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A review by squirrelsohno
Zdobycz by Andrew Fukuda
3.0
THE HUNT, book one in Andrew Fukuda’s vampire dystopian trilogy, was kind of a mixed bag for me. I think I enjoyed it. It required throwing a lot of disbelief out the window and enjoying the ridiculous of it all.
This GIF represents my feelings on the sequel to THE HUNT. THE PREY is a book that I think I enjoyed. But only THINK because as I sit here a few days after finishing it, I am at a loss about my feelings. I give it three stars because I am caught between two and four – two because it had little to do with THE HUNT and it tried so hard to be provocative, four because it really did make me think and I found this new world to be quite intriguing in a ridiculous, unlikely sort of way. I’m going to try and figure this book out as I review, so my rating might actually change thanks to me writing down my thoughts, my feelings, etc. Please bear with.
A SEQUEL THAT DIVERGES FROM THE ORIGINAL
Whereas THE HUNT was about a boy trying to survive by blending in to a bloodthirsty world dominated by vampires (called Duskers in this world), THE PREY decided to go a different route. In THE PREY, we find our hero gene in the middle of a human-filled pseudo-cult deep in the mountains away from the city. Gone are the constant fears of being discovered, replaced with paranoia and obvious twists that are obvious.
The Mission is run by a stereotypical cult-leader villain with the same tropes you might find in a misogynistic ruler – he surrounds himself with teenage girls and young women in a perpetual state of being pregnant, their feet bound and broken at a young age to keep them from escaping, along with a whole host of other male-dominated society tropes along the lines of just being misogynistic in every single way. Except this one is a huge cult, they’re run by obese men, and Jim Jones probably would have paled at the thought of this man. But not in the, “Oh my God you’re evil!” way. More like, “You are an embarrassment for cult psychopaths everywhere, man whose name I cannot remember.”
But you know what? I kind of enjoyed it, because like in THE HUNT, the premise was quite frankly ridiculous. I turned off my disbelief and enjoyed the weird, from the strange plot to the crazy turns and twists as things spiraled out of control.
BUT HEY, FUKUDA CAN WRITE
One of the best things about this series is Fukuda’s ability to spin a story. The prose is great, and for the most part, the story never gets boring. It’s tightly wound and dramatic mixed with the elegance of being written really well compared to a lot of YA out there – relegated to drab, uninspired prose as if teens don’t understand big words. Isn’t that the best part of reading sometimes – learning new words that make you all big and smart?
The story might be ridiculous, but Fukuda can weave a story that keeps you on the edge of your street. I was legit cheering for the people to wise up, which might not be the best thing to be rooting for. I just wanted them to see the obvious, which actually maybe made the book a bit sillier.
You know, I think my rating will stay at 3. It was crazy, sometimes over the top, and ridiculous in its plotting, but it was a good time to be had for a few hours, and if you’ve read book one, you might as well read book two – although some haven’t liked the strange turn it took right into the neighborhood of Crazy Town.
VERDICT: Although not as strong as THE HUNT, THE PREY is an acceptable, fairly decent sequel – even though it massively diverges from the plot of the original. If you’ve read THE HUNT and really enjoyed it, check it out. Otherwise, skip it.
This GIF represents my feelings on the sequel to THE HUNT. THE PREY is a book that I think I enjoyed. But only THINK because as I sit here a few days after finishing it, I am at a loss about my feelings. I give it three stars because I am caught between two and four – two because it had little to do with THE HUNT and it tried so hard to be provocative, four because it really did make me think and I found this new world to be quite intriguing in a ridiculous, unlikely sort of way. I’m going to try and figure this book out as I review, so my rating might actually change thanks to me writing down my thoughts, my feelings, etc. Please bear with.
A SEQUEL THAT DIVERGES FROM THE ORIGINAL
Whereas THE HUNT was about a boy trying to survive by blending in to a bloodthirsty world dominated by vampires (called Duskers in this world), THE PREY decided to go a different route. In THE PREY, we find our hero gene in the middle of a human-filled pseudo-cult deep in the mountains away from the city. Gone are the constant fears of being discovered, replaced with paranoia and obvious twists that are obvious.
The Mission is run by a stereotypical cult-leader villain with the same tropes you might find in a misogynistic ruler – he surrounds himself with teenage girls and young women in a perpetual state of being pregnant, their feet bound and broken at a young age to keep them from escaping, along with a whole host of other male-dominated society tropes along the lines of just being misogynistic in every single way. Except this one is a huge cult, they’re run by obese men, and Jim Jones probably would have paled at the thought of this man. But not in the, “Oh my God you’re evil!” way. More like, “You are an embarrassment for cult psychopaths everywhere, man whose name I cannot remember.”
But you know what? I kind of enjoyed it, because like in THE HUNT, the premise was quite frankly ridiculous. I turned off my disbelief and enjoyed the weird, from the strange plot to the crazy turns and twists as things spiraled out of control.
BUT HEY, FUKUDA CAN WRITE
One of the best things about this series is Fukuda’s ability to spin a story. The prose is great, and for the most part, the story never gets boring. It’s tightly wound and dramatic mixed with the elegance of being written really well compared to a lot of YA out there – relegated to drab, uninspired prose as if teens don’t understand big words. Isn’t that the best part of reading sometimes – learning new words that make you all big and smart?
The story might be ridiculous, but Fukuda can weave a story that keeps you on the edge of your street. I was legit cheering for the people to wise up, which might not be the best thing to be rooting for. I just wanted them to see the obvious, which actually maybe made the book a bit sillier.
You know, I think my rating will stay at 3. It was crazy, sometimes over the top, and ridiculous in its plotting, but it was a good time to be had for a few hours, and if you’ve read book one, you might as well read book two – although some haven’t liked the strange turn it took right into the neighborhood of Crazy Town.
VERDICT: Although not as strong as THE HUNT, THE PREY is an acceptable, fairly decent sequel – even though it massively diverges from the plot of the original. If you’ve read THE HUNT and really enjoyed it, check it out. Otherwise, skip it.