The Immortal Rules Julie Kagawa Book Review

Oh, vampires, I can’t seem to quit you, and if Julie Kagawa is at the helm? FORGET ABOUT IT. Seriously, y’all can’t expect me to NOT read a bloodsucker book written by Julie Kagawa can you? I freakin’ DEVOURED The Immortal Rules and sigh, kind of want to read MORE vampire books. I know, I know. It’s like a legit addiction.

The Immortal Rules Julie Kagawa Book Cover

The Immortal Rules

Allison Sekemoto, main character of The Immortal Rules, is an unregistered Fringer in the vampire-run city of New Covington. This means she is free and does not live under the rule of vampires and can’t be compelled to give blood. It also means she struggles to find food. Oh and in this world run by vampires, there is a strain of the disease called rubidium which turns people into zombies with vampire traits. So anyways, eventually Allie is in this situation where she is given the choice between death and being turned into something she hates–a vampire. She chooses vampire and must learn to survive as a creature she loathes and potentially losing her humanity.

The rest of the plot of The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa centers on Allison disguising herself as a human and traveling with this group of people looking for Eden, a vampire-free city. Y’all shiz gets real in The Immortal Rules. Seriously, people die right and left. There are betrayals and hurt feelings all over the place. It’s a harsh life for the characters. No one is living easy in Kagawa’s vampire dystopia. I love that, that everyone has to make hard choices just to survive.

Allie is the deal. Sure, she hates being a vampire, but girl can wield a katana. Every time she whipped her sword out, I was like BRING IT ON, GIRL. We certainly don’t lack for action in The Immortal Rules. Honestly? The fight scenes were totally kick ass, we are talking decapitation and claws and blood here. It is legit, yo. Plus, I just love seeing a take-control, take-action kind of girl. Instead of wallowing and being all pity me, I hate what I’ve become, Allie stands up and takes some action and manages to try and follow a moral compass despite being the embodiment of evil and all.

I’m glad the vampires keep rising in YA, cuz seriously! I AM NOT OVER THEM. I, for reals, can’t wait for book two of The Immortal Rules because Julie Kagawa has brought her A-Game  to this new series and just shows she gets better and better as a writer with each new book written.

ETA 5/6/12: I just want to note that I am not a fan of the cover as the girl is clearly white whereas the main character of The Immortal Rules is Asian. I’m sad at this instance of white washing, as the cover would have been wonderful with an Asian girl on it.

Disclosure: Received for review via Netgalley!

Other reviews of The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa:

Into The Hall Of Books
The Grown Up YA
Confessions Of A Bookaholic
Sim-Sational-Books

Reviews of other books by Julie Kagawa:

The Iron King
The Iron Daughter

The following two tabs change content below.
April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.
About April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

Comments

  1. I’m over vampires, but if Kagawa writes it, I’ll read it. I’m glad it was worth the while!

    • See, I say that for genres I am not crazy about. Like, werewolves, I am not into them as much as vampires, but if an author I love writes them, then I will happily read it.

  2. I haven’t read this one yet, but I still love a good vampire story!

  3. I am over vampires, but not over amazing dystopian worlds, and this one totally appeals to me. Must read it soon! Love your unchecked enthusiasm in this review. It made me smile!

  4. I want a hot vampire guy who is the exact opposite of the saintly saint whom I’m not so impressed with at all. And I’m not over vampires either! They sparkle! Haha.

    • Yeah, Zeke was kind of a saint. Didn’t you want her to hook up with Kanin? I think that was you. I could be wrong.

      Whoo-hoo sparkles! Glitter for all!

  5. ha, glad you aren’t over vampire books! I am. I have been for a long time, but then again, I was never a huge fan of vampires. I guess it’s because if I was turned into a vampire (y’know, if it was a possibility) I would hate it. I hate the idea of living forever and everybody I know and love passing on.

    great review! I did really like this one, though, despite my aversion to vampires, ha ha. I loved the fight scenes and the katana. SO AWESOME.

    • That katana was THE BOMB!

      And you know, I don’t often think about immortality. On the one hand, death terrifies me and I am scared of the unknown. On the other, it would suck to lose all loved ones.

  6. I completely agree! This was amazing! I’m a huge vampire addict as well, but have been finding myself not connecting with the stories all that much recently (I think because they’ve all been copycats). It was so nice to read a fresh new take on vampires! I especially loved that Allison owned up to her choice to be made into a vampire. Yeah, she had conflicts with it of course, but she had no regrets and stood up for her opinion. Loved this! Fantastic review! 🙂

    • Maybe that is why I still like vampire stories, I seem to seek out the freh ones.

      See, that’s the thing that totally appeals to me, how Allison makes the choice to survive and she doesn’t beat herself up over it. Instead she makes the best of the hand that she has been dealt. I really admire that.

      Thank you!

  7. Zombies with vampire traits? That’s the best of both worlds! Or the worst, depending on how you look at it.

  8. I can’t seem to quit the vampires either. Have you read Infinite Days? It’s one of those rare awesome vampire books.
    Anyway, I really enjoyed this one as well. Julie can really do no wrong!

  9. A fabulous story–I thought I was over vampire books until I read this one. Great characters and an awesome plot!!

  10. I have never been a fan of vampire stories but this one knocked my socks off! I think the next vampire book I will be anticipating will be the sequel to this unless something else comes out this year that can gain such a following for being so awesome!

  11. I love this book! I still have not read the Iron Fey series and I need to so badly.

    Great review!

  12. I’m glad you loved this one! I really liked it, there were some moments that were a bit slow for me though. Unfortunately, for me? Allie was lacking something, but other than that I really agree with you!

    (And I love the society that Kagawa has created with this!)

    -Jac @ For Love and Books

  13. I’m sorry, but once a vamp lover ALWAYS a vamp lover. For serious.

    “Y’all shiz gets real in The Immortal Rules. Seriously, people die right and left.”

    WOOOORD. I felt like I was constantly bracing for someone ELSE to die it was so sad and intense and scary in all the Dark Stuff going on in this book. IT’s SO different from any Julie’s written before and that makes it all the more intriguing, her playing with the dark side over here. I LOVE THAT YOU LOVED THIS BOOK. And also that you’re A VAMP BOOK LOVER ;DD

  14. “Oh, vampires, I can’t seem to quit you…” Me either, friend, me either.
    I freakin love them. Why? Who the hell knows. It doesn’t matter either. I’d read anything by JKagawa any day of the week.

    This book was filled with awesome, cover to cover. Allie was brilliant and there was a sword. HELLO! And I love a blending of genres and JKagawa did it perfectly.

    Seriously, I was thrilled by this book. I want the second book NOW. I want to re-read this book NOW. Also, I want JKagawa to be my best friend so she can tell me stories over coffee and snacks. SO GLAD you liked it.

  15. OMG you said that perfectly! I loved this book! At first I was like, dystopian vampires? But once I knew it was Julie’s world full of dystopian vampires I was hooked!
    Awesome review!

  16. I was really bothered by the cover, too, but I really LOVED the book. Like you, I am not over vampires – especially when they are of the dangerous kind.

  17. I read and LOVED this one too! What is it about a Katana that is just so Bad A$$?! Also, I did not really even think about the white washing on the cover. Now that you mention it though, it is sad! She is described so well in the story, I would have loved to have seen that girl on the cover!

  18. I was nervous to pick this one up, because I loved the Iron Fey So much. but Julie is one heck of a writer. I will forever always buy her stuff.

    I loved this book so much! And yes, it’s a hard life for them. I loved how people died left and right. I’m not morbid, but it made it more realistic. Allie was so kick ass. I agree on the cover thing, I’m not a fan of it either. I liked it when I first saw it.. but then when I read it and realized she was asian, the cover just didn’t fit anymore.

    I’m dying for the next book, and I’m so not over vamps either. :0) We have new neighbors 2 houses down. Brian and I swear they are vamps. we never see them leave the house. but the cars move. Saturday night there were 3 large crows circling their house. creepy.

Trackbacks

  1. […] skill that would serve me well, alas. When I began The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa, sequel to The Immortal Rules there was a lot of initial confusion. I had forgotten the significance of a few of the minor […]