The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1) in SOS: Serious Overload of Series

Nov 30, 2011 Chelsea rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, favorites, vampires, uf-pnr

This review was originally published at Vampire Book Club.

Simply put: The Immortal Rules is Julie Kagawa’s best novel to date. She merges a strong heroine, two kinds of vampires (one dark and complex, the other zombie-esque), a fight for humanity and anti-authoritarian overtones in a masterful way.

Protagonist Allison begins this story as a human living in on the fringe of a vampire-run society. Humans can register with the vampires and in exchange for required blood donations, they get access to This review was originally published at Vampire Book Club.

Simply put: The Immortal Rules is Julie Kagawa’s best novel to date. She merges a strong heroine, two kinds of vampires (one dark and complex, the other zombie-esque), a fight for humanity and anti-authoritarian overtones in a masterful way.

Protagonist Allison begins this story as a human living in on the fringe of a vampire-run society. Humans can register with the vampires and in exchange for required blood donations, they get access to food. However, that means the vampires own you. Allison isn’t having that. As an unregistered, she needs to scavenge for food and fight to maintain her home. She live with three others and they work together to keep the group safe. But as things get tense, she’s willing to sneak outside the city walls into the ruins of suburbs to find food. That means dealing with the rabids. The rabids are mindless vampires attacking on sight. They’re quick and dangerous.

I don’t want to give Allison’s journey away, but as it’s included in the back cover copy, I’m going to tell you something that happens a quarter of the way in: Allison gets turned into a vampire. The one thing she hates. The thing she fights. The thing she wants to kill.

And the emotional journey of a young woman accepting her new reality as a monster and fighting to retain her humanity is done with power, care and blinding honesty. Kagawa writes Allie’s journey in such a way, you’ll imagine yourself fighting to keep the Hunger at bay and longing for someone human to still trust you.

This isn’t just any vampire story. Or just another YA dystopian novel. The Immortal Rules is a book that will gut you, warm you and keep you up until 4 a.m. just to get more of Allison’s story. (The hot boy doesn’t hurt either.)

If you like your books dark with young women worthy of admiration, The Immortal Rules will strike a chord with you. And even if you haven’t dived into the post-apocalyptic and dystopian trend, you need to read this one.

Sexual content: Kissing ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

Apr 13, 2012 Cee rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult, dystopian, vampires, zombies

This is the first book I read by Ms Kagawa, and I have to say that I'm impressed by her writing. After finishing The Immortal Rules I picked up another book and I just had to stop reading it because the writing felt way too choppy in comparison. Not only does this book boast wonderful writing, it also has an interesting plot.

Allison, or Allie, is a Fringer. She has to fight to survive as starvation is a real threat on the borders of a Vampire city. But then Allie is turned in the one thing she This is the first book I read by Ms Kagawa, and I have to say that I'm impressed by her writing. After finishing The Immortal Rules I picked up another book and I just had to stop reading it because the writing felt way too choppy in comparison. Not only does this book boast wonderful writing, it also has an interesting plot.

Allison, or Allie, is a Fringer. She has to fight to survive as starvation is a real threat on the borders of a Vampire city. But then Allie is turned in the one thing she hates most - a vampire. She will have to choose what kind of monster she wants to become.

To sum it up, The Immortal Rules is a dystopian vampire story with zombies called rabids. I was really glad to see that it didn't feature the lame sparkly kind of vampires, but super strong killing machine vampires that can suck you dry in a few seconds. Ms Kagawa found the right balance between monstrous and human in her vampires, especially Allie.

When Allie is turned, she leaves the city and comes across a band of humans searching for the vampire-free city of Eden. The major part of the story revolves around this band of humans and their interactions with Allie. They don't know she's a vampire and she has to do everything to hide her nature. For me the journey to Eden had a bit of an epic fantasy feel - a string of small interactions that will later unfold into a much bigger picture. I personally wasn't bored by this, but I can see why some people might call this part slow.

I really liked the story, but I felt it was a bit lacking in some parts. The rabids felt inconsistent. At one point Allie is afraid she has turned a human into a rabid person because she has bitten him, and at another point she bites someone and it doesn't even cross her mind. Maybe there was a reason for this and it wasn't an inconsistency problem, but it was most definitely under explained. Sometimes there are rabid animals, sometimes there aren't. Rabids can't cross water, but Allie still considers rabid fish.

This is a long book, and there is more than enough room for world-building, but for me there wasn't enough. The whole Red Lung virus thing gets rushed over and there is no explanation at all how, if pretty much every building is crumbling, the vampires were able to make massive towers. Did they put the stones on top of the other themselves? I highly doubt that. I hope there will be more insights into how this world works in the next book of the series.

I did like all the interactions between the characters, and Zeke was one of my favourites. I'm looking forward to see how his and Allie's relationship will develop in the next book. I'm getting a double point of view vibe from the end of this one. Or maybe Ms Kagawa has something completely different for them in mind.

The Immortal Rules is a great book that I would certainly recommend for vampire/dystopian lovers, but I do hope that the second book in the Blood of Eden series will contain more explanations on how this world came to be. Still, a big thumbs up for Ms Kagawa's amazing way with words. ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 27, 2012 Ruby Jo rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: ya, vampires, to-be-reviewed, 5-stars, must-read, finished-series

This book blew me away. It really did. It was one of those books that keep you so focused on the story, that you don't even feel the need to move. You start reading and the sun is up in the sky and after about an hour, you lift your head up and realize it's dark outside and you check the watch and you realize hours and hours have past since you started reading. It's one of those books that make you want to read each and every sentence and really pay attention to what you're reading.

I loved Alli This book blew me away. It really did. It was one of those books that keep you so focused on the story, that you don't even feel the need to move. You start reading and the sun is up in the sky and after about an hour, you lift your head up and realize it's dark outside and you check the watch and you realize hours and hours have past since you started reading. It's one of those books that make you want to read each and every sentence and really pay attention to what you're reading.

I loved Allie. She was a very complex character. What I loved about her was that you could see two different sides in her. She could be both fearless and scared, tough as nails and tender, she could mourn the loss of a friend and choose to kill another vampire just to save her human friends. I liked that about her. It made her look multidimensional. Of course, she has her bad moments, she makes some not so smart decisions, but everyone does. The fact that she's not perfect makes her even more like-able in my opinion.

I also loved the world presented in this book. It was my very first dystopian book and it made me ask myself why I waited so long to try this genre. It was amazing. I liked the fact that vampires weren't as indestructible as they normally are represented. They were just as powerless as the humans when it came to those zombie-vampire creatures.

Another thing that I liked was the fact that the author didn't take the easy, predictable way out. There were moments where I expected certain characters to do or say a certain thing and I was 100% sure they'd do it. And when those things didn't happen, it was so refreshing. It was amazing how each and every time I expected something to happen, those things didn't. Each page of this book was full or surprises and I loved that.

The book has it all: horror, action, suspense, romance, a little drama. Of course, I'm hoping we get to see Allie's vampire dad, Kanin, again.

I really can't wait for the next book to come out. I will probably reread this book soon, because I need to return to that world. And until I get my hands on the second book, what am I to do?

Recommended: If you like vampires, YA, fantasy, paranormal, horror, you name it, this book is for you. I do believe this is one of the books you HAVE to read.
...more

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 25, 2013 Mandapanda rated it liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, young-adult, fantasy

Review: The Immortal Rules I'd heard a lot of good things about this author but I ran hot and cold with this story. It starts with a tough but lacking in personality heroine living on the edge of a dystopian society ruled by vampires. Allie makes some really poor decisions which get her fellow 'fringers' killed and sees her turned into a vampire. There's a distinct lack of originality in this section of the book. When Allie is 'turned' it felt like I'd been thrown back into the old vampire mytho ...more

Like · see review

May 19, 2012 April rated it really liked it

Shelves: don-t-own, read-in-2012, vampires, young-adult, post-apocalyptic

Review to come! :)

Like · see review

Feb 26, 2012 Naomi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

This book is brilliant! It dragged me into the story from the first page & didn't let go until it ended. I NEED the next book NOW!!!! ...more

Like · see review

Nov 28, 2011 Nicole rated it liked it

Shelves: ya, vampire-fiction, paranormal-fiction, urban-fiction, dystopia-fiction, end-of-the-world-books, library-book

This book started off really good, but after a while the story lost some steam after a while.

Like · see review

Dec 08, 2011 Tiffany rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: on-my-nook

ONE WORD!!!! AMAZING!

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 31, 2011 Beth marked it as to-read

Like

Nov 21, 2011 Ashley ~twisted_illusions~ marked it as to-read

Shelves: series-to-read, vampires-to-read, 1st-in-ongoing-series, series-starting-with-b, dystopian, released-2012, young-adult, fantasy, paranormal, romance

Like