Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Immortal Rules
Author: Julie Kagawa
ISBN: 9780373210510
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Released: April 24, 2012
Page #: 485
Series: Blood of Eden #1
Source: My public library

Summary:
"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 the 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 humand 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."
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First Lines:

"They hung the Unregistereds in the old warehouse district; it was a public execution, so everyone went to see.
I stood at the back, a nameless face in the crowd, too close to the gallows for comfort but unable to look away. There were three of them this time, two boys and a girl."
Page 9
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Review:

What do you get when you mix dystopian with vampire and a dash of paranormal romance? This book! I love it when genres collide.

Allison is a street rat. A scavenger. An Unregistered. She fights for her life every day. That is... until she gets caught in a situation she can't get out of. Once she's turned into a vampire, she learns all she can and then goes on the run. She meets up with an interesting group of people on the road - and meets Zeke. From there, drama ensues - especially because she cannot tell them what she is.

I love that Allison kicks so much ass. She is the only girl in her small scavenging clan... and then she fights for her life among crazed vampires. Then she takes to a sword like it was built for her - and she seems basically fearless. I really appreciated that she was able to make the hard decisions throughout the book. Particularly in the end... though it left me saying, "Nooooo!" :)

I've said this before, but to reiterate - I understand that the author has nothing to do with the cover. But it sort of bothered me that the face on the cover doesn't match the descriptions ofo Allison - namely, Asian. That's not to say it's a terrible cover - in fact, it's super creepy. And I truly put this book facedown and the spine turned away any time I wasn't reading. The face creeped me out too much.

Okay, so one word... Zeke. What a guy! He's painted as a total religious nthusiast - and a leader among the band of travlers as the adopted son of the preacher, Jeb. And his reaction to Allison swings a dangerous amount throughout the story. I'll just say that I was rooting for him as soon as he showed up in the book.

I feel like I need to thank this author for bringing back bad vampires. The whole tortured soul thing has gone too far and I love seeing them back in this light... or darkness :). They're demons and they don't apologize for that. While Allison holds on to a lot of her humanity, but she has to fight with herself to get there. Quite honestly, it's refreshing.

Those of you wishing for a creepy, wonderful vampire story will love this book. And it has that kick of romance to keep it smooth sailing. I loved (and still love) the Iron Fey series by Kagawa. And this book has proven that I will always read anything she publishes. Such a talented author and she's got another winner here. I look forward to the next one in the Blood of Eden series... next year... sigh. :)
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Other Blog Reviews:

Candace's Book Blog
Endlessly Bookish
Once Upon a Time
YA Booklover Blog
Alison's Book Marks
Nice Girls Read Books
The Sweet Bookshelf
I Want to Read That
Debbie's World of Books

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