First review will be for one of my favourite books of 2012, The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden) by Julie Kawaga.
In a future world, vampires reign.
Humans are blood cattle.Tasty cover for a start but i promise you the books even better. Allison Sekemoto, our resident heroin, is what i love in books like this - somebody who doesn't need the whole character - finds - herself shebang because its already there. From the start you can tell she doesn't like taking any s**t from anybody and survives pretty well all things considering. One of the great things about this book is the pace is fast and for once the entire story line isn't 'oh god I've been turned into a vampire! How miserable!'. There's more to it than the whole newborn vamp struggle, but the bits of it that do feature are written well and realistic. Its more 'Oh, I'm a vampire now. Oh well, lets get on with things.' . Brilliant. Perfect.
And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.She must decide what - and who - are worth dying for.
Allison starts out as a Fringer - unregistered to the vamps - living off whatever she can find on the edges of the vampire city. Soon though, through pretty much the incompetence of those around her, she ends up being turned vamp. Not the greatest result, but Allison takes what she can get. The whole book focuses on Allison's journey through the wilds after she is separated from her maker and her unlikely quest to find an Eden that doesn't belong to her.
Now the rest of the story. Well we have Kanin, Allison's extremely attractive mysterious vampire maker who we learn a bit about at the start of the book, but since the pair are separated pretty early on there's definitely room for a story line with his past and the details in the second book of the series. And come on, really, who doesn't love a hunk with a mysterious burdensome past? Kanin's practically begging to be developed by Julie in ways that end up with him AT LEAST half naked. AT LEAST. Seriously though, Kanin's one to watch.
Moving on to Allison's journey across the wilds...
Julie manages to really keep the pace going here without it being too rushed but fast enough you don't get bored of the dialogue or situation. This is probably because even though it is a vampire novel, its something more original than most. And the plot twists are even better. There were times when my heart was aching and i wanted to crawl into the book and bear hug all the characters and parts were words were sucking me in into Allison's creepy world like a whirlwind of awesomeness. Of course, every five seconds i thought of Zeke so i should get extra credit for actually finishing the book and not daydreaming about Zeke and his strong arms.
ZEKE.
Ohhhh Yeah. His character depth was pretty much spot on perfect. Some characters in books you just don't get, and i always like to think somebody has a reason for doing something. Zeke was so covered in chocolaty layers of development i almost felt like a therapist peeling away each layer. There was definitely a possibility he makes an appearance in book two as well - i have a hunch he might follow Allison from Eden, he seems like the devoted type. You'll have to figure it out for yourself.
Overall i think this is a really impressive book. It hasn't got one of those annoyingly cliffhangy cliffhangers, but still you get the book withdrawal symptoms afterwards. Every new chapter had a new slice of awesome. A total worth while read.
Next book in the series - The Eternity Cure (oooo!) is out in April.
How'd you like my first review? Pros? Cons? Comment please my non - existent followers!
Ellie
Ta! x
