Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules, (Blood of Eden #1)

Julie Kagawa

Copyright 2012, Harlequin Teen

Allison Sekemoto is a survivor. By any means necessary, she will push herself to survive. She knows the rules, knows how rough living can be, but it's all she can do. And then she's faced with death.

Vampires have taken over. Humans are cattle. And we don't know the difference. Humans are weak and scared and allow to be bled out in trade for the barest of necessities. Or they live on the fringe, like Allison. Out scavenging one day she comes across a situation she can't win. Faced between a true death or death at the hands of a vampire who will make her one of his own, Allison takes the route that leads to life - no matter how undead she will be.

Along the way, Allison hangs on desperately to her humanity. Even as a vampire, she wants to see the human race succeed, to pull away from their slave masters and take the world back for their own. She doesn't even want to feed on them, she doesn't want to be a monster and kill. But eventually, it will happen, her creater, Kanin, has told her so. But when? How? Will it be worth it?

First off - Kanin has got some serious sexy mystery vampire guy mojo going on. Secondly - I love Allison. She's freaking hard core like you wouldn't even believe. Third - Remember when you read the Iron Fey series and you were like Whoa, Julie Kagawa can create worlds. Yeah. She has definitely not lost her touch. Though based on a world that most of us will recognize first hand (What up Chi-Town?!) it is distinctively changed, manipulated, reworked, reimagined. Julie Kagawa has a power over words and readers alike, she bends the words to fill our minds with what she sees and we find ourselves unable to tear away.

In classic Kagawa style, there is also a love interest. As much as I'd like to say it's Kanin, and really, maybe one day...in this book, Allison finds herself accepted in a group of religious fanatics on their way to Eden, where there are no vampires, and she finds herself face to face with Zeke. The leaders adoptive son who isn't just loyal and passionate but also a stand up guy whose got eyes to kill for.

"Especially a certain boy with starry eyes and an open smile, who saw nothing but good inside me. Who didn't know...what I really was." Pg 328

How much does that suck?! You find this guy that makes you feel and he thinks you're wonderful...only he doesn't know that the thing he hates the most is just what you are. And what happens if they ever make it to Eden, where there are no vampires? And she can't forget what Kanin told her - it's not a matter of if she'll kill, but a matter of when.

Julie Kagawa is one of the most inspirational authors an aspiring author can find, if you ask me. She is incredibly talented in all things from world building, to describing without over describing, plots that make you think, stories that won't let you put them down. Everything she writes is this way, there's nothing you can't learn from her. And in addition to it, she's so supportive of aspiring authors! In the back of one of her Iron Fey books she gives a word of advice: "Persist. Never stop believing in yourself or your stories. Know that the road to publication may be long and hard, but the ones who made it are the one's who never gave up." How many times a day have I looked at that quote and made myself reread it? I couldn't even count it. On top of that, I trekked my way out to Ohio and got to meet her at an epic epic epic signing she happened to be at. And would you believe she's just as sweet in person as she is on Twitter?

I'm just saying, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. You will love her and her stories, I promise!