Wednesday, May 30, 2012

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publication Date: April 24, 2012
Length: 504 pages

The Immortal Rules is a young adult, dystopian vampire novel. The world is now split into vampire cities, which are walled off to keep the humans in and the rabids out, and which are ruled by powerful vampires. Allison Sekemoto grew up in the Fringe, the outer area of her city, where Unregistereds live as scavengers. When she's out on a scavenging mission and is attacked by rabids, she's given a choice: die, or become one of the vampires she's hated her whole life.

This. Book. Is. Awesome. Allie is a great main character. Throughout the book, you get enough back story for her motives and feelings to make sense. I loved watching her learn and struggle and make decisions as she figured out her own ethics as a vampire.

And the vampires in this story are great. They sort of remind me of Anne Rice's vampires. They're scary, but also sometimes sexy. They're usually evil, but they still retain their personalities from when they were human, so they're not just soulless beasts. And they're totally kickass.

I honestly don't even know what more to say about this one. It's just so good! I know there's been an awful lot of vampire stuff in recent years, but this one definitely stands out from the crowd. This was my first Julie Kagawa book, and I'll definitely be checking out her other stuff.

The one thing I'm not a fan of is the cover. It has to be said. The girl on the cover, who is also all over the series website, is obviously not Asian. This makes zero sense. Being Japanese is an important part of Allie's character (hello, her last name is Sekemoto, and she carries a katana). This is straight up whitewashing and I am not ok with it. It makes me worried about what will happen if a movie ends up being made. Messing up Allie's character could ruin what has the potential to be an amazing movie!

Anyway, aside from the cover, the book itself is amazing. 5 stars, and highly recommended.

Full disclosure: Free e-book copy received from the publisher through NetGalley.

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