Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Series: Blood of Eden #1
Pages:  485 Pages (Hardcover)
Genre: Dystopia
Release Date:  April 24, 2012
Summary:
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.

Rating:


Review: 

I've been reluctant to read The Immortal Rules, because to be honest while I mostly liked the Iron Fey series, I wasn't sure how Kagawa was going to tackle a vampire book.
The reason I changed my mind and gave this a try? Well, to be totally honest my GR friends. Several of my reading buddies were not only really enthusiastic about the series, they also told me that they think I would like it.
AND... well, they were right.
I was so positively surprised! I kinda expected something cute and sweet. Though now that I am thinking about it, I am not quite sure why. Iron Fey has rather a steampunky gritty feel to it. And Kagawa definitively isn't doing cutesy writing. Maybe I just am weary of the genre since a certain author has brought forth sparkling vamps and all that.. and in my opinion ruined the beautiful gritty and dark side of vamp books. But Kagawa did just the opposite. This is dark gritty and harsh, but still surprisingly inspiring. Absolutely down my alley!

The entire book is told from Allison's POV. And I really like her voice.  I love how she struggled with her choices and how she stands up for what she believes, despite what she has been told.
I think Kagawa is great at creating female leads! And Alli is no exception. Over the course of the story more of her previous life and her feelings about things are unfolded and by the end I didn't only connect with Alli, I rooted for her, was sad for her but even more so proud of her.
I am looking forward to revisiting her in Eternity Cure.
Zeke, though I kind liked him also was not my favorite character. He was a bit too good and too nice. And at times felt like he was just written as a back drop for Alli. Her contrast and her conscience.
In fact many of the humans were a bit one sided, in my opinion. I have to say I preferred the vamp characters they seemed so much more intriguing funny enough. I mean I get that the humans are scared and all, but they acted so irrationally halve the time and more than anything I found the betrayal rather bothering. Even in the darkest times there should be people out there who don't just scurry like mice... at least I hope so!

The plot is interesting to the most part. Though at times there was a fair bit of info dumping going on and the story then was dragging. There were also several explanations that were repeated. In fact I am still not sure why this was done, it felt rather sluggish and since this is all in the same book, I thought; I just read that a few pages back... why the summary?
But especially in the last quarter it was fast pace and left me reeling, many unexpected twists and turns!
I do like the way Kagawa ended this novel. It's heart breaking but also kinda realistic. And there is a glimmer of hope there, definitely looking forward to more.

The world building- AH yes the world BUILDING. It's probably the best part of the book. Kagawa has managed to amaze me every time with that in her Iron Fey Series- and I wasn't disappointed.
Oh if you expect something similar to the Iron Fey world.. uhm well it's set somewhere in the States. This is dark and wild. It's vampire and dystopia at it's best. I have been wowed again!

The prose was reassuringly familiar. I've read enough of Kagawa's books to recognizer her style. A fact that startled me at the beginning. But I really love her way of writing, her beautiful descriptions and also her ability to subtly point as awakening feelings. The way she manages to highlight inner turmoil but also the fact that she can write a great kickass fight scene or a bloody horrifying one.

One of the aspects that I found really interesting is how Kagawa actually kept on playing with the view of the monster. Who is the monster in the situation? What's humanity? In the end what sets us apart from the other monsters is surely just the choices we make.
Choose what kind of a monster you wanna be!

Great start to a series!
A must read for all Dystopia lovers!


ARC was provided by Publishers through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

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