The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)

I have read the whole trilogy in a week. I really enjoyed the book, and will probably read this book again. What I love about Julie Kawaga's writing styles in all her books is the characters she makes up. The characters have built their own life in her book, and the way the plot and setting is described, makes you picture everything neatly and perfectly, without a question.

This YA dystopian vampire/near-horror tale blends many familiar elements that fans of Blade and Blood The Last Vampire will appreciate, casting them in a post bio-apocalyptic setting. Violent and bleak, but without being -completely- devoid of hope. (But yeah...still -mostly- devoid. So try not to get too attached. >.> Just sayin'.)

Allison Sekemoto presents as a strong, survivalist heroine—simple in motivation, relatable, and beautifully flawed. It is entirely through her perspective (first-person) that the story unfolds. The questions-of-humanity theme runs deep throughout. As one could easily derive from the back cover blurb, Allison is turned into the thing she hated most early on and spends much of the story deciding 'what kind of monster' she is going to be. Abandoned by the vampire who created her, she finds unexpected purpose with a roving band of humans who don't realize what she is. Their quest for a vampire-free city is one that obviously can't end well for her--but she is none the less tempted by the prospect of choosing to be a protector rather than a mere predator.

There is definitely a romantic element, but the development is admirably natural and gradual. Zeke isn't the kind of hero you'd expect from this kind of world—he's a genuinely nice, generous, all-around good guy, in spite of his surroundings. Outside of his leadership role, he's something of a laid-back Beta-male, making him a solid and logical complement to Allison's vampiric (and personality-based) aggressiveness. While not a raging ball of adolescent testosterone and bad-boy angst, Zeke is exceptionally capable of slaughter when slaughter is called for. I'm calling this one a win for nice guys.

The prose is engaging and skilled—morbidly amusing at some points, and emotionally resonant at others. The pacing is rapid once you get through the first 50-page setup, and the fight scenes are numerous and well depicted. Most secondary characters have a bit of believable depth to them, but there were a few that felt pretty flat, in this reviewers opinion. *coughcough Stick coughcough Ruth coughcough*

All in all, a satisfying plot for those who aren't burned out on the darker take on vampires. To this reader the writing shows Kagawa is not only prolific, but still honing her abilities as a storyteller. Always encouraging to watch an author grow along with their work. :)

I LOVE THIS BOOK
I LOVE JULIE KAGAWA
Allison's story is amazing, and in that world, is completely plausible.
This book is written amazingly, and the plot is A M A Z I N G.
One of my favourite books of all time.

First thing you need to know is that The Immortal Rules is nothing like Iron Fey series. While The Iron King had a somewhat original idea, it was full of cliches. The Immortal Rules is the total opposite. Julie Kagawa took one of the most popular topics today: vampires and used it to write very original young adult dystopian novel.

The picture of the future Julie Kagawa presents is bleak and chilling. A strange virus killed large part of human population or turned them into rabids: a mix of vampires and zombies who mindlessly kill everything. Vampires, concerned that they are going to be left without food, stepped in and took control. The Wild, where you need to be on the run all of the time, or The Cities, where you need to bow to the vampire masters and offer blood donations. What’s a better choice?

Allison Sekemoto choose something in between. She lives in the fringes of the city, running from both vampires and rabids, hiding and stealing enough food to survive. Every day is a struggle but everything is better than submitting to those heartless, soulless bloodsuckers. Allison knows how to make tough decisions and when she gets to choose between death or becoming a monster she hates, she still chooses to live. And as vampire who turned her said:
"You are Vampire, but what kind of monster you become is out of my hands."

And so, Allison’s adventures begin. A lot of things you thought for sure are true are doubted when you have a different perspective on things. And when everyone thinks you are a monster, all your actions are questioned even when you are driven by friendship or even love. Julie Kagawa gives to Allison and to us a lot of interesting questions to ponder.

The Immortal Rules seems like a book that has all the ingredients to become my favorite: good writing, original idea, strong heroine who makes good choices, slow building romance, what-makes-us-human theme…. But for some reason Allison and I just didn't click. And world and monsters (human or otherwise) were too scary and gruesome for me. Maybe at some other time I would have reacted differently. We will never know. I still appreciate originality of Blood of Eden series, so I will definitely read a sequel The Eternity Cure.

IN THE END…
The Immortal Rules was a little bit too dark for me, but I will certainly recommend it to all fans of young adult dystopian novels who don’t mind scary atmosphere and are looking for original idea or to anyone who says that vampires are overused topic and there is nothing new that can be made with it. Julie Kagawa is sure going to surprise them.

Disclaimer: I was given a free eBook by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a honest review.

This is the first sentence of The Immortal Rules:

“They hung the Unregistereds in the old warehouse district […]”

From where I sit, there is no excuse for a traditionally published, copy-edited book to contain a mistake like that. Much less in the first sentence.

Needless to say, I didn’t start off this book with the best of first impressions.

Thank goodness the rest of this book was absolutely fantastic! Mostly, anyways.

Initially, the reader meets Allison, a tough girl with an additude who lives on the streets. She spends her days scrounging for food and her nights hiding from vampires and zombie-vampires. She’s independent, stubborn, defiant, strong, and really likeable. Score for Ms Kagawa.

The city Allison lives in, New Covington, is a sort of dystopian haven run by a vampire prince and his minions. Said city has an interesting set-up, a believable infrastructure, and even better, what goes on outside the city is also detailed. Excellent world-building, freakin’ awesome premise. Score for Ms Kagawa.

Then Allison gets Turned by the dark and menacing but secretly compassionate rogue vampire, Kanin. Kanin is enigmatic and mysterious, not very forthcoming with his past actions, but very determined that Allison should learn to survive on her own and become reconciled to her fate. Well. Tall dark and handsome vampire with a tortured hero complex? SCORE for Ms Kagawa.

However, Allison and Kanin get separated. Allison finds herself with a group of religious fantatic humans on a quest for a sort of holy grail. She joins their little group and meets up with Zeke (named after the “archangel Ezekiel.” But don’t look for him in your Bible because there’s no such person in the Judeo-Christian canon—fail for Kagawa.) Zeke is, true to his name, angelic. Almost too perfect at times. Personally, I preferred Kanin. Not score.

Then some truly crazy stuff happens. Vampire gladitorial contests, crazy zombies, child abuse in a graveyard, hijacking of motorcycles, a stereotypical jealous girlfriend. All very interesting stuff that eventually leads up to a very satisfying amount of Kanin-related nightmares on Allison’s part and my hope that in the sequel, The Eternity Cure, Kanin the awesome vampire plays a very large role.

(I am a huge fan of Kanin, in case you couldn’t tell, and not necessarily as a love interest for Alisson. Just because he’s a fantastic character.)

Anyway. That was a really weirdly written review.

I’ve never read urban fantasy before, and I’ve never met a main character like Allison before. I’ve also never heard of dystopian vampires before, which is sad because they’re pretty sweet. All these super awesome things go together so well. Julie Kagawa is a master of writing here. If you like edgy heroines, unique plots, or maybe a more “mature” look at YA fiction, read The Immortal Rules. It’s awesome.

Background: The future is overrun with vampires and a vicious disease that has left many of the human citizens dead, turned into monsters, or food for the vampire. To survive one must become Registered to the king of their city and give blood as often as required. Allison is not a Registered, she chooses to fight back against the blood-suckers and keep her blood to herself; the only problem is...how long can that last?

Review: I have not read the Iron Fey series by Kagawa, I know... I really need to, but I think it gave be a better opinion of this book. I knew that faeries were her genre but I had never read those so I only know the vampire series, which can be good and bad. It was good because I did not have one of her Fey books to compare it to, and I think that she did surprisingly well for a vampire book. The bad is also the same thing, with nothing to compare to...other than other vampire books... I was left a little stranded, so I don't know if it was better or worse than her others.

Ok- so compared to other vampire books, I think she did great. I loved this story, knowing Allison as a human and her struggles, living with the pain and guilt of loosing everything she ever had and wanted. I think that it is interesting that she chooses to become one of the things she hates so much and that she is fighting the urge to kill everything like the monsters she believes them to be.
I loved this struggle and I think that Kagawa did a good job portraying it. I cannot wait to read more of this series! There is so much left to be said,so many questions and that is how a series should be, finish off one things and move to the next and hope that the first job you did comes back later to help you...am I right? I really enjoyed this story. I am having a very hard time not ruining it for everyone :/ Read it! You will enjoy!

The Immortal Rules was... how to put it...well, for starters it was an amazingly planned-out story that completely absorbed me. It was cinematic and I'm sooooooo happy its been optioned for a movie!!
Okay, okay. I need to calm down.
Yes, The Immortal Rules was an exciting read. I was so intrigued by the idea that I couldn't even put the book down. I know vampires have been overused, but this was just so... different. It's a social hierarchy among bloodsuckers that's not like anything I've read before. I don't even like vampires and I adored this book. It's exciting and has a movie-like flow. There're unexpected twists in the plot that I would never have guessed and the humor in it is perfect.
I loved how this was through a vampires point of view. Allie isn't the scared human girl that whines all the time and can't make up her mind. She's an amazing kick-butt heroine who puts others before her. She joins a group of humans heading towards Eden for safety and it's just amazing how she tried to keep herself in control. But in the end, the Hunger always wins.
The Immortal Rules is an action-packed thriller that promises great things for the series. It's an experience everyone should get to read about and I hope they do.
I can't wait for the second one to come out!

Okay, I'm a big enough girl to admit two things to you right now. One, I'm a book cover lover (But honestly, I don't think that's a secret to anyone at this point.), and I was instantly drawn to this book because this cover is pretty freaking fabulous. (Although, after reading the story, Allie is Japanese so...?) Two, I was all, WOMPWompwommmp, another vampire book. This was probably the biggest reason I've waited so long to read it. Now, I could kick myself. Ms. Kagawa took a cliché-ridden paranormal entity and completely recreated it in my opinion.

I've had Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series on my TBR list for the longest, but I've yet to drop everything and read them. Nevertheless, I've heard nothing but amazing things about her writing, so when this came out, my interest was definitely piqued. I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint either.

This story is set in a world where a large amount of the human population was wiped out by a disease called Red Lung or turning into vampire-like creatures known as rabids. With the vampires' food source dying off, they came out of hiding to offer a solution. They'd protect them from disease and being slaughtered from the rabids as well as providing them with food and shelter, if they became "registered" and freely offered their blood on a monthly basis. Most complied, and vampire cities sprang up all over. However, there were the few like our main character, Allie, who refused to become donor bloodbags and lived in the impoverished districts on the outside of the main city, but still within the protected outer wall. Life for the "Unregisters" was hard. They fought for food, shelter, and basically survival. Denying the vampires access to their blood meant they had to fend for themselves, and this is how the major plot device unfolds. On a trip outside the wall in search for food, Allie and her friends are attacked by rabids, and when her unlikely hero, a vampire, offers her the chance to live, she becomes the one thing she hates the most.

There were several aspects in this story that I truly appreciated. Even though Allie loathed the vampires and blamed them for her mother's death, when she was knocking at death's door, she chose to survive, even if that meant becoming "a monster." Then, despite all her claims to hold on to her humanity, Allie really struggled with it, showing just how challenging it is to cage the beast, no matter how horrified she was once she realized her thirst for blood. I enjoyed Kagawa's writing of Allie, and how sometimes no matter how much you want want to behave in a certain manner, instinct and survival can inherently change a person.

“Sometime in your life, Alison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being. Accidentally or as a conscious, deliberate act. It is unavoidable. The question is not if it will happen, but when.”


I also enjoyed all the scientific reasoning thoroughly explained throughout this book, making all the situations more plausible. I'm not really "in the know" about genetics and DNA, so for all I know, the author could have been filling my head full of crap, but it read like really good crap. For instance, she goes into detail about why vampires couldn't go in the sunlight, and it wasn't because of some lame excuse like "because we sparkle and that's a dead giveaway that we're vampires."

"Despite the legends, he explained we wouldn't immediately burst into flames, but our body chemistry had changed now that we were, technically, dead. He likened it to a human disease called porphyria, where toxic substances in the skin caused it to blacken and rupture when exposed to ultraviolet sunlight. Caught outside with no shelter, the direct rays of the sun would burn our exposed skin until it did, eventually, catch fire."

I also loved all of the characters, especially because they all had depth and flaws. I loved Allie for her realistic approach to her life, and boy did this chick have some bite (I'm not sure if I intended this pun or not, hmmm...). She was no pushover, she questioned everyone and everything, and when push came to shove, you can bet your behind she was pushing. Kanin was the perfect sire, hard and unrelenting when he needed to be, but he also had a caring side about him that showed not all vampires were lost to the monster within. Lastly, the love interest, Zeke, and his traveling group, were all perfect in their own way. Zeke, particularly, was someone that I found myself drawn to because of his optimism and gentle nature in the darkest of times.

My biggest complaint and the reason I couldn't give this the full five stars was because I felt like it was missing something. I'm not sure if it was because I wanted more time with Kanin and his training or more time with Zeke. Just when they finally allowed themselves to entertain the idea of a relationship, their time was cut short, and I was a little disappointed. All in all, this was a great setup for a great second book, and maybe that was the overall problem. This read more like the beginning of a new series rather than a complete stand-alone. All that being said, I can't wait to see what the next book has to offer, and I'll be waiting in line when it comes out.

*An e-galley was provided by HarlequinTEEN via Net Galley.

I'm not a big fan of the vampire fiction genre but I decided to give The Immortal Rules a chance since I loved Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series.And I'm glad that I did because otherwise, I would have missed reading one of the greatest books of the YA genre that has ever been written.The author brought out the true meaning of dark romance through this novel.In fact,I think this is the first time I've enjoyed a YA vampire fiction so much.

"You are a monster."Kanin's deep voice droned in my head again,As I forced myself to move,to walk away."You will always be a monster, there is no turning back from it.But what type of monster you become is entirely up to you."

The background of the story,being a dystopic one, is set in an era where vampires have taken over and humans are treated like animals, being kept alive only for their blood.But there are still humans rebelling against the cruelty of the vampires,opposing this system and living hidden in the outskirts of the city,taking to theft as a means of survival.Allison,being one of these people, hates vampires more than anything.But then she confronts a situation where,in order to survive,she has to become one of them.

The concept of vampires crying tears of blood really intrigued me.Just the thought of it makes me shiver.I wonder why the other authors haven't thought of that idea,considering the fact that so many series on vampire fiction have been published over the last few years.Not only that,the tears of blood which Allison sheds reveals the humanity within her,despite the fact that she's a vampire.Throughout the book,we see Allison trying to hold back her monstrous
instincts and experiencing human emotions such as sorrow and love,and how the conflict between her two parts
slowly tries to break her.


The Immortal Rules is a beautiful and riveting paranormal fiction,with a dystopic background which adds more spice to the story.

Perfect Soundtrack for the story:
Before The Dawn by Evanescence

Whoa. I'm starting out with the last word that escaped my mouth as I read the end of The Immortal Rules. I was so blown away by the entire package that Julie Kagawa presented, that I couldn't even form a coherent thought upon finishing. Let's be honest, I'm a vampire lover. Always have been, always will be. Allison's story hooked me instantly. The gritty, dystopian and vampire-run world that she introduced me to felt so real. I didn't read this book, I devoured it.

Allison Sekemoto is, in a word, fierce. Living in a world where she must fight to survive, Allison isn't afraid to stand up for herself. I fell in love with her sarcasm and wit. Even before she is turned you quickly find out that this is not a girl that you want to mess with. What really drew me in though was Allison's constant internal battle over becoming a vampire. She chooses her path willingly, and yet refuses to fall headfirst into the world that she hated so blatantly beforehand. Watching Allison fight her inner demons is fascinating, and it makes her that much more likable.

In case you are worrying about the rest of the characters though, I can assure you that they are all just as vivid and well fleshed out as Allison! This I loved. Hands down, Kanin was my favorite. I won't spoil at all, but let's just say that I was eager for more of him. I know that this is the first in the series, and his time is coming. Coming in a close second was Zeke, who becomes a very important part of Allison's existence. This is a boy who totally stole my heart. It's hard not to fall for the chemistry between these two. However it was also so refreshing to see that Allison could keep her own identity at the same time. Thank you so much Julie Kagawa for giving us a girl who can be in love, but still take care of herself!

I could honestly go on for pages about how much I truly enjoyed this book. The Immortal Rules just proves to me that Julie Kagawa can write anything she sets her mind to. Her storytelling is fantastic. Her characters are vivid and wonderful. Even the setting comes to life on its own. I cannot say enough about how amazing it all is. This book is over 400 pages, but it is an effortless read. The story blends into such seamless chapters that you'll find yourself having read well past where you meant to stop. Long story short, I am putting this book on my favorites list for the year! Definitely give this one a read.