Hunter

by Mercedes Lackey

Ebook, 2015

Status

Available

Call number

Fic SF Lackey

Publication

Publisher Unknown (2015)

Description

Fantasy. Romance. Young Adult Fiction. Young Adult Literature. 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. Now, the luckiest Cits live in enclosed communities, behind walls that keep them safe from the hideous monsters 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, Joy uncovers a terrifying conspiracy. There is something much worse than the usual monsters infiltrating Apex. And it may be too late to stop th… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member eduscapes

HUNTER by Mercedes Lackey is a riveting dystopian fantasy for young adults.

Growing up in a remote mountain monastery, Joyeaux has been trained as a Hunter. Using a combination of magic, combat skills, and her own wits, she’s fought an array of monsters alongside her Hounds who appear from the

Otherworld. When she’s summoned to protect Apex City, she’s immersed in a world where Hunters are treated like superstars and people may be as dangerous as the monsters she hunts.

From Drakken to Goblins, Lackey has created a fascinating world filled with amazing creatures. The well-developed characters are engaged in a thrilling story of sabotage and conspiracy that adds a layer of interest that goes beyond monster chasing.

Fans of The Hunger Games and other dystopian works will be attracted to the action-adventure elements along with the “hunter as action star” theme. The addition of mythological creatures and paranormal elements will increase the popularity. Librarians will quickly find a following for this fast-paced science fiction fantasy series. Lots of open questions will have readers looking for the next book.

Published by Hyperion, Disney Book Group on September 1, 2015.

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LibraryThing member gaby317

Imagine that our world was deeply damaged by our own failure to care for it, that it was now inhabited by powerful magical creatures that attacked humans for the energy that is released upon death. The living inhabitants are regulated and controlled by a central government that dictates not just

where one lives but the professions available (Hunters, Military, Psychi that are able to read people's minds, as well as the standard professions that keep the world running. Only those that perform highly valued functions are granted the right to live in the protected areas. Salaries and benefits are all based on one's usefulness and rank in this new society.

Our heroine Joyeaux Charmand is a young hunter who has been ordered to move to the Apex to work as a hunter. Joy is coming from a remote mountain area where a secret and hidden monastery holds a powerful group of hunters and teachers. Not only must she conceal the monastery's existence, but she has to adapt to the very public and commercial culture in the Apex.

She finds that the hunters are observed, recorded, and their days are transmitted on cable tv. Each hunter has her own channel with daily updates. Their rankings determine their perks as well as help to distract the greater population from analyzing the stresses and dangers that come from the monsters that live around them. Joy is quick to understand the politics and the stakes, but she's entered a deadly arena. She must determine who she can trust and how best to protect her uncle, a high government officer, from subtle political traps.

As Joy makes her way through the hunter culture, she finds friends and allies and we can't help but root for her. She's more than a team player, her focus is on protecting the Cits and her fellow hunters regardless of the risk to herself. Her sense of honor seems almost old fashioned and make her stand out among the more jaded Apex hunters and politicos.

Every hunter commands magical dogs that aid in their hunt. With 7 hounds, Joy doesn't just have one of the largest packs, her hounds are particularly gifted and strong. I loved that though Joy goes through terrifying ordeals, her behavior wins over other hounds and that her pack grows. I enjoyed Hunter so much that I wanted to order the second book in the series halfway through reading the first book.

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LibraryThing member gaby317

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LibraryThing member Jean_Sexton

I call this book science fantasy with its post-apocalyptic setting and magicians/magical beings being a focus of the story. Hunters have some level of magic use at their disposal; their charge is to protect ordinary citizens from the Othersiders who would like to make them lunch. Or dinner or just

a snack. Joyeaux (Joy) is a young Hunter, from outside Apex, the center of government. The reader discovers more about the culture as Joy does or through comparisons she makes with her past.

It is written with a young adult audience in mind, but as usual that means good writing, non-stereotypical characters, and clean language. I liked how the language had migrated in some instances; for example, chocolate has become chocolike. I liked how the Othersiders were named after the fantastical creatures they resembled.

Comparisons can easily be made between this book and The Hunger Games. If you liked the latter, you will probably like this book. If you liked Arrows of the Queen, you will probably enjoy Hunter. I eagerly await a sequel.

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LibraryThing member ReadingGrrl

Its been a long time since I've read a Mercedes Lackey book and now I'm wondering why it took me so long to come back to this amazing author. I love her writing and her ability to bring you into a world that is like our own yet different. This is an interesting take on civilization trying to

rebuild itself despite the fact that the world has now changed. All kinds of fantastical mythical creatures now try to slip into the world only to be stopped by what are called Hunters.

Hunters are like Gladiators in Apex city each with their own TV channel and rankings. Cameras follow them everywhere. As Joy takes her place among the many Hunters in Apex where her Uncle is a very important person she starts to question why the TV modifies what the Cits are allowed to know. Slowly she starts to uncover a political plot that could put her in danger. Not knowing who to trust she tries to stay alive long enough to figure out what to do.

I can sort of see why people are comparing this book to the Hunger Games but there is no fight to the death winner takes all type competition going on here. And while this book is slow to build there are a lot of classic Lackey moments that made me glad to be reading her again. I'm interested in how this series will pan out and hope that it continues to evolve and get better. The plot was intriguing and some of the back story about where Joy grew up could become a series of its own. Not Lackey's best book but a solid new chapter in her line of books.

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LibraryThing member DarkFaerieTales

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Very intriguing story that was slower paced, but still kept my interest. It has a dystopian setting, but it has fantasy and paranormal aspects as well, so I think fans of all these genres would enjoy it!

Opening Sentence: You couldn’t see outside

the train windows at night; the conductor had opaque them.

The Review:

Hundreds of years ago there was an event known as the Diseray. It changed the world we know today into a world full of monstrous creatures. It started an epic war between the humans and monsters that still rages on. Whole cities were destroyed and the only reason the human race survived is because the hunters were born. Hunters are mostly teenagers that have special magical abilities that allow them to fight the monsters that now freely roams the world. Most humans have evacuated to large cities that are guarded by a wall that is supposed to keep the monsters out, but it seems like the wall may not be working as well as it once did.

Joyeaux Charmand grew up in a small village located in what use to be the western United States. She became an orphan at a very young age and was raised in a Monastery. It is the law that all children who shows signs of becoming a hunter report to Capitol, but in Joy’s small community they have kept their hunters secret because they need protection from the monsters just as much as the city does. Joy has been hunting for years now, but she just recently was requested to come to city by her only living relative. They know she is a hunter and she gladly leaves home to fulfill her civic duty and to protect her tiny village from any unwanted visitors from the Capitol.

Upon arriving in the big city Joy realizes that being a hunter is way different then it was back home. Hunters are a type of celebrity in the city and their every action is filmed on camera. Fighting monsters isn’t less dangerous, but now she has millions of people watching her fight. Everyone thinks that they are safe in the city, but Joy soon realizes that monsters are getting through the wall and no one is as safe as they think. It is up to Joy and the other hunters to figure out what is going on before the wall is completely destroyed and the monsters kill everyone in the Capitol.

Joy is a great heroine. I loved her sense of loyalty and just how sensible she is. She never went without while growing up, but there also wasn’t an abundance of extra stuff. She learned to appreciate all the little things in her life, and I really liked that. When she gets to the city she has lots of money and fame thrown at her, but she doesn’t let any of that affect her. Sure it’s nice to have some of the comforts that come with living in the city, but at heart Joy is a small town girl with small town needs. She is also very respectful to others and she truly cares about protecting everyone from the monsters. She takes her job very seriously and that is one of the reasons she is so good at it. I found her easy to connect with and overall, I really loved her character.

Hunter is an action packed story that I really enjoyed. I think there are definitely going to be people that don’t like this book, but personally, I thought it was a great read. It is slower paced and not really a quick read. It has a fairly complicated world and it’s a lot to take in at first, but I thought the setting fascinating. I found that when I wasn’t reading it I was thinking about it and wanting to read it, which to me that is a huge plus. I loved that it covered so many different genres, it made it a much more diverse book and I feel that it will appeal to people that enjoy paranormal, dystopian, or fantasy stories. I really enjoyed getting to know the entire cast of characters and I can’t wait to get to know even more about them in the next book. The romance in the story is pretty subtle, but written really well. I totally swoon over the love interest and I am excited to see how the relationship develops in the next book. The ending was satisfying, but there are still so many unanswered questions. Luckily, this is a series and I can’t wait to get my hands on the next book! Like I said before, this book won’t be for everyone, but I personally would recommend it!

Notable Scene:

In an instant, they world to face us and showed their true nature.

They were still wind, but have the wings of bats, wasps, and flies. Their lips stretched and thin, they lost all but a few tattered rags of clothing, their skin dark until leather, their hair to a few patches on their skulls. Their faces stretched and developed muzzles, with yellow eyes and huge mouth full of rows and rows of needle teeth. They open their mouth to hiss or snarl at us, and as the child screamed and ran off in terror, I pulled back my arm and through with both natural and magic strength, and the net expanded as it flew through the air. As soon as it was in place, I dropped the net of magic over them. Then I pulled all the edges in tight and held on for dear life.

FTC Advisory: Disney-Hyperion provided me with a copy of Hunter. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.

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LibraryThing member hailelib

Although Hunter is nominally a young adult novel it is a good adventure story for Lackey's older readers as well. Joy has been well trained by the Masters of her mountain community in all the arts she will need to fight the various monsters that came into the world from elsewhere at the time of the

Diseray. While civilization has been somewhat restored, especially in the protected cities, Hunters are all that stand between the humans and the Otherworld creatures. Luckily magic and helpers in the form of Hounds also appeared at the same time. When the story opens Joy is on her way to Apex City to join the Hunters there, along with the seven hounds she can call. The novel follows her journey to the city and her settling in to her duties there.

I enjoyed this book and hope to see more of the society that Lackey created in Hunter.

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LibraryThing member Schlyne

This is much more adult than most of her writing, and it's more urban fantasy, maybe with a bit of a post-apoc spin. Really enjoyed this one.

It wasn't until I looked at the other reviews that this may be her answer to the recent hunger games/divergent take on things, which disappoints me quite a

bit.

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LibraryThing member kirathelibrarian

Since the Diseray occurred, the barriers between our world and the Otherworld have come down. Terrifying creatures right out of nightmares have crossed over. It is the job of a group of elite people known as Hunters to stop these creatures down without the Cits (normal people) from noticing. After

her parents’ deaths, Joy Creatures has lived in a monastery where they train people to fight them. One day, her 7 hounds appear, which marks her a Hunter. When her uncle finds out, he sends for her to join the others in Apex City. Homesick, Joy has a hard time adjusting to the extravagant, video-taped, wasteful lifestyles of the Cits. As she trains, however, she begins to realize that the government has been hiding a lot more about the Otherworlders than she could have ever imagined. With the Otherworlders getting more dangerous and clever by the day, can she and the other Hunters stop them before too many get hurt?

Lackey's unique plot is well developed and easily pulls the reader into Joy’s world. The characters are well developed and quirky. With an ending that will make readers wish the next book was available in the series, science fiction and fantasy fans will have a hard time putting this book down.

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LibraryThing member jjmcgaffey

I like. It's a weird combo - a post-apocalyptic fantasy YA. The (modern, our) world destroyed itself, and this story is set a few decades later as the survivors are beginning to build up a solid society again - except they also have to deal with creatures out of myth and fairy tales, most of which

really want to kill humans. The title Hunter is Joyeaux Charmand, a 16-year-old with the innate power to battle the Otherkind, who is traveling to join the main group of Hunters in the (world's? continent's?) biggest city, Apex. Joy is a little bit too good - she achieves high ranking very (almost ridiculously) quickly - but she has had considerable training and more experience than the Hunters of Apex realize. Politics, the way Hunters are treated in the city (as vid-stars - under constant surveillance, and with fans following their "adventures"), good friends and bad enemies - Joy runs into a lot of stuff that's new to her or at a higher level than she's experienced before. I get a little bit of the Herald vibe - but not from all the Hunters, just Joy and a few more. This might be like the Heralds at the beginning of things, before the burning desire to help people became a primary characteristic - or possibly the Heralds always had it (because of the Companions' Choice), but the Hunters only have a few with that impulse highly developed. Although the Hunters have Hounds, and by the end of the book we learn that the Hounds can have ethics that differ from their Hunter's, there isn't the magical ethics thing that the Companions have. Good book - a lot of interesting events adding up to a very powerful story arc - and an excellent beginning to a series. It is going to be a series, right? There's more? After all, we don't know who set the Vamp on Joy's friend, or who helped Ace, or...lots of things. I do find it odd that the monastery has "representatives of nearly all religions, except Christers" - why the limitation? There's some pretty powerful magical aspects to Christianity - and it's at least as well represented as in Judaism or Islam. I know less about other religions, but I don't think there's more magic in Buddhism, for instance, than for the Peoples of the Book. It may just have been convenient for the story, but it struck me as odd several times. And it was amazingly clean for an ARC - I think I found one flat-out typo (a matter of quote marks) and a few paragraphs that could use some editing. Other than that, nothing to distract me from the story (OK, aside from the fact that the publisher sent me a PDF which is a PAIN to read on my usual devices - I much prefer epubs, they reflow better). A book I enjoyed and a series I'm looking forward to.

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LibraryThing member readinggeek451

This is being billed as Lackey's first YA novel, which is a bit surprising since she co-authored a YA trilogy with Rosemary Edghill a few years ago, and since a big part of her readership is adolescents. (Does someone in the marketing department think that 'YA' and 'dystopia' are synonymous?)

In any

event, this is a well-written post-apocalyptic YA dystopia. It follows Joyeaux Charmand, a young, magic-using Hunter from the hinterlands sent to the capital for further training in fighting the dangerous Othersiders who have menaced all of humanity since the collapse of civilation centuries ago. Once there, she is shocked to discover the inequalities and deceptions being practiced. She is also quite surprised to discover that she--like all of the Hunters in Apex City--has become a vid star, with ubiquitous cameras broadcasting her every move for the entertainment of the populace. And there are more dangers to be faced than just the Othersiders.

Although this is fairly obviously intended as the first in a series, it does stand alone reasonably well. The world-building is nicely thought-out, and the plotting is good, but the characters lack a little something. Lackey is usually very good with characters, particularly her adolescent viewpoint characters, but Joyeaux isn't quite up to her usual standards. Joy is still an appealing character, however, as are here friends and allies. I would not hesitate to recommend this to fans of The Hunger Games and Divergent.

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LibraryThing member nhalliwell

My husband recently introduced me to Mercedes Lackey. I am hooked. I read Hunter as well as listened to the audio book thanks to Hoopla Digital. Whether I was read or listening, Hunter was a fantastic book. Joy is a strong female character. She does not need men saving her. In fact, she does pretty

much all the saving. She is helped by her 7 "hounds". The "hounds" are not normal dogs. They come from an alternate world. The world, our world, has gone through a series of cataclysmic events, the last one ripping some hole in reality that allowed magic into our world along with a rogue's gallery of monsters. The "hounds" come through also and bound with those who have the ability to use magic. They become a team of hunters, one human with uses magic and the person's "hounds".

The universe this book constructs is amazing. It is rich and complex. The characters are complex also. I love the descriptions of the monsters and the hounds, which differ from owner to owner. This would be a great book for an adult or teen. I am starting the sequel Elites next.

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LibraryThing member quondame

Readable, anything goes type young adult fantasy where the new girl sort of instantly becomes a leader because of her special background and powers.

LibraryThing member wyvernfriend

When you've read a lot of Mercedes Lackey you know some of the things to expect, an orphan, with secrets, and power. They find romance but it's not going to be easy and there are corrupt officials. This book has a lot of setup for the world and some geeky clothing details.

We first meet Joyeaux

Charmand who is travelling to the city by train when it's attacked by beings from the otherworld. The barrier between our world and the otherworld has been damaged and now creatures from that otherworld attack. Hunters defend humanity from these creatures and Joyeaux is a Hunter. Citizens or Cits live in enclosed communities and watch reality TV with hunters beating the creatures; however things are not all how they seem and she has to try to fight those who would keep the status quo without examing patterns or problems.

Joy has some help in her uncle and his assistant who is a psychic and with whom romance begins to blossom.

It's pretty typical Mercedes Lackey, set in a more modern setting with TV and modern weapons rather than pre-industrial as usual. I found it very entertaining and I'm looking forward to reading book 2.

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LibraryThing member Velmeran

Great book with a strong female lead who has a healthy work/life balance [for a fantasy heroine in a dystopian future...LOL]. There is a strong focus on the protagonist and other characters are not as well developed.

LibraryThing member Glennis.LeBlanc

This is a new YA series set in a future where things from Otherside are attacking humans. A few people are born with the powers to fight them with their “hounds”. Hounds are from another dimension and help the hunters in their battles. They can look like almost anything and they live off the

manna they take from the Othersiders in death. All Hunters must report to Apex City for training and for the most part to keep the main city safe. Apex is where the rebuilding began after the Diseray happened 250 years ago.
Hunters are the sport stars of Apex, They are constantly under the eye of video feeds and rankings are based on kills and viewership. Joy is on her way to the city to take her place among the Hunters; her uncle has told her to come but to hide the information of her life out in the mountains. Her uncle is in charge of the Hunters but stays mostly out of contact with her to not show favoritism since everything between them is for public consumption.
Things are not as great in the city as it seems to the people living farther away and there is dissent brewing. This is a good setup book for the rest of the story and I’m curious as to what will come next in this universe.

Digital review copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley

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LibraryThing member jamestomasino

There's nearly something here, but it feels like a bad mashup of other people's ideas. Nothing new, not even a new angle. If someone trained an AI to write this with machine learning from the genre corpus I wouldn't be surprised.

LibraryThing member Narilka

Hunter is Mercedes Lackey's entry into YA dystopia. It's the first book in a trilogy of the same name. If you've read any books from the genre in the last 5 to 10 years, like Hunger Games or Divergent, then you've likely read a version of this story before.

A series of catastrophes have left the

world in a post-apocalyptic setting where magic and monsters are found right along with technology. Joyeau Charmand is marked as a Hunter, one who has mystic glyphs that allows her to cast spells and summon hounds to help her hunt the monsters that threaten human civilization. It's not long before Joy is summoned to Apex City, where the best Hunters are kept to protect the largest remaining human city. Joy proceeds to uncover a conspiracy that threatens not just Apex City but all of mankind.

See what I mean? You've definitely heard this one before. While treading a lot of familiar ground, Lackey comes up with some unique concepts that keep the story interesting. Joy is a reluctant hero, not wanting to leave her village but knowing she must since she's been summoned. I liked the various types of "hounds," some of which aren't very hound-like at all. Also the variety of different monsters pulled from mythology was fun.

What bugged me the most was deliberate misspellings of familiar words to add flavor to the world. Such as "diseray" instead of "disarray". The first 20% or so is also filled with a lot of info dumps that drag the pacing down. Things pick up once Joy arrives at Apex City.

Assuming you can get by those issues, it is an entertaining story. I'm unsure if I'll continue the series or not.

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LibraryThing member BillieBook

There is a lot to like about this book, and in a different mood, I may have been less "meh" about it, but it was slow for me to get into and then felt way too Hunger-Games-with-mythical-creatures for me to ever get completely on board. And, quite honestly, I think I'm sick of the Most Specialest

World-Saving Girl Asskicker Super Brilliant Amazing Hero. I'm glad these characters are being written, but I'd like for them to be a little less Special from the very start. It's better, in my opinion, to watch them work toward being Amazing than having them start off there. And, if you're going to have your heroine start at Amazing, please stop having her tell me how Amazing she is and then being all Little Miss False Modesty. [Um, yeah...I guess Joy (Joyeaux Charmand, FFS) kinda irritated me.] And yet? I'll still pick up Book 2, because I'm just intrigued enough to get over my issues with the protagonist.

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LibraryThing member jazzbird61

Wow. It's been awhile since I've ready any Lackey--I found the Valdemar? stuff too simplistic and the characters
one dimensional, but I thoroughly enjoyed this. Even with the obligatory romance that every writer seems to think YA needs. (I must have been the only teenager that thought life was too

interesting to bother with boys. It colors my thinking). She has stayed away from the (dramatic music) love triangle, although I almost thought it was in the works at one point.

There was some talk of this being a mashup of the Mockingjay series, but I don't really get that feeling. I found that series VERY depressing. Joy is a good person who enjoys life and the people around her. She's humble, intelligent and has a great sense of self while remaining a teenaged character rather than an adult stuffed into a teenaged body (as some YA characters are).

Joy is a bit a a Mary Sue when it comes to magic, but not enough to ruin the story so far. As an indicator of how much I liked it, I purchased the Kindle & audiobooks for #2 and pre-ordered #3 in Kindle. Looking forward to how things shake out.

I just read over some reviews. A LOT of folks didn't like it, but I did appreciate one comment: "What it is is a paranormal/mythological/post-apocalyptic/dystopian mashup. "

EDIT - I forgot to mention the audiobook, I went between it and the Kindle version. The narration was well done. I could picture what I was seeing and I liked the author's variances from character to character.

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