Hunter (Hunter, #1) by Mercedes Lackey Published by Disney-Hyperion on September 1st 2015
Pages: 374
Goodreads
They came after the Diseray. Some were terrors ripped from our collective imaginations, remnants of every mythology across the world. And some were like nothing anyone had ever dreamed up, even in their worst nightmares.
Monsters.
Long ago, the barriers between our world and the Otherworld were ripped open, and it’s taken centuries to bring back civilization in the wake of the catastrophe. Now, the luckiest Cits live in enclosed communities, behind walls that keep them safe from the hideous creatures fighting to break through. Others are not so lucky.
To Joyeaux Charmand, who has been a Hunter in her tight-knit mountain community since she was a child, every Cit without magic deserves her protection from dangerous Othersiders. Then she is called to Apex City, where the best Hunters are kept to protect the most important people.
Joy soon realizes that the city’s powerful leaders care more about luring Cits into a false sense of security than protecting them. More and more monsters are getting through the barriers, and the close calls are becoming too frequent to ignore. Yet the Cits have no sense of how much danger they’re in—to them, Joy and her corps of fellow Hunters are just action stars they watch on TV.
When an act of sabotage against Joy takes an unbearable toll, she uncovers a terrifying conspiracy in the city. There is something much worse than the usual monsters infiltrating Apex. And it may be too late to stop them…
4.5 Nuts
Mercedes Lackey is a force to be reckoned will when it comes to sheer numbers of published works. With over 100 novels under her belt, she’s not what anyone would call a newbie. Though some of her earlier books might have been consider YA had they been written today (particularly The Last Herald Mage Trilogy) Mercedes’ best foray into YA is her recent Hunter trilogy.
Mercedes is no stranger to fantasy. It’s kind of her wheelhouse. I love the way she writes but HUNTER is much different from her other more adult books and even her Last Herald Mage ones. It’s an interesting mix of post apocalyptic dystopian and urban fantasy, merging tech with magic beautifully and seamlessly to make a rich world.
Joyeaux is a Turnip, an outsider Hunter from the mountains sent to the city to help protect its citizens. A Hunter is basically a Buffy style Slayer, killing all sorts of paranormal creatures from dragons to Vamps to giant floating eyeballs brought about by an apocalyptic event called the Diseray. It’s weird and full of action, adventure, and a mix of all sorts of cool things. She’s a pretty basic YA heroine, but likable and smart enough that I didn’t spend half my time mentally yelling at her. So a good character in my book these days.
The other characters all seem to have their own styles and unique personality so its not hard to tell them apart (a problem I’ve had before in such mash up style books). I have several favorite but not big stand outs among the side characters yet. There’s still 2 more books for that though.
My only complaint is that there’s so much going on its hard to know what to look at first. You’ve got magic, technology, creatures, magic, all mashed up into one story. It is a lot sometimes, even though its well put together. Thankfully there are only a few moments of this overwhelming.
I read this book through a mixture of audiobook and print. The audiobook narrator was good, though not amazing. There’s a lot of jargon, so maybe that’s part of it. She took it well, reading smoothly around all the unfamiliar terms.
I recommend this book for fans of books with a mix of science and magic, Buffy, and urban fantasy.
What you read any other of Mercedes’ books? Share in the comments.
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