This book is getting all kinds of hype, and with The Hunger Games all the rage right now, it's easy to understand why. It's important to know, though, that for all the comparisons, this book falls short in some key areas. 
 The world is ingenious. It's inventive, original, and naturally suspenseful. The main character is always on edge at the thought of being discovered. It's also completely terrifying. These are the scariest vampires I've seen in years. They are pure horror in the way of zombies, but intelligent and refined like traditional vampires. Genius. 
 The concept of the Hunt, like the Hunger Games, gives you an easy suspense and exploration of the world and culture. The author realistically explores the limitations and dangers of being human in this world once the main character is thrown into this situation. Not the most unique way to build the story, but well done nonetheless. 
 That's where my enjoyment of this story pretty much stopped. I never liked the main character, really; I never really cared if he got eaten alive by zombie vampires. He never shows a flicker of being unique or likable. The only real personality we get from him are in his memories of his father. He sounds humble, tries to hide how smart he is, but in reality he's quite arrogant. Even more flat is Ashley June, and their relationship has little development or justification. Nevermind that it's completely ridiculous for him to worry about romance in his situation. Then finally, I won't give away the ending, but the "climax" was frankly annoying and took forever. I was ready to let them rip him apart just to get it over with. 
 Nevertheless, I will read the sequel. The world is too good and the villains too unique to not see how it plays out, which is why I gave it three stars. 
 P.S. - Why are all the blurbs gushing about this book from paranormal romance authors? It's supposed to be an adventure book, right? Could we not get someone in the genre to say they liked it? No. Probably not.