The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa - GBR - Starting October 1st 2020

[Anna 'Bookbuyer']

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.

[Anna 'Bookbuyer']

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa will be our 5th GBR for October 2020.

Please read at your own pace, and hide any spoilers ☺ You are welcome to join at any time during the month ☺

Happy Reading Everybody!

[Anna 'Bookbuyer']

Pre-Reading Questions -

Anybody got any thoughts on this one before we start?

Has anyone read anything similar to this before?

Anybody read anything else by this author previously?

[Lindie]

It's been a while since I read a vampire book. Excited to try it again.

I've previously read Julie Kagawa's The Iron Fey series and really enjoyed that so am hopeful for this one.

[Steve]

Chapter 3:

(view spoiler)[
It started a little cliched but as soon as Allie ran into the stranger in the tunnels my interest picked up! I wonder why a vamp would be staying outside the walls? Maybe he's shunned by his vamp community? Maybe he's a vamp rebel?
(hide spoiler)]

[Lindie]

Chapter 2-3:

(view spoiler)[Oh wow, vampire deer! I am having such a laugh. Eh, vampire in the tunnels. One half of the love triangle, here we come. (I say, hoping to be proved wrong) (hide spoiler)]

[Steve]

Chapter 4:

(view spoiler)[
I guess if I had spent two seconds analyzing the book cover it wouldn't have come as a surprise that she was going to be turned lol. I wonder how Stick is doing. I wanted to feel bad for him but he really does seem helpless.

On a side note, can vampires feed on the rabids? Maybe they just get indigestion? Pop a couple pepto chewables?
(hide spoiler)]

[Lindie]

Chapters 4-21 (wow, I blasted through a lot of this last night, I hadn't paid attention to chapters and thought I was still on 10. Lol, nope):

(view spoiler)[
Did Stick really betray Allie? I am hoping it was the scarred vampire who followed her to the hospital.

The story really started picking up for me the moment Allie joined Zeke's team. Will Zeke be the main romance, or is he the other leg of the triangle?

I kind of hate that the other teenage girl is immediately put into horrible and jealous category. This is one of the YA tropes I am infinitely tired of.

That sais, she should really just have bitten Ruth and been done. Feeding off someone who already lost a massive amount of blood was pretty stupid. And it was right out in the open too. I kept thinking someone was going to come by and see. Especially how Jeb was lurking around previously.

The rabids not attacking her was interesting. Especially as Kanin warned her about them. Makes me wonder if their apathy towards Allie is specific to her.

Oh wow, Jeb is so much worse than I thought. boo hiss.

Darren :(

I hate that it was Darren in the cage, even as I understand Allie would not have had an emotional reaction to anyone else, aside from Caleb and the little girl, but violently killing little kids would have been too dark.
(hide spoiler)]

[Lindie]

Finished.

(view spoiler)[And then Ruth died anyway? What a waste of blood. Also not sure why Allie didn't eat more of the guards. If I were a vampire, I'd carry a little thermos with me to refill during such times

I really enjoyed this. It ramped up towards the end. I liked that she kept her word to Zeke. I think she's going to change a lot of minds on what vampires can be. Granted, vamps like Jackel do not make it easy. (hide spoiler)]

[Steve]

Lol I'm still on like chapter 10, I guess I gotta get reading!

Also it is super difficult to find this thread without notifications working!

[Steve]

I'm on chapter 15, and I see why you blasted through chapters 4-21. It seems like the book gets really interesting about then! It has a very walking dead vibe to it for me, which I'm really enjoying!

Chapter 4-14:
(view spoiler)[
I think it happened in chapter 14, but once Allison saved Bethany (I think that was the girl's name), I feel like she could've come clean to Zeke and Jeb and they would've been like alright, she's a vamp but she's cool
(hide spoiler)]

[Steve]

Lindie wrote: "Finished.

And then Ruth died anyway? What a waste of blood. Also not sure why Allie didn't eat more of the guards. If I were a vampire, I'd carry a little thermos with me to refill during such ti..."

Finally finished!

(view spoiler)[
Hahah I love the thermos idea! I was wondering why she didn't do that too, also couldn't she have been lapping up the blood from people bleeding profusely? She could just sneak in some licks while no one is looking!

Ruth dying at the end without any fanfare seemed kind of odd lol. It was just like "oh hey by the way Ruth died."
(hide spoiler)]

Overall I really liked the book and have started the next one in the series! I had the same enjoyment reading this as I had watching the first season of the walking dead.

[Lindie]

(view spoiler)[Yeah, she was letting a whole lot of sustenance go to waste. Silly girl. Though I guess it might have something to do with not being a vampire long. Kanin hadn't had enough time to teach her proper feeding habits. He did have a flask or a thermos (or a bottle? I don't remember) of blood that he fed her with in the early chapters, she should have paid better attention. (hide spoiler)]

Yeah, I think I can read more of this series.