The Prey (The Hunt #2) by Andrew Fukuda

You think The Hunt ended when Gene escaped but no, it was only starting.

Title: The Prey (The Hunt #2) by Andrew Fukuda
Release Date: January 31st 2013
Published by: Simon & Schuster UK
Source: Publisher (Thanks Kathryn!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

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.

Gene is now on the run from the monsters he had lived with for years, and when once he was supposed to be the hunter, now he is being hunted. Ashley June, sacrificing herself to get Gene out of the Institute, has Gene venturing into the river along with Epap, Ben, Jacob, David and Sissy in search for the place described by his father in his journal. His father, the scientist. The startling discovery will lead Gene to a place different from the city, but strange things are happening there and Gene wants to find out what they were before it's too late.

Stop, take a deep breath and prepare yourself for a barrage of conflicting emotions before you start reading this book because readers will be plunged head on in the action from page one. The book immediately opens in an action filled, dreadful scene and readers must prepare themselves for the adrenaline rush combined with a very dark fear that they will constantly feel all throughout the book. I had to pause a few times to take a deep breath and try and digest all of the action, the gruesome scenes and the suspense in Gene's quest to find what's beyond the city, a place full of promises and a bright future away from the monsters, from violent deaths, a place his father called The Land of Milk and Honey, Fruit and Sunshine.

The Prey opens up a whole new world for Gene, Sissy, Jacob, David and Epap. But this world, this new world seemingly removed from the horrors of the City, away from the violence, the blood lust, the horrendous creatures out on the hunt for their flesh, is a new nightmare for all of them. The journey that Gene and his friends made were harrowing and very exhausting, and the experiences the trials and dangers they faced created stronger characters, especially for both Sissy and Gene. Sissy, the only female among them and yet she was the one who never gave up even when Epap and the little children were acting like spoiled brats. But there were times when I felt that her spunkiness and fierceness bordered on being so crass and irritating, but Sissy is just really a tough girl. It was thanks to her that they were kept alive long enough to reach a destination that was new for all of them. She helped Gene discover things about his father that was kept secret for years, who made Gene appreciate his father more and to make him let go of the hatred he had felt for abandoning Gene amidst the world of monsters.

The readers will be so busy anticipating what's in store for Gene and his companions that they will barely pay attention to the romance in this book. Gene and Sissy's relationship felt like it needed more to even compare to what Gene felt for Ashley June. They needed each other to survive, when one wants to give up, the other pushes the other one on and that's how it is throughout the entire nove. If there was ever any romance hinted in all of this, I barely felt it, most likely because the action and the suspense is enough to take the focus away from anything romantic in this book.

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse, the readers will be introduced to a world filled with horrors that doesn't seem any different from what was happening in the city, or the institute. I cannot even begin to describe what I felt when the truth about The Mission was revealed. From outright disgust, it changes to a hopeless feeling, where when the truth was laid out for everyone to see, a sense of hopelessness that this nightmare Gene and the others were living will never end. That it's a make believe freedom, where one had to do unimaginable things in order to survive and to be what? The people in The Mission was living a lie, a life of imagined peace and order, of a twisted sense of what was right and wrong.

Andrew Fukuda did a great job of breaking my heart a couple of times and stomping onto the broken pieces with the events that transpired in The Prey. The theories that swirled inside my mind were grimmer than the last as I got closer and closer to the climax of the book. The characters felt closer, gaining a space in my heart only to be taken away suddenly. Heartbreaking in ways that may stun readers into silence, The Prey destroyed all of my expectations for a follow up novel. If anything, Andrew upped the ante for this sequel to a breaking point. The Prey is a never ending sequence of action and suspense, reading it will give the reader a thrill unlike any other they've experienced before. 

Dearest readers, brace yourselves for a very explosive read filled with surprises one after another. What happens next? Can they ever outrun the monsters thirsty for their flesh and blood? Will it ever end? Reading The Prey is a whole lot of fun, it can be emotionally tiring, but it is worth every heartache, every sigh, every gasp you will make. I have nothing but praises for you, Andrew Fukuda. This book is awesome!

My rating:

Content (plot, story flow, character):

A very nerve wracking read but I wouldn't trade any minute of it! I think I need the third book now.

Stunning: Worthy of a Goddess' Praise!

Book Cover:

That cover is a perfect depiction of a terrifying scene in the book!