The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2)

The Blood of Eden by Julie Kagawa series is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite series. I've tried to write this review for several weeks. Every time I open this blog post my brain goes blank and I go into fangirl mode. I just want to force a copy of this book into everyone's hands.

This book is the perfect combination of non-stop action, swoon, unpredictably and creepiness. Because I can't seem to form a coherent review about the book here are a few of the highlights-

~Allie is, hands down, one of the most badass characters out there. There aren't many I can think of that could hold a candle to her.
~I only have two words to describe the Rabids/Bleeders/Mole Men- Morbid and Creepifying* (*If you get that reference you're awesome!!)
~Sarren takes Bat Shit Crazy to a whole new level.
~Zeke...*sigh* Yeah, that's all I've got on him.
~There is one character that I'm still not sure where he stands and what his motives are. The fact that he is so well written is reason enough to read the book.

In true Julie fashion this book will leave you broken and in tears. I've seen Julie state several times on twitter that the tears of her readers feed her muse. Well, after The Eternity Cure, her muse will be very well fed. But trust me, the tears are so worth it. If you haven't started this series yet you need to move it to the top of your to-be-read list!

Allie is such an awesome main character! She is not perfect and has a lot of issues with humanity vs. immortality. She's trying to save as much of her human side so she doesn't turn into a wrong kind of monster, Her feeling towards Zeke aren't gone but she also has a duty to save Kanin, who omce saved her and gave her a new start. Allie is stubborn and never gives up on her family and friends.

Kanin! He was the main reason I decided to even read The Eternity Cure. I remember thinking how there wasn't enough Kanin in The immortal Rules. I still think that. There's never enough Kanin. He should be in every scene. Even in a shower scene. Especially then! There I go again. I promised myself I'll keep my dirty mind far away from this review. It's not working. I want Kanin in every possible position. *groans* How embarrassing. Doesn't everyone want Kanin to spill his guts out and ravish them? Yes? No? He's always so calm and quiet I just want to shake him to snap out of it. Guess his guilt is a heavy burden to carry. He's so noble, protective and righteous I can't help but swoon whenever he's around.

Kagawa outdone herself with the Blood of Eden sequel- The Eternity Cure. I never thought I would like her book as much as I did this one. Everything was so much better. Action scenes with Allie and Jackal kicking ass, Zeke giving me John Wayne vibes, Kanin being a statuesque God, and that maniac Saren who needs to drop dead for good. Everything was amazing.

Sorry for this long Jackal ode. I had to write it for The Eternity Cure blog tour.

As you can tell, Jackal is a really awesome, vampire(which one isn't?), former vampire King of Chicago and Allison's older brother. Kanin turned him a couple of decades before finding Allie. Most think he is the villain in these novels but I think he is misunderstood. He is one of those anti-heros. You never know if he is telling the truth or not. He plays by his own rules and knows when is the time to strike and when to pull back. Jackal's biggest concern is Jackal. He doesn't do anything if he doesn't help him in any way. I'm still not sure why he helped Allie track down Kanin who's being torture by the so-called Psycho Vamp, Saren. Jackal calls Kanin 'old man' and doesn't show he still cares for him but he still goes with Allie. So I would say, don't underestimate Jackal. He is not as vicious as he's trying to make us believe.

What I like most about him is his sarcasm and fearlessness. He teases Allie and Zeke when they're having a tender moment. He doesn't tolerate stupidity well so he just kills everyone that's going on his nerves, that is, if he can. Leave it to him to make all of us laugh.

The only thing that's bigger than his thirst for blood is thirst for power. There's nothing he wouldn't do to be able to rule. He's proven that when he a King of Chicago. His subjects were all ruthless killers who enjoyed watching humans fight rabids. Jackal's only weakness is he can't turn humans into vampires so his plans aren't going well, for now. But who knows, he might get his kingdom back in the third book. *whispers* I hope so.

The Blood of Eden series by Julie Kagawa is a visual journey. Kagawa has a flair for constructing a scene so well, you can just imagine yourself there. Even more, none of that is inessential. I see many authors get lost in the details of the surroundings, but Kagawa? Hats off to you. She manages to keep the story going while providing us a rich feel of the place. The world-building is flawless and the characters are not one-dimensional. Take for example, Jackal. In the last book, Immortal Rules, we see him as a ruthless king of the raiders. Here, we get to see a whole another side of him. He is still the raider king but the banter between him and Allison? It was a joy to read. Overall, this book deserves each and every star.

With an opening scene that promised blood, violence and death, I started The Eternity Cure with anticipation, having been really impressed by its predecessor, The Immortal Rules. I quickly realized that The Eternity Cure would be much more focused on Allie’s character development and relationships, and the odd brush with death, than with her struggles with bloodlust and the suspense of having so many humans within reach should she slip that I found so exciting in The Immortal Rules. So while I did enjoy The Eternity Cure, due to its slightly different focus I did find myself struggling with some sections thanks to less than stellar pacing.

While the plot does center around Allie’s quest to find and save Kanin, most of the The Eternity Cure’s focus was actually on her personal development since The Immortal Rules, and the relationships she built with the people she picked up along the way. With The Eternity Cure, we get to see an Allie that is much more comfortable in her vampire skin. She’s accepted that feeding off of humans will always be a part of her life, but she realizes that she can still choose whether or not that makes her a monster; whether or not that means she can forget about her humanity. That doesn’t mean it’s an easy choice though, or that keeping her humanity is the choice that always makes the most sense.

It was interesting to watch Allie’s internal struggle between her demon and her humanity, as they waged war over her actions, but the cynic in me began to question why she bothered: why not just give in to the demon inside, survival of the fittest and all that jazz? While I could appreciate the side of Allie that didn’t want to forget her humanity, a larger part of me was hoping for a little more action, a little more ferocious vampireness. And it was that side of me that found much of Allie’s internal struggles to tamp down her inner demon dull, stagnated the plot in favour of character development. That’s not to say that I don’t appreciate character development – because I do – I was just hoping for a little more action from a dark and gritty post-apocalyptic tale such as The Eternity Cure.

Fortunately, Jackal was able to break up a lot of Allie’s constant back-and-forth with herself with a little comedic relief.

"Now we’re going to save a bunch of dirty meatsacks from a bunch of dirty cannibals? Why don’t we rescue some orphaned kittens and put food out for stray puppies while we’re at it?"

His banter, which constantly hinted at slightly sinister intentions, provided a small amount of suspense as you never really knew whether you could trust him. Add in Zeke’s promise to kill Jackal for what he had done to his friends and father, and the tension was sometimes palpable. As for Zeke, I found myself wondering why I had liked him so much in The Immortal Rules. He kept trying to tell Allie things, only to be interrupted or for him to back out at the last second, and by the end of the book I was ready to strangle him! Just say it already! I also found that his presence in The Eternity Cure worked mostly as a tool of convenience; he always seemed to show up at the last minute, in the nick of time, to save Allie from certain death.

The actual plot was one that fascinated me, but that failed to live up to my expectations. I was really hoping for more insight into Sarren’s twisted mind and his true reasons behind Kanin’s lavish torture, I expected a lot of bloodlust and violence (which, to be fair, there was a lot of violence but it was of the necessary kind, the, in order to survive we must be violent, kind) and the promise of a cure kept me in suspense for much of their round-about journey. By the time the “cure” presented itself, I again found it all too convenient and the way the happily-ever-after ending was shaping up, I was prepared to be extremely disappointed. Fortunately, Kagawa still had a few tricks up her sleeve and left us with a cliffhanger that guaranteed I’ll be picking up the next book in the series!

How is it that every time I read one of Kagawa's books, it always seems like the characters are more interesting, the story is more captivating, and the descriptions are more three-dimensional than ever? How does that happen!?

I've said this before and I'll say it again. I love Julie Kagawa's work. Where the ideas and characters were interesting with the Iron Fey Series, I feel like Blood of Eden is more heart-wrenching, more captivating, and way more addicting.

The Eternity Cure has us following Allie as she tries to hunt down Kanin and Sarren. Ultimately, this quest takes her back to New Covington, where she sees some old, and some unwanted, friends.

There were two things that really stood out to me. The first was the various depiction of power and control. Kagawa managed to cover all the bases and show the different ways people use or abuse their power. We see the psychotic side of loss of, and reestablishment of power with Sarren. His moments were intense and every time he showed up you never knew what he was going to do. Sarren had control over New Covington and over Kanin. Whenever he was mentioned, my heart beat faster in anticipation and fear of what would happen next. On the other hand, we see how Allie deals with power and control, as she fights against her vampiric demons. With Allie, we see conservation and restraint. Even in The Immortal Rules, Allie was a fighter, always trying to push her Hunger away and choose the lesser of evils. Among the other characters, we see how power can be used to lead, how it can be used in revenge, or as a way of being smug. Among these various and wide ranging representations of power, Kagawa shows the consequences and rewards for each action, and as such it makes the book a lot more moving and impactful, as we see these in the real world as well (though they're a lot less dramatic (most of the time) in real life).

This brings me to my second point, which is Kagawa's characters. No two characters are the same, or even similar, and the wide ranging cast brings the book to another level of awesome. In all honestly, I think my favourite character in this one was Jackal. He was hilariously crude and sarcastic at all the wrong moments, and yet it helped lighten the book where the characters were stuck in dangerous or life threatening situations. I like that no matter how dark the subject, Jackal managed to make me, and the other characters, laugh.

An absolutely captivating book by Julie Kagawa. If you like her other series (and even if you don't) you have to try reading the Blood of Eden series. No sparkles, these vampires are without mercy(ish) and are looking for blood. I loved this book, and cannot wait to get my hands on the next one!

Dani’s Review:

As usual, Julie has never ceased to amaze me. I have loved every single thing she has written. I fell head over heels in love with her Iron Fey series, and her Blood of Eden has earned my eternal devotion as well. The Eternity Cure was a stupendous follow-up to The Immortal Rules, and I can’t imagine it being any different. I didn’t and can’t find anything lacking about this book. It is one of the best Julie Kagawa books I’ve read to date.

The Eternity Cure begins with Allie searching for her sire, Kanin, who was captured by the crazy, psycho, and insane Master vampire known as Sarren. Allie has a blood tie to Kanin, so she can feel the excruciating pain Kanin feels as he undergoes Sarren’s horrible torture sessions. Sarren is probably the most terrifying antagonist I have EVER read about. I was surprised to discover that Julie could create such a dark character. This entire series is so much gloomier and cynical than her Iron Fey series. Julie did an AMAZING job portraying Sarren’s broken logic and mind. He is desperate for revenge from Kanin for giving fellow vampires to human scientists to experiment on. He needs his retribution as much as he needs blood to survive. He is a true master of torture and loves to make his “birds sing”. *shudders*

Julie’s trademark description and imagery is in this novel, although it is much more grisly. It was such a change to read about the the “crunching of bones” and “skin peeking out of flesh” instead of “Oh look there’s Ash the extremely hot Winter Prince!” There is so much action and emotion packed into this book. I hated to read about Ally going through a truckload of pain, grief, anger, hatred, and the ongoing battle of the Hunger, her vampire instincts. She constantly fights her inner demon that is telling her to give in to the bloodlust and kill all the “puny, weak bloodbags”. I loved to learn more about Ally’s inner strength and will. She is truly one of the strongest protagonists in the YA world.

Julie somehow managed to include some humour into this dark novel! She never ceases to make my jaw drop in awe. Remember Jackal from the Blood of Eden? He was the raider-king who murdered several of Allie and Zeke’s friends. Well, he plays quite an important role in this novel and also happens to have a hilarious yet sick sense of humour. He is incorrigible; even when he’s in extreme pain with a pole impaled in his gut, he still manages to crack some jokes!

In the first chapters of The Eternity Cure, Allie is trying to cope with the loss of Zeke, her biggest regret. The Blood of Eden ended with a HUGE cliffhanger: Allie leaves Eden, where she is not welcome for being a vampire, and subsequently leaves the boy who might be the love of her life, Ezekiel Cross. Of course, no good writer and especially not Julie Kagawa leaves the two protagonists of their story apart for long. Don’t worry! Zeke makes a reappearance and is a HUGE part of this novel! However, Zeke has changed....

If you have read The Blood of Eden, you must already be dying to get your hands on a copy of The Eternity Cure! So, I don’t have to explain again why you MUST read this novel. And if you have not read The Blood of Eden yet for some reason are reading this review, I HIGHLY recommend you to read it, especially if you are a Julie Kagawa fan. To sum it up, Julie Kagawa has created another YA series that will blow your mind!

Steph’s Commentary:

I totally agree with everything Dani said, especially on The Eternity Cure being rather...dark and chilling. I don’t know how many times I got shivers when I was reading the scenes with Sarren. He is a psychopathic mess, and yes, flat out terrifying. I didn’t even know Julie was capable of portraying characters like this, especially after The Iron Fey goodness. Blood of Eden is definitely not for the weak-stomached!

Allie is just amazing in this book. Her continuous battle against herself is really admirable, since she is going against her vampire instinct and nature. The suffering she has to deal with is just horrendous, and she is such a “big girl” who doesn’t cry throughout. Most definitely one of the best!

I feel like I should mention this. Remember that twiggy boy named Stick from way back whenever? Well I hate his guts. Just read The Eternity Cure and I’m sure you will be harboring the same exact feelings.

Jackal. While Dani doesn’t like him very much from his past actions in The Immortal Rules...Julie kind of made me love him. Okay, really love him. He has the crudest and nastiest humor, along with terrible manners and timing, but he is just hilarious! The funniest scenes in the book pretty much included Jackal. I actually had a love/hate relationship with him throughout the book, but I settled with really love by the end of the book. You’ll just have to read to find out why. His antics with Allie is so funny to read, because they seriously act like bickering siblings (which they are, but they are just closer in The Eternity Cure than before. Loved reading that!). I’m basically writing this commentary to tell the world I love him now. ;) P.S. ZEKE

Kagawa’s The Immortal Rules was probably the first vampire novel I actually enjoyed. I liked it enough to try out her Iron Fey series, which I didn’t like at all. And because of my bad experience with Ash and Puck and Meghan, my enthusiasm for The Eternity Cure waned a bit. Because if I know one thing about Julie Kagawa, I knew that she is prone to making plot decisions I wholeheartedly disagree with. I didn’t want to put myself through that torture. In any case, I was somewhat dreading this book.

However, the Blood of Eden series has, in my opinion, one important thing that the Iron Fey books did not: the quality of absorbing, mindless entertainment (well, the Iron Fey had that quality, too, I guess). I found that once I got started on The Eternity Cure, it was impossible to put down. And even though Kagawa had me rolling my eyes and shaking my head, I still enjoyed this book—perhaps in spite of my better judgment.

Because the thing is, I cannot, in all honesty, say that this book is a great one. Kagawa’s prose is decent but sloppy in places, her plot is one jumbled mess of trope and cliché soup, and her characters lack development as a general group.

Why, then, did I give The Eternity Cure such a high rating? Simple. It was fun. Often, “fun” is an adjective used to describe books when no other word comes to mind. It’s a stand in for “not terribly great, but worth reading if nothing else is available”. And maybe that’s what I mean with this book, though perhaps I liked this more than that. But this book was fun—enjoyable, entertaining, and dramatic. Easy to read, easy to forget. I liked this, but I didn’t love it.

As I mentioned, the storyline here is rather messy. There really is no central conflict, as thoughout this book, Kagawa would introduce one problem, have her characters run off to solve it, then once that task was complete, present another problem to solve. Personally, I tend to prefer a plot with more internal structure—a single, driving goal or mission or struggle. Subplots are fine, and some side trips are acceptable. But this book felt more than a recollection of an adventure than a plot-driven action novel, which it should have been, in my opinion.

And, when plot fails, readers generally turn to characterization for a book’s main strength. Yet while I had fun with the cast of characters in The Eternity Cure, I can’t say they were anything special.

First, everyone in this book is a walking paperdoll cutout of a common and well-known archetype. Kanin, the tortured soul who seeks moral absolution. Zeke, the self-sacrificing angel who is loyal and perfect. Allie, the strong, determined heroine who’s also charmingly naïve. Jackal, the double-crossing sometimes ally. Sarren, the vampire turned insane because of the injustices done to him in the past.

Really, there was absolutely no spark of originality in these people. Same boring stock characters, just with a vampire twist. And, especially in Zeke’s case, they were very flat and two-dimensional, showing no growth or depth at any point in the book.

It may seem, then, that between a disastrously disorganized plot and stereotypical characterization, that I have no reason to like The Eternity Cure at all. Probably, I don’t. But I enjoyed myself anyways. Julie Kagawa will probably never be a favorite author of mine, simply because I don’t see much talent in her beyond the ability to weave an addicting-yet-flawed story. But as far as entertainment on a rainy day goes, I could have done much worse than this book.

About halfway though the book, I started to get a feeling that the book would end with my heart in pieces scattered along the floor. And true to form, Julie Kagawa did not disappoint. My heart did in fact break, but the book was well worth the heartbreak. She is such an incredible writer.

I first picked up The Immortal Rules because the plot was just so intriguing. The world of vampire cities and rabids, and total post-aplotolityic desperation was just too much to ignore. Even though I have never been a big reader of vampire books, I read that one. And fast. I knew that The Eternity Cure would be no different. I had to have it. And when I had it, I had to read it.

So The Immortal Rules, it leaves off with Alli leaving Eden and the people she cares about to go find her sire. Dreams have been haunting her as Kanin calls out to her in pain under the torture of the super-duper-creepy vampire Sarren. Seriously, the guy is actually a psycho. With Kanin in his hands, Alli starts following the blood call *Blood calls to blood* to rescue him. Well she hits a bit of a bump in the road, that bump being her brother Jackal. That's right, the raider king from the first book.

From there the adventure just continues as people continue to pop up and surprise you throughout the rest of the pages. Lost of action-packed scenes pop up along the way as Alli returns to the one place she wanted to say goodbye to forever- her home. New Covington is under a bit of a threat that hasn't been seen is sometime. In the end, Alli will be working on borrowed time to save the place she loves, the "father" who gave her new life and taught her to choose the type of monster she would become, and the human she loves.

It's a bit of a roller coaster ride, but it you read the first book, it's a ride you have to hop on. I seriously doubt you will be disappointed. I know I wasn't.