The Hunt

Written by Andrew Fukuda

Narrated by Sean Runnette

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?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Audio
• Release date: May 8, 2012
• ISBN: 9781427222091

Andrew Fukuda

Born in Manhattan and raised in Hong Kong, ANDREW FUKUDA currently resides on Long Island, New York. After earning a bachelor's degree in history from Cornell University, Fukuda went on to work as a criminal prosecutor in New York City. He now writes full time. He is the author of The Hunt, The Prey, and The Trap.

Reviews for The Hunt

[sszkutak_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Background: Humans no longer exist, they have been hunted out of existence, or so most think. Gene is unlike all of his classmates, and even the world, he is a human, faking his existence as a vampire to fit in. That is, until the Heper Hunt, where the government announces that they have kept some Hepers (humans) in their facilities preparing them for the madness to come. Gene has been living a fake life where humans are considered a delicacy and hunted for their blood, now he has been chosen as one of the few to participate in the Hunt, and his life as he knows it begins to breakaway beneath him.Review: You can feel the suspense from the very beginning of this book, Gene explaining the rules and daily rituals so that he is not discovered by his school-mates or teachers. On Declaration day, the school is abuzz about the Hunt and who will be lucky enough to be chosen…sadly it is Gene, and his rules have not prepared him for this at all. I loved this read. It was action packed and my anxiety level was through the roof the whole time, never a dull moment, because Gene is always on the verge of being found out. There were great twists and while some things were predictable, they were still entertaining and action packed. The ending is a wonderful surprise.

[nocturnewytche · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A good read. Nothing stood out for me as a greatly amazing story. I skimmed most of it and should probably try reading it again when I have more time. I feel I didn't get the whole feel of this one.

[bookspot · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Don't sweat. Don't laugh. Don't smile. Don't show surprise. Just don't draw any attention to yourself. These are the rules he's grown up hearing everyday of his life. He's not like the people of the world - people who sleep during the day in sleep holds on the ceiling and would, literally, eat him alive if they knew what he was. If they caught even the smallest scent of his blood.There used to be more like him, but now, he seems to be the only one left.Following his father's rules and a set of careful daily grooming rituals he's been able to avoid detection, but when the ruler calls another Heper Hunt - where the people hunt a captive, bred and raised group of those who, like him bleed, and need water to survive it's all put in danger His elaborately constructed charade is in danger of collapsing after he's chosen to be a hunter.Can he make it through this alive?The Hunt twists the usual idea of a vampire story on its head. Instead of the vampires hiding in the shadows and being the outcasts of society, their lives in danger if people ever found them out, it's other way round. There's even more of a twist in The Hunt, actually, in that the creatures we would think of as vampires - those with fangs who can't go out in daylight, drink blood are referred to as people and those who we'd think of as the people are instead the 'other,' the minority and are called hepers.(I think it's worth noting that while the general 'vampires are in charge, people are in danger - the old idea is flipped' premise might be similar to The Immortal Rules, the two stories are very different and whether you liked one, didn't or never heard of it, consider the other separately. Though, I love that they are both breathing some new life into YA vampire tales.)The main character has been working his whole life to fit in, to not stand out, not to draw attention to himself. His father hammered a set of rules into his head over and over while he was still there - what not to do (things that the 'people' don't) and what to do (Never forget who you are) and taught him things to do that would keep him looking - and smelling (or not smelling) like them. We get to see the struggles he has through routine things because of the differences in how the world is not set up - how dark it always is even inside, for instance. But, we also learn a lot about the people and how they function, what they're like through observation, casual remarks about his life.Once the hunt - and preparation for it - get started we learn more about the society and not only how things are but how they view hepers. A lot of humor comes into play here as well as some potential romance. With the plot being what it is, there's always, at least, some underlying tension - is he going to be found out, isn't he? What about now?While I absolutely enjoyed learning about the people (vampires) and the hepers (people) and how that current world seems to be, I really would have liked some more character development. Not necessarily for secondary characters (though I did, oddly, find myself feeling more sympathetic towards one of the characters I don't believe was supposed to be that sympathetic), but at least for the main few. The plot seemed to be much stronger than the characters and when the ending was coming up it was hard to connect that much with two of the characters or care.The ending was quite brilliant and left me so, so anxious to know when the second book in this series!(And with Darren Shan's vampire series ending with the last The Saga of Larten Crepsley book out - I'll have a review this week or early next - I know someone else I'm going to try to get to read The Hunt.)Rating: 9/10Other Books You Might Enjoy: Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion and Infinity (Chronicles of Nick #1) by Sherrilyn Kenyonadvance copy received from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers - thank you :)

[juniperjungle · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A dystopian YA read featuring vampires, some interesting ideas but it never quite grabbed me.

[bookaddictdiary · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In line with the current teen dystopian craze, debut author Andrew Fukuda offers readers The Hunt, a supernatural twist on the genre that takes the latest crazes in publishing, throws them together, and offers something different.In this world, humans have been hunted to near extinction by vampires, who have become the dominate species on the earth. Young Gene is one of the few humans who has managed to survive by hiding in plain sight, and making certain that no vampire ever suspects his humanity. When a new hunt for the last remaining humans is announced, Gene decides to participate to help hide the truth. But not only do Gene's fellow vampire hunters start to suspect the truth, but the hunt brings Gene into contact with other humans.Talk about a unique take on an over-used theme. The Hunt takes the current teen vampire craze and turns it on its head. Vampires don't sparkle here and they certainly aren't attractive. They are little more than killers who have taken humanity to the brink. Having a male protagnist her was particularly refreshing, especially since I rarely see this in the dystopian or supernatural teen genres.The Hunt does an excellent job of balancing its unexpected concept with an action-packed plot. Not only that, but I never felt like one element of the story or setting completely overtook the entire thing. The dystopian overtones were well-balanced by the somewhat supernatural feel and the romance is realistic and not overdone.Recommended for fans of teen dystopian and supernatural novels with a twist.

[megsgalaxy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very interesting read. Everything about it: the blurb, the characters, the setting... everything was amazing, though I'll admit that I had some doubts when I first read the word 'fangs'. (You know what I was thinking about, don't you?) I honestly didn't want to have any vampire romance. Thankfully, there was none of that.At first, The Hunt reminded me a lot of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. Though it had some similarities, it turned out to be quite different. The Hunt, also known as the 'Heper Hunt' ('heper' is the word they use to refer to humans), was once very popular a long time ago, when the land still had a large population of humans left to feast on. However, as their numbers steadily began to decrease, they had to break that tradition. And then one day, when Gene is still in school, there's an announcement that the Palace is planning to have one last Hunt with the remaining hepers. Rotten luck for Gene, since he's not a vampire, just disguised as one. His number is selected from the lottery, and he enters the Hunt along with another girl from his school and five others. One thing that really drew me into Gene's world and made it so real was that, since the majority of the population were vampires, they had different customs. For one, they didn't have names. For another, they don't show emotion. At all. Instead, they scratch their wrists. When they're feeling particularly greedy for blood, they snap their necks. They also sleep in sleep holds at night and sunlight, or any kind of light (except for mercuric light) is harmful for them. The Hunt was full of unexpected surprises that kept me immersed the whole time. The romance, though you could tell was there, was kept in minimum amounts that suited the story line just right. The characters were nicely carved, which, in some cases, made them seem all the more sinister. The only things I have to complain about is the writing style and the ending. The writing style was kind of jerky. There were some sentences that could be combined with the previous one, so that made the book a little tedious to read. And the ending was pretty abrupt. The author could've added on a little more to make us even more intrigued. But alas, he didn't. I'm giving this 4.5 stars, because I was able to look over all those flaws and enjoy the book.

[shellypya · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gene is a heper, or human, who's been masquerading as a vampire his entire life. Vampires are the norm and humans are rare. When Gene is chosen via lottery to participate in a heper hunt, things become tricky. Trying to keep up appearances surrounded so closely by vampires is hard, but he does his best. Worse yet, a female vampire classmate was also chosen for the hunt, and Gene's always had a secret crush on her. Secrets are revealed as Gene learns more about his classmate and the hepers he's supposed to hunt.

[truly_bookish · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

While I know that unputdownable is not a real word, it pretty much describes The Hunt. This book is compulsively readable from the very first page and never slows down. There are so many things to love about The Hunt, I will mention a few of them here:World building: In this dystopian future, vampires rule the world and consider themselves people. Humans, or hepers, are a vampire delicacy and are thought to be extinct except for a few that the government keeps in a facility to study. While some of the vampires mannerisms and lifestyle are familiar (sleeping during the day and awake at night, super fast and strong), Fukuda introduces some charcteristics that are completely different from what readers are familiar with and takes the time to really highlight their behavior (drooling and salivating excessively, scratching their wrists instead of laughing, making out by rubbing their elbows into each other’s armpits). These strange behaviors are one of the reasons that this book is so unique. Well developed characters: Gene is smart and strong but in his need to stay under the radar and blend in with the vamps, he under achieves in school. His real genius is living among the predators without being detected and it is really interesting to see the lengths he goes through to stay safe. While I liked Gene a lot, the most intriguing character is Ashley June, the gorgeous and popular vampire girl at Gene’s school that he has always been attracted to but smart enough to know to stay away from.The vampires: These vampires are the most vicious I have ever seen, working themselves into a slobbering frenzy at the mere mention of human flesh and blood. Yes guys, they eat flesh too and they attack like crazed animals in the wild. These are the scariest vamps I have ever read about.The suspense!: I cannot emphasize how much of a nail biting, edge of your seat read this is. I’m a squeamish reader and honestly, I was creeped out, grossed out and yet I could not put The Hunt down because I HAD to know what happened next. Despite my squeamishness, I raced through the book and am so ready for more!If you like horror, adventure, suspense, tons of action or just highly original and entertaining books, The Hunt is for you. There are some fantastic plot twists and a killer of a cliffhanger ending. I highly recommend it and cannot wait to read the sequel. Content: Kissing and violence.

[a_reader_of_fictions · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The people in this book are not actually vampires, but, of all the paranormal creatures, that's the best available description. They cannot be in sunlight, they have fangs and long nails, and they do suck blood. However, these creatures also eat flesh, so they're not quite vampires. They have no hair on their bodies, except their heads, which seems odd. Another big difference is that they age.

He works really hard not to attract notice, following tons of strict rules, like shaving every single day to fit in with these weird vampire creatures that apparently run the world, or at least his part of it. Even with all of his preparation, it seems odd that no one's noticed him yet. Wouldn't they be able to smell him?

I really have to comment on the oddness of some of the rituals the people (aka vampire-like beings have). When they think something's funny, they scratch their wrists. At the prospect of drinking from a heper (human), they drool copiously. Gross! Weirder still, apparently rubbing an elbow into an armpit is equivalent to an intense makeout session. What the what?

The writing really impressed me. The story is told in first person by Gene. The narration is inconsistent, with Gene sometimes referring to himself as one of the people and sometimes identifying himself as a heper in his own thoughts. Rather than coming off as poor editing, this strengthens the tale. Gene has been living among them so long that he hardly knows what he is any more. At times, behaving like a person seems to come instinctively.

The Hunt calls to mind most strongly The Hunger Games, even thought the plot is quite different. The similarities between them are the lottery, although, here, winning the lottery is a lucky thing, and the battle to be number one. The Hunt, too, is a very fast read, full of action and excitement. I will definitely be looking forward to the next action-packed installment.

Also, I have to give Fukuda some serious props for his hilarious judgmental commentary of the romantic vampire novels. He's clearly laying into Twilight. Love it!

[shellierb69 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda and published by St. Martins Griffin.I have to start off by saying this book was incredible. I have read a ton of dystopians and this is one of my favorites. This book takes a different take on vampires. There is no falling in love with vampires in this novel specially if you a human. The story takes place in the future were humans are mostly extinct and vampires rule the world. Gene is a boy who was taught at a young age to never stand out. He was taught not to show any expression on his face or to sweat. He has tons of rules he must follow in order to pretend he is a vampire and not what they call a Heper. A heper is the name they give humans. Gene is chosen by a lottery of numbers to attend the heper hunt. Six vampires are chosen by this lottery to hunt down the remaining hepers the ruler has kept in captivity. This story kept me on the edge of my seat and not wanting to put it down. It has action, suspense and some romance. I loved this story and it also ended on a huge cliff hanger that I never saw coming. If you love dystopians the way I do this will be one for your favorite shelf..

[highvoltagegrrl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow. This book starts and just never stops. I read this book in a day, which is unusual for me. I’d sit down to read 50 pages and then realize I had read 100 pages, it’s just so quick moving and engrossing. The author puts you right into the middle of this world and you get bits and pieces of what’s going on at a time. Not everything is revealed, which is great because there is still so much history and mystery for the next in the series.There were characters that I was constantly rooting for – Gene of course – and I felt my heart speed up anytime that he was in trouble. Moments like that, and there were many, kept me on my toes and turning the pages late into the night. And then there were the characters I despised. That wasn’t really hard to do as most everyone is doing something at some point that made me shudder. The twists that are brought into play were surprising and I am on the edge of my seat to read the next book and see what happens!

[lyzzieb_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Overall I thought this book was quite interesting and I would recommended it to any YA or Dystopian fan. I did think that the start was kind of slow going but in the middle it definitely picked up the pace. I liked this book because it really kept me guessing. Every time I thought I knew what was going to happen in the book Fukuda turned the tables on me. However, I did find that most of the characters were quite underdeveloped, which I hope will be remedied in the next books in the series. The ending was quite a cliffhanger and I am very excited to see where the story goes form here.

[greatimaginations · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

If I had only one thing to say about The Hunt, it would be that it was extremely original. I'm not sure that it is a book for everyone-parts of it were pretty disgusting, and the vampires in this novel were grosser than most. I happened to love that though. The plot was suspenseful and the story was unlike anything I have read before. One thing I prize most in a book is originality, and this book is full of it. I know. A vampire book that's original? Who would have thought that could happen anymore?It's not a perfect book, but what it's lacking in background details and world-building, it makes up for in its suspense, tight plotting, and just absolutely fantastic writing. Some sentences are choppy, some long, and it really helped to set the ominous tone for what was to come. I enjoyed the poetic style the book was written in. I like writing and a writer's voice that stands out, and it definitely did here.The story was also filled with delightful doses of humor and I found myself laughing out loud more than once. But then there were times when I had to put the book down because the suspense and story was terrifying me. I was seriously frightened in a couple of places. I usually don't scare easily either. I found that I fell in love with this book from the very first sentence. I knew it would be a book that I would enjoy.One thing I have to talk about without spoiling is the ending. It ended in a pretty devastating cliffhanger. But I kind of loved it because it was one of those revelations where your mouth dropped open in shock. Something happened that I should have seen coming all along but I was just oblivious to it and overlooked it completely. I love being shocked as a reader and it doesn't happen very often anymore. Complaints? The character development was a bit lacking. Which is why I said I wasn't too disappointed by the lack of perfection. The plot more than makes up for it. Even though the protagonist was fairly well-developed, most of the side characters weren't. A lot of scary things happened and I feel like I should have cared for those characters more, and I would have if the author had just spent a little more time on them. I could have also done without the snobbishness of the protagonist and Ashley June. It didn't make me like either of them as much as I could have. I understand why the author made them this way, but it's just going to take awhile for either of them to grow on me now. I also would have loved for some more background and details about how and why the dystopian world ended up the way it did. Since this is a new series, I am hoping more of that information is to come in the next book. Which I will definitely be reading. This book was amazing.Final note: This book was like a runaway train. It kept picking up speed as it moved along and it never did slow down. It kept going until the very end when it crashed into the station and you were left with the aftermath of your thoughts. Loved it!

[yearningtoread · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda (#1)Pages: 304Release Date: May 8th, 2012Date Read: 2012, May 13th-17thReceived: ARC via NetGalleyRating: 3.5/5 starsRecommended to: 15+SUMMARY -Don't sweat, his father said. Don't let them smell you. Don't let them see the hair on your chin. Don't laugh. Don't cry. Don't widen your eyes.Gene has followed these rules for years. Long after his father died. Long after he was forced to live alone. He has lived among the vampires, one of them, in the dark, his life in danger at every moment. If they realize what he is - a heper, a human they will devour him that very second. When Gene is chosen to participate in the Heper Hunt, the first in 10 years, concealing his true identity may be harder than anything he's every done. Especially when he may be so much closer to his own kind than he thinks.MY THOUGHTS -The Hunt. Oh goodness - where to begin? I really enjoyed it, in a cringing, "Oh my GOSH that's disgusting!" kind of way. Is that even possible?! It just tripped me out. I don't do vampires, and the only other vampire-related book I ever read was about vampire bats and I hated nearly every second of that book. So I was surprised I liked this as much as I did. But still. Gross. :/CHARACTER NOTES -Gene pretty much made The Hunt for me. That and the writing, which was stellar. Gene is the kind of guy you wan to be buddies with. Maybe you even want to be his girlfriend. Underneath all this "hide from the vampires" stuff, he's such a cool guy. His discovery of romance and love just made him all the more appealing.Now, Ashley June. Ashley June. She is one tripped out character. And I loved her. I won't (can't) say too much about her, but I seriously loved her strength and poise. And that's about all I can say. (If you must know, I guessed everything about her the moment she was introduced at school...just sayin'.)Now, there are some NASTY vampires here. Ashley June may be tame, but that's not normal. Ha! The others are just...EW. That's all I can think to say, because really, they all team up to suck the blood from humans. And it's described. And I have not gotten over that scene. I need a barf bag Every. Single. Time.STORY NOTES -The first 100 pages or so were good, but they lacked intensity for me. It had some scary, disturbing things, but...not enough to wow me - just enough to keep me going. Then, BAM! Wowza! The rest of the story jumped at me. So much happens, so much mystery is involved, and the climax! GASP! It was like, 75 freaking pages of OHMYFREAKINGGOSH WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE! Ahem. Composure obtained...Now, this story is gross, because vampires are not glorified and the Director is scary as hell and Gene could be devoured at any second. There are scenes, quite a few of them, that involved eating raw meet with blood running and - yuck. Still squeamish. Hence, the lower rating.But I will be continuing this series. Andrew Fukuda is highly trained in the art of torture by a few small words. And by small words I mean Lauren Oliver style - like the last words of the book. Where everything blows up in your face and you can't breathe.SO. Obviously, I have to know.And while I can't say much about either of these things, I loved:1. The romance. It was flipping amazing!2. Gene's work with the Hepers. Wow! Such a neat dynamic!So bravo to Andrew Fukuda, even though I'm still recovering. I say well done! (That's how I like my meat, ya'll. Not fresh. But, you know, no hatin'.)SUMMING IT UP -Scary and yucky but totally flipping cool! If you're not totally disgusted, you'll most likely enjoy it! (Oh, but what was with the armpit sex? That was bordering on Twilight-glittery-vampire-funny!)For the Parents -You heard me. Armpit sex. Spin the bottle, Ashley June and Gene are forced into a closet, they have to, erm, do that. It's just so weird. But it's not explicit, not really. Just that it's a source of pleasure for vampires. Besides this and the nasty violence, nothing. Ages 15+

[bookishbrunette · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A boy living in a world full of vampires that think human's are nearly extinct. Uuuum... EPIC WIN.Gene has co-existed (incognito... 007 style) with the vamps his entire life. He goes to school with them, has taken on their mannerisms... He pretends to be one of them in order to survive. The rules are simple. Do not draw attention to yourself. Do NOT get caught. SURVIVE, no matter what.And then the day comes, when no matter how adamantly he follows each and every rule... nothing can save him. The Ruler, who no one has seen or heard from in decades decided there is to be a Heper Hunt. They round up HUMANS (what they call hepers) set them loose and let a team of specially chosen vamps have at it. I KNOW right?! And GUESS who is one of the chosen to aid in The Hunt? Yep... GENE."I don't have any friends... Mostly, though , it's the prospect of being eaten alive by your so-called friend that kills any possibilty of shared intimacy. Call me picky, but imminent death at the hands (or teeth) of a friend who would suckle blood out of you at the drop of a hat... That throws a monkey wrench into the friendship building."I didn't even realize until page 150 that I didn't even know the main character's NAME. He wasn't even aware of it until he breaks into the heper village and forces his mind to recall it!Then there's Ashley June... Is she a human among the vamps also??? Surely not! Maaaaaybe... She is! No... She isn't... Yes... No... Ah-ha!!!!!I'm telling you, this is the inner turmoil I was putting myself through while reading The Hunt!Andrew Fukuda's attention to detail was simply excellent! I was completely overwhelmed by the life in which Gene led. The loneliness and self-loathing he experienced while wishing he was one of the very creatures he despised so much in order to LIVE a normal existence!Remarkably witty and humorous, The Hunt is compulsively readable.

[b00kah0lic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The plotline fascinated me. The Hunt was a surpringly slow read for me. It is packed with action and twists to keep you hooked in, but it took me a lot longer to read it than I expected. Once I got a feel for the book, I was able to predict the general outcomes. I think it is probably the most interesting and unique vampire book I've read in a long time.

[aimless22 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gene's father drilled into him all of the ways that he must fit into the society they live in. Never sweat. Never cough. Never laugh. The society they live in is full of vampires. These vampires are creative - they scratch their wrists when something is funny. They crack their necks when excited. They eat bloody raw meet. They dream of hepers (hiumans).

[kimmydavis · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this book from the Library Thing Early Reviewer's group. Despite my best efforts, I was never able to feel connected to these characters. It's an excellent premise, and I plan to try again and again with this book; it fits exactly within my favorite genre! My distraction comes when I begin to believe I'll "know what's happening." I read past that point several times, and was wrong each time, but I never finished the book. 3.5 stars out of 5

[hermyoni · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

*I was provided a copy of this E-book by Netgalley in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own and I was not compensated in any way for them.Review: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. These are the rules Gene has followed his whole life. At night he pretends to be one of them, the creatures who have hunted his kind to near extinction. Gene knows he's lucky to be alive. If they found out.....well he didn't want to think about that. Unfortunately that's the price you have to pay when your a Heper(human)living in a world full of vampires.I wasn't sure what to expect going into this book. Early reviewers didn't seem to favor it at all, so when I was approved to read The Hunt I pushed back doing so until closer to release. When I finally sat down and read this book I was gripped instantly. Without giving to much away the book opens with a voiceover. The character later revealed as Gene is telling the story about a little girl who wanted to go to school. She snuck out, attended class and even made it through part of the day. Her downfall was the teacher calling for naptime. All of the students rushed to their perches on the ceiling but obviously the little girl could not, so her ruse was found out and she was eaten down to the very bone. This scene took me by surprise and I immediately proceeded to devour (no pun intended) the rest of the book in one sitting.I don't want to give the book away since I really think it's worth discovering for yourself, so my review will be spoiler light. The Main characters Gene and Ashley June are chosen for The Heper Hunt. While Ashley June is thrilled obviously Gene is not. I found this to be interesting. Gene while a Heper himself draws a distinct line between himself and those he is doomed to track and kill. He is civilized, they are not. If that meant killing them so be it. Gene is one of the best Male protagonists I have read in a good long while. He starts out as this almost dead Character. He has no emotions, no spark of life to him. All the things that define a human would get him killed so he buries them down deep. It is almost easy to forget he is human he is so cold. As the book progresses and the facade starts to crumble, we get glimpses of his real human personality shining through. I must say this made for great reading.Ashley June on the other hand. While she was a decently written character, I did see the clear path where her storyline was heading. I think she has a larger story to tell but I was a bit let down when my predictions for her were right. I also wanted to know more about the world. While we learn that society has been this way a long time, we don't learn how it ended up that way in the first place.In the end this was a great book, with many surprising moments, lots of action and even a little romance along the way. The ending while a bit predictable was satisfying! I really am looking forward to reading the next book in this series. I definitely suggest picking up this book when it releases May 8th and giving it a shot. I will be giving The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda 4 Stars.

[melissarochelle_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I'm not sure if this is dystopian or just fantasy, because I'm not sure if the world was always more vampires than humans or what. I mean, they still use horses as transportation, so that really didn't make sense...whatever it is, it's definitely this: The Hunger Games meets vampires. In the world of The Hunt, vampires are people and humans are practically extinct. Interesting concept, no?There are a lot of things that didn't really make sense...how did this happen? What kind of vampires are these that can't smell heper (aka human) simply because they bathed really well? How did vampires come to take over the world?I'm sure a lot of these questions will be answered later and I enjoyed the jabs the author made about current vampire trends. I'm definitely intrigued by where this series might go, but no rush.

[theepicrat · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Oh, holy butter, THE HUNT is such a smooth and unputdownable read that I hardly know where to begin with this review. If our world was set in THE HUNT, Andrew Fukuda is like the master of all vampires, and I would gladly crack my neck with excitement because I am absolutely salivating for the next installment! I had said earlier this year that DRINK, SLAY, LOVE was absolute love-at-first-sight, and comparitively THE HUNT rises up to the challenge and proves to be true-love-at-first-bite. Vampires, your comeback is nigh – and I totally LOVE what these authors have done with them!THE HUNT will immediately suck readers into a world where vampires come out on top in regards to survival of the fittest, and Gene may be the last free-roaming human left - although he cannot exactly announce that to the world. The vampires may love humans, but their love is not strictly in the platonic sense. I cannot imagine how hard it is for Gene to hide his humanity and train himself to be unnoticeable among his predators. Gene is quite the intelligent young man, but he realizes that any misstep means certain and unpleasant death. As a person who tends to wear her emotions on her sleeve, I would probably fail epicly in maintaining a cool façade. I do wonder what exactly Gene expects for his life since it seems that he may have a lonely future ahead of him with no particular desire to stir any trouble. Until he gets selected to join the Hunt and comes into contact with the human captives.What Andrew Fukuda brings to the table is a strong and cohesive world where night becomes the new day, and all the characters definitely help to create such an interesting dilemma where readers constantly wonder if there are others like Gene who have lived under the radar and also if higher powers DO know about Gene but choose to keep it quiet. Who exactly is the man behind the curtain? Who is vampire, and who is human? Who can be trusted, and who will stake you in the back? THE HUNT deftly buildS up the suspense into a satisfying yet game-changing conclusion that will leave readers anxious to find out where the series will go in Book 2 – and who will prove fit enough to survive.Deliciously innovative, wholly addictive, and solidly dystopic, fans of LEGEND, The Hunger Games, and DIVERGENT are sure to devour THE HUNT in one sitting, drool to the point of embarrassment, and immediately demand seconds. NOW. Andrew Fukuda has delivered an impressive debut that brings all the tricks to the table, and something tells me that the next installment will be just as well-crafted to perfection.

[stephsstacks · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Our hero, Gene, is living a double life. By night, he has to remember to control his emotions and his sweat glands. No more laughing or crying, fast swimming or slow running. By day, he either sleeps of roams the world while others sleep. Gene is the worst thing he can be in this world, human. He is surrounded by vampire-like beings and his very survival depends on his ability to blend in and not call attention to himself in any way.Well, you know he's not going to get away with it, friend. (How fun would that be?) Apparently, these new vampire-like beings are a big bunch of gluttons with little to zero self-control because they are almost out of humans to eat. Enter the Heper Hunt. The president has been breeding humans for the sole purpose of allowing them to be hunted by a select group who have been chosen by lottery. Gene is chosen the be a hunter (his secret is safe for now) and the real hunt is on. He now finds himself thrust into a world of hunters and humans while desperately trying to maintain his cover. Gene meets a girl or two, natch, and although there is a little smidge of a love story (most notably strange elbow to armpit relations), it is not the central focus of the plot. Mainly, it's all about the constant tension and pressure Gene is trying to live through. You try not to sweat right beside him as every turn and twist brings him closer to being outed and eaten. The Hunt is the kind of book that grabs you by the collar and never lets go. The fast pace kept me turning the pages and I couldn't wait to see how this was all going to turn out for our hero. Some of the choices were odd, but not enough to keep me from highly recommending The Hunt. Fukuda has created a bloody, unique and terrifying world where the humans have lost the war and their future is on the line.

[kewpie83 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

'The Hunt' is a quick read with a slightly similar storyline to the Hunger Games. The idea behind the 'human hunt' is that the human population be controlled through means of a battle royale (of sorts) between the thriving alien species and the remaining human population.

As far as covers go, I like the cover design on 'The Hunt'. It's an engaging cover with some fun elements. I love the ripped cut out showing the two lead characters.

In all honesty, it's not my favorite dystopian read. The pacing was off through the entire novel. The beginning felt slow and the ending felt rushed. I wasn't surprised at the big reveal 200 pages in, either. I had it pegged very early on.

The world was crafted well enough and, unlike some dystopian worlds, I had no problem figuring it out. The world has some unique bits that separate it from other dystopian titles, but also suffers from having too much backstory.

The long and short of it? While the idea was an interesting one, for me, 'The Hunt' just didn't hold up. 'The Hunt' wasn't my cup of tea

[novelgoddess · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

GoodReads Synopsis: 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?My Thoughts: Ultimately, not a big fan of this book. It was kind of like a ‘Vampire Hunger Games”...it had potential, but never quite rose to the occasion.Fukuda dumps us in this world where we don’t know what the deal is, other than it’s a world of Vampires, and the eyes we are looking through belong to a human posing as a vampire. But Fukuda doesn’t do much World building throughout the story.I had a ton of questions from the reading that were never addressed or answered. We don’t know anything about how long the world has been ruled by vampires...or how long the main character’s family has been in hiding among them. We know the vamps call humans, “hepers”, but now why.When the main character, whose “name” we learn is Gene over halfway through the book, goes through some seminars prior to the Hunt. They were to provide some insight into how hepers think and operated. During one of these “seminars”, the Director talks about how hepers are a couple of hundred years behind the vamps on the evolutionary scale...which would lead me to believe that vamps have been in power for centuries. How could humans hide that long amongst the vamps? Also, why doesn’t anyone have names in this world? Makes it hard to address people when they don’t have names.The vamps do some strange things like wrist scratching and apparently “foreplay” has something to do with elbows in armpits...which is never explained or even hinted at. I felt like I came into a movie that was halfway over and missed all the back story...the problem was that there was no backstory.Overall I found the story predictable. Once the hunt was announced I wrote down my predictions for what I thought would happen and I was spot on with one exception. I thought possible all the “hunters” were hepers. This book frustrated me no end.

[jrlibrary · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It has been a long time since I read a book in one night, but Fukuda's "The Hunt" kept me reading into the early hours of the morning, and I didn't resent a single second. In post-apocalyptic America there are very few humans left and Gene is one of them. He hides openly among the vampires who rule the planet, and with the early help of his father has developed an incredible regime to avoid detection. His routine and survival is threatened however, when he unluckily wins a lottery that places him in a once-in-a-lifetime coveted position as one of the "hunters" of the last remaining hepers (humans). His plan to break his leg just before the hunt doesn't work, and he is forced to train with a bloodthirsty crowd who are growing increasingly suspicious of him.Readers will love:The vampires whose characteristics are fresh and intriguingThe fast non-stop action of the story; I repeatedly found myself holding my breath for GeneThe twists (and there are a couple)The (dare I say it?) Hunger Games-like feel when Gene is being pursued and the romance, which I'm not going to tell you about. Yes, there are a few questions that a critical reader might ask, and a few places where the ability to just believe gets stretched a little thin, but overall, I think this is going to be a real winner with my middle school readers. My gut instinct says it will only take one or two signouts before this book is a smoking hot commodity in my library. :-) It's been a while since I felt so certain about a book, and the really surprising thing is that I really, REALLY thought I could not possibly read another book with a vampire in it EVER! I was wrong ... so wrong. Sadly, this is book one but happily, book two is supposed to be out very soon. I'll be in that line-up for sure.

[dearheart_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

All his life Gene was taught to hide the fact that he isn’t the same species as everyone else. On a daily basis he must shave off body hair, trim fingernails, whiten his fake fangs, don’t perspire or bleed (because the smell is a dead giveaway) and should never draw attention to himself. Because if the world’s dominant creatures get wind that you are a heper (human)—an almost extinct delicacy that drives them mad with lust for their blood and flesh—being attacked by a pack of feral starving animals will seem gentle by comparison. The vampire-like creatures don’t like the light, live on raw bloody meat, never show emotion on their faces, and never sweat.Imagine winning a lottery everyone over the age of 15 is automatically entered in with the prize being a heper hunt; it’s been 10 years since the Ruler has held one and they just so happened to have a small herd raised for this purpose. Gene is immediately whisked away from school to be taken to a government facility with the other winners for 5 days of training and learning about hepers before the hunt. And of course he doesn’t have anything with him to mask his scent or shave with.The tension is high throughout the story as the 17 year-old tries to find a way to keep his identity a secret while learning things the government doesn’t want the general population to know. It doesn’t help that in his dire need for water, Gene enters the heper village during the day—it’s protected at night by a dome—and gets to know the hepers that will be hunted. Should he warn them?This well-written, often violent story is being marketed to young adults, but perhaps the youngest of that group should wait a few years before picking up this book. Some parts are outright gruesome in a complete turn-around from the more popular “misunderstood, beautiful vampire.” But the story grabs you early on and just doesn’t let go.The author has easily left the door open for future books.Reviewed for Library Thing.

[resugo · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I should've liked this book. I should've LOVED this book. The premise sounded exciting and the blurbs from authors were so promising. I should have found it exciting and unputdownable. Let me just say, it did not live up to my expectations. The last thirty pages, the climax of Gene's story, took me five days to finish. When faced with going to bed or finishing, I went to bed. When the choice was between washing dishes or finishing, I washed the dishes. Obviously, it was a struggle to finish. Though this was for a few reasons, mostly at the end it was because I didn't have respect for the main character, Gene. In the beginning he was fine because he was all about surviving by not making waves. But when he went on the hunt and met the hepers (vampire word for humans) he's an idiot. I understood why he thought and acted the way he did. It made sense. But it also made me not like him. At all. Which is why the ending drug on and on for me. I didn't like the progagonist, a sure bet that I wasn't so interested in his survival.

[kmartin802_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was a very interesting post-apocalyptic/dystopia which takes place in a world where vampires rule and humans have been hunted nearly to extinction because the vampires think of them as delicacies. Our main character is a young human has been passing as a vampire for years. This boy is very conflicted. He hates the vampires but he also hates his humanity because it keeps him from blending in. Every day is test for him to see if he can continue to fool those around him. Failure means instant painful death. Success means he has to do it all the next day.The Ruler has determined that it is time for another heper hunt and that the hunters will be drawn by lot from among the general population. The Ruler wants to bolster his fading popularity. Of course, our hero is chosen as is the vampire girl that he has been forcing himself not to like for years. He calls her Ashley June. Part of the reason that I keep calling him "our hero" is that the vampires don't have personal names. They have various designations based on where they sit in a class or what job they hold but the designations change. Our hero's time at the institute is a trying one for him. He has to survive without the soaps and deodorants that mask his heper body odor, he doesn't have the whitener he uses on his fangs, he doesn't have access to the water, fruits and vegetables he needs to survive. He also has to figure out how he will survive the hunt when the vampires are all faster and stronger than he is. It isn't until our hero meets the hepers who are going to be hunted and learns that they are not unthinking animals that he recalls that his family used to call him Gene. He is even more conflicted when he discovers that his fellow hunter - Ashley June - is also a human passing as a vampire. They decide to team up so that both can somehow survive. But things quickly go wrong and lead to some very exciting scenes as Gene tries to escape from the vampires who now know that he is a heper. Fans of post-apocalyptic survival stories will be a good audience for this story. They will be clamoring, like me, for sequels to know how everything works out for these characters.

[shelleyraec · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In Andrew Fukuda’s fast paced, exciting young adult novel, The Hunt, humans (also known as hepers) have been driven to edge of extinction by creatures that appear to be a hybrid of human,vampire and zombie.Seventeen year old Gene has lived amongst the ‘people’ his entire life, carefully disguising his human scent, adopting their mannerisms, being like them, all to avoid a bloody, violent death. He lives alone, keeps to himself, remains unobtrusive at school… until his number is chosen. Gene is to join The Hunt, a government sanctioned extravaganza that happens only every decade, a chance to hunt and feed on a handful of hepers released into the desert. Sequestered to the Institute for Heper Research with his fellow competitors, Gene is desperate to maintain his subterfuge, or risk becoming the hunted.I very quickly got caught up in this fast paced story upon being introduced to Gene, a heper hiding among creatures that would devour him in seconds should they learn what he is. I enjoyed reading a male perspective for a change in this genre and Gene proves to be a likeable protagonist. I liked that Gene was a little conflicted by his human status wishing, on occasion, he could be like everyone else and even that Gene’s first extinct is self preservation, despite learning the truth about the captive hepers. It’s such an interesting internal conflict and one that Fukuda doesn’t shy away from.The behaviours of the people are unusual but satisfyingly visual and different. The creatures scratch their wrist to express amusement, affection expressed by grinding armpits with elbows and they drool copiously. Yet they go to school, they hold down jobs, they live an ordinary life, albeit one where the eat raw meat, sleep hanging from the ceiling and disintegrate in sunlight.I’m not sure how I felt about Gene’s fragile relationship with Ashley June, she is fairly inscrutable and remains so through out the story. I am looking forward to getting to know the Heper’s better in the next installment and predict that Sissy will replace Ashley June as the love interest.I have no problem suspending belief in fantasy but there has to be an internal logic that makes sense in context. There are some flaws with the world-building in The Hunt, elements that don’t quite make sense or contradict each other. It’s a shame because these issues could have been easily resolved and done a lot to enhance the credibility of the author’s world vision.The Hunt offers something a little different to the current field of young adult dystopia fiction, though it also embraces familiar elements, with similarities to The Hunger Games. Despite it’s problems, I loved the action and the constant tension which carried me through the story quickly and I looked forward to reading the sequel, The Prey.

[poetrytoprose · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I probably should have reviewed this immediately after finishing it because right now I am struggling to remember all the details and my initial reaction to it. There were bits that I really enjoyed, but I also encountered issues along the way.To Andrew Fukuda’s credit, his ideas and vampires in The Hunt are very unique and this book is a standout from a lot of the recent vampire reads. Gene is the main character and, though he is human, he hides in plain sight in the vampire population. He adapts to their environment and characteristics, always careful of his every move: his sweat, his facial hair, his pace… the list goes on and on. It was interesting to read just how deep his assimilation went, especially as his humanity began to resurface. However, I did find it unlikely that he was able to live among vampires for so long without being discovered. There were some great, tense moments later on in the book where he became suspicious to the vampires around him, but it just didn’t ring true to me that he was able to go undetected for so long.Another issue I found with The Hunt was the lack of history Andrew Fukuda offered. I wanted to find out more about why vampires came to populate the world and how they ran humans to extinction. I can only assume more details will be given in the upcoming books, but The Hunt could have benefited by offering some more information in this installment.As far as characters go, I felt they were pretty empty, but I think that worked for this world. In Gene’s case, he has disguised himself as a vampire for so long that it made sense not to react as human would; his emotions were so shut off. I’m curious to see how he will grow in the next books, but I do wish I felt a stronger pull to him.The Hunt ended on a cliffhanger, but I think that’s to be expected with the first books in a series now. It’s definitely an interesting twist and I’m looking forward to uncovering all the details. Andrew Fukuda has some good and original ideas and I have a feeling that this series will only get better with each sequel.