The Hunted of 2060 by Ami Blackwelder Review

Title: The Hunted of 2060

Author: Ami Rebecca Blackwelder

Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy/Paranormal/Futuristic (potentially YA?)

Page Count: 290

Book Type: Owned Limited Edition Signed Paperback (won through Cleverly Inked)

Publisher: Creative Endeavors 

ISBN: 9781452805474

Photo by me, but here’s a link to Amazon (which is a different cover than I have). 

Summary from Goodreads: Set in Alaska in 2060, when April enters her Sophomore year at University, she thought Robert might be the love of her life, but as she discovers, she is hiding something inside her, something the rest of the world believes to have died out. She struggles with who she was and who she is becoming as she learns of a family she never knew existed and of enemies she will have to outrun, outfight or outwit to survive. As April embraces her new identity, will she have to leave the life she loves behind? 

With underlining themes of how prejudice breaks human connections and animal/wildlife conservation, this novel which has received rave reviews will leave the reader flipping through the pages of April’s story.

My Review: There are quite a few different covers for this one. I like the one that I received, but I think the one on Amazon may be more fitting to the story. The one on Goodreads, I’m not too wild about. I’ll just leave my cover analysis at that.

I really enjoyed the futuristic elements of this book. It was so entertaining to dive into the world Ami Blackwelder created. It’s fun to imagine if any of these things will actually be possible in 2060--which I could potentially see at 73 years old. I loved imagining all of the touch screens and holograms that popped out of watches, etc. My favorite aspect was the little robots that came to your table at a restaurant and you entered your order there. Very fun to picture. 

At the beginning of the novel, it was a little hard to differentiate between characters because there were so many and most of them had unusual names. The pictures in the back of the book did help with this though. After about a third of the way in, it was easier to follow. It did take me a bit longer than usual to get into the story, but I feel that Ami really picked it up in the last 2/3rd’s of the book. I really liked some of the secondary characters (especially Diamond and David). I can’t imagine thinking you’re one person until nineteen years old and then finding out you have a brand new identity. Blackwelder really allowed me to imagine I was April and think about how I might handle the situation. It’s brilliant how we discover April’s new world with her. 

The themes of betrayal and prejudice are key factors in this book. Humans betray each other, humans and hybrids betray each other and you can really argue that some of the hybrids betray each other as well. It’s interesting to see how prejudice occurs on both sides of the battle. Humans have their form of it and the hybrids have another form. 

Over all, there are a few grammatical and editing issues, but I was able to get by those and enjoy the story. Sometimes Ami can get a little bit over descriptive, but it is really an enjoyable read. I hear a prequel and a sequel are in the works which should be very entertaining. It will be interesting to see how exactly the world came to be the way it is in The Hunted of 2060 and what will happen to the world after. I think it will be really fun to see if one of these books is from the “hunters” point of view, especially the prequel. What were their reactions when these aliens came to Earth? How did they come to the conclusions that the aliens were evil? Very fascinating stuff. Be sure to also visit Ami's website! 

Have you read this one yet or are you looking forward to? Let me know in the comments!