Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
Author: Julie Kagawa
Title: The Immortal Rules
Release: March 26, 2013
Series: Blood of Eden #1
Reviewer: Mona Leigh
Source: Publisher/NetGalley
Purchase: | Book DepositoryTo 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.
After all the dystopian series that have been published, why would a writer decide to pen another? Because it’s twisted and tense and different, that’s why.
Living from hand to mouth, Allison Sekemoto lives in the Fringe and tries to help keep herself and her friends fed. Life got tough after the Red Lung virus struck, but it got even tougher after the scientists tried using vampire blood as a cure and ended up creating Rabids – those zombie-like creatures that have taken over the earth. So Allie and her friends hide … from the Rabids and the vampires who now run what’s left of the city.
After finding a stash of food outside the protective wall, she convinces her friends to go back with her to collect it. After all, food is scarce, and she’s found enough to feed them through the winter. But they lose track of time and realize too late that they’re outside the city walls after dark.
As they try to sneak back to the protection of the city, the Rabids attack. Horrified, Allie watches as two of her friends die. Desperate to protect the weakest one, she uses herself as bait to lure the Rabids away. But she isn’t quick enough, and soon her blood’s flowing in the street, too.
Fortunately, a vampire named Kanin appears and offers to save her, but she has to be the one to decide. Once the decision is made, Kanin has much to teach her about survival before he turns her loose on the world, and his lessons prove to be the difference between life and final death.
This story is so rich that it’s impossible to summarize it in a brief review. Allie grew up hating vampires and refusing to ‘donate’ her blood to them, and now she’s an emotional basket case after becoming one. She has no reason to trust Kanin, but he saved her life. She rebels at his teaching, but comes to realize he’s different from other vampires – he still retains something of his humanity and urges her to cling to hers.
There are many important characters that play pivotal parts in her life. Each step of the way, she must fight her vampire nature in order to do the right thing. I loved Allie because she was such a fighter and because she tried to see the best in people even after they betrayed her.
We watch her priorities shift from mere survival to helping a group of humans survive long enough to get to the fabled city of Eden. The strength of character needed to protect them instead of using them for food is incredible, but she does it, and even falls in love with a boy named Zeke. But will his feelings for Allie change when he discovers she’s a monster?
I appreciated Allie’s growth from cagey human to reckless vampire to caring, protective vampire. Julie Kagawa has given us a world fraught with danger and tension where no one is safe from the Rabids … not even the vampires.
Mona Leigh
