The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa – a Review
Book Description:
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.
Review:
The Immortal Rules is the first book I have read by Julie Kagawa, and I have to say, I am very impressed. Lately, I have really enjoyed some of the YA books that I have read, which includes The Hunger Games, Divergent and Graceling. Now that I have finished The Immortal Rules, I can safely say this is being added to my list of books that are a must read, as well as the author.
The Immortal Rules is another vampire book, but yet so different. This is the first book in Kagawa’s Blood of Eden series. The young heroine in this story is Allison (Allie), who at the start is fully human, living in poverty in a vampire ruled world. The worldbuilding in this is awesome, and very interesting. It is a story of survival, brutality, and how far you will go to survive….at what cost to your humanity.
The Immortal Rules starts a bit slow, as we learn about the world that Allie lives in. Along the way, the story changes, keeping you constantly moving, and unable to put the book down, the last 2/3 of book is mesmerizing and very exciting. The Immortal Rules is totally about Allie, who early on hates vampires, and then when she herself becomes a vampire, she fights to keep somewhat of her humanity to live, despite the hunger that threatens to control her.
When she becomes a vampire, she is taught survival by a Master vampire, who turned her to save her life, a choice she had made as she lie dying. At first Allie refuses to understand that she cannot live as she did as a human, and must learn to deal with humans, including friends who shun her, and want her dead. Left on her own by her sire, she learns to find ways to deal with her hunger, and to hide what she truly is from the humans she meets along the way. Allie turns out to be a kick assed heroine, and her ability to fight off Rabids (creatures created from a disease that wiped out humans and vampires), and Vampires is super.
This world was truly dark, as you found yourself sympathetic to Allie’s situation, and her need to keep herself more human, then a monster vampire. She meets up with a human group trying to run from vampires and rabids, as they travel to find their Eden; a place free of vampires and rabids. They accept Allie, not knowing she is a vampire, and she finds herself falling for Zeke, the protégé of the leader.
Julie Kagawa does such a wonderful job of keeping this story flowing, excellent plots, twists, and with some excellent characters; such Zeke, a little romance; Jeb, the group’s cultish leader; Jackal, the vampire King, who is fully evil; the children, she tries not to care so much about; and Kanin, her Master vampire, who hopefully we will see more of in the future books. The story is full of action, fight scenes, horrific deaths, but it is an awesome story, despite its dark contents. Allie is a tough, determined and loyal heroine, whom you feel very strongly for her. This is a wonderful book that I highly recommend, and the release date is April 24th. I for one can’t wait for the next book in this series.
Reviewed by Barb
