The Prey (Prey Trilogy #1)

by Tom Isbell

Overview

“A compellingly drawn dystopian future.” —BCCB

The Maze Runner meets The Hunger Games in this heart-pounding trilogy—now in paperback.

Orphaned teens, soon to be hunted for sport, must flee their resettlement camps in their fight for survival and a better life. For in the Republic of the True America, it's always hunting season. Riveting action, intense romance, and gripping emotion make this fast-paced adventure a standout debut.

After a radiation blast burned most of the Earth to a crisp, the new government established settlement camps for the survivors. At the camp, sixteen-year-old "LTs" are eager to graduate as part of the Rite. Until they learn the dark truth: LT doesn't stand for lieutenant but for Less Thans, feared by society and raised to be hunted for sport.

They escape and join forces with the Sisters, twin girls who've suffered their own haunting fate. Together they seek the fabled New Territory, with sadistic hunters hot on their trail. Secrets are revealed, allegiances are made, and lives are at stake.

As unlikely Book and fearless Hope lead their quest for freedom, these teens must find the best in themselves to fight the worst in their enemies.

Catch the rest of the series in The Capture and The Release!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062216021
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/19/2016
Series:	Prey Trilogy Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	432
Sales rank:	554,852
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.80(h) x 1.20(d)
Lexile:	650L (what's this?)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Tom Isbell is an actor-author-professor. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, he has acted in theater, film, and TV, working opposite Robert De Niro, Ed Harris, Sarah Jessica Parker, and others. Currently a theater professor at the University of Minnesota Duluth, he has had three of his plays produced by the Theater for Young Audiences at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, including Teddy Roosevelt and the Treasure of Ursa Major, which was adapted into a book with then–First Lady Laura Bush penning the foreword. Tom and his wife, Pat, live in Duluth, Minnesota.

Editorial Reviews

Readers will appreciate the irony and subtle, deeper meanings in character and location names as Isbell shapes his own vision of a dark world. Pair this with other blockbusters about hope in the midst of despair and danger, Veronica Roth’s Four, Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, and James Dashner’s Maze Runner — ALA Booklist

“Avid dystopian fans will anxiously await the next installment.” — School Library Journal

“A compellingly drawn dystopian future.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

From the Publisher

Readers will appreciate the irony and subtle, deeper meanings in character and location names as Isbell shapes his own vision of a dark world. Pair this with other blockbusters about hope in the midst of despair and danger, Veronica Roth’s Four, Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games, and James Dashner’s Maze Runner

ALA Booklist

10/20/2014
In actor and first-time novelist Isbell’s dystopian future, kids like Book are all too common—orphaned, congenitally deformed by nuclear fallout, and living in “resettlement camps” after EMPs rendered electronics useless. Book believes that life in Camp Liberty is still better than the lawless outside world until a runaway from another camp shows him the truth: he and his friends are society’s “Less Thans,” being raised for the rich and powerful to hunt for sport. As Book begins planning his escape, he meets Hope, a girl in a neighboring camp, who is an identical twin, the government’s perfect test subjects. The two protagonists work well together, though their romantic story line—including a halfhearted love triangle—is a bit forced. But the book plays to its strong suits, with plenty of peril (human and otherwise) and illuminating glimpses of the world outside the camps that allowed this system to thrive. First in a planned trilogy, the story delivers its message without moralizing and will keep readers rooting for Book and Hope. Ages 13–up. Agent: Victoria Sanders, Victoria Sanders & Associates. (Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

A compellingly drawn dystopian future.

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

A compellingly drawn dystopian future.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

2014-10-22
Teens uncover their post-apocalyptic, dystopian society's secret program that segregates those deemed inferior to use as game in rich men's hunts.An orphan nicknamed Book who's grown up in an all-boys government-run camp discovers a strange new boy, near death, in the desert. Book befriends him and learns that after the boys graduate, they aren't bussed away for leadership positions as promised—instead, they're hunted by the rich as entertainment. Turns out they're scapegoated Less Thans—a designation given to undesirable races, religious groups, political dissidents and a variety of other discriminatory categories. Alternate chapters break from Book's first-person, past-tense narration for a third-person, present-tense account that follows Hope, who's been running from government soldiers for years. She and her twin sister, Faith, are captured and brought to a girls' facility specializing in twins for twisted medical experiments. Brought together by chance, Book and Hope feel an instant connection. That doesn't stop them from making a weak love triangle with another character when small groups from each camp unite to escape certain extermination. Running for freedom, they face such perils as soldiers and wolves, but the most dangerous are the hunters, yielding scenes in which the teens use clever strategy to defend themselves against the better-equipped hunters. Isbell aims for inventive description but frequently fumbles, producing phrases like "anvil-shaped face." Light worldbuilding leaves too many questions unanswered, paving the way for the sequel. It's an exciting concept, but the execution is for the most part mediocre. (Dystopian adventure. 13 & up)

Kirkus Reviews