The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda (Contains Spoiler Alerts)
The Hunt is about a 17 year old called Gene who is a human(know as hepers in the book) who lives by a strict code in order to survive in a world where the general population of vampire-like people have eaten the human population to near extinction. The few surviving humans known as hepers live in huts enclosed by a Dome outside the Heper Institute where they are studied. Every decade there is a government sponsored hunt. When Gene is selected to participate in this event, he must learn new skills and elude his fellow competitors also hide his true identity as suspicions arise.
The world Gene lives in is a world where night is day as the daytimes in the book kills the vampirish people whom are affected by the suns rays which can kill them and the society in the world scratch their wrists when they find something funny also they snap their necks to show emotion and drool saliva in hunger or excitement. This society would also rip apart a human at the first chance and Gene is a human known as hepers so Gene has to survive by not doing human-like things like sneezing, sweating, bleeding or squinting. Gene goes to a school where he eventually gets picked for the hunt after a announcement from the Ruler also a girl at the school called Ashley June seems to be fascinated with Gene. Ashley June is picked for the hunt as well also she turns out to be a heper as well also a love interest as there are intimate moments in the book between her and Gene. Gene also doesn't have a family as he hardly knew his mother and sister also at one point in the past his Dad ran out in daylight and disappeared.
The training for the hunt is done at the Heper Institute where Gene sleeps outside in a library where he stumbles across a journal left by the previous occupant, The Scientist and in the journal finds a map showing a river and boat in The Vast which is a unexplored region in the world. Gene soon comes into contact with the hepers living in the Dome. They are a group of hepers called Ben, David, Epap, Jacob and their leader, Sissy. These hepers are studied by the Heper Institute run by the creepy and sinister Director along with another called Frilly Dress(Gene calls her this). The hunters alongside Ashley June and Gene are different to one another and act as competitors. They include Gaunt Man and Beefy along with Abs(they are given these names by Gene based on their appearance.
Ashley June has a plan to get away from the hunt and live a new life with Gene who is in love with her as is she with him so they decide to break out while the hunt is on and plan to disengage this lockdown mode on the Heper Institute which would allow hundreds of party guest who turn up for a Gala in promotion of the hunt the night before to escape and join in the hunt which is only meant for the hunters. Ashley June and Gene would get away in the chaos and be free.
However this plan goes wrong as Gene is exposed as a heper and is chased to the top floor of the Heper Institute while Ashley June is separated and reveals herself as a heper in order to let Gene escape and Ashley June does survive but by trapping herself underground however she gets a message to Gene to rescue her by luring the hunters and guests out the building(they are stopping her from escaping) and using the hepers in the Dome as bait however the heper group as part of the hunt has left the Dome(so they are exposed to the hunters as the Dome is a glass shield that's stops people from reaching them at night) and gene proceeds to find them but they are caught in a fight with the hunters and the Director which is won but followed by being chased by the guest so they run to find the boat from the The Scientist's journal then find it and escape. This leaves Ashley June stuck and Gene hasn't forgotten so in the sequel he probably will go rescue her. The boat takes the hepers and Gene into The Vast while the guests stalk them. The book ends with Gene finding out his father is The Scientist and it ends there.
Overall I really enjoyed the book as it was addicting to read with Andrew Fukuda keeping the pace going really well and his writing style is very good also the characters are interesting like Ashley June, Gene, Sissy and the Director as they are all believable. I would call this book a adventure/survivalist book and highly recommend it to anyone into that genre. This book is also similar to the Hunger Games(with vampires!) so would again recommend it to people who have read the Huger Games or have seen the film. Very good book indeed and can't wait to read the next book, The Prey!
