Book Review: The Immortal Rules by Julia Kagawa

Title: The Immortal Rules
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: The Blood of Eden #1
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: April 24, 2012
Number of Pages: 512 pages

"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.

My Review

Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa is a vampire dystopian with a bit of a twist. Allison Sekemoto is an unregistered human who lives on the fringes avoiding the vampires who control the city at all costs. She is not alone; she lives with her gang, which consists of three other guys. They had more members, but on the Fringe, people go missing all the time. However, being in the city is safer than what lays outside the walls. The Red Lung virus decimated the human population back in the time before vampires announced their existence to the world. This also introduced a threat bigger than Red Lung, the rabids. Rabids are creatures who crave blood from just about anything, and if bitten the animal or person becomes rabid themselves. That is if they are “lucky” enough not to be torn to shreds first. While scavenging outside the city, Allison stays too late and Rabids attack her.

Kanin, an ancient vampire, decides to try to save her, by making her a vampire if she wants too. Allison despises vampires, but she does not want to die. Allison has to come to terms with being a vampire or risk being a danger to humans. If she does not feed on human blood for an extended period, she can be consumed with hunger lose all control. When she leaves her old life behind, and falls into a group of humans looking for Eden, a place where there are no vampires, this danger becomes all too real. Allie just wants to help them, especially the cute preacher’s son, Zeke. Most of all, she just wants to feel like a human, and not the monster she feels she has become.

I have to say there are so many different layers to Allison and to the world of Immortal Rules. After reading so many varieties of vampire books, I am glad that Immortal Rules felt like its own book. I have read almost all of the Iron Fey series to date, and I knew going in Julie Kagawa was a brilliant and amazing author. She once again proves it with Immortal Rules.

 I really like the character development and changes I saw as Allison progressed through the story. Even though she is a vampire, who has to consume human blood, you cannot help buy root for her. Allison is a survivor, always has been, but as a vampire she is just an incredible heroine. I mean her weapon of choice is a Katana. Do I need to say more? I think my love of Allison and the world that Julie Kagawa created in the first book in the Blood of Eden series will only increase when the second book, The Eternity Cure, comes out in May 2013.

**Unabridged Bookshelf received this book from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review**

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