The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa Review

Title: The Immortal Rules 

Author: Julie Kagawa 

Age Group: Teen/Young Adult 

Genre: Horror 

Series: Blood of Eden, book one 

Star Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

I purchased a copy of this book and reviewed it. 

I read the first book in this series way back when it first came out, and I loved this series debut so much that I bought myself a copy once it came out in paperback. When I finished Slayer, I realized that I wasn’t quite ready to say goodbye to Buffy, at least in a literary sense, so I decided to say screw it and reread The Immortal Rules. I realized that I didn’t love it quite as much the second time around, but overall, this series debut was really strong! I love vampires, as well as monsters in general, so taking another deep dive into this series was like walking into a nightmare, one rife with blood, gore, and true horror. Even so many years on, this book was darkly compelling, thrilling, and thought-provoking, most of all. I cannot wait to start The Eternity Cure! 

Allison ‘Allie’ Sekemoto, first and foremost, is a survivor. As an Unregistered human living in the vampire-ruled city of New Covington, she has to be. She refuses to live as a living bloodbag for the vampire Masters that rule her city. Even with the risk of going over the Wall and vampires who are closer to zombies than vampires, called Rabids. After a deadly plague called Red Lung decimates most of the human populace, Allie finds a secret cache of food beyond the city. Determined to support her team, she risks her life to find it. But when the rest of her crew is slain brutally by Rabids, Allison is offered a surprising, unexpected choice: to die with her humanity intact, or take the risk of being Turned into a vampire. If it goes wrong, she could become a Rabid, a mindless monster just like her former friends. Allie is soon led on a journey outside of the city in which she’d been born, out into the wilderness. When she finds a ragtag pack of humans searching for a place without vampires, a hidden city called—wait for it!--Eden. Will Allie become the monster she so fears, or will she be a vampire of an altogether different sort? 

This is my second time rereading this book, and although I didn’t quite love it as much this time around, this series debut was still really strong! (Vampires are beginning to make a comeback! I guess I’m ahead of the trend, for once, ha!) I was captivated by Julie Kagawa’s dark, dangerous and bloody world in which humans are nothing more than pets (servants) or livestock (food). Though I’ve read this book once before, I didn’t remember a lot of it at first, so it took me a little bit to get back into it. Nonetheless, I loved this book; it might be one of my favorites in Kagawa’s extensive body of work. (Hence why I liked it so much that I bought it!) The pacing was breakneck and I was immediately entranced by Allie’s sharp, sad and wry voice. I loved the way Kagawa took vampires and somehow made them ever darker and more frightening. I loved the world that she created, in which vampires, rabids, and humans all fight for scraps. There were times that some of the characters seemed a bit too flat and almost archetypal, but overall, this was but a small quibble. I really enjoyed this book and its many characters, but especially Allie. I cannot wait to read The Eternity Cure! The bottom line: My first reread into one of my favorite trilogies, I loved The Immortal Rules, not as much as the first time around, but I’m still obsessed! Next on deck: The Safe Place by Anna Downes!