BOOK REVIEW - THE PREY by ANDREW FUKUDA - THE HUNT # 2 - SIMON & SCHUSTER - 4.5 STARS!!

By: Andrew Fukuda

Published By : Simon & Schuster

Released : February 2013

Details: Paperback from Publisher , 322 Pages

RATING: 4.5 THE LAND OF MILK & HONEY, FRUIT & SUNSHINE.......STARS!

Blurb: Goodreads

For Gene and the remaining humans—or hepers—death is just a heartbeat away. On the run and hunted by society, they must find a way to survive in The Vast... and avoid the hungry predators tracking them in the dark. But they’re not the only things following Gene. He’s haunted by the girl he left behind and his burgeoning feelings for Sissy, the human girl at his side.

When they discover a refuge of exiled humans living high in the mountains, Gene and his friends think they’re finally safe. Led by a group of intensely secretive elders, the civilisation begins to raise more questions than answers. A strict code of behaviour is the rule, harsh punishments are meted out, young men are nowhere to be found—and Gene begins to wonder if the world they’ve entered is just as evil as the one they left behind. As life at the refuge grows more perilous, he and Sissy only grow closer. In an increasingly violent world, all they have is each other... if they can only stay alive.

BOOK REVIEW by Michelle:

It’s now or never, ready or not. I choose now, I hope for ready. 

I was so ready for The Prey. The Hunt left me with questions and curiosity for the sequel. What was Andrew going to throw at the reader? It goes without saying that readers either took to Andrew’s very original take on a dystopian/ in a way apocalyptic world, or they were questioning it, in The Hunt, book # 1.

I really enjoyed The Hunt. I see readers assuming the ‘people’ are vampires. Nowhere does Andrew state this. We are left guessing. The Prey will give you an explanation for these ‘people’ who have taken over the world. I know no time or year for Andrew’s story. I went on his use of items. It felt modern.

That may stay a mystery.

I so love this cover for The Prey. It is a scene from the book that was as intense as the cover depicts.

The Prey takes up where we left in The Hunt. Jacob, David, Ben, Sissy, Gene and Epap running for their lives. Gene’s father, The Scientist, has left a boat docked for them to escape on, a clue hidden to assist in their journey.

Andrew kept me tense with this group’s journey to a place that should keep them safe and fed. I will admit I did question some things as my brain is geared that way. But like The Hunt, I will take Andrew’s information and keep turning the pages.

I found as the reader I would work the plot out before Gene would..... a reasonable amount. Andrew either deliberately, or not, lets the reader see where he is going most of the time. What I was most pleased about was, even though I had worked Gene out virtually from The Hunt, Andrew threw in a wonderful twist that I did not see, I partially saw, but he was very clever at the end of this book.

What got me a bit gahhhhh was on several occasions there would be this ‘time is of the essence’ scene and Andrew would have his characters having a rather lengthy ‘pow wow’, a conversation, back and forth. I am almost shouting at the pages , HURRY THE HELL UP , STOP GAS BAGGING, I CAN’T SAVE YOU , I AM JUST AN OBSERVER!! J

The ‘Duskers’, would be tearing Heper’s apart around them, and Gene, Sissy Clair and co, were, ‘queue the elevator music’, having a lengthy dialogue session. I swear Andrew if that was for the sake of making the reader feel tense and stressed for the characters, you did a bloody good job. J 

I was virtually gripping the book and getting all fidgety because I wanted them the hell out of there. I was sweating it out.

These kids need an award for their survival skills of which I don’t know how half the time they survived while all the others around them were getting shredded like paper. But, I am glad they did.

I really liked the ‘quirky’, is probably not the right word.... creepy?.....what Andrew brought to The Mission, table. I did wonder sometimes the lack of questions Gene and the group were asking. I mean no young men about, but loads of girls. Gene started to think it, then left it alone. I know they were being showered with food , singing and girls, a camouflage of sorts for their surroundings. It was a very creepy place that held a facade of serenity through smiles.

I did not know this, that smiles could be fashioned out of sorrow. 

Gene’s character felt very non confrontational. He thinks things, Sissy seemed the bolder one. She killed easily, didn’t think twice, just kept on throwing those lethal daggers of hers. Gene doesn’t feel like a killer. He spent his whole life being so careful, a thinker, a survivor, a listener an observer.

I really like Sissy. She is quite fearless. She loves her family of boys like they were her own. She has a great mothering instinct. Never leave a man behind, even when they are down.

One thing that I couldn’t shake in this instalment is Gene’s father, why did he abandon Gene in The Hunt? The knowledge you gain from The Prey, think about what happens in The Prey. What is left of the Heper civilisation is expecting a miracle to survive.........yet the things that get explained in The Prey, I was having a WT!!! moment.

Andrew kept me entertained, it is quite an addictive read as you want to know if you are right, your theories that kind of plop into your lap as you are reading.

Andrew has a very Andrew Fukuda style of writing. It is almost like he leaves the reader to deal with their own assumptions, sometimes. The medical scenes, I was left to assume somebody of a doctor type qualification was attending to , but it may just have well been one of the fat , male Elders.

Creepy . Much.

I upped my rating on this instalment because Andrew really got my heart pumping in the last few chapters. He wowed me and he made me get a little teary. He also gave me the twist I wanted from his plot.

The Hunt is a trilogy. I am looking forward to seeing how Andrew wraps this story up. For me it is not about what I discover ahead of time, but how Andrew gets me there. My heart was pounding in the latter chapters.

My heart also broke a little.

I really got quite excited with the last few chapters, I predicted something, but when it actually happened, it was sad, but quite intense and well written. Visually I saw the looks of recognition and anger and the crazy action scenes before and after were amazing. A very 3D feeling, I felt like a shadow watching over the scenes.

I live in fear until the final instalment for the characters, where Andrew left this book, I don’t think The Land of Milk and Honey, Fruit and Sunshine is on the cards...but then....who knows?

EEEeeeeeeEeeeeeeee........

Michelle