Hunter by Mercedes Lackey | REVIEW

Hunter by Mercedes Lackey
Published by Disney-Hyperion on September 1st, 2015
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Action & Adventure, Dystopia
Pages: 384
Format: e-ARC

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Centuries ago, the barriers between our world and the Otherworld were slashed open allowing hideous fantastical monsters to wreak havoc; destroying entire cities in their wake. Now, people must live in enclosed communities, behind walls that keep them safe from the evil creatures constantly trying to break in. Only the corps of teen Hunters with lightning reflexes and magical abilities can protect the populace from the daily attacks.

Joyeaux Charmand is a mountain girl from a close knit village who comes to the big city to join the Hunters. Joy thinks she is only there to perform her civic duty and protect the capitol Cits, or civilians, but as cameras follow her every move, she soon learns that the more successful she is in her hunts, the more famous she becomes.

With millions of fans watching her on reality TV, Joy begins to realize that Apex is not all it seems. She is forced to question everything she grew up believing about the legendary Hunters and the very world she lives in. Soon she finds that her fame may be part of a deep conspiracy that threatens to upend the protective structure built to keep dark magic out. The monsters are getting in and it is up to Joy to find out why.

** I received this e-ARC from Disney-Hyperion via NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion **

*** DNF – 26% ***

Hunter by Mercedes Lackey is the first book in the Hunter series slated to release at the beginning of September. When I requested the ARC back in July I was really intrigued by the synopsis and the cover. I thought, “Cool, Monster Hunter Reality TV. I can get into this!” Boy was I ever wrong. Let’s find out why.

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Though the synopsis sounding unique and interesting I was soon to realize it was slow and tedious. I was only able to get 6 chapters in which is close to a hundred pages before I just couldn’t will myself to continue on. Though the plot sounded promising, it was the info dumping that killed it for me. I spent so much time trying to process all the info that I was beginning to get a headache. Readers don’t need all this information from the get go. A good author knows that little bits of information spread through out the whole book will set the story up.

As for the writing, I found it to be off putting. I didn’t like the narrative from Joy and had to put the book down several times because the writing of the story was confusing and too much all at once.

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There’s not much to say about the characters as I could not finish the story, but I can say from what I did manage to read Joy was intolerable. She was a bit cocky and her inner monologues were very annoying.

What I did like were her magic Hounds. I thought they were the coolest part of the story and very unique. I quite thoroughly enjoyed reading about them and what they could do. Other than that I have nothing more to say about the characters.

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In conclusion, Hunter by Mercedes Lackey was just not for me. I wish I could have gotten to the end, but sadly I was ready to pull my hair out from confusion, boredom and lack of interest.I’m sure there is potential for this story in the end and hopefully it will appeal to someone out there. Too bad it couldn’t be me.

I have never DNF’d a book before, and writing out my honest opinion proved a little difficult. I never want to trash someone’s hard work and I hope that with this review it doesn’t come off that way. (Sorry for the babbling)

Until next time,

Mercedes Lackey entered this world on June 24, 1950, in Chicago, had a normal childhood and graduated from Purdue University in 1972. During the late 70’s she worked as an artist’s model and then went into the computer programming field, ending up with American Airlines in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In addition to her fantasy writing, she has written lyrics for and recorded nearly fifty songs for Firebird Arts & Music, a small recording company specializing in science fiction folk music.