…On The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Posted April 30, 2012 by Asheley in Uncategorized / 30 Comments


The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
by Julie Kagawa
Published by Harlequin Teen
Publish Date: April 24, 2012
485 Pages
Source:  NetGalley

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. -(summary from Goodreads.com)

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

My Thoughts:  I had this big perfect blog post ready for The Immortal Rules until everybody and their brother started posting on this book. It was in my usual format and everything! BUT I decided to change things up a bit and go to my other format….just because I know everyone might be tired of reading the same things about the same book. So…

The first thing or two you need to know is this:
I’m basically a Julie Kagawa fangirl.
Julie Kagawa is on my instant-read list.

I know that I’m not the only person that read and loved The Iron Fey series. But I DID read and love them…I devoured them with enough intensity to say that I’m a fangirl. And I loved them enough – after four books and falling in love with the Nevernever – to say that Julie is on my instant-read list for authors. What that means is this: if she writes it, I will read it. That is all. Julie wrote The Immortal Rules; I picked it up. It’s a very simple operation, folks.

The second thing you need to know is this:
I’ve never stopped loving vampires!

I was not burned by a certain set of vampire books from years past and I absolutely love a good paranormal book. It’s true that I have my favorites but I love a good vampire story, especially a series, and I’m not ashamed of it!


The third thing you need to know is this
:
I knew I’d love this book and I was absolutely right!

I’ve already made it known that Julie Kagawa is instant-read for me. I had a pretty strong feeling that I’d love The Immortal Rules and I was right. It started out with action and there was action all the way through. The characters were solid, both the main cast and the secondary cast, which is typical for this author. The world-building was stellar, which is also something I’ve come to expect from Ms. Kagawa. In truth, the book was long, but I never felt bogged down by the length because I was so fully immersed in this story that I forgot everything around me while I was reading and was just THERE. Right there, IN THE MIDDLE OF IT.

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I could sit here, you guys, and do my regular “review” thing. I could do my breakdown and list out: the characters, the backstory, the world-building, the romance, etc etc etc. But after this week you can honestly see and read all of that stuff over and over EVERYWHERE. What I want to do is tell you about my experience with The Immortal Rules: I ATE IT UP. Devoured it. Happily and with a smile. This is not surprising, though, as I am a huge fan of this author and, yes, vampires.

Friends, what we have with The Immortal Rules is a strong, solid start to what I predict will be an awesome series. It has pretty much all of the things I love and expect from Julie Kagawa and other books that call themselves awesome. We have an amazing Katana-carrying, butt-kicking, consistently-developing strong main female character that is not only likable and loyal but also Asian (shout-out to Julie Kagawa for this!). We have an awesome secondary cast of likable good guys and nasty, mean (and also likable-in-a-villain-way) bad guys. We have world-building to die for (OF COURSE) and we have a story that is engaging and paced well. There is a romance but it is slowly developing and without a love triangle. There is also no cliffhanger – instead we have a nicely wrapped-up ending that leaves a few questions unanswered as part of the story arc for certain characters AND a perfect starting point for the next installment in the series.

I could go on for days, but I won’t. I WILL say that I am thrilled that Julie Kagawa is writing more for me to DEVOUR and that I will be recommending this HIGHLY to pretty much anyone who will read it. It was that good to me, y’all. It was THAT GOOD.

The Immortal Rules will appeal to fans of:

Vampires
Paranormal/Post-Apocalyptic Genre
Character-Driven Stories AND Action-Driven Stories
Great Characters, including Secondary Cast
Slow-Developing Romance with No Love Triangle
Butt-Kicking Female Main Characters
Julie Kagawa, because she is awesome.

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
is currently available for purchase.

**I received a review copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest opinion and review. I received no compensation for my thoughts. Thank you Harlequin Teen and NetGalley!

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Do you plan to read
THE IMMORTAL RULES?
Have you already read it? 
(Have you sworn off vampires?)

Tell me! I want to know! 

Asheley

About Asheley

Asheley is a Southern girl. She loves Carolina blue skies, Ben & Jerry's ice cream, and NC craft beer. She loves all things history but prefers books over everything.

You can find her somewhere in North Carolina, daydreaming about the ocean.

Find Asheley on Litsy @intothehallofbooks!

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30 responses to “…On The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

  1. I'm definitely planning to read this one. There have been so many great reviews on it. I haven't read a Julie Kawaga book yet, so i'm looking forward even more since I've heard such great things about her writing.

    • It seems like I'm definitely not the only one that loves this book. I hope you'll like it too and of course, I recommend her Iron Fey series if you want to read more fun books. That series is in my top favorites ever. AND there's a new Iron Fey book coming out in October! 🙂

  2. "I’ve never stopped loving vampires!
    I was not burned by a certain set of vampire books from years past and I absolutely love a good paranormal book. It’s true that I have my favorites but I love a good vampire story, especially a series, and I’m not ashamed of it!"

    YEAH! PROUD TO BE A VAMPIRE LOVER!!! Me too Asheley:) I just never tire of vampires, they always appeal. I may seek out a different paranormal entity in between vampire books, but ultimately I always come back to them. Every vampire mythology is different, and I think that's what I love most. So glad you loved this book as much as I did!

  3. Word, I still dig vampires too!

    I am about 15% into The Immortal Rules and am loving it. Allie just got turned, so I am very eager to see what happens next?

    Also, I brake for katanas. Seriously when I hear about katana swords my ears automatically perk up a little.

    • April, I think you will continue to love this one as Allie is fierce and butt-kicking and constantly developing. AND there is action all over the place and it is legit and believable – well, for a futuristic vampire society that keeps humans as bloodslaves. Plus I know you love a good book with a diverse cast so here's your Asian main character and strict religious group! I loved it!

    • I can see how schoolwork would keep you from being able to immerse yourself in this one. It actually took me awhile to read The Immortal Rules where normally I can fly through a book if I am uninterrupted. The good thing is that even though I had a series of interruptions, it was easy to pick up and remember what was going on. So I have no doubt you'll be able to go through it with ease. I really hope you like it, Natalie, and I always look forward to seeing your thoughts on all the books you read. I'll be watching for your review!

  4. I am the opposite of you in all three of your points: I had big problems with The Iron Fey series; I never liked vampire stories; and I was not at all certain I would like this book…but happily I did and I can join you in recommending it far and wide.

    • That's kinda funny Bookworm1858! But I'm glad you DID like it and can recommend it. I'm just a big fan of Julie because of the Iron Fey, which I loved in a big ridiculous way. It may be because I read it along with friends, which always makes reading fun. I'm not sure. At any rate, even when I have re-read them, I've loved them. 🙂

  5. Julie Kagawa IS fantastic! Also, I'm not sick of vampires either, so I think I'll love this book too!

    PS – I like both of the ways you review books…sometimes a shorty review is just the ticket 🙂

    • Thanks Kat!

      I don't like to do a big breakdown on something that has been done a million times already. It just happens that this one has been done a million times already within the first week of release and before release, ha!

  6. Yes, I still love vampires, I cannot tell a lie. They, along with ghosts, were my first love in the world of paranormals, and I honestly don't think that I will ever tire of them.

    And yes, there have been a TON of reviews for this book all over the blogs lately (but really I have only read a handful of them) and by the way, I love ALL your review formats, long, short, detailed, personal, whatever! You know, in case you were wondering:)

    Hitting up the Walmart today (wow, does that sound southern or what??) for some groceries so, I think I may just have to suspend my book buying ban to pick this one up:)

    • Lucky you! I need to get a real copy of this one because I'll definitely want to re-read it. It was awesome.

      When here are a ton of reviews, 'real' review-blog posts, I just can't bring myself to do one too. Who on earth wants to keep reading the same thing? Too boring. So this is my lame attempt to spice things up at least a little bit. 🙂

  7. Amy

    Girl, I'm totally with you on the Julie Kagawa fangirl-mobile. I read the first three Iron Fey books in about a week. She pretty much can do no wrong in my mind. I WAS burned by the vamp books, though, but I'm not even worried about The Immortal Rules. Not even at all. I love the way it's a dystopian paranormal. I feel like that in itself is such a great, different spin, right? I can't wait to read this one, even if it is LONG. And can I just take a timeout to say HOLLA to the no love triangle? I'm such a fan of that. I feel like sometimes I appreciate triangles (have you read Jenny Han's Summer series in your new foray into Contemporaryville? Those are good and angsty with a really good triangle). But other times I feel like they're copouts. Like I wish the author had thought of some other kind of drama or obstacle in a relationship that didn't involve another person. You know, like MOST relationships in real life that have plenty of THINGS to deal with just between two people. Anyway, VAMPS! Julie Kagawa! I'm in!

    • The length of this one doesn't even matter, really. It just sucks you in and you just hang out on Julie Kagawa-ville like with every other of her fantastic books. Seriously, I want to marry all of her books.

      I have NOT read the Jenny Han books and this is why: I have book two and book three, but not book one. Because I am a DORK that does things a little screwy and backward sometimes. As soon as I get book one, I'm totally reading them – promise! I've heard nothing but GREAT about them.

    • Bummer dude! It's out now, though, so you can probably put in a request at the library or buy it if you want it. I loved it. I thought it was awesome, but as you read above, I'm a Julie Kagawa instant-read fangirl. So naturally I'm gonna love it!

  8. I keep renewing this one from the library, and for some reason I can't bring myself to read it. But this review makes me want to crack it open!

    • So glad you finally finished this one. So glad you liked it too. I am a huge JKagawa fangirl and have loved every single thing she has put out. This is such a new and interesting start to a series by her, and I am excited for the next book to be released. Of course, I'm excited for the next Iron Fey book to be released too. She's really one of my favorites despite not having been around very long. Her world-building is just excellent!

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