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  • The Immortal Rules - Awesome Start5

    Maggie Katz The Immortal Rules is an awesome mix of The Road & The Passage and I am Legend. No, I am not comparing, that isn't the case. What I am trying to say is that the world Julie Kagawa has created is one that tests human nature to its limits and brings out the best and worst of humanity.

    This story has awesome characters, fantastic plot and an outstanding writing style that will leave you craving for more. This isn't your typical vampire love story; if you are looking for a Bell/Edward sort of situation, this isn't the book for you.

    This story is set in a post-apocalyptic US where humans have succumb to a virus that have threaten to destroy humanity and vampires alike. The plot is intense, enticing & engaging. It comes all together in a story that will keep you glued to the pages and you will not want to put it down. Mrs. Kagawa is able to create a world in which humans are considered cattle; their importance is that of an animal and a source of food. This is a story of survival, love, change & adaptability. I can safely say that the complexity of this story is what makes it different and amazing. I have yet to read a YA novel with the intensity level of The Immortal Rules. If you think The Passage, The Road & I am legend were amazing stories, then you will love The Immortal Rules.

    The characters in the story are complex, mature & unique. Their interaction flows easily and their personality makes them intriguing. These characters are emotional, witty and caring. I totally love Allison and Zeke. It is easy to fall in-love with these two characters. Their nature brings them together but their differences push them apart. Mrs. Kagawa did a great job developing these characters; she is able to bring together all these characters that somehow complement one another. Their importance and relevance to the story are unique, each bringing the necessary spark and uniqueness that makes this story fantastic. Great read, I highly recommend it! by Maggie Katz

  • Reviewed by Sandy @ WildFire Writing4

    Sandy The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa is what I would define as a vampire, post-apocalyptic, survival-horror. Set in a world where the human population has been decimated by a plague and the attempts of a cure. Human beings have been reduced to becoming bottom links on a food chain that leads up to soulless vampires and the devolved rapids. There is no democracy, no human Government, and no civil society; what once was has now become a country filled with ghost towns and walled up cities where vampires rule the streets and rapids roam the outer wilderness.

    Alison Sekemoto is an unregistered inhabitant of the vampire city New Covington. She, like almost every one of her generation, is an orphan and the only family she has are the boys in her group of invisibles who survive by stealing and foraging for anything that aids in their survival. And however hard life was for Alison and her group before it's getting harder as food becomes scarcer, winter approaches, and rumors spread of the vampires locking down the city. A problem Alison had miraculously found a solution to, but one that quickly leads to tragedy and Alison dead.

    The Immortal Rules is a story starkly different from Julie Kagawa's The Iron Fey series in both plot and format. Where the protagonist of The Iron King (the first novel in the Iron Fey series) had a clear set objective from the very beginning - save her kidnapped brother, Alison's story does not have a clear narrative path for the reader to follow, at least not until midway through the book. I had no problem with this for the majority of the novel because I prefer character-centric stories and the story of The Immortal Rules was mainly about Alison - her struggles of balancing what she is with who she was.

    "The shadows lengthened like grasping fingers, sliding over the ground."

    Julie Kagawa's writing style, constantly filled with vivid descriptions, always did a great job with unfolding the mood for a scene or setting, especially when it came to tense moments or action scenes and trust me this is a book brimming with action.

    Unfortunately, in spite of all of these highlights I can't give The Immortal Rules a perfect rating because despite me loving Alison's character and being intrigued by her vampire mentor Kanin I couldn't connect or care about the other characters in the story. To me they were all mainly just there to fill a role so when it came to moments that should have gained reactions out of me I was just reading quickly to move onto the next scene despite how engrossing the current one should be.

    So overall, if you want an action-packed novel about a strong, kick-ass heroine then pick up The Immortal Rules but don't except to fall in love with ensemble of characters or to shed a tear over them. by Sandy

  • The Immortal Rules5

    Sarah About sixty years after Red Lung, a deadly virus killed off most of the world's human population, vampires rule the world. The few humans left are considered blood cattle to them. Registereds are well fed and protected from rogue vamps and other dangers while Unregistereds are half starved barely living on the fringes of societies. While the registereds live a privileged life it also has it's draw backs, they must give blood. Being unregistered means that they don't have to give blood, but it also means you are unprotected from danger.

    Allison Sekemoto is one of the unregistereds, living in an abandoned school building, with her friends. She has had a hard life. Hunger is nothing new to her. Allison doesn't just sit there and take it though, while out on a scavenging for food, she finds a whole basement full of food. Going back to get the food means Allison and her gang must go through the rabid infested ruins, but it's a risk they're willing to take and it costs them their lives. Lying on the ground dying a mysterious vampire named Kanin finds her. He gives her a choice, a quick death or to become like him, an immortal. Allison has always hated vampires, for what they are, what they've done, everything about them, but she doesn't want to give up either.

    Once she becomes the thing she hates most, a monster, she fights to hold onto her humanity, struggles with the demon that threatens to overpower her.

    Kanin is a good teacher, although cold, secretive and standoffish, he has his reasons. He teaches Allie what it takes to survive as a vampire.

    But Allison's time with Kanin is short lived. She soon has to leave. She comes across Zeke and his small band of traveling humans. In their quest to find Eden, a city without the threat of vampires or rabids.

    From the first page I was drawn into Julie's world. The characters of the book are amazing. Allie was strong and afraid of nothing. She was a fighter. Zeke was sweet, caring and compassionate. The vampires in this book were terrifying and bloodthirsty (think 30 days of Night) and the rabids were horrifying (I thought of The Descend). I love dystopian and I love vampires so for me this was one of my favorites of 2012.

    Beg, burrow or steal (well not steal) this book because you will want to read it!

    Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Teen! by Sarah

  • Also reviewed at http://paranormalbookfan.blogspot.com5

    Suzanne Finnegan Julie Kagawa is amazing. She reeled me in with her Iron Fey series, even though I wouldn't have been a great fan of faery books. I read great reviews for that series and I had to give it a shot, and I love it. It has become one of my favourite series. And I now have a new favourite to add to my list, The Blood of Eden series. When I heard that Julie was writing a vampire series, I was excited to see her take on vampires. And I wasn't disappointed, she did an amazing job.

    Allie (Allison) is an unregistered. She is unknown to the vampires who run the city and treat humans like blood cattle. Because she's not on the system, she doesn't have to attend the blook bank to give regular donations but that also means that she doesn't get any food stamps. She lives in the Fringe where she has to scavenge for food.

    When she is attacked by the rabids, and on the brink of death, she is given a choice by a vampire, Kanin. He can let her die from her attack, and maybe turn into a rabid, or he can change her into a vampire. Ultimately, still killing her. She chooses to live after death and become a vampire, one of the monsters she detests so much, because when it comes to it, she doesn't want to die.

    Kanin teachers her the vampire history and how to fight and live as a vampire. When they find themselves being chased down by vampires from the city, she must separate from Kanin and make her way on her own. This is how she meets a group of humans who are searching for a better place, called Eden. They believe her to be human and invite her to join their group. She travels with them, and vows to protect them. To hold onto her humanity and not become the monster she is destined to be.

    Allie is an amazing character, a hero I would say. She cares so much and wants to help even those who hate her for what she is. Even as a human, she looked after the weaker in her group. She will risk her own life for others. Her strength of character is clear as we see her fight her inner monster throughout the book.

    I really took to Kanin. He was a dark, brooding vampire with a heart. I am hoping he is making a comeback in the second book.

    The love interest, Zeke, is such a sweetie. And yet, he is tough and brave when the need arises. He is second in command to the group, under his stepfather Jeb. He has a fantastic manner for dealing with the group and has all their best interests at heart.

    The romance was written really well. No love triangle.....but as I loved Kanin so much I had a bit of one going on in my head because Zeke was so lovable too lol.

    Julie once again does a fantastic job of the world building. Her descriptions are so good, you can literally visualise yourself there. I would give this book a 5+ star rating as I couldn't fault anything about it. I absolutely loved the story line and I can't wait for the next instalment in this series. by Suzanne Finnegan

  • Review from Blkosiner's Book Blog5

    Brandi Kosiner Just when you think that nothing new can be done with vampires, Julie Kagawa decides to write about them, and boy does she write a refreshing take!
    I was immediately drawn to Allie, the main character. I love her survivor instinct and how she clings to her humanity and ultimately who she is even in the darkest of circumstances. This is really what defines a strong main character. They can have all the wit in the world or the hottest guy, but if they don't stay true to themselves (this doesn't mean they don't struggle or make mistakes, by the way--in doing these things they discover more about who they are and make me ultimately like them more) then I don't really find them to be believable.
    I really love the mystery surrounding Kanin and I can't wait to find out more about what makes him tick and what led him to the place he's in now. Ms. Kagawa has such a talent to keep me guessing, because for every answer we get in the book, five more questions arise.
    Julie Kagawa writes with such immediacy for her characters and with the right amount of detail that it makes me feel like I am a part of the story rather than a passive passenger. I also admire the talent she has to craft these paranormal societies with such subtleties and dysfunction all at the same time. I'm amazed at how authors such as Ms. Kagawa continue to have things up their sleeve to surprise me, because she did it beautifully in The Immortal Rules with the plot twists and revelations, from Jeb's secret, to the mysterious Raider King, Kanin and the whole story with Zeke.
    As I mentioned a bit earlier, the characters are crafted wonderfully in this first book of The Blood of Eden. I admired Allie's loyalty and resiliency, and Zeke's unwavering ability to see the good in others. Not only are there great characters, The Immortal Rules is packed with action and adventure. You know it's true when one line reads: "I was tired of being shot, stabbed, burned, gutted, staked and thrown out windows..." It is also a sign that you have one kick butt heroine on our hands. by Brandi Kosiner

  • This is a dark, disturbing, vampire/dystopian novel of EPIC proportions5

    Keren Kiesslinger I think it's clear to see that it was this stunning cover that drew me in. That and the hype that's been buzzing around the blogging/literary community. Everyone was going on that they wanted to read it and couldn't wait fo it to come out. So much so that when the galley for this was first put on Net Galley, the site was overloaded with bloggers going to request it and ended up having a problem for a few hours whereby I couldn't even log in to request it! We were all talking how Julie Kagawa broke Net Galley. I'm not sure if that was the real reason behind the problem at the time but I can only assume it was that or a rather big coincidence.

    I was interested in THE IMMORTAL RULES from the moment I saw it. My favourite genre used to be vampires and has since moved on to Dystopian. So imagine my delight knowing that this was a mixture of both. I can tell you, it's a perfect combination!

    Having never read anything by Julie Kagawa before, I was unsure what to expect in her style of writing. Yes, I know you are probably screaming at your screen "What? She's never Read The Iron Fey" Well, the answer is, no I haven't. I would love to and will no doubt get to them in time.

    I can honestly say, I loved THE IMMORTAL RULES. It was epic! I stayed up late into the night just to finish it off. What I found funny was the fact that it took me a couple of days of reading here and there to get to 65% - I tried my hardest to read it as much as possible but, you know, life gets in the way. But when I went to bed last night, I was at 65% and determined to finish it if I could. It had just got to what I thought was the juiciest part yet and I was NOT going to put it down. Well, I did it. I got to the end in that one sitting. It just meant staying up until 1:35am to finish it. I can tell you something, I'm sure glad I did. I was hooked and could not put it down. I kept looking at the time and thinking "I'll finish it tomorrow" but my attention was in the grips of the story and it was not letting go.

    Allison Sekemoto lives in the Fringe. But 'lives' isn't exactly the word you would use to describe it. More like she 'exists' or 'survives'. It certainly isn't a happy life. It's one she and her small group of friends have had to carve out for themselves. They live on the outskirts of a vampire city - but the vampires aren't the only thing that go bump in the night for there is also the Rabids. It's hard to explain it to you without spoiling it, suffice to say, they are dangerous and you wouldn't want to bump into one in an alley. Or on an open road. Or indeed anywhere, for that matter.

    Allie and the group are Unregistered. Without telling you the ins and outs in too much detail - the Registered donate blood for the vampires, but the Unregistered don't. They also don't have any protection and would be fair game if vampires should happen upon them.
    So anyway, this means that Allie and her friends must scrounge for food. They must live on what they can get. Be it mouldy cheese, stale bread, insects. You name it, they must eat it in order to survive.

    So Allie takes it upon herself to go outside the border on a scavenger hunt, where she comes across a veritable treasure trove of food. There's cans of beans and fruit in syrup. A person could live for months off the amount she discovers. So she returns to the group and tells them they must all go out and gather the food, it was too much for her to carry alone.
    What Allie doesn't know yet is, this is only the beginning of the troubles she will encounter.

    It's Allie's complete and utter hatred of the vampires that drives her. She hates the way the vampires keep and use humans as 'blood-cattle'. When one night Allie finds herself the victim of an attack, she lies bleeding and dying until a vampire finds her. This vampire offers her a choice. Die or become one of the undead - one of the soulless creatures she abhors.
    Not wanting to die but not wanting to become a vampire, Allie is faced with the toughest of choices and believes that maybe it is the lesser of two evils to be Turned.

    Upon being Turned, her sire tells her how life will be from now on. She doesn't want to feed from humans, instead she would rather live on a diet of rats, deer, whatever animal she can hunt down. But Kanin tells her what she fears the most, she MUST consume human blood, for too long without it and she will turn mad.

    Forced to flee, Allie finds herself in the middle of the unknown, the city beyond the walls she grew up in. She comes across a rag-tag group of humans along the way. They take her in and tell her she should travel with them as she stands a better chance of survival as part of the group than out there on her own. Little do they know she is one of the creatures this group fear the most.
    The group are on the road, travelling to try and find the answer to their prayers. A cure to the disease that has ravaged humankind. The disease that created the Rabids, the mindless creatures that are a threat to both vampires and humans alike.

    I must say, the way that Julie Kagawa created the trials and tribulations that both Allie herself and the group as a whole must face is like nothing I have come across before. This story is one of the darkest and most disturbing that I have read. I like that this wasn't girl meets vampire and falls in love, like so many others before it.

    One of the things I liked most about this book was the fact that Allie had to try and pass herself off as human to fit in with the group but it's especially hard for her to do around Zeke who she fears will see the monster that lurks within.

    I know that some people say that the vampire genre is on the way out, but I don't believe so. I think there are still good vampire stories to be had and THE IMMORTAL RULES goes to prove me right.

    I am extremely excited to see where Julie Kagawa takes this story in future books. One thing I know for sure is, it won't be a fairytale. Things will be hard. There will be ups and downs, twists and turns, things you just don't expect - pretty much like this first book.
    I honestly didn't know where Kagawa was taking this story. There was nothing transparent about it and that is one of the other things I loved the most. Sometimes, you can tell where a road will lead - not this time. by Keren Kiesslinger

  • Horrifying and addicting5

    Precious Allison Sekemoto was an Unregistered. After the death of her mother, she refused to be Registered and serve as blood cattle to the vampires within the walls of New Covington. Together with her gang, Lucas, Rat and Stick, she scavenged, stole, begged and basically, did anything for food. She looked out for herself and even though she lived in a world where you're supposed to survive on your own, she took care of Stick because he couldn't do it for himself. I loved how Allison strived for survival on a daily basis. She was strong, brave and stood up for herself. She might not be the most hopeful and positive person in the world but she definitely burned with the desire to live.

    One of the characteristics of a Julie Kagawa book is this: after reading I always feel like I went on a journey. In The Immortal Rules, Allison's journey was different. It wasn't the kind of walk-this-long-road-until-I-get-to-my-destination-journey. It was a journey beyond humanity, through vampirism and stretched over Allison's adapting, struggling with her new self and existing as the very kind of monster that she loathed all her life. Seeing Allison change from being a human to a vampire, from being the prey and becoming a predator, from being weak to being strong was entirely satisfying. Kagawa showed Allison's evolution in a very realistic way, with attention to the smallest detail, from the flickering of her feelings and her Hunger to the shift in her way of perceiving the world and everyone around her.

    The characters in the novel were well-developed. I enjoyed reading about each and every one of them, from the mysterious kickass Sire, Kanin, who was very intriguing and complex, to the hero-type human, Zeke, who was strong, sweet, and positive.

    After Allison adapted to her inhuman state, she was forced to leave New Covington behind, to survive out in the wild and to get stronger. She stumbled upon a group of humans headed to a city of hope and she stayed with them. Fighting off the monster in her was not an easy thing to do. It was a part of her and she could not get rid of it. She lived with that dark side of hers while somehow she maintained, held on to her humanity. She considered other people, tried to do the best in each situation and she felt - she felt guilt, hurt, pity and concern, not just Hunger and anger. But traveling with humans was very difficult, could Allison keep pretending and playing by the rules or would she lose control and feed on them?

    The Immortal Rules offers a dark, strengthening and trying journey in a world filled with monsters. With the bite and terror of The Hunt by Andrew Xia Fukuda, The Immortal Rules is ugly and beautiful at the same time, horrifying and addicting. Join a kickass katana-wielding vampire heroine as she sets foot out of the city that caged her. I highly recommend this to post-apocalyptic readers and paranormal readers. by Precious

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