YA Book Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Release Date: 24 April 2012

Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Format: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Goodreads description:

In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity. Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire 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 is attacked--and given the ultimate choice. Die...or become one of the monsters.

Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.

Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend--a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.

But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what--and who--is worth dying for.

My Thoughts...
Leave it to Julie Kagawa to create a vampire novel that I love.  When I read Kelley York's Hollowed, I remembered that at one point, yes, I did/do enjoy a good vampire novel.  That's when I (finally) decided to pick up The Immortal Rules, which had been sitting on my eReader (and eventually my bookshelf) for a good long time, and I was not disappointed.

Allison Sekemoto chooses vampirism over death--a decision made in the pain of dying that she'll now have to live with, well, forever (barring catastrophe, anyway). Allie's character was really interesting to me.  She's loyal but her well-being and independence comes first--that's just the kind of world that she lives in. So, while her decision to become a the thing she hates most is at first surprising, it's really right in line with her survival instincts.

I really, really enjoyed Allie's journey beyond the walls of the city on her own.  Her survival skills and determination are really admirable and I liked getting to see her evolve.  Her relationship with Zeke was really interesting to watch develop because you know all along that he hates vampires and she is one. It's a little like waiting for an explosion that you know is going to happen.  However, being with Zeke and his people also seems to keep Allie rooted in her humanity and even shows her what it's like to belong to a family.

The action, adventure, and detailed settings in this one are exactly what I've come to expect from Julie Kagawa.  The storyline is full of twists that kept me turning the pages and made the 500 plus pages seem to fly by. The way that Kagawa blended a vampire story with a dystopian backdrop was phenomenal and well-balanced.  The world is huge and I liked that we got to see so much of it--not just a single city or area since the story is moving across the country. There's a lot of depth to the setting and society.

Fans of Julie Kagawa will love diving into her vampire story just as much as her beloved fey stories.  The world is darker, but the writing is still phenomenal.  You'll rip through the 500 pages and be asking for more.