Title: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen, Harlequin Teen UK
Release Date: 04/24/2012
ISBN: 0373210515
If you're wondering where you've heard the name "Julie Kagawa" before, it's from her bestselling Iron Fae series, which I absolutely recommend. It's because I absolutely loved that series that I picked up a copy of this book from Netgalley.
In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.
Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.
Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die…or become one of the monsters.
Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.
Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.
But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.
The whole post-apocalypse thing has become rather popular in the last few years, but Kagawa takes it up a notch by adding in vampires. This hasn't been as fully explored in YA fiction as it has been in general fiction, so this should be still somewhat newish to some readers. For those who are pretty used to the mixing of vamps and gritty post-apocalyptic survival, rest assured that Kagawa brings enough creativity to the table to where you won't be constantly comparing it to what has come before. (Some comparison is to be expected, of course.)
I liked the characters in the book, especially Allison. She's tough, snarky, and unwilling to give up her humanity despite being undead. Allison might be a little "typical YA heroine" at times, but there's a reason that characters like this are so popular and that's because they're easy to commiserate with. I do wish that some of the other characters had been a little more fleshed out. Since the story is told from Allison's viewpoint we only get to see what she does, so many of her initial "friends" (if you can call Stick and the others friends) and later comrades are given relatively fleeting glances in comparison to Kanin and Zeke. It's frustrating because some of them seem like they could have been some pretty great characters to bring into the mix a little more, especially Ruth. She's given short shrift as she's mostly only jealous of Allison without doing much, which is a shame. She could've been made into a great rival character.
Overall though, this was a book that I just blasted my way through. I absolutely love Kagawa's work and the first books are always her strongest. The Immortal Rules is no exception to this and I look forward to the next book in the series. This isn't a perfect book, but I'm hoping that we get a deeper look into this world and its characters in the next entry. This is out now, so if you haven't picked up a book to take with you on that summer trip, this should absolutely be added to your reading pile.
Four out of Five stars
(ARC provided by Netgalley)
I liked the characters in the book, especially Allison. She's tough, snarky, and unwilling to give up her humanity despite being undead. Allison might be a little "typical YA heroine" at times, but there's a reason that characters like this are so popular and that's because they're easy to commiserate with. I do wish that some of the other characters had been a little more fleshed out. Since the story is told from Allison's viewpoint we only get to see what she does, so many of her initial "friends" (if you can call Stick and the others friends) and later comrades are given relatively fleeting glances in comparison to Kanin and Zeke. It's frustrating because some of them seem like they could have been some pretty great characters to bring into the mix a little more, especially Ruth. She's given short shrift as she's mostly only jealous of Allison without doing much, which is a shame. She could've been made into a great rival character.
Overall though, this was a book that I just blasted my way through. I absolutely love Kagawa's work and the first books are always her strongest. The Immortal Rules is no exception to this and I look forward to the next book in the series. This isn't a perfect book, but I'm hoping that we get a deeper look into this world and its characters in the next entry. This is out now, so if you haven't picked up a book to take with you on that summer trip, this should absolutely be added to your reading pile.
Four out of Five stars
(ARC provided by Netgalley)
Ooo I posted a review of this today and I saw yours on my feed! I felt the same as you- 4/5! x
ReplyDeleteIsn't it awful when you get to the end of a book you really like and then realize that it'll be a while before you get the next one in the series? Because I really want to find out what happens next!
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