The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda [Review]

Synopsis

Against all odds, 17-year-old Gene has survived in a world where humans have been eaten to near extinction by the general population.

The only remaining humans, or hepers as they are known, are housed in domes on the savannah and studied at the nearby Heper Institute.

Every decade there is a government sponsored hunt. When Gene is selected to be one of the combatants he must learn the art of the hunt but also elude his fellow competitors whose suspicions about his true nature are growing.

Review

I quite enjoyed Andrew Fukuda’s first novel, Crossing, (published by AmazonEncore) which I read a year or so back. It wasn’t a perfect book by any means, but I was impressed enough to see what his take on a vampire book would be.

There’s definitely no splarkeyness with these guys! There’s not even any vampires who would be happy to live & work alongside humans for a common goal, like in say, Department 19. These vampires will kill you, the moment they realise you are a heper (human) and are therefore, little more than cattle, something to tear to shreds, and then eat.

Andrew Fukuda does a great job of building his world; with Gene providing a lot of the information we need, as he describes how he has survived all these years. It feels like a really fresh take on the genre.

The pacing is spot-on as well. From the moment Gene, is picked in the lottery, Andrew Fukuda ratchets the tension right up, and doesn’t let go. How will Gene survive, the training, never mind the hunt, without being discovered? And if he does escape, how can he evade beings that are so much faster, stronger and designed to hunt hepers just like him?

Andrew Fukuda manages to bring things to a satisfying conclusion by the end of the book, but also leaves enough plot strands unresolved to have you begging for the next book to find out what happens next… and that’s before the cliff-hanger revelation on the last page!

Rating

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Review: The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda
The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda is released on Thursday.
My copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review purposes.