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Tuesday, March 05, 2013

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules is the first in Julie Kagawa's Blood of Eden series. This is another dystopian/vampire series, but an excellent addition to a genre that, while wildly popular, varies considerably in quality.

Allison Sekemoto lives in the Fringe, right outside of New Covington, a city ruled by vampires.  Allie and her gang are unregistered, and daily face a hand to mouth existence of hunger and cold.  The registered humans in the Fringe are the property of the city vampires who regularly harvest their blood.  While Allie and her gang are free from this process, they don't receive the benefits of the registered and are always scavenging for food.  The registered are like cattle, fed so that the vampires have  a continuing food supply.

In the search for food, Allie braves the ruins outside of the safe area and makes a lucky find in a basement.  The lucky find turns sour, however, when Allie and her gang go back to gather the canned items.  Attacked by rabids, two of the gang are killed immediately, and Allie, trying to draw the rabids away from the weakest member is attacked.  As she is dying, a strange vampire defeats the rabids and offers her the opportunity to live...but as vampire.  Although Allie despises vampires, her desire to live is strong, and she accepts the offer.

I liked Allie a great deal, but there were times when she was exasperating (especially--anything to do with Stick).  I would have liked Kanin to play a bigger role; he was an interesting character that disappeared too soon.

Despite the above criticisms, I loved the novel.  Kagawa kept me enthralled with the world she created and populated.  A thrilling adventure, and I can't wait for the next one, which I've already downloaded from Net Galley.

Net Galley and Harlequin Teen.  ISBN-10: 0373210515

YA/Dystopian/Vampire.  2012.  print version 504 pages.

screen rights - Palomar Pictures

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