Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Immortal Rules

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publisher:  Harlequin Teen

Publication Date: 4.24.2012

Pages: 504

Genre: Paranormal - Vampires

Series: Yes (Blood of Eden #1)

Source: ARC from a friend

Rating: A+

Summary (from Goodreads):

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:

I swear I feel like I have been waiting years for Julie Kagawa to write a book for me. OK, maybe not for me per se, but I never read The Iron Fey series and always felt like I was missing something. I tried reading The Iron King awhile ago, and anyone who knows me knows that I’m not a fan of the fae in novels. Needless to say, I couldn’t get into it, but I knew Kagawa was a gifted storyteller from what I did read. I just needed to bide my time until she wrote something I could sink my teeth into (pun fully intended).

The Immortal Rules is everything I could crave in a book. It has romance, action, suspense, and humor in spades. Allie has earned her own special place as one of my favorite YA heroines of all time. The girl is epic, but on a believable scale. I love how she struggles to maintain her humanity after being turned. The way she forces herself to live and the way she protects people she cares about is truly moving. Kagawa did a phenomenal job with this character.

I’m a fan of vampire novels, but I always worry the genre is becoming too saturated. Post-Twilight it seemed there was a vampire book coming out every other week and plots and characters started to blur and overlap. Kagawa has come up with a spin that is refreshingly unique, and I cannot applaud her enough for it.

The Immortal Rules is dark and twisted in all the right ways. I was immediately transported into this post-apocalyptic world where vampires reigned supreme. Despite the 500+ pages, this book ended way too soon for my liking. I can’t wait to crawl back into it as soon as possible.

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