The Immortal Rules by Julie KagawaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
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.
The Immortal Rules is not for everyone.
Luckily, it was so for me.
The Immortal Rules is a great book, and quite possibly my favorite vampire book (but keep in mind I haven't read many). It's pretty slow to start, and it really didn't have me engaged up until 30% or so, and from that point up until 75%, I thought I was in love. It seems I'm one of the few people who think this way, because from the reviews I’ve read and discussions I've had with people who have read The Immortal Rules, they thought the particular part I loved was the lowest point of the book, and believe it or not, the parts they loved, I believed were the lowest parts in the book.
That being said, I’m going to break this book down into four parts, the first 25%, 25-75%, the final 25%, and the last 10%. Here we go:
The first 25%: Oh, what a disappointment the first 25% of this book was. To keep it simple, it was just boring, and mediocre at best. Sure, action started around 17% or so, but not enough for me to forgive the incredibly boring beginning leading to that point. I don’t need to read pages and pages of Allison salivating over a can of fruit, Julie Kagawa… I really, truly don’t. I also think everything happened too quickly when the action actually started, to the point where I couldn’t even feel empathetic for Allison, because the book didn’t give me enough time to grasp how strong Allison’s relationships were with Rat, Stick and Lucas. Throughout the first 25%, I wasn’t crazy about Allison. She was naïve, and I really expected her to have more common sense, being a street rat all her life. Luckily, my thoughts on Allison change throughout the book, and she turns out to be a really kick-ass character.
25-75%: Yesyesyesyesyesyesyes, YES. This is what really made me love The Immortal Rules. Without it, this book would have probably ended up being a three star book from me. I was in love with the book at this point, but, from the looks of other reviews, they thought this particular part was painfully boring... Well, clearly I didn’t! I don’t know what happened to me, but I could’ve read about Allison taking her little road trip for a lot longer than it lasted. Reading about her struggle with The Hunger and her trying to survive was just… Amazing. That’s all I can manage to say, and that I just loved it all. I can totally see why most people thought this part was boring, because she’s really just walking around the wilderness thinking, but, I… I just… I don’t know what happened to me, but I loved every moment of it. Then she met up with Zeke and his little crew, and cute little Caleb. I just loved it all.
An extra thought throughout this section: Jeb’s a total ass.
The final 25%: Here's where I felt things went downhill (but ever so slightly). It’s so weird, because so many things happened in the final 25%, but I just wasn’t as engaged during it as I was during the 25-75% mark. I don’t know what to say, but for all the action that was going on throughout the final 25%, it just seemed slow to me, and I just wasn’t loving it, with the exception of the last 10%. I do have to hand it to Kagawa, that I did not see the twist coming, and I feel like the next book has an extreme amount of promise, and I think it’ll be really good. But, I really did like reading about Allison going on rampage, chopping off vamp heads relentlessly.
An extra thought throughout this section: I still think Jeb's a total ass.
The final 10%: The final 10% was really good, and I thought was done very well. It left us with a (kind of) happy ending, and I finished the book smiling. Weird thing, though,
Also, the characters in this book are excellent, though it may take you some time to warm up to Allison. And then there's Zeke, who's sweet, caring and helpful, but also has a little backbone. I'd love to see more of him in the next book, although I don't think I will. There's also little Caleb. Aw, cute little Caleb, I loved him! But then, there's.... Jeb and Ruth... If you look above, you'll see that I think Jeb is a total ass, and, if you click on the second and fourth spoiler tags (but I wouldn't if you haven't read The Immortal Rules yet), you'll know that I hated Ruth... A lot... Other than that, I think there were a few more awesome characters, such as Kanin, even for the short amount of time he was in the book, but I look forward to seeing him more in the second book.
Overall, I really liked this book, although it was a bit preachy at times, The relationship between Zeke and Allison was great, and not Insta-love! Hooray! If you choose to read this, and I think you really should, I hope you end up liking it as much as I had. Now I just need to wait for the next book to be released, and I can’t freaking wait. I just hope it will be good, because, if done correctly, it can be amazing.
A few flaws on the cover also irritated me a bit, such as the fact that Allison is Asian, and, quite frankly, the model on the cover is not. Also, as much as I like the tear drop of blood, doesn't that just look... wrong? Shouldn't the tear be coming from the corner of her eye, not the middle? That just looks like something an editor/artist should've picked up.
Checklist for The Immortal Rules
● Does it have a likable and katana wielding, kick-ass heroine? ✔✔
● Does it have a good (and unpredictable) plot twist? ✔
● Does it have a likable hero? ✔✔
● Does is have good world building? ✔
● Does it have creepy vampires? ✔ (For the most part, yes. Maybe half a check-mark for that)
● Does it handle vampires well? ✔✔
● Should you read it? ✔✔✔✔ (Just so you know, that means YES)
*A huge thanks to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC!*
It makes no difference who we are, where we came from. Princes, Masters and rabids alike, we are monsters, cut off from humanity. They will never trust us. They will never accept us. We hid in their midst and walk among them, but we are forever separate. Damned. Alone. You don't understand now, but you will. There will come a time when the road before you splits, and you must decide your path. Will you choose to become a demon with a human face, or will you fight your demon until the end of time, knowing you will forever struggle alone?
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I love this book. Its one of my favorites!
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