The Immortal Rules By Julie Kagawa

Series: Blood Of Eden #1
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Dystopia
Release Date: April 24th 2012
Source: Bought
Overall Rating: 4/5 Stars
Cover Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Synopsis: To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in 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 dies and becomes one of the monsters. Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what and who is worth dying for again. Enter Julie Kagawa's dark and twisted world as an unforgettable journey begins.


First Sentence: They hung the Unregistereds in the old warehouse district; it was a public execution, so everyone went to see.

Based on Kagawa's other series, I expected this to be quite light. I realized just how wrong that presumption was the moment I saw the cover. No, all trace of Faeies are gone replaced by bloodthirsty vampires nothing like the ones in Twilight. Was that a good thing? Yes! I loved the original idea that really shouldn't be so original. Who on Earth actually decided to transform those grizzly creatures that used to plague children's nightmares into civilized creatures that have fully functioning emotions and fall in love with humans? Whoever it was a whole generation of Twi-hards owe you their lives. Anyway, the book takes place in a dystopian universe where Vampires rule and humans are never safe. Allison Sekemoto and her group have to steal to survive and one day Allison is attacked by a rabid and given the choice to live on as a vampire or to die. She chooses to become the one thing she hates most in the world.

I wasn't expecting much of a heroine from Kagawa after I had to endure the obnoxious Meghan Chase from The Iron Fey but I was surprised. Allison was about as badass as they come and although some of her decisions annoyed me she was still a good heroine. I loved Kanin, her vampire mentor but we didn't see nearly enough of him. I'm looking forward to more of him in book two, possibly as a love interest. But then there's Zeke who I wasn't that keen on but he was bearable and also seems like a likely love interest. I do hope a love triangle doesn't emerge.

Kagawa's story building was exceptional and remarkably well written. The book was a compelling and unique take on the overused vampire genre. Her characters don't fall flat and although not as witty as in previous books, they seem more lifelike. I am looking forward to the next book, The Eternity Cure. I would recommend this book to those looking for something other than the typical 'vampire boy meets human girl' story line.

Favorite Quote:
“Words define us,' Mom continued, as I struggled to make my clumsy marks look like her elegant script. 'We must protect our knowledge and pass it on whenever we can. If we are ever to become a society again, we must teach others how to remain human.”

Email me at: confessionsofabookaholic@LIVE.CO.UK