Thursday, April 25, 2013

Review: The Immortal Rules, by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)


Title: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: YA dystopia
Pub. Date: April 24, 2012

To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness…

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in 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 dies and becomes one of the monsters.

Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what and who is worth dying for…again.

Enter Julie Kagawa's dark and twisted world as an unforgettable journey begins.



Julie Kagawa never fails to amaze me with her storytelling. Her novels will pull you into the world that she has superbly created with her beautifully detailed writing.

As hard as it is to admit, this book was, in summary, a disappointment. With my standards set so high, I was expecting something with more pizzazz (I can’t think of a better word, so I’ll just use that weird one).

It's not like the author did not do a good job in portraying vampires as how they are supposed to be portrayed. It's not that the story wasn't written well or the characters were flat or whatever. It's that I was not that affected by this story. Yes, the middle part was totally epic, but the rest... I don't know. It just was not that notable or magnificent, to me.

I guess a good way to put this is that this book will be easily forgotten, blurring in with the other insignificant books.

It causes me utmost pain to be giving Kagawa's book, an author whom I have been a major fan of, a rating of less than 4 stars. But I feel like there are other books out there worthy of 4 stars, more so than The Immortal Rules.

The only two characters that I truly felt a connection with are Caleb and Allie, not so much the others. And Caleb only because of how young and cute he is, and I have a soft spot for little kids. Zeke, while sweet and kind, was a little too perfect in my opinion, and was not that interesting to read about. Kanin was very mysterious and we know absolutely nothing about him besides what was revealed near the end. But I think that this was intentionally done in order to expand on his character in book 2. Kagawa did a good job with developing Allison as a main character, but neglected the other characters by not putting as much effort into them.

I can’t find any solid justification for rating this book 3.5 stars, other than the fact that I felt so disconnected from a majority of the characters. Though, I think that not being able to connect with the characters takes a lot away from the reading experience. So I guess that is a good enough reason.

I’m sorry Julie Kagawa, AKA one of my favorite authors of one of my favorite series, for giving your book 3.5 stars. I truly am. Still, I am firm in my belief that this book is not that great as I expected it would be.

*Cowers in a corner out of shame*

But there is still hope for book 2!

3.5/5 stars

5 comments:

  1. Julie Kagawa is also one of my favorite authors! I would feel just as guilty for giving her anything less than 4 stars. You've now got me thinking about skipping this book, which might be a blessing since my list of to-read books is unimaginable. Too many books and so little time is one of the downsides of being a book junkie. ;)

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    1. So true. But I think you should read this once you get the free time, it probably shouldn't be your top priority. When compared to other vampire books, this book is definitely one of the better ones. But, when compared to Julie's other books, probably not one of her best.

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  2. Hi! Just found your blog using the Teen Blogger group on Goodreads. Love your blog and have just followed using Bloglovin'.

    So sorry you didn't like this one. I loved it and actually thought it much better than her Iron Fey series.
    Great review! :)

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    1. Thanks for the follow!
      I would love to see your opinion on this book, even though we have totally different views, I like to see other people's reviews who do not have the same opinion of the book. Lol, you didn't like her Iron Fey series, but that's one of my favorites.
      Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  3. Hey, just like Lucy I found your blog on the Teen Blogger group. New follower via BL and GFC. This was the free book of the week on ITunes so I had to get it. I have heard great reviews but personally it doesn't seem like my sorta thing. Even though I'm a sucker for vampires stories!! Haha shame you didn't enjoy this as much as her other series.

    - Sunny @ www.asupersunnyspot.blogspot.com

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