Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Goodreads Blurb

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.

Allie’s used to protecting her group, her family, until the night they’re killed. The night they’re killed and she gets two options: Die a human or die and rise as a vampire. She picks option 2 and thus starts our story. When her teacher, the one who turned her, is captured by enemies, Allie is left to her own resources to survive in the apocalyptic world full of rabids, twisted creatures that were once human, or once vampire. From there our heroine meets a group of Unregistered humans who somehow survived in a world where vampires rule the cities and food is rationed only among registered. She joins their gathering, but day by day her secret is getting harder to hide, her bloodlust harder to control. “Sometime in your life, Allison Sekemoto, you will kill a human being.The question is not if it will happen, but when.”

Julie Kagawa amazed me with her Iron Fey series, and she blew me away with Immortal Rules. And for someone who never wanted to do a vampire story from the beginning, Kagawa definitely aced the test with flying colors. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that she’d been lying to us and wrote vampire stories her whole life! That’s how amazing Immortal Rules was. The plot was original, the characters each having their own unique personalities, and the setting fit the story perfectly.

I couldn’t help but compare this to the Iron Fey sometimes, especially when I read similar things such as the tree growing out of the car. Caleb reminded me so much of Ethan, especially with the family bond between Allie and Caleb that reminded me of Meghan and Ethan at the beginning of Iron King! But Immortal Rules definitely has its own unique plot. Vampires have never been so new. Julie has twisted the myth of vampires into something entirely new, adding her own splash of imagination in the form of rabids. Next to clowns, rabids are now the scariest thing I’ve read about.

Usually I can tell what’s going to happen, can’t most of us? But I had absolutely no idea how the Immortal Rules would end. One moment I’d think she’d die, the next she wasn’t. I thought the love story would survive, I’m still not sure if it will or won’t. Nothing is predictable, and remember the phrase “Predict the unpredictable” while reading this.

Allie was way different than Meghan. She was more headstrong, stubborn, cruel, cold, and just…hard-core. Half of those we love in a protagonist. Meghan was sweet, strong, stubborn, a tad naïve, sacrificing, and underwent serious changes, emerging stronger than before. But so did Allie. I guess all in all, they’re both amazing characters. Zeke was a great love interest, broken but fixed, a leader yet still needing his family. Still remembering things that hurt. And that made me like him even more. I had a love/hate relationship with Ruth. I admired her for her strong personality, and her concern for her family, albeit a bit twisted. On the other hand, Ruth was being a real bitch, excuse my language, to Allie, spreading poison. Though I do think she really did care for her family and was just looking out for them.

I have to admit, as much as my heart races for other books as well, this single story definitely made me hold my breath and definitely made my heart stutter in fear.  I did cry, but why, I can’t say. But there is a heartbreaking moment in this book of horrors, and it will send you to the tissue box. And I did scream. Or tried to. My heart was in my throat at one part and I swore I could see Allie fighting desperately.

Summary:

Enchanting. Enticing. Beautiful. Dark. Edgy. Creepy. All wonderful words to describe the dangerous world of Immortal Rules. This is easily one of my favorite vampire/dystopian books of all time. It had the perfect dose of romance, danger, secrets, sacrifice, and the hard-core will of one girl struggling to survive…even when the world stands against her.

 Pages: 504

Series: Blood of Eden #1

Genre: Paranormal/Dystopia

Rating: 5 stars

“I froze, feeling the world stop for a fraction of a second. In a heartbeat, a torrent of emotion rushed through me, almost too fast to recognize. Horror, anger, guilt, regret. What was I doing? What the hell had come over me?