Julie Kagawa : THE IMMORTAL RULES

WARNING! Don't expect Vampires to sparkle or Werewolves to be hunky in this story. This is not that type of a YA novel.

THE IMMORTAL RULES is the first book in A BLOOD OF EDEN trilogy written by American author JULIE KAGAWA. Julie is famous for her IRON FEY series but she put her fingers into the usual suspects as well.

The Immortal Rules has been recommended by many Vloggers and Bloggers online. I only heard praises about this book, so me being me, I had to find out for myself for is the fuss about. I was excited to get hands on my own copy and read it for myself. 

But I have been massively disappointed.... Unfortunately!!

It's a story about dystopian world and mainly USA. The world and its population has been struck by RED LUNG disease and people either died or been change to Rabbits (don't think about the cute little fury bunnies!) Rabbits are creatures created with vampire and human blood and then infected with red lung disease. They are pretty nasty things which, of course, crave human blood. SURPRISE!!

Now in this world, Vampires rule it. They created vampire towns and gather their food (humans) and slaves (humans again) around them. And in one of this town - New Covington to be exact - lives a girl named Allison Sekemoto. Allison is one of the Unregistereds living on the outskirts of the city, in the fridge. Well if you can call it living? She is surviving. You see, when you aren't registered or belong to a vampire in the city, your life is pretty crazy. No food. No place to live. No right for education....It's not exactly what you would call a happy place. But Allison is surviving with her little group of friends. One day she discovers a hidden stash of food outside the city and when she goes to collect it with her friends, they get attacked by rabbits. And Allison is saving by one thing she hates the most and she becomes one of the things she hates the most - a vampire.

The vampires in this story are REAL vampires. They don't sparkle in the sun - they burn. They don't stay up all night - they have to sleep in the dark (ground or dark rooms - it's your preference). They are strong and fast. They can blend with the humans, but they also need to, I repeat NEED TO, drink human blood. They cannot be so called 'vegetarian' vampires by drinking animal blood. They have to drink human's blood.

The writing is also easy to follow and explains itself and the story. But, the story itself is lacking the usual excitement of YA novel. It's missing the page-turnover essence which usually accompanies a story about vampires and dystopian world. 

The characters in the book are quite bland and boring. They failed to impress me and I couldn't warm up to any of them. Usually, I can imagine myself as one of the characters, but this time I am finding myself on sidelines watching a film, which I can happily live without. I am reading about these people and their lives being thrown upside down but I cannot find even a little bit of sympathy for them. My emotional quotient is on minus five. Seriously, the author failed to bring the connection to her imagined heroes. Zeke is too goody-goody and Allison is the worst vampire ever. Even Bella Swan was more interesting as vampire. And had more fun as a vampire. Jeb is a fanatic, who has his mind closed to any possible new development in his situation. So as far as the characters go, I am dying of boredom.

The story of Allison and her life first in the fringe fighting for everyday survival as one of the Unregistereds, then looking through glass as she struggles to come into terms of her being what she hates the most - a vampire, and then finally finding someone she cares about is very, very boring. I had to force myself to read this book and it took me a whole two weeks to read it. This hasn't happened with YA novel before!!

There is a sequel to this story - THE ETERNITY CURE - and a third instalment is coming out this year - THE FOREVER SONG. They both will remain on my book shelf untouched for quite some time until I am ready to get lost for two weeks in this tragedy of a book.

Sorry Ms Kagawa but  I was not impress with your work. I was left disappointed as I was really looking forward to reading this book, but instead I was left with a boring story with bland characters I couldn't find a little bit of empathy for. 

Some quotes from the book I kinda of like  : 

“The mighty hunter,” I quipped as we snuck out the backdoor, escaping into the yard. “He can take down vicious rabids and rampaging boars, but one old lady can make him flee in terror.”
“One scary old lady,” he corrected me, looking relieved to be out of the house. “You didn’t hear what she told me when I got up — you’re so cute I could put you in a pie. Tell me that’s not the creepiest thing you’ve ever heard.” His voice climbed a few octaves, turning shrill and breathy. “Today for dessert, we have apple pie, blueberry pie and Ezekiel pie.”

“You don't dwell on what you've lost, you just move on."

“You are a monster.” Kanin’s deep voice droned in my head again, as I forced myself to move, to walk away. “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 closer you got to someone, the more it would destroy you when they were inevitably gone.”

“We are vampires, Kanin had told me, on one of our last nights together. 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 hide 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?”

“He smiled, a real one this time, though his voice remained teasing. “So, what do you think I am?” Naive, I thought at once. Naive, brave, selfless, incredible and much too kind to survive this world. It’ll break you in the end, if you keep going like this. Good things never last.” 

“Words define us,' Mom continued, as I struggled to make my clumsy marks look like her elegant script. 'We must protect our knowledge and pass it on whenever we can. If we are ever to become a society again, we must teach others how to remain human.” 

“And sometimes, hope is the only thing that gets us through the day.” 

“It seemed Lady Luck hated me worse than usual.”

“It is useless to offer words of hope when you have none yourself.” 

“It was fine and good to be defiant to the end, but it was better not to get caught in the first place.” 

“It was almost better to be caught by the hungry, soulless vampires; the most they would probably do was drink your blood and leave you to die. Humans were capable of far, far worse.” 

“Sometime in your life Allison Sekemoto you will kill a human being. The question is not if it will happen, but when. Do you understand?" I didn't then, not really. I do now.”