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The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)

Julie Kagawa

Start date: August 1, 2014

Finish date: August 31, 2014

Discussion: Group Read

Why we're reading this: Book Pool Winner's Choice…more
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December's Book of the Month: The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski
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What Members Thought

Dec 28, 2012 Prami{reader and dreamer} rated it really liked it

Shelves: personal-favourite, must-read, fav-author, vampires, dystopia-post-apocalyptic, zombies-undead-etc, 2014

Once you get used to the idea of immortals and a dystopian society where Vampires rules and humans are food, and a plague turns most vamps into Rabid who are almost-demons, you are sure to get hooked to the story.

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 Once you get used to the idea of immortals and a dystopian society where Vampires rules and humans are food, and a plague turns most vamps into Rabid who are almost-demons, you are sure to get hooked to the story.

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.

If you've read Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series, you'll know what you're getting into. A mysterious world, a courageous and lovable heroin, a bad boy and a swoon-worthy hero. True to form, this book has all of the elements from above and so much more. The best parts of this book are: the characters are not perfect samples, they are flawed which makes them so much more likable. The writing is so smooth and like magic, you are hanging on to every word.

You are a monster. You will always be a monster—there is no turning back from it. But what type of monster you become is entirely up to you.

The book is action packed and it has it's moments. Luckily, all of them are good moments. So if you're looking for a new and mysterious world with some action and so much more consistency, this is the book for you.

It makes no difference who we are, where we came from. Princes, Masters and rabids alike, we are monsters, cut off from humanity. They will never trust us. They will never accept us. We hid in their midst and walk among them, but we are forever separate. Damned. Alone. You don't understand now, but you will. There will come a time when the road before you splits, and you must decide your path. Will you choose to become a demon with a human face, or will you fight your demon until the end of time, knowing you will forever struggle alone? ...more

3 likes · Like · see review

May 26, 2013 Tamara rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: bad-ass-heroine, young-adult, dystopia, vampires, 2014-reads

3.5 stars

“Sometime in your life, Allison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being. Accidentally or as a conscious, deliberate act. It is unavoidable. The question is not if it will happen, but when”

Oh boy, and I told myself I gave up on vampire genre. That there were already so many books about there about them (and since they are all same) I thought it'd be impossible to find a fresh book that added new things to the mass but this book suprised me a lot.

What I liked

*Meet Allison

--Allison is actu ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Mar 16, 2014 Angela Blount rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: goddaughter-approved-picks, ya, post-apocalyptic-dystopian

A solid 3 ½

(Rating rounded up to emphasize that I did like it notably more so than the first in the Iron Fey series. And that's not just because I'd tend to pick vampires over fairies. ;) )

This YA dystopian vampire/near-horror tale blends many familiar elements that fans of Blade and Blood The Last Vampire will appreciate, casting them in a post bio-apocalyptic setting. Violent and bleak, but without being -completely- devoid of hope. (But yeah...still -mostly- devoid. So try not to get too att
A solid 3 ½

(Rating rounded up to emphasize that I did like it notably more so than the first in the Iron Fey series. And that's not just because I'd tend to pick vampires over fairies. ;) )

This YA dystopian vampire/near-horror tale blends many familiar elements that fans of Blade and Blood The Last Vampire will appreciate, casting them in a post bio-apocalyptic setting. Violent and bleak, but without being -completely- devoid of hope. (But yeah...still -mostly- devoid. So try not to get too attached. >.> Just sayin'.)

Allison Sekemoto presents as a strong, survivalist heroine—simple in motivation, relatable, and beautifully flawed. It is entirely through her perspective (first-person) that the story unfolds. The questions-of-humanity theme runs deep throughout. As one could easily derive from the back cover blurb, Allison is turned into the thing she hated most early on and spends much of the story deciding 'what kind of monster' she is going to be. Abandoned by the vampire who created her, she finds unexpected purpose with a roving band of humans who don't realize what she is. Their quest for a vampire-free city is one that obviously can't end well for her--but she is none the less tempted by the prospect of choosing to be a protector rather than a mere predator.

There is definitely a romantic element, but the development is admirably natural and gradual. Zeke isn't the kind of hero you'd expect from this kind of world—he's a genuinely nice, generous, all-around good guy, in spite of his surroundings. Outside of his leadership role, he's something of a laid-back Beta-male, making him a solid and logical complement to Allison's vampiric (and personality-based) aggressiveness. While not a raging ball of adolescent testosterone and bad-boy angst, Zeke is exceptionally capable of slaughter when slaughter is called for. I'm calling this one a win for nice guys.

The prose is engaging and skilled—morbidly amusing at some points, and emotionally resonant at others. The pacing is rapid once you get through the first 50-page setup, and the fight scenes are numerous and well depicted. Most secondary characters have a bit of believable depth to them, but there were a few that felt pretty flat, in this reviewer's opinion. *coughcough Stick coughcough Ruth coughcough*

One thing did drive me crazy at regular intervals—and fans, please correct me if I missed something: Early on in Allison's Vampire training, it's shown that vampires in this particular world have the ability to seal/heal the puncture wounds they've made using their tongues. Yet, after that initial lesson, Allison is never again shown using this handy trick or testing to see if it works on other kinds of wounds. Even when it would be -glaringly- advantageous to those she cares about. It's as if that detail and all it's fascinating potential is simply forgotten.

All in all, a satisfying plot for those who aren't burned out on the darker take on vampires. To this reader the writing shows Kagawa is not only prolific, but still honing her abilities as a storyteller. Always encouraging to watch an author grow along with their work. :) ...more

2 likes · Like · see review

Oct 29, 2013 priya rated it liked it

Shelves: snark, addictive

I expected to love this, to adore it to the point of a creepy obsession. But, honestly, it was just mehh. It didn't cause me to want to stab my eyes with a fork, but it didn't garner any real emotion or thought from me, the way good books do. It was really good for a vampire book, but in comparison to other paranormal YA I've read, this was pretty standard.

Allison was a badass, she wasn't overly moralistic and whiny, but she still struggled with her loss of humanity. I should love her. However, I expected to love this, to adore it to the point of a creepy obsession. But, honestly, it was just mehh. It didn't cause me to want to stab my eyes with a fork, but it didn't garner any real emotion or thought from me, the way good books do. It was really good for a vampire book, but in comparison to other paranormal YA I've read, this was pretty standard.

Allison was a badass, she wasn't overly moralistic and whiny, but she still struggled with her loss of humanity. I should love her. However, she never resonated emotionally with me. I could rarely connect with her, except when she was angry or killing rabids. Then, I was cheering her along, but that doesn't sound very sane of me so I'll just move along now.

Ruth made me really angry. Her entire character revolved around her being a bitch to Allison. That was it. Her motives were never explained, besides the obligatory "HE'S MY MAN" drama. Even the guys who were horrible (i.e. Jeb, Stick, Rat) had their own believable motivations for being complete shit. But Ruth, nope. Her life goal was for Zeke to love her back. Like, excuse me while I go bang my head against a wall. And since Ruth was the only other female, we basically have Allison, the badass vamp who still has her humanity and cares about people, and the girl who hates her. There. That encompasses all of the female adolescents in this world.

And Zeke was there too. He was nice and cute and smart and kind and generous and can I stop now. In short, he was perfect. I personally prefer my literary crushes to be less golden boy, prodigal son, etc., but I can definitely see how people can adore him. I just didn't really feel it, but that's more my problem.

The pacing was really slow at times, picking up now and again for a nice and detailed fight scene. I personally kept reading for those bursts of violence as they kept this book from feeling like it was dragging on too much.

The plot felt very disjointed, like it would go one place and then completely swerve to something else, just to do a complete 180 again. In retrospect, I understand why that happened and that this is just the first book in a series, but it was still really annoying. It was like I was reading several different books instead of just one, and every time I started to care about one book, the next would start up and I would have to again wait for it to get interesting.

Basically, this book was gritty and interesting with a badass female lead, but it still suffered from excessive YA paranormal cliche syndrome. I'll still probably read the rest of the series as reviews say the books get better, but they're not at the top of my to read pile by a long shot.

Also, note that this cover is so whitewashed, it's piss-inducing. Err, because racism makes me pee? (note to self: work on analogies) ...more

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May 26, 2013 Andrea Evans rated it it was amazing

Shelves: ya, i-own

A really good book. There are a lot of dystopian novels coming out, and a million vampire novels, but this is the first novel I have seen that combines the two. There is romance, but only a little.

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