Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

 Title: The Immortal Rules

Author: Julie Kagawa

Source: Received through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

Synopsis:


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 in the Blood of Eden series by Julie Kagawa. It's a young adult dystopian novel about vampires. The setting is in the future – the year not revealed. It's been 60 years since the plague wiped out most of the population. Allie lives in a vampire city and must scrounge around for her own food in order to survive, as well as live in abandoned buildings, because she refuses to be food for the vampires. After some tragic events happen, Allie is turned into a vampire and finds out just how hard it is to keep her humanity.

I have to admit, that to me this book was just ok. It wasn't badly written or anything, but it was pretty slow and a little too long. The whole book pretty much revolved around Allie trying to survive the struggles that stand in her way. I couldn't connect with Allie – I didn't think she was all that likeable. She was actually more likeable as a vampire than as a human. I also didn't feel that Allie really connected to any of the other characters in the book – there was potential with Zeke, but I didn't quite feel it.

There were also some things that didn't add up. People have been scrounging for food for the past 60 years since most of the population has died. Somehow they are still able to find food in abandoned homes and buildings. You would think it would be gone by now, not to mention make you sick if you ate it. Also, Allie often digs a hole in the ground to sleep in during the day to stay out of the sun – but it is never mentioned about her looking filthy. You would think that she would be caked in dirt/mud. The humans that she is around for much of the book don't seem to notice that she looks like she just crawled out of the ground.

The world building was good, I will give it that. It was interesting to read about the world during this time period. I actually hoped for a romance between Allie and Kanin, her maker. I suppose that maybe there is a possibility in the next book – I haven't decided if I will read it or not. I realize that my opinion isn't going to be a very popular one. Most readers seem to thoroughly enjoy this book. It just wasn't for me. I think I will give Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series a try. Maybe it will be more my style.

Available at the following places:

Amazon

B&N

BAM