about you?

Have you read any of P.G. Kain's books?
How would you answer these questions?
(Remember, no spoilers please!)

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