Official Review: The Hunt by Brad Stevens

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CatGitane
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Official Review: The Hunt by Brad Stevens

Post by CatGitane »

[Following is the official OnlineBookClub.org review of "The Hunt" by Brad Stevens.]
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I chose to read The Hunt by Brad Stevens because, truthfully, it had been sitting in my wish list on amazon for quite a while now. I jumped on the opportunity to review it. The fact that the story is about two women in forbidden love living in a very malinist world (an exaggerated version of ours, but still look-a-like) that sends them into the Hunt, much like the Hunger Games, to punish them was simply too appealing to me. And I'm glad I did read it.

Good points. The small number of mistakes and typos pleased me. Usually, in eBooks, they’re everywhere, or at least on every page! I noticed less than 15 overall in this one. Good point for him! I smile every time I think about it, because if there’s one thing that discourages me in a book (besides cheesy romance) is when you can barely focus on the story due to the mistakes. Cover. The story is very well written, so thrilling it leaves you breathless at many turns, it flows easily, and right from the beginning you’re grabbed by the hand and pulled into the story before you can even take a deep breath, which is fantastic and so rare nowadays! It was so fun reading for I could sit hours without noticing time passing by, and whenever I stopped reading to go about my daily life and came back to it, it was as if I had never left! Plunging into a story has never been so easy. An extremely good point here! Also, I loved how the work was divided: Before, during, and after. It was different and timed you with her storyline without any questions on your part. Interesting. Everything was clear. The punchline is just too amazing to miss; you won’t expect it. Normally, I see endings coming fast, but this one was a total surprise I’m glad I missed! Another point that made me relate without any second thought to the story Stevens created is the highly believably feminine the women’s point of view. It only takes an instant to dive in and connect on an emotional level with them; so much that I often caught myself certain that a woman had written this book, haha! Moreover, it finally shows how women experience reality (exaggeratedly, but still), how we go about our business being scared and feeling bad, diminished, and how stereotypes are forced on us such we need to always look good and be in skirts with long hair to be one, etc., and how we need to be follow men’s expectations of us, and how we’ve been mistreated for centuries as being the lower ones… which is totally unfair! And I think this is what he’s trying to portray here, in an aggravated way that, I’m sure if given the chance, men would do to us for control and power. It’s subtle, but it’s obvious it’s exactly what they think with the way most of them talk and act with women. So, I congratulate Brad Stevens for tackling such a hard and ‘personal’ topic, highlighting the subtleties and magnifying it to make it more visible so people will take notice of it. Plus, he used it to make an incredibly good story! Two good points in one, thank you, because it’s so rare I connect this deeply on an emotional level with female conditions and personalities in stories; they’re always so… usual and lacking truth. My personal favorite about the book and its writing is how the female characters retort wittingly to the men; it is humouring, genuine, and totally priceless! You simply nod, proud of them and totally feeling you would do the same in such a given situation. It was clever.

As for the bad points, they aren’t very numerous. In fact, I can only find two. The first one being how annoyingly similar to The Hunger Games it is – it seems as though copied in its core and the Hunt’s survival. Despite my huge love for this book, it still bothers me how familiar it was; sometimes, I clenched my teeth and wanted to put it down simply because it gave off the impression the author make a story on his own without taking another one’s essence. Perhaps it could have been written in a way it appeared less inspired by The Hunger Games? The other bad point was the worst for me, made me roll my eyes too many times and complain to my relatives about it. There is too much sex with the women in dire circumstances. Being a woman, and knowing many (and asking them too), there is almost no way that in such situations would we desire to have sex, no; we’d very much prefer to eat ice cream and/or cry on the other’s shoulder, stay near the person in silence, even… or talk about it sometimes. I understand the main character is a bit tomboy-ish, but even then… And Yuke, her girlfriend, being more ‘typical’, would barely agree. I talk by experience and others’ too. I think that is the biggest mistake in this book because it pushes one out of the connection we feel with the characters as soon as it’s mentioned, because we, women, wouldn’t react this way. Thus, the characters seem less believable and real. I strongly suggest that next time, Mr. Stevens asks women of his entourage what they would do in such dire circumstances. It would help greatly.

I give it a 4 out of 4 stars rating (excellent) because the intensity of this story and how I felt reading it along with the credibility of Stevens’ characters and their witty retorts (that I totally adore!) won me, and I think they would win many fellow readers.

An intelligent and wonderful book in itself. I highly recommend (technically, I would order you to read it, but since I am not allowed to… this is just how great this book is!) to everyone to read it! I also think most women should read it, just so they can connect deeply… which I find rare with female characters nowadays for they’re so… unreal, just what they’re expected to be.

However, I warn you, this book is not for the faint of hearts, because several times was I disgusted and just outraged, with tears in my eyes due to what the women suffered in this book. But read it; brace yourselves and embark on this breath-taking Hunt!

***
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Brad Stevens
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Post by Brad Stevens »

Just wanted to thank you for your very generous and flattering review of my novel. You seem to have understood everything I was trying to do with the book.
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