Title: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin TEEN
Release Date: April 24, 2012
Source: Received from the publisher via Netgalley
MY VAMPIRE CREATOR TOLD ME THIS:
"Sometime in your life, Allison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being. The question is not if it will happen, but when. Do you understand?"
I didn't then, not really.
I DO NOW.
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.
My Thoughts
For me, The Immortal Rules started off slowly.
I wasn't sure if I liked Allie, I didn't really feel anything for her, and I found myself eye rolling a bit with the background story.
Its been 60 years since the plague and yet there is still food to be found in abandoned stores and houses...really? are you sure? if everyone is so starving and destitute don't you think that after 60 years it would of all been picked over years ago?
That seriously did not make sense to me, but maybe I'm just being overly picky.
Anyway, after 50 pages I was considering turfing it on the DNF pile, but I persevered...and around about page 195, I thought 'Okay, now we're on to something'
Even though I may not have always enjoyed her storytelling, I can't deny that Julie Kagawa writes beautifully.
Her words are descriptive and flow easily through the mind creating some great mental pictures, and I loved her vicious, more traditionally styled vampires and rabids.
And Allie grew on me, probably more than I care to admit.
Her struggle to adapt to being a vampire yet still aching to cling on to her humanity struck a chord, it felt real and believable. She showed great strength and tenacity.
And then she meets the mysterious Zeke and his motley crew of survivors with all their quirks and beliefs.
But then towards the end I started eye rolling again.
Eden's only a day or so's ride away from Jackal and his vampire city and he never stumbled upon it? really? after years of searching for Jeb and Zeke it was never discovered by anyone? after all these years? and then the only voice of suspicion, the 'thorn' in Allie's side gets killed right near the end, just as they approach Eden...
Am I the only one finding too many threads conveniently tying themselves together in a nice tidy bow?
All in all, I enjoyed the fresh take on vampires, the zombie like rabids, and the idea of an Eden waiting in the wastelands.
But I just felt it was all too safe, the ending too predictable.
A 3.5 Star read for me ;]
