Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Publisher: MiraInk

Release Date: April 24th 2012

Cover Love: 9/10

Source: Review

Add to: Goodreads

Goodreads: 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.

My Review:

Julie Kagawa is one of my favourite authors, her books and writing are absolutely amazing. Having read all of The Iron Fey series, I was super excited to hear about The Immortal Rules! I mean come on, Julie writing about vampires!! Let me tell you, The Immortal Rules does not disappoint, grab it now!

The world building was excellent, I knew that Julie would be great at this because of the scenes in The Iron Fey series like the Nevernever etc. The whole atmosphere is very creepy. The streets aren't safe, the vampires come out at night to feed, there's gigantic walls that separate the City from the Ruins, the only way through is down a deep, pitch-black tunnel - (this spells disaster right?!) to try and get some food. Gangs have territories, violence is common and rabids roam the streets always ravenous. Sounds pretty terrifying! There's one particular scene which is horrible as Allie is stuck in a shed in pitch black, it's pouring down with rain and she sees something move in the corner of her eye, this had my heart pounding!!

I loved reading about Allie (Allison Sekemoto) the main character, she was strong, determined, brave. I really enjoyed how she grew as the story progressed. After she is attacked by rabids - scary scene! she is given a choice to die or be turned into a vampire. Obviously she chooses the vampire option, what I thought was interesting is how she tried throughout to keep her humanity and cling onto the remnants of it. She was very stubborn that she wasn’t going to feed off anybody and wouldn’t accept the fact she needed to to survive. 

Kanin was a very complex character to try and understand. I liked how his history and past were revealed slowly as we grew to know more about him and what his aim was. I really liked him though and I think in the next book there will be a lot more in store for him. 
Zeke is a great character. He is the love interest and I feel like he was naive and innocent at times and strong and determined -like Allie- at other times. Some of the scenes with him and Zachariah are heartbreaking. I was looking forward to meeting Zeke as I’d heard a lot about him. I loved how his and Allie’s relationship developed over time, but still had it’s ups and downs. He reacted in a very normal way to certain situations which made him very believable. All of the characters were interesting to read about and I enjoyed how they all played a part in the story.

The plot will definitely keep you on your toes, there are countless twists and turns that will surprise you. The rabids are scary creatures and the descriptions were gruesome. They almost seem like fast zombies than vampires and they were terrifying to read about. I enjoyed the ending as it wrapped up all of the loose ends nicely, I’m so excited to read the next one in the series! 

Overall, a super fast paced novel that will grip you with both hands and won’t let you go until the last page. Amazing! 

5 out of 5 stars.

*Thanks to MiraInk for sending me a copy in exchange for an honest review.

Music Match: No Light, No Light - Florence and the Machine.
(Particularly these lines, "Would you leave me, if I told you what I'd done? And would you leave me, if I told you what I'd become?/ No light no light, in your bright blue eyes, Whoever knew daylight could be so violent.")