It's Always a Trap

I am sure you all think there is nothing original about a vampire story. Well then, my friends, you haven't taken a chance on Andrew Fukuda and his The Hunt series! These vampires will terrify you and surprise you with each page. It started with The Hunt and it ends with The Trap, but you won't be ready to let go!

Gene, Sissy, David and Epap made it out of the "sanctuary" but they had no idea they were headed to the palace full of vampires. When the train arrives, there are too many kids to fit into the elevator. Those left behind get to know first hand what happens when you don't follow the rules of the Palace. And it is vicious. Those in the elevator fly upwards to a space full of human children just waiting for their time to be called. When the alarm goes off, they have a few short seconds to get into an enclave before the vampires are allowed in. If they are caught outside, their fate is swift but vicious. When the alarm blows, they all make it into Enclaves, but the ruler is clearly interested in Sissy. Then he notices Gene: the boy who masqueraded as a vampire for years and proved them all fools. 

When Gene's enclave goes shooting through the walls, he is sure he is being sent to the ruler's rooms to be devoured, but what he doesn't expect is to be taken to a secret laboratory where he is informed of the true nature of his and Sissy's lives. As the Origin, their blood combined cures the vampire plague, turning any vampire back into a human. But Ashley June, the former human who sacrificed her humanity to save Gene is stopping them from working on a widespread cure. Having survived the scorching trek from the mission, she has called a press conference to tell the city about the Palace's secret stash of Hepers. Now the ruler wants Ashley June gone, but his first assassin wasn't so successful. When Gene learns Epap was sent first, he refuses to stay in the Palace in relative safety. Instead, he and Sissy head to a city full of vampires to save their friend, because friends never leave a man behind. Even if they are the only cure to the plague that took over the world. 

OK. I am NOT going to give you any spoilers, but I have to tell you that the ending of this series will leave you reeling! It is such a shocker but then it isn't, but then it is, and it left me staring at the last page like, "Oh NO you didn't!!" It was ridiculous! I can honestly say this ending was nothing I could have expected. So shocking! I think any kid who read this series would find themselves stunned and searching for their next set of books when they were done because it is Just. That. Good! I don't get surprised often, so when I do, it is flabbergasting! And let me tell you, this book totally caught me unaware. That ending was phenomenal!!

So you should all definitely use this series for any struggle or disinterested readers you come across. It is so novel and new that it will keep any reader hooked right to the last page. I see every boy who ever told me, "I hate all books" finally picking this series up and never putting it down until the end of this final book. This is the series that could make them lifelong readers! And we owe it all to Andrew Fukuda and his brilliant series (and that brilliant ending!). So if you need a new kind of vampire story full of action, suspense, and insanity, Go on The Hunt. You will love every minute of it!

I Fell Prey to This Series

With Andrew Fukuda's The Hunt, I found myself bumfuzzled that someone could write a tale of vampires that was whole-heartedly original. Now, with the sequel The Prey, I find myself bowled over that this story could continue with the same powerhouse energy as its predecessor. But it did! 

Gene and the others barely made it out of the Heper Institute alive, but they haven't fully survived just yet. As they flow down the river on the boat, groups of vampires follow them in the darkness, sacrificing being caught in the sun just to enjoy the flesh of a real live person. When the attacks start to thin, the group thinks they have won, but the vampires are getting smarter. Where they used to be slaves to their lust for flesh and unable to refocus long enough to plot and plan, these new groups aren't afraid to work together. But the group just has to make it a little longer and they will find the Sanctuary, the place where humans can live free of the vampires.

When they finally make it to the sanctuary, life isn't all flowers and milk and honey. Women's feet are disfigured and any defiant women are branded and punished. Men, however, live like kings! Gene and Sissy are instantly skeptical about the false utopia, but the leaders of the town squash any chances they have of getting answers, and Gene's hopes of finding his father are dashed when he learns of his suicide. But if the Sanctuary is so wonderful, why would his father take his own life? And where do all the supplies come that keep the town living such a plush life? While Gene and Sissy think there is something more sinister going on in the town, the alternative may be something far worse than they are willing to admit. 

OK, I am not a night owl. In fact, if I stay up too late, it takes me days to catch up (my age showing through!). But this book? It was so addicting, I was up ALL NIGHT reading this book! I am suffering this morning for it, but darn it, it was worth it! The Prey is so exciting and terrifying you won't be able to stop reading, so pick it up when you have enough time to read the whole thing! 

The idea of a false utopia has always intrigued me because the opposite of a utopia should be a dystopia, but it really isn't. The false nature of a utopia is usually so subversive and hidden, it makes it inherently different from a true dystopia where the world has gone to hell in a handbag and isn't afraid to let that shine. In fact, I think these false utopias (think The Giver or Delirium) are almost scarier than a world where you know to expect awful things around every corner and can prepare for them. That is the beauty of the Sanctuary in The Prey. The answers are never clear, and the next step is always a bigger risk than you can imagine. I loved that Sissy and Gene knew the Sanctuary was false, but the other boys couldn't see through the abundant food and pliant ladies. And when Sissy and Gene tried to make decisions of where to go, no choice was the safe one. They were more than caught between a rock and a hard place. They were caught between a swirling vortex to hell and an erupting volcano full of molten lava- and it was ugly!

This story is exciting, fast-paced, and violent. I can easily get my students (usually boys) who are tough to find a book for to read this book. They scoff and claim they "hate reading", but when given this series, they devour it (pun intended!). This is a series that should grace all library and classroom shelves and be pulled out for those difficult readers. You won't even need to sell them this series. Just read the first chapter and they will be hooked!