Speculating on SpecFic

Fantastic Literature: From epic fantasy to fairytales to myth-making

The Hunt

The Hunt   - Andrew Fukuda The blurb piqued my interest when I first read it, and I looked forward to reading it. However, before I got my copy, I had read a few reviews that made me doubt that I would enjoy it. I am pleased to say that I liked The Hunt, and am very glad I gave it a chance. Yes there are some really weird things in the book (e.g. elbow-armpit sex), but the story is interesting and keeps readers engaged, and all the quirks kept me entertained. This is a book where you have to suspend reality and just read it and go with the flow, otherwise those quirks will impede your ability to enjoy it. The protagonist, Gene, is very different character to those I usually read. I admire him for being able to survive as a human in the vampire world, forgoing all human traits and hiding what he is for so long. I also sympathise with him - he hates the idea of BEING human, and wishes he was a vampire just so he could fit in for once. He hates all the traits that make him human, and I wondered throughout the book how so much of humanity has been lost in the world.I have some issues with the world building, which I hope will be addressed in the sequel. There is no real history to this world - it is unclear whether Fukuda set his story in our world, but in a future where vampires have taken over due to some disease, or in an alternate world where vampires evolved naturally and dominated over humans from early on. The story is enjoyable, even without the context of the world history, but I feel I would have enjoyed the book a lot more if I wasn’t always wondering how the hell things ended up this way. The Hunt surprised me, I enjoyed it more than I would have imagined. I think readers might be surprised when they read it, but I urge them to go into it with an open mind. There are some great qualities about this book, and I hope the sequel will answer all my burning questions. You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic.