The Prey – Andrew Fukuda

Pages: 304

Source: Purchased

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Spoiler Alert:  If you have not read the first book The Hunt then don’t read any further.

Gene and the other hepers have escaped from the Dome leaving behind Ashley June.  They travel down the river.  Epap is not happy that Gene is with them.  He is obviously jealous of him and the way Sissy keeps coming to his aid. As they travel down the river they discover a tablet hidden in a secret compartment under the boat.  It tells them to stay on the river.  The flip side tells them not to let Gene die.  That is all it takes for Sissy to make it her mission.  After several days on the river, and after plummeting over a waterfall they are discovered by a young girl and they are taken to a village called “The Mission”.  There is excitement at discovering more of their kind.  But all is not what it seems.  Is this a blessing or a curse and what is the “origin” they are supposed to have brought with them?

The world building in this second book was just as interesting and descriptive as that in the first book.  You see a dystopian society that has gone back to where women are nothing more than slaves.  Sissy definitely doesn’t agree with this.  The micro-tension within this book is so strong I read it from beginning to end in one sitting.  I honestly felt like I was at "The Mission" with all of them. I could feel the fear they felt.  I kept sitting on the edge of my seat whenever the tension would increase.  This author definitely knows how to write a book that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Unfortunately, the third book, The Trap, won’t be out until September.  The book was left in a way that the reader celebrates with the news learned, yet is left wondering if anyone will be alive to celebrate that knowledge.  I absolutely loved this book.  The first book was given to me  to review.  I bought the second book as an e-book.  I can guarantee you that the second and third book will be purchased in paperback for my classroom shelves.  It is an absolutely wonderful dystopian book.