Book Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

My Rating: 
Book: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Page Numbers: 485 pages
Publication date: April 24th, 2012

Synopsis:
In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left: Blood calls to blood She has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever—and possibly end human and vampire existence. There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago—and this strain is deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries, if Allie can get to him in time. Allison thought that immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to make.

My Review:

I received an ARC copy from the publisher to read and review in return.

Moments after reading the very last sentence of The Immortal Rules, I immediately ran to my laptop, eager and super motivated to write my review... and no, this does not happen very often! The Immortal Rules is a vampire story... but this is not just your typical ordinary vampire story with sparkles, glitter, and endless romances like 'Twilight' or "Vampire Diaries' ... this is something far deeper than that, far more emotional, horrific, ruthless, bone chilling and... realistic. Now you must think "How can you consider a story written about a world full of vampires even remotely realistic??" I believe that if the events and circumstances occurred in this book were to truly happen in our world as we know it, I would genuinely be convinced that it would exactly play out as Julie Kagawa created it. The fact that this story and its characters were so palpable, it truly succeeded in completely engulfing me into the story, and I simply could not.stop.reading!! Let's get into the details!

The world has fallen as we know it. It has been 60 years since the Red Lung virus has wipped out vast human populations and vampires have taken over the world to claim it as their own. They have forced humans to either completely comply to their rules or to be left in the unforgiven darkness of devastation, solitude and danger. These forgotten citizens are known as the Unregistered, those who choose not to be restricted and bound to the rules set by the vampires; they are not forced to give blood whenever the vampires demand it; they are not expected to work or show up for the vampire Prince when requested; and most of all they are not written in the 'system' and hence are not under the watchful eyes of the vampires. But for this type of 'freedom' a heavy price comes attached. Being Unregistered means that you do not have any protection from the vampires (whatever that means in that world) and no food nor shelter or any necessary fundamental needs required to keep a human being alive.

Allison Sekemoto has chosen to go through life as an Unregistered, as from an early age she vowed to herself she would never submit to the power of the vampires. Allison is definitely one of my most favorite protagonist I have ever had the privilege of encountering. She is such a fantastic character! She is strong, smart, super brave, beautiful, and has a solid balance between her emotional and rational side. She made me want to keep reading this book and each emotion that was expressed by her I was able to find myself feeling with her. The story is narrated from her point of view and it starts out with her living as an Unregistered human. When Allison is inches away from dying, Kanin, a very powerful vampire, gives her the choice between dying a peaceful death, or roam the earth a second time by returning as a vampire. Allison loathes vampires, but despite her deep hatred for these creatures, she has an even deeper animosity for death. Feeling not yet ready to leave her world in its misery, she chooses to become a vampire

Allison is put in so many horrific, twisting, unpredictable but magnificent situations, and meets various amazing, difficult, and insane characters. All the characters left such a big impression on me. There were a few characters which made me cringe with frustration, annoyance and anger, which I am sure were probably Ms. Kagawa's intentions. The Immoral Rules was such a fast paced read, and the action and shocking events just kept coming at a non stop rapid pace. Julie Kagawa found a perfect balance between manifesting horror, thriller, drama, humor and romance all bundled together and yet it all made perfect sense. I trust as a writer that creating a perfect balance of these elements is extremely hard to keep in tact, and I commend Julie for succeeding in this so effortlessly (so it seems!).

This story made me think of its resemblance with The Walking Dead series. For those of you who know what I refer to, The Walking Dead is of course different as it relates to zombies, but the ingenious way the story is developed and constructed made it comparable for me to The Immortal Rules. The Walking Dead series not only focuses on zombies and how they create a hell on Earth for humans, but it successfully encompasses a broken world laced with genuine emotions and life and death experiences, compassion and reality. I felt like this is comparable to how the story was portrayed in The Immortal Rules, and that only made me feel even more love and a connectedness towards the story and its characters.

I recommend this book to all readers who are searching for a vampire story which goes far beyond its basic concept. A book that journeys you through a world with endless devastation, bundled with romance, hope and hopelessness, and oh yeah NON STOP action and thrill! This is a book you will not regret nor forget, as the next vampire book you will read you will undoubtedly and unavoidably compare it to The Immortal Rules.

Now you'll have to excuse me since I am aching to return to Allison's world in the second book of the series, The Eternity Cure!

Please let me know your thoughts, whether you have read The Immortal Rules or not, in the comments below!