ARC Review: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa

Welcome, Julie, to the world of vampires!

Title: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa
Pages: 504
Release Date: April 24th 2012
Published by: Harlequin Teen (US) / MIRA Ink (UK)
Source: Publisher & Publicist (Thanks Becky and Karen!)
Buy: Amazon | Book Depository

Summary:

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.

Dear readers, throw away all of your expectations out of the window. This series is NOTHING like The Iron Fey. No glittery, sparkling, wonderful looking faeries, and there are no happily ever afters. What you get is a world darker than anything you have read before, where you do just about anything to survive, and you kill if you do not want to be killed. Survival just took on a different meaning in the first book in Julie Kagawa's new series.

After completely capturing readers' love and affection with The Iron Fey, now Julie will take over the vampire world with the first book in her Blood of Eden series. Dark, sinister, and mysteriously captivating, The Immortal Rules brings back the scare to the vampires. You will not only be mesmerized, you will fear them at the same time.

Allison Sekemoto is one resilient girl. She's this dynamic person in such a small body and yet she has this fierce determination to live on, as a vampire or as a human, it doesn't matter. Allie struggled coming to terms with being a vampire after being a human for so long. She's unlike other vampires. She knew she just became part of a harsh, unforgiving world, but she's determined to prove that she's not like them. She might not have a beating heart anymore, but she cares for people. She's just so different, she makes one feel that these predators are capable of doing something good, not just to kill. And did I mention that she kicks butt? Allie packs a lot of power in her small frame, and if her sword wielding self and her general fierceness won't interest readers, I don't know what will.

And what's more fantastic than having a strong female protagonist? A myriad of great supporting characters and a couple of interesting male leads! I've developed a curious fascination for Kanin and the secrets he keeps. He opened Allie's eyes to the harsh truths about the vampire world, and he's this mysterious enigma who played a big part in creating the virus that destroyed life as we knew it. As Allie's creator, he comes off as a father figure, but is it too much to hope for something else? I felt goosebumps when they first met inside the tunnels. That scene where you can only focus on the feelings of dread and imminent death and yet be utterly fascinated with a character. Julie Kagawa had the ability to make a reader focus on a single moment in the book with utter fascination and horror over and over. Where Kanin is dark, Zeke is bright, like a beacon of hope. Maybe he's too naive, too nice, but in a world where despair is everywhere and fear fill the in people's hearts every time, his optimism and that hope for something better is what makes him such an attractive character.

Once again, I give kudos to an author who can create such a rich and intriguing world and Julie's ability to do just that leaves me in awe. Life inside the wall is different, where humans are slaves, and the vampires the masters. The predators and the prey co-existing alongside each other. And then there's the rabids, upping the ante for terrifying scenes as if the presence of the vampires weren't enough already. It's a dark broken world, but it's one that is highly believable and even if you don't have a highly imaginative mind, you will get to experience Allie's world, and feel a multitude of emotions, pleasant or not, through the power of Julie's writing.

Filled with non-stop action and twists and turns enough to make you crave for more, The Immortal Rules brings back the scare to the vampires. With a highly addictive storyline and dynamic characters, The Immortal Rules is a great start to a new series we can all look forward to, different and like a breath of fresh air, only heavier and scarier. If you think Julie Kagawa has successfully caught tons of readers across the world with The Iron fey series and made us fall in love with the Fairy genre, then I am so pleased to tell you, dear readers, that she has kicked butt in the vampire genre. If you feel really skeptical with all the vampire books currently out there, give yourself a chance and read this book because I tell you, it will make you love the Vampire genre all over again. It's dark, it's gritty, it's bloody and Julie wrote a fine novel about Vampires in The Immortal Rules.

My rating:

Content (plot, story flow, character):

Julie just keeps on getting better and better with her writing and now we have another great book to admire!

Stunning: Worthy of a Goddess' Praise!

Book Cover:

Captures the mood of the book perfectly.

I received this book free of charge from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.