The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

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 love vampires, guys! I love them, but they are overdone. When I saw Julie Kagawa had a vampire book coming out I was hopeful, but a bit skeptical. Sure, The Iron Fey series was brilliant and renewed my love in fey (and also added a whole other cast of creatures to my ‘I love this creature list’, but I’m slightly odd). Don’t get me wrong, I was excited. As soon as I got The Immortal Rules in my hands I rushed to finish my current read so I could start it.

There’s really just one way to put my thoughts and that’s where we’ll start: Buy this book now. Kagawa’s vampires are fierce and traditional, but also have that extra burst of newness. At times, I was reminded a bit of The Passage by Justin Cronin (if you haven’t read it and love vampires, get it too!), but Kagawa’s The Immortal Rules is much different.

I don’t want to spoil specifics of the story, so I’m omitting those as much as possible, because I feel like this is one best to be surprised by. The entire book is divided into parts, depending on what’s going on with Allison, starting with a section on her humanity. I love that The Immortal Rules begins with establishing just who Allison is and what life is like for humans in this futuristic world. Their life is hard and so dangerous. Kagawa captures this beautifully.

From there we follow Allie through her transitions as she becomes what she used to view as a monster. The second part focuses more on the rules, but beyond that it’s more about Allie’s survival and attempt to keep herself reigned in as she tries to navigate the world on her own. Allie is a fascinating character, she’s strong-willed and determined to live but wants to do so on her own without harming others. Each character Allie encounters is better than the last and more fascinating, I hope to eventually “revisit” some of the characters she meets.

The Immortal Rules is easily my favorite YA vampire novel to date. There are some more bloody, creepy, and violent scenes so this book may not be for everyone, but everyone else is going to be happy. (No sparkles here! ;) )

I received my copy of The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden) in exchange for my honest opinion from the publisher.