Book Review- The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Immortal Rules

 Author: Julie Kagawa

Series:  Blood of Eden #1

Published:  24 April 2012 by Mira

Length: 480 pages

Warnings: violence and romance, 13+

Source: Netgalley

Other info: Julie has also written the Iron Fey series.  

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.

Review: Allison was once an Unregistered-refusing to accept food and healthcare so she would not have to feed the vampire masters that rule the city. But, after an attack on her home, she has a choice-to die as a human, or to live as one of the creatures she spent her life trying to avoid. Choosing the latter, Kanin changes her and trains her-how to live, how to fight. And then they get split up. Allison is on her own, until she come across a band of humans searching for Eden. A place free of vampire control. Under the pretense of being a human, allie goes along with them. But for how long can she pose as one of the creatures that they are trying to escape? Especially when she’s falling in love with Zeke-the son of the man who everyone’s trusting to guide them.

I’ve never read any of Julie’s books before, but I’d heard good things about them. And after reading this, I’ll try and get hold of them.

Allie was a really strong main character. As well as being a vampire, she has many other facets to her personality. It’s nice having a girl being a vampire who has to control her urges for a change. The thing I liked best about her was the fact that she’s always thinking about when she was human, of what she left behind, and such. It added depth to Allie, and changes the way she thinks. Coming a close second is the way she handles a katana.

I lov e the variety of characters that she meets after leaving Kanin. Zeke is really nice, the romance is sweet, and there’s a refreshing lack of a love triangle. It was nice how not all the characters liked Allison straight away-it made it seem more real. I also liked Caleb, Darren and Ruth, for various reasons.

The communities that you come across are well structured, and the writing made you feel as thorugh you were there. The dystopian world before Allison got changed, whcich as well as being interesting, gave context to Zeke’s group.

The very ending was predictable, but good. It’s so open ended, that anything could happen-I’d really like to see the sequel.

Overall:  Strength 4 tea to a really good vampire novel that makes a change to the kind we normally see-this has action and romance in perfect proportions.