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Type of bind: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN num: 9780061373299
ISBN number: 006137329X
Label: Eos
Manufacturer: Eos
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 320
Printing Date: January 01, 2008
Publishing house: Eos
Release Date: January 08, 2008
Sale Popularity Level: 172897
Studio: Eos
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Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
Like so many others, Ramón Espejo ran from the poverty and hopelessness of the Third World to the promise of a new world—joining a host of like-minded workers and dreamers aboard one of the great starships of the mysterious, repulsive Enye. But the life he found on the far-off planet of São Paulo was no better than the one he had abandoned.
Tough, volatile, and angry—a luckless prospector hoping for that one rich strike that will make him wealthy—Ramón is content only when on his own out in the bush, far from the dirty, loud, bustling hive of humanity that he detests with sociopathic fervor. Then one night his rage and too much alcohol get the better of him, resulting in sudden bloodshed and a high-profile murder. Ramón is forced to flee into the wilderness for however long it will take for the furor to die down.
Here, mercifully, almost happily alone, Ramón is once again free. But while searching for his long-elusive lode, he stumbles upon something completely unexpected: a highly advanced alien race in hiding; fugitives like himself on a world not their own. Suddenly in possession of a powerful, dangerous secret, Ramón must battle for his freedom from alien captors and also against the hostile and unpredictable planet. And so the chase begins.
Police, fugitive aliens, and a human murderer weave a web of shifting alliances as Ramón enters the greatest manhunt the alien world of São Paulo has ever known. If he is to survive, Ramón must overcome inscrutable aliens and deadly predators, but his greatest enemy is himself. With every move in the desperate game, he struggles to outwit his enemies and solve the mystery of a murder he himself committed.
A rip-roaring adventure tale and character study of a fascinating and twisted mind, Hunter's Run showcases three masters of the form at their best.
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Rated by buyers 
-
When I bought this book I was thrilled to read a collaboration by such heavyweights as Martin and Dozois, but as I turned page after page after page after ... well, you get it.
The main character, Ramon Espejo, murdered an important man in Diegotown and had to flee into the wilderness to avoid prosecution. While there, he discovers that he is not the only one on the planet trying to avoid discovery. Now, this has all the makings of an interesting, entertaining read - which it was - however, throughout the very first 100 or so pages, all the reader knows about Ramon is that he is a drunk, murdering, leeching, woman-beater that is always trying to take advantage of someone - a genuine troublemaker. So, do I care that he is in a bit of a pickle? No, not at all. As a result, the very first 1/3 of this book was very difficult to read. It became even more difficult as I struggled to find some way to get into the story. Ramon was having trouble, scared for his life, and in more trouble than he had ever been in and I couldn't care less. That made it extremely frustrating to read. As I continued, I found that it took ... 119 pages, TEN chapters, to get to know the main character, Ramon Espejo.
Why would they wait until Chapter 10 to invest more into the main character? Once the authors revealed more about Ramon the story sprung to life. I found that the very first 1/3 of the book (Part I) read very different from the remainder, I did not think that it was stylistically cohesive with the remainder of the book (Parts II and III). I also think that it could and should have been told much faster. There are three sections to this book and after completing it I wondered if each author wrote a section and then they put them all together.
Positives
It has good prose and descriptive language. Overall it was a good story with escalating action and a believable premise. Although somewhat predictable in the very first 1/3 of the book, there was a very intriguing use of perspective and viewpoint in this story. Finally, the authors did a good job of making sure that the main character stayed true to himself and what we knew about him. Ramon performed no noble heroics or actions too far out of character; they did this while still providing surprises for the readers.
Negatives
(The majority of my criticism is about the very first 1/3 of this book, the remaining two sections were great).
Initially, there was far too much telling and far too little showing. For example, instead of saying "Ramon shivered," we are told "Ramon was cold." Instead of "Ramon's stomach growled," we get "Ramon was hungry." This pattern of telling rather than showing resulted in a flat story with shallow characterization for this portion of the book.
Some attempts at humour seemed contrived. It was as if the "f" word is inserted because the authors think it is supposed to be funny, but since Ramon is not well-developed at this point these attempts fall short.
We are told things that do not seem to fit. SLIGHT SPOILER: For example, Ramon suddenly understands what "retehue" means, but how? There is no indication that he should have any inkling about what Maneck is referring to, but the author simply says that he "suddenly" understood what it meant when Maneck had only spoke a total of six vague sentences to him and used the word twice. The authors wanted Ramon to understand the word for the sake of the story so they simply decided that he would without showing how he came to that point. This was rather disappointing because it was not believable.
I would recommend this book to others with a caveat - make it through the very first 119 pages and you will enjoy the rest of the ride.
Rated by buyers -
This was a fun read, fast paced, and well executed. The book is centered on Ramon Espejo, a person unlucky enough to not only be run out of town, but to find out that many people are trying to hide from one of the alien races, the Enye, while on the run and unable to do much with the information. There could have been more to the story, and while good, left someone feeling at times left out of the story. This feels more like a tragedy than a great science fiction book, overall ok, four stars of five, worth reading, but like many books, leaves one wanting more. The entire idea is plausible, and well within the ideas of plausible science fiction.
Gardner Dozois is best known for editing all the years best science fiction books, it is not surprising that there would be a team up between Gardner and Martin and Abraham. Worth getting, worth reading, but again, not a five star classic. It is a general all around good read though, with a memorable plot, but one that takes from many other equally good or better books.
Rated by buyers -
This is another book that I bought based solely on who wrote it. I love Martin and Abraham is also a great writer, though I had never heard of Dozois prior to this. I didn't know what I would think, but I enjoyed it thoroughly. Hunter's Run has action, drama, humour and bizarre aliens; just about all you could ask for in a great sci-fi book. Is it a masterpiece? I still can't quite decide...
My favorite part of this book is what most reviewers seem to dislike the most: the main character. Ramon Espejo is a pretty despicable human being. He's a murderer and a criminal, but I'll be damned if he doesn't provide an entertaining point of view. Maybe I've gotten to the point where I've read too much typical fiction with do-gooder protagonists that an a**hole is just what I needed. And even if he is an a**hole, he is funny and has some great dialogue, especially with his travelling companion/captor (who for the sake of not spoiling, I will not reveal here.) And as the story progresses, even though he is still sort of despicable, he does have an epiphany of sorts that changes him as a person. On the basis of how he thought and how he acted, his decisions were believable and I thought his progression as a character was really well done.
The actual story, which I can't speak much on because I'd give it away, is also well done. It is a nice tight plot that flows well from start to finish. There is some good action and some crazy situations, but given the circumstances, there is nothing unbelievable. By the end of Hunter's Run, I was left a little disappointed that it had ended but in no way dissatisfied with the ending. There are no loose ends and it is its own complete story.
This really teeters on the edge between a 4 star and a 5 star book. I'd have to say I'll give it 4.5 stars and curse Amazon once again for not having a more intricate rating system. Pretty much the only reason I gave it 4 and not 5 is that considering the prose of Martin and Abraham, the writing could have been better. Don't get me wrong, the writing isn't bad, it's just not on par with Song of Ice and Fire or Abraham's very eloquent style in the Long Price Quartet. Toward the beginning of the story, the writing seemed a little lazy and hurried, like there were more details that could have been included. But as the story progressed and the main character began to develop, the writing almost seemed to get better, so perhaps all of this was intended. The same can almost be said about the story. It's rare that the reader actually wants more time to be spent in the development of the characters and setting before the story really gets started, but I felt at the beginning it moved a little too quickly. Once the story gets moving however, I forgot all about that. I think the only other thing that keeps it out of 5 star territory is that it's not quite as grand nor the scope quite as great as some of the books that I consider 5 star.
I'd really be interested to know how three authors actually piece together a book like this, what the writing process is. (Okay, so let's take a drunken a-hole down on his luck, a backwater prospecting planet, and some really bizarre aliens... go!) In any case, the outcome is great. Despite my somewhat indecisive misgivings, I'd recommend this book to any sci-fi fan.
Rated by buyers -
Okay...three stars...because I gave A Game of Thrones five. Not to take away from this book, it was well written, but it was the kind of book where my real interest was in the outcome more than the backstory or characters. I really never had any emotional attachment to the characters. It was very interesting conceptually, and there was plenty of action. It's not a hard read at all. If you like epic, sweeping stories that are character driven, you'll struggle to rate this above three stars. If you're more of an action packed, fast paced, plot driven story kinda person, this might be a four.
Rated by buyers -
Hunter's Run is somewhat interesting in that it's a collaboration novel that you can't really tell is a collaboration and a science-fiction novel that relies surprisingly little on science fiction. And these are by no means complaints. The collaboration's seamlessness speaks to the craft and professionalism of the three writers while the lack of reliance on science fiction allows for a fine mix of quick-paced adventure and character introspection.
Don't get me wrong, the science fiction elements are essential to the plot: space-faring races, a planet being colonized (slowly) by humanity who have become seemingly the general laborers of this universe, a high-tech blaster. You need the sci fi to get the story going. But once it does get going, the sci-fi elements fade discreetly into the deep background. What you're left with is a three-layered novel.
One layer is a simple adventure story. Ramon Espejo, a hard-nosed and hard-to-like independent prospector on the planet Sao Paulo, kills a man in a bar fight and to avoid the ensuing investigation takes off into the wild. While prospecting out there, he stumbles across an unknown alien race and for reasons it's best not to go into in a review, he is forced into service by the aliens. Attached (literally) to one of the aliens, he becomes their human tracker, tasked to hunt down and kill another human. The chase is the adventure aspect of the story as Ramon tracks the other human through the rocky wilderness, trying to avoid traps and snares left by his prey. Ramon, of course, is also looking for every chance to escape his jailer alien.
The second layer is a true character study as Ramon learns more and more about himself as the chase goes on. He sees himself from the outside perspective he's never had the opportunity to employ before and he doesn't much like what he sees. Through flashbacks and memories we get a view of how Ramon got to be where and what he is, and the journey is seldom a pretty one.
The final layer of the novel is cultural/social as Ramon becomes not just a tracker for the alien he travels with but also a test case--a means to learn about what humans are like. Unfortunately for humanity, Ramon isn't the greatest example, and most of humanity's flaws are laid bare for the alien to marvel at--our quickness to rage, our ability to kill freely, etc.
All three levels of the book are successful. The chase aspect is quick-moving and tense. The character study is strangely compelling. An author (or three) takes a chance in using a hard-to-like main character and to be honest, there isn't much to like about Ramon. At least, not for a long while. But the author's take their time in allowing Ramon (and the reader) to learn about him--his many flaws and his not-so-many strengths--and his desire to look more deeply into himself and find something he can choose, something he can respect, grabs our attention and eventually our own respect. You can't help but root for him no matter how much you dislike him at the start. The social aspect is also handled well, with a lot of discusion about when or if it is ever appropriate to kill. It would have been easy for the book to devolve into talky preachiness, but it never does and if it sometimes hits a bit too bluntly at the subject those times are relatively rare. Mostly the questions it asks are provoking and thoughtful. The three aspects also mesh together smoothly. The action doesn't clunk to a halt so we can get pages of introspection. The three strands are woven deftly through the novel all to its very satisfying close.
Hunter's Run is, as mentioned, a fast read--a sitting will do it or maybe two--but its content is more sophisticated than the usual read this fast. An interestingly ugly character deeply explored, a mysterious alien race, a race/chase against time, a mirror held up to some of humanity's blemishes--it all comes together. Recommended.
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