The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Pages: 443
Publication Date: April 24, 2012
Publisher: Harlequin Teen

 To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness…

Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in 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 dies and becomes one of the monsters.

Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what and who is worth dying for…again.

Enter Julie Kagawa's dark and twisted world as an unforgettable journey begins.

After reading and loving Twilight at such a young age, I find it extremely hard to find a vampire novel that could ever exceed my expectations. A few months ago, I tried to read Marked, but the protagonist came off as whiny, immature brat that I couldn't bring myself to finish the book. I've also read the extremely well known, The Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead, which I liked, but still had a few problems with the protagonist, Rose. Even after reading the sequel, I didn't see any character development. The common issue I have with vampire novels are the protagonists. Usually, it was their decisions or the way their voice projects through the pages that bother me. However, with The Immortal Rules, none of the issues stated above were not presented in the book.

Our main character, Allie is given a choice, either to be turned into a dangerous rabid or to become a vampire. Wanting to live, Allie allows Kanin to transform her. But with becoming a vampire, comes great challenges. In the book, Allie's biggest struggle was to hold in her thirst. There were times where she wanted to slowly take a quick drink from the children while they were sleeping, but somehow Allie convinced herself not to. This to me shows a strong character. Yeah, Allie can fight and defend herself, but her boldness came out when she held in her thirst for the people she loved.

With an excellent main character, I didn't want the love interest to have bad boy vibes. Don't get me wrong, I love my good-hearted bad boys, but after reading countless of them, I wanted something different. Zeke, our love interest, gave me exactly what I was looking for. Independent. Strong. And most certainly, kind. His duty was to take care of the people and make sure that they were protected and fed. But one of the downsides to his personality was that he was one of those guys who you can easily walk over. He gave out his trust too willingly.

Not only were her characters fantastic, but her writing was, too. Her dark, descriptive writing held me captive in the story, making me breeze through the book so easily. The Fringe, the hideout, all the places where Allie traveled to reminded bits and scenes of The Walking Dead. Though, I don't like The Walking Dead, it was very comparable to Allie's chance at survival.

A true vampire novel with dystopian elements, The Immortal Rules is surely not to be missed.

 4/5 STARS