Review Detail

This has definitely been one of the books everyone has been most excited for this spring. Honestly, I was looking forward to it too, although with a bit more hesitation than most, even after watching the compliments roll in. Kagawa's Iron Fey series is immensely popular, but I am in the minority that doesn't think it lives up to the hype. I liked the first book, but quickly got frustrated as more and more YA tropes appeared, eventually giving up on the series entirely. I would have given up on Kagawa, but she wrote a dystopia, and those I just can't resist.

Pretty soon into my reading, I became convinced that The Immortal Rules is a far cry from Kagawa's Iron Fey seiers, which, for me, was definitely a good thing. If you like the lightness of the faerie books, be prepared for something totally different. There's not a ton of humor, and what there is definitely constitutes black humor. This book definitely would fall under the horror category. Seriously, I have never been more terrified of a deer.

Also, rabids...they're freaking scary. I'm not kidding at all. They're like a mixture between reavers from Firefly and velociraptors. Basically, they're crazy vampires that have no interest in anything but nomming people and they hunt in packs. No thanks. I think I would rather starve in the city than face those guys outside the wall!

I definitely agree with something iLive, iLaugh, iLove Books said in her review (I normally try to avoid them - because I hate spoilers and to keep my review my own untempered reactions -but I skimmed hers before entering the giveaway): Stick is completely obnoxious! I mean, I totally appreciate that everyone cannot be a badass and awesome at survival. After watching The Hunger Games movie, my friends asked how I would survive, and I responded that I wouldn't. My plan would be to die as quickly and painlessly as possible, because I'm slow and squeamish. I basically have no skills that would help me survive, except maybe cleverness and I don't think that would counterbalance enough.

Anyway, that's all just to point out that, yeah, not everyone is as well-equipped for survival as Allie is, even though she's shorter and lighter than Stick. There are mental components to strength too, and he sure hasn't got them. However, you still ought to either give up all together or really try. I do not get why he is not registered! And, obviously, the only way he can have survived for this long is by using people. Not cool, dude.

Julie Kagawa mentions in her acknowledgments that she never wanted to write a book about vampires, because, man, has that been done to death (punned!). Still, here she is doing it, because she had an idea that would not let her go, which is cool, because, though I may not be a writer yet, I am enough of one to know that sometimes the ideas kind of have you. Although Kagawa does not do anything especially 'new' with vampires, they do not feel stale at all. I really like that the reaction of humans to vampires is very anti-current-trends, aka people do not want vampires anywhere near them.

The only thing that I questioned about the book was the motorcycles. And, yes, I do know that that sounds like a weird thing to say. Well, in this post-apocalyptic dystopian society, there still is some technology around, and some of it even still works, but a lot has been lost or broken. There doesn't really seem to be much or any development of new things or particular knowledge of how to fix things. Cars sit around rusting. And yet, somehow, there are tons of folks riding around on motorcycles. Where'd they get the gas? Why do those still work and not other things? This isn't a huge issue, but I am hugely curious. Maybe the apocalypse was manufactures by Harley Davidson to increase sales.

To sum up this review, I basically loved this, both the world-building and the writing. I also liked how long the book was; YA should not be quantified merely by how long it takes to read. Iron Fey fans should prepare themselves for something darker and more epic. Perhaps more importantly, I want to urge those who were unimpressed with Kagawa's Iron Fey series to read this. I was skeptical, even more so than ordinary, and I was seriously impressed.