The Hunt surprised me; usually I'm really not a big fan of vampire books, but this one doesn't focus much on vampires. Instead it focuses on a question: would you kill your own to protect yourself, or would you risk everything to help humanity?

Definitely creative, but awfully bizarre to the point of being cheesy, The Hunt is perfect if you're looking for a mindless read with an interesting concept. However, if you sit for a minute and think about it, this whole plot has no justification. Why? Because there's absolutely nothing that makes me root for the humans. Why stay human? Why not simply become a vampire, and live your life amongst everyone else, free of burden. Sure you crave blood and you can't go out in the sunlight, but how does that remotely compare to being imprisoned in a human body with a constant fear of being eaten alive? Especially when the constraints are extreme and in no way convincing that any human could get away with it for as long as our protagonist did. -No smiling/laughing-No sweating-No coughing-No clearing your throat-Making sure you have no body hair at all, ever-No slouching-Having to eat raw meat-No shivering-No widening of the eyes - or any other reaction - when surprised-Having to clip your nails daily-Needing to goop up your skin to not smell human -And more, lots more.Wow! How can someone honestly be this robotic for years? Going to school every day with these people without ever showing any of these signs? Moreover, why would you want to? Living as a vampire doesn't seem bad at all. They live satisfactory lives; they're educated, they have friends, parties - a normal life, really, with the only disadvantages being the sun and craving blood (and ok, they drool a lot). I didn't buy it. This is the main reason why I couldn't enjoy this book. Everything the protagonist went through, every fear of being found out, every obstacle thrown at him, I simply didn't care as there is no convincing argument for staying human. This, to me, was a huge plot hole that I just couldn't let go throughout the whole book. It also brought on world building questions: how hard would it be to get turned without being eaten entirely? How could he make that happen? And if he can't, how did the others get turned? Were they born? Can vampires procreate (with elbow sex)? So many questions! These may have helped me understand why he's not one of them. Maybe it's not even possible; nothing is clear.I get that vampire lore has gotten to a point where you have to get very creative to make it original. But there is a line between imaginative and just plain silly. Quirks in this lore, especially armpit/elbow sex, went too far. These are way too weird to be taken seriously. The dialogue is also awkward at times with cheesy expressions. What I did like, though, was the ominous vibe from start to finish. I constantly felt like something was amiss. The gory scenes are also pretty awesome (aka: highly disgusting). And despite having a lot of similarities with the Hunger Games, in the end the plot easily stands out in its originality. The Hepers: Us, mere humans. They're all rounded up and put into a dome to get them ready for the Hunt. I found this really interesting and quite a bit frightening. Sadly though, this hunt takes a very long time to begin giving the book a fairly slow pace until the very end. I found myself simply wanting to get it over with. I wish that time would have been spent expanding the world building instead of wandering around figuring out how to stay hidden. A bigger understanding of their world, especially their knowledge of the past, would have been great way to get a better grasp on this book. In particular, why they believe Hepers are uneducated, uncivilized savages who can't speak, and are basically completely unevolved. This is especially hard when one thinking this is, in actuality, a Heper himself.Honestly, I wanted to love this. I was sure I was going to. I love dystopians and the premise is incredibly enticing, so I'm truly disappointed that it wasn't as good as I expected. I'm the type of reader who needs to be convinced. Realism is always a huge aspect for me and sadly this one had me staggering more than once. This made not only the reasoning for the plot, but the characters themselves, fall flat. I could easily see a lot of readers enjoy the alarming nature of the story; underneath it all it is interesting so don't let this discourage you if you were looking forward to it, hopefully you can have a better experience than I did.--For more of my reviews, visit my blog at Xpresso Reads

Im honestly not sure where to start with this review, because The Hunt was one of those books that once I started, I couldn't stop reading, but overall I really didnt enjoy it. While the book is suppose to be on par with The Hunger Games, I would have to disagree. The storyline does have similar traits but the only thing I felt the author did the same, was create the same back story without that wow factor The Hunger Games leaves you with. Fukuda has definitely created something very unique with the vampires, which is something fresh, new and well very freaky. But for the most part I was really creeped out by them. They have unique and weird habits that really left me a bit disturbed. They scratch their wrists instead of laughing, have drool constantly dripping from their mouths, and have armpit/elbow sex (which I cant even figure out how that works? LOL) and thats only a few things that made me cringe. But while youre probably thinking these things really arent that bad, for me they are because there the first of many other problems I have with this book. The second thing is I felt the story wasnt explained enough. Youre thrown into Genes life and watch how he has to struggle being apart of this world and pretending to be a vampire but there isnt a why. Why would he want to pretend and constantly watch his back? Why would he want to become friends with them? And why would he have feelings for one of them that could, at anytime, rip his throat out? It didnt make sense to me. I really didnt connect with Gene. This is because the story is told from his point of view and I never really connect with male characters as much as females, and while I thought Gene is a good character to look up to, I just dont understand his reasoning for the things he does. If that was me, I would have given up a long, long time ago, but thats not it there are other questions popping up from the story like, how do the vampires procreate? How do the vampires not notice that Gene is human, if they have intense supernatural senses? I could go on and on because I felt like there were too many flaws in the plot and I really couldnt overlook them. Maybe I'm over thinking the story to much but there were just to many loose ends for me to enjoy this book.Overall, The Hunt didnt wow me, but I can see why so many people liked it so even though its not for me, give this book a try and see what you think for yourself.

Ok, I give this book credit for its interesting premise -- humans extinct/turned into farm commodities, vampire society ascendant, remaining humans attempting to pass in vampire society -- and the degree to which the vampires are alien, complete with odd physical tics and social norms. However, and maybe I'm overthinking things, but it's hard not to be pulled out of the book world by a few logistical issues, such as,1. If vampires' main erogenous organs are their elbows and armpits, how do they make little vampire babies? Cause there's a vampire kindergarten class, so there has to be an aging process, ergo birth, ergo... can someone just explain to me how this works, please?2. If vampires do not drink water to the point where Gene is dying of dehydration a few days into this weird vampire Hunger Games thing that Fukuda has set up, why is it that vampires pee? Yes, there is a vampires peeing in a urinal scene in this book. I did not come up with this question in a vacuum.3. If vampires don't have hair on their face or arms, why do they have hair on their heads?4. If vampires can track humans miles in the wilderness by BO alone, how exactly is Gene not discovered within the 1st 24 hours of his forced move to a place without his super secret scent-masking kit, a place where he can't even shower? I know he keeps misdirecting and complaining about the windows letting in the human scent from the humans imprisoned next door, but even if his fellow hunters don't catch on, you'd think the people who've lived in this compound next to the humans for years would figure out that something new is going on.5. Um, did I mention the armpit/elbow sex?6. And in conclusion, wtf?If you're into vampire stuff, this adds some genuinely new ideas to the genre. But if you are not a fan of the vampire craze, go ahead and miss this. Unless you like weird. Cause this definitely delivers the weird.

so this book is kind of fun, but full of problematic holes and "huh's?"vampires. vampires rule the day here. nearly everyone has become a vampire, and the humans who remain must camouflage their human characteristics to be able to survive and blend in. all the concessions are made to vampire-life: school is held at night, lighting is kept low, and meat is served very very rare. and remaining "hepers" or "humans" are periodically released into an arena for vampires to hunt and eat, in a morale-boosting extravaganza.for a high shool boy whose parents have both died/been turned, life can be complicated.all human impulses must be suppressed, otherwise, the vampires will know he is huuuuman, and will be unable to control themselves.. he cannot sneeze, he cannot widen his eyes in surprise, he cannot sweat, he must shave his body every day and never ever smell like a human boy. no coughing,no getting sick, no pimples, no papercuts... i mean, it boggles the mind. this would never be possible, even in a well-constructed fantasy. and this one is not well-constructed. authors, again, build your worlds!! i do not understand these vampires. so they don't breed? but they age, they eat meat... do they excrete? they have bathrooms in the scohol, right? i thought i remembered a scene taking place in a school bathroom or locker room...(and i wish i wasn't writing this in the middle of the anaheim convention center and i had the book with me) what makes them different? how did they take over the country - and what will they do when there are no more humans??i suppose instead of world-building, we are given little social quirks. vampires do not laugh - instead they scratch their forearms. instead of making out, they perform some sort of elbow-into-armpit configuration. and seriously, unless we are talking about this:do not even expect me to be interested in elbow sex.who is maintaining the electricity here, and why?? why do vampires drool uncontrollably when they see a picture of a heper, but when there is one in their midst, they do not even realize it?? why can't they go underwater? so many weird vampirisms here, so underexplained.and for humans - why would you stay?? why wouldn't you just move to the wilderness away from the freaking vampires? why continue to go to school for goodness' sake? what could you possibly be learning in vampire high-school, and what career path could this high school possibly be preparing anyone for? or alternatively - why not just become a vampire? i mean, you continue to live in these communities where a hangnail could redefine you as dinner; once you start suppressing that many human impulses, you are already distancing yourself from "human" so why not just give in at that point? path of least resistance. you can't go through your whole life without ever sneezing - without ever getting a fever. and how the hell do girl hepers deal with menstruation? answer my questions, book!if i felt that this was some kind of cleverly-done extended metaphor in the "it gets better" tradition, exhibiting just how hard it is to suppress natural feelings and behaviors and how quick to bully people are when they are confronted with somethig they do not understand, that would be one thing. but this is another thing. this is just another attempt to blend the trends: vampire meets dystopia, hunger games style..."cash in now, honey..."shit - my laptop is almost out of battery... TO BE CONTINUED MOMENTARILYokay. so anyway,our hero gets chosen as one of the vampires to hunt the hepers in the next frenzy. naturally. because he is so good at passing. and there are a few hepers living in a dome, and they are the next victims of this hunt. but they don't know it. all they know is they live in a dome that retracts in the daylight and they an go out and hunt and do whatever things they need to do. they can read, they are articulate, they know how to use weapons. and so why do they stay in the dome? do they think they are pets? i know they say they cannot get far enough awa from the dome in the daylight hours to escape, but that sounds a little suspect to me. also suspect is our boy's reaction to them. he is surprised that they are as socially advanced as they are, but he shows them no loyalty; he still sees them as "other." so who is he, really? not vampire, not heper - he is just... nothing.and considering it took him five times of mentioning the lake and how thirsty he was "but noooo the vampires cannot see me driiiink." before he combined those two thoughts and realized "oh, i can drink the WATER from the LAKE!! maybe he would be better off becoming a vampire. dummy.i don' know - that whole "hepers in a dome" thing was weird, to me. like it was some kind of museum of natural history exhibit. they knew who ther captors were, they knew they were in danger - they knew the dome could be retracted at any time and they could be eaten, but they get a note from their ememies and they just go traipsing off into the wilderness, no questions asked? dumb.but this book wasn't the worst. there were some good scenes, and the last line aone was enough to keep me interested in where this will go.this probably needs major editing - i amon an unfamiliar computer in an unfamiliar town and everything is strange..... maybe i will revise when i get home. until then... endure...