Sing For Me, and Make It a Glorious Song

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous books, The Immortal Rules and The Eternity Cure, or don't mind knowing some major spoilers for them. The Forever Song, however, will remain spoiler-free.
SPOILER ALERT

~The Forever Song~
Blood of Eden
Book 3
By Julie Kagawa
Amazon ~ Powell's
Allison Sekemoto once struggled with the question: human or monster?
With the death of her love, Zeke, she has her answer.

MONSTER

Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren, the psychopathic vampire who murdered Zeke. But the trail is bloody and long, and Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions—her creator, Kanin, and her blood brother, Jackal. The trail is leading straight to the one place they must protect at any cost—the last vampire-free zone on Earth, Eden. And Sarren has one final, brutal shock in store for Allie.

In a ruined world where no life is sacred and former allies can turn on you in one heartbeat, Allie will face her darkest days. And if she succeeds, triumph is short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.


It's all come down to this. I loved the last book, but hated the first book. Would Allie's final quest be enough to win me over, or would I return to the disinterest I felt in the beginning? Only time and 416 electronic pages would tell.

One Step Closer To The Larger Cure We All Sought

SPOILER ALERT
This review is for those who have read or are familiar with the previous book, The Immortal Rules, or don't mind knowing some spoilers for it. The Eternity Cure, however, will remain spoiler-free.
SPOILER ALERT

~The Eternity Cure~
Blood of Eden
Book 2
By Julie Kagawa
Amazon ~ Powell's

How do you face the end of eternity?

In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left: Blood calls to blood

She has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever—and possibly end human and vampire existence.

There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago—and this strain is deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries, if Allie can get to him in time.

Allison thought that immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to make.

I'm so glad I gave this series another chance. If you'll remember my review of book one, The Immortal Rules, I harped on Allie and her motivation (or lack thereof) pretty hard. Yet I was still captivated by the world and the writing style, and thus expressed my hopes for its sequel(s). So when NetGalley knocked on my door/inbox with the offer of book two, I gladly accepted.

I'll admit starting out that I had some heavy reservations against this book. I considered re-reading book one, as I like to do before moving ahead in a series, but couldn't bring myself to push through the boredom I'd already gone through once. And the beginning of this book presented me with a few cases of missed opportunities that had me worried. But after the story got going, familiar faces appeared, and the action ramped up, I found myself enjoying this more and more.

Picking up almost exactly where The Immortal Rules left off, Allie is now hunting for her sire, Kanin. Very little time has passed, maybe a couple months, but there's no doubt that Allie has changed (for the better, in my opinion). She's been exposed to the highs and lows of both humanity and vampires, and is still seeking her place among them. But her existential quandary is put on hold for the moment as her blood-tie to Kanin shows her that his time is running short, so it's road trip time for our heroine as she chases an obtainable goal.

We Live By A Different Set Of Rules

~The Immortal Rules~
Blood of Eden
Book 1
By Julie Kagawa
Amazon ~ Powell's

MY VAMPIRE CREATOR TOLD ME THIS:

"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.

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.

This was another offer NetGalley was kind enough to e-mail me about. I've heard so much about Kagawa's Iron Fey series (though I haven't read them yet) that I was eager for a chance to finally read her work. And it starred vampires, for crying out loud. Why wouldn't I jump at the chance?

Perhaps it was so much hype going in, but this book never clicked for me.