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Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
Published by Mira



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.


***

 I honestly and truly thought I was done with vampires in YA but this book proved me wrong. I enjoyed every page and was drawn into the world the story was based around.

I love the main character Allie. I thought she was brilliant from the start as this kick-ass human girl who was up for doing whatever was needed to be done to survive. When the worse happens and Allie finds herself having to make the decision to become one of the monsters she has so long despised it was really interesting to see her transformation as she started to get used to her new life.

The world the story is set in is bleak and sinister. The vampires are creepy and the ways in which people are forced to live is both desolate and frightening. You get a real sense from reading the book of how hard people have it and how fragile their lives are. This book doesn't attempt to save everyone or give them a fluffy and happy ending meaning you are often on the edge of your seat wondering who is going to survive and what might happen to them next.

After seeing Allie start to get to grips with her vampire self the story twists again after she is forced out into the world on her own and joins a group of humans and has to pass off as one to blend in. For me the scariest thing about this book was the fact that no one saw that she wasn't human and she blended in well. This meant as a reader I was on the edge of my seat trying to work out who to trust and who not to trust.

I won't give much away about the plot line except to say that when the action kicks off in this book it really does. There were some really interesting ideas thrown out which I am sure will be picked up in future books. I also liked the fact that although it is clear the author is building up to do a series this book in itself had a nice sense of closure and that left me quite satisfied as a reader as I felt I was getting somewhere and wasn't just left with loads of unanswered questions rattling around my brain.

So all in all if you thought you were done with Vampire books think again. This one is awesome and something a little bit different. Not a sparkly vampire in sight!

Comments

Mel said…
Yay - vampires are scarey again! I loved this book as well - Allie was a great character and she refused to give up - no matter what. I liked that. :)
I'm not a vampire fan by any stretch of the imagination but I ended up LOVING this book! Allie has got to be one of the most awesome female heroines ever. And I agree I loved the way the book is part of a series but still had a great sense of closure. I get annoyed when too many series books have crazy cliffhangers. :P
I haven't read a vampire book for what feels like ages! This one sounds a little too good to ignore, fab review :D
I was really nervous about this book because I do not usually enjoy vampire stories. But Kagawa completely blew me away-this was so enjoyable and I definitely want to know more about Allie, Zeke, and especially Kanin!