The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa
Rating: 4 Hearts
See the original post here from June 13, 2013
“I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to control myself, and I would end up killing someone. And, deep down, a part of me didn’t care. That was the scariest thing of all.” (140).
I was really excited to read this book because I’m a huge fan of Julie Kagawa’s “Iron Fey” series; these two series’ couldn’t be more different, so I applaud Kagawa for that.
The Immortal Rules is a Post-apocalyptic vampire novel. I’ll repeat that: post-apocalyptic vampires.
After a plague has either killed or turned most of the world’s inhabitants (humans and vampires) rabid, vampires begin gathering what is left of the human population and shutting them into high walled cities. All humans in these cities are registered, and are forced to give blood every so often to keep the vampires fed. Allison Sekomoto is unregistered, meaning she lives beneath the radar; no one cares if she lives or dies, and her days are spent looking for food and scrambling to survive. But then on a scavenging trip, Allison is attacked by Rabids, vampires that caught the plague, but instead of dying, they go mad, becoming wild, vicious beasts. A mysterious vampire named Kanin appears just as Allie is crossing into death, and he turns her into a vampire.
The next hundred pages deals with Kanin teaching Allie what it is to be a vampire.
“Let me give you your first and most important lesson, Allison Sekemoto—you are a monster. A demon who feeds on human beings to survive….you are no longer human. You are a predator, and the sooner you accept that, the easier this life, this existence, will become.”
I was intrigued by Kanin. Dark, mysterious, hapless, and yet he takes such care with Allie’s education.
Allison eventually takes off on her own, and runs into a fanatic band of humans looking for an all human city called Eden. She joins them, pretending to be human, and for a while, it works. She gets close to Zeke, the sweet, selfless, brave 2nd in command:
“Naïve, I thought at once. Naïve, brave, selfless, incredible—and much too kind to survive this world. It’ll break you in the end, if you keep going like this. Good things never last.” (307).
Zeke was adorable. Giggle-worthy.
But when Allison’s secret is found out, the humans run her off. Allie refuses to let them get hurt however, and she follows the group at a distance in a lurky, yet very un-vampire way:
“Run if you want. I’ll see you all soon, even if you don’t see me. I’ll make sure you get to your Eden, whether you like it or not. Stop me if you can.” (345).
Did I mention that Allie wields a Katana like a pro?
“Hopping the tree, I drew my sword, seeing my shadow stretch out before me in the headlights. All right, monsters, I thought, walking forward. I know you’re there. Let’s get on with it.” (470)
Allie is probably one of the coolest heroines I’ve read in a long time. I mean, come on, how cool does she sound:
“Reaching back, I drew my blade, feeling it rasp free, gleaming as it came into the light. Looking up at the approaching rabids, I smile.” (485).
I loved that she was so bad-ass. It was refreshing after all the helpless damsels in distress that usually plague YA books.
All in all, a very entertaining read, and I will definitely be getting the sequel!
Yay! The Blood of Eden series! I absolutely LOVED this series. The Jackal is the best antihero ever – of course, he doesn’t become the antihero until the next books.
Rebecca @ The Portsmouth Review
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