When I give a book one star, there is always a reason. It does not mean that everything in the book was necessarily terrible. It means that the read was not enjoyable or had nothing to recommend it.
This book had an okay concept and an enemy that could possibly have been interesting. The author did try to introduce and develop a lot of characters. That is something that should be encouraged.
On the negative side, none of these characters were interesting enough to be ones I will ever want to know what happened to them after the book finished. They are all bland, they are all forgettable and not one of them had realistic dialogue. There are computer programs that could write better dialogue.
My next problem with the book is that I don't know what age group it was actually aimed at. The prose is simplistic yet it has more gore than many horror books. It is a bloody mess at times. In fact, all the time.
The tone is inconsistent. There are a lot of dumb characters. "Experts" who are totally ineffective and scientists who cannot work out what a reader too young to read this book alone could.
The ending isn't. I don't know if this was to set up a sequel (please, no) or that the author got bored of his own story but it is rushed and inconclusive.
I don't recommend this to anyone. There are millions of better books. If you want a similar story but told better then watch The X-Files episode "Darkness Falls". It will only take you 43 minutes or so.
Definitely made for the target audience, tweens would love this sort of read however for me it was a quick and easy read to pass the time, interesting sort of horror and thriller
I feel bad rating this book at 2 stars, but as I've lamented in the past, there's no option for half-stars. Blood Hunters is a perfectly okay book for its target audience of tween boys and girls into some slightly science fiction-y horror-y monster YA. The main character is a tween boy, the bad guys are lizard snake monster bird things, and there are some easily predicted plot twists for good measure. The book is definitely British, what with the cricket and such, and that's fine.
Really, it was just a good, quick train read to pass the time. And sometimes that's all you need.
The style and language seem appropriate for the target age, which I assume is 8-12, maybe young teen. Not so sure about the graphic violence. Only the preposterousness of some of the later action takes the experience of reading this out of the worryingly potentially disturbing into oh-yeah-right like thats ever going to happen. When I was in the correct demographic for this book, this book would not have been available in my library. Just shows how times change. A useful random research read for me. Oh, and you aren't invited onto a Parish Council, you have to be elected.
Personally I believe this book is perfect for anyone around the age of 12/13. There is a boyish feel to it at the beginning but as you get to the end it's more unisex. There is not as much gore as expected, which makes it suitable for younger children. It was a nice quick read and was interesting, wouldn't highly recommend it for anyone above age of 14 but would be a fantastic read for anyone below that age.
Read in a day, been a long time since I've done that. Ludicrous story line, yet still a page turner. The characters in the book aren't fleshed out like they are in a normal book, but it is aimed at teenagers (I got a copy free in Year 7). Still, it's your typical apocalyptic story which is focused on a mutation and not Zombies...
Very thrilling and tense, really tense. Theres such a big build up to the ending and your always included in what happens. But it all just happens at the end theres no hiding or anything it just comes as if it was rushed.
Almost didn't finish the book, but was just intrigued enough to persevere. Totally not worth it. Not even close to real premise, two-dimensional characters, unbelievable action and debilitating wounds shrugged off almost immediately.
It wasn't very good. It had potential but was poorly written and not plausible in many parts. The end seemed very rushed and in general it was very cheesy and sort of boring
This book was quite interesting. It was not too gory, and it makes you think about the possibility of unidentified creatures lurking around. It was good to read.