REVIEW - IMMORTAL RULES by Julie Kagawa

TITLE: The Immortal Rules
AUTHOR:  Julie Kagawa
GENRE: dystopian, paranormal
PUBLICATION DATE: April 24th 2012
SOURCE: ARC

BLURB:

 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.

REVIEW: 

Let me begin this review with a simple truth about The Immortal Rules: I LOVED THIS BOOK.

I cannot hide the fact that I dislike the current trend of vampire books. They lack fresh ideas, as they're put safely into the same boxes which will ensure that the book sells. I was not convinced when I first saw the cover of The Immortal Rules, dark and oozing of gloomy story that in fact is as deep as a puddle on the pavement.

But I was so wrong. So wrong!

Julie Kagawa painted everything with such vivid colors I caught myself dreaming of a movie based on the book. I think it would be utterly fabulous and I really hope my little dream will come true one day! I will mention one thing on top of my head - the Old Chicago, a huge, crumbling city under water. How epic would that be to see on a big screen?

Not only the writing is beautiful and alive, but the plot is captivating and racing forward so fast it's hard to put the book down. The events rush forward, but the author took her time to describe the world to us; and the world building is mesmerizing. It's repulsive and sickening, but at the same time it's fascinating. We get to know both sides of the coin. We see humans struggling for survival and vampires doing... exactly the same, even if their ways of doing so are different. And we learn with Allison that the choice of what she's to become is up to her.

Allie is truly a kick-butting, absolutely no-nonsense kind of main character. I am always a bit wary of the blurbs flaunting that the character is a 'strong female character'. They usually turn out to be bleak, weeping damsels in distress, in need of constant rescuing by some manly men.
Allison Sekemoto is not the case. 

She really IS strong. She thinks of herself first, but deep down cares about those to whom she got attached to (like she did with Stick). In many ways, she reminded me of Katniss (The Hunger Games), but with better sense of humor. I loved her almost instantly - she could take care of herself and I admired how she handled even the most difficult situations. All by herself.

It took me a relatively long while to get to like Kanin and even then I wasn't entirely convinced that I liked him all that much. I think it was Allie's influence that I ended up liking him (I might have snorted when she called him "Mister Broody Vampire"), and I even gasped a little "no!" when our little main heroine had to part ways with him.

And Zeke... Zeke, Zeke, Zeke. In that brutal, dark world that Kagawa has presented to us Zeke seems out of place, too good to be true. And that's what Allison thinks too, but oddly enough it's his kindness and morality that keep him alive. On top of that, he's not stupid. I loved all the conversations he had with Allison, especially about his own naivety. I love how different he is, how much stronger than Allison thought he is. What Allison thought to be his weaknesses were actually his strengths.

Even the others, the more 'secondary' characters felt very real. Especially Jeb was one to make a deep impression. I was also fascinated by Rabids - they felt more like zombies than anything else, while the Jackal's Riders felt like werewolves despite not being supernatural beings at all. It was a very graceful mix that shouldn't have worked, but it did - and that's what is the most amazing about The Immortal Rules.

This book has everything - delightful plot, characters that feel alive (well, figuratively speaking, since a huge part of them is dead, including our main character), fast pacing and some deeper issues to think about.

If you haven't thought of reading this book yet, you should definitely pick it up! My absolutely favorite dystopian read this year, and maybe favorite read overall!
 

(And just because I loved it so much, I have a quote for you - it's by Zeke, he said it to Allison who tried to put up her tent:

'You will get used to it. No one really worries about keeping things erect around here, and... Wow. That sounded bad.'

 Haha.)

Overall rating:
5 out of 5 stars