Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules
(Blood of Eden #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa

Publication Date: April 24th, 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Genre: Paranormal / Dystopia

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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.

My Thoughts: Dystopia + Vampires = win! This book was so good I don't even know where to start. I absolutely loved it and had the hardest time putting it down. Julie Kagawa has once again created an amazing world and a cast of characters that you just have to love. I was a little worried going into this one because I was  worried that there was too much hype for it, but it definitely deserves the hype.  

Ok, so first of all, look at that cover! When I first saw it all I can wonder about is why she is crying. What could possibly make a vampire cry? Well, it just made me want to read it. Although something I don't understand is why her eyes are red. Yes, I know vampires in some books have red eyes, but in this  world vampires can easily pass for human, so you would think their eyes would be normal. I mean, if they're red the humans can just look at their eyes and know. I know, it's just a cover, but it just doesn't make sense to me. 

So basically, the story revolves around Allie and her struggles with being a vampire. Allie HATED vampires with a passion, but when faced with a choice of either becoming a vampire or dying at age 17, Allie opts to become one of the walking dead. Honestly, I probably would have made the same choice. Allie is forced to leave the vampire city she grew up in and finds a group of humans travelling in the wild, so she pretends to be one of them and joins them. How is she going to be able to resist drinking their blood? She doesn't want to drink from them and possibly hurt them, but if she doesn't feed,she could lose control and someone could die from her blood lust. All the while, they are searching for Eden, a vampire free city. They are being per sued by Jackal's gangs, Allie has no idea why. Will they find Eden? Or will their group die one by one from the hardships of the wild? This is definitely a plot that keeps you glued to your book. 

Allie, the protagonist is an extremely kick ass, katana wielding vampire. She doesn't want to be a monster and hurt people by drinking their blood, but she needs to feed and she needs human blood. I found her to be a somewhat emotional vampire, she grew to care for some of the humans in the group she travelled with. Most vampires wouldn't care in the slightest, except for keeping the humans alive for an easy meal. Allie is a character that I came to care for and look forward to seeing what happens next to her. It's interesting to see how someone who despises vampires copes with being one. 

We do have a love interest for Allie, but it's not a love triangle! His name is Zeke and he has been raised to despise vampires. We can't help but wonder what will happen  when he finds out Allie is a vampire, because it can't be good. You can't help but love Zeke because he always sees the good  in everyone. Everyone gets a chance to prove  themselves and he is just so nice to everyone. He was orphaned at age 3, thanks to a nasty vampire, and was raided by Jeb. Jeb is a preacher and trained Zeke to hate vampires and how to fight. I just can't believe how well Zeke turned out after being raised by crabby Jeb. 

Overall, The Immortal Rules is an amazing story that everyone who loves vampires or dystopians must read. Julie Kagawa is a wonderful author who seems to know exactly how to make a world we can imagine and crave more of. She's created monsters that freaked me out to even read about, the  mindless rabids. The Immortal Rules had me glued to the pages, too enthralled to put it down. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what happens next for Allie. Would I recommend it? Definitely. I'll be buying myself a copy to enjoy. It really is a great book, a must read in YA literature.

Thank you to HarlequinTEEN and NetGalley for the review copy!