Review Detail

I have to admit I was literally afraid to start this book and it took me two months to finally push myself to start reading it. This was my first book written by Julie Kagawa and I heard so many good things about her and her writing that I guess I just didn't want to be disappointed. In the last few weeks I've read quite some very highly praised books that fell completely flat to me. But then I started The Immortal rules and quickly became completely engaged in the story. You can officially call me a Julie Kagawa fan.

Vampires come in so many forms, there are so many books about them and very often the stories become repetitive, always the same - innocent human girl meets a strange pale guy, long story short, they're cheesy, romantic, sweet. The Immortal Rules brings something completely different - it brings a fight for survival, it brings action, intelligence, it brings an inside battle of good versus evil. There are no sweet little girls here, there are no good vampires with tender hearts who eat bunnies and squirrels. Vampires rule the world with a cold hand of power. Cities are owned by vampires, majority of humans consists from Registered who donate blood when needed. Outside of the city walls there are rabis, vicious creatures who'll eat you alive. Very few remember what life was like before. Allison Sekemoto falls in the minority - Unregistered human who struggles to survive day by day.

If you're looking for an independent strong female lead, here you have one. Allison delivered in every single way. She knows that sometimes she has to be selfish in order to live. She has to put herself first. She stands strong behind her values - she despises vampires and blood donnors, they often use humans as their private pets and she wants to be owned by no one. Freedom means everything to her. But she discovers a hidden stock of food outside of city walls and when returning home in the middle of the night she meets a strange vampire - he actually leaves her alive and unharmed. But not everything goes according to plan, next day she returns to the food stock with her three Unregistered friends and gets attacked by rabids. The mysterious vampire saves her but her wounds are fatal, she has to make a chance - will she die and risk becoming a rabid or will she take on an immortal life as one of the monsters she always despised?

You can't blame her for accepting immortality, it was a way to survive. Her life changes completely, sun is not an option, actual food is out of the questions and she can't survive on drinking blood from animals. She has to be a blood sucker, she has to feed from humans. Kanin, her vampire creator, teaches her everything she has to know about the vampire world and... game on! When their ways must split she goes behind the cities walls and circumstances lead her to joining a group of humans who are traveling by night and searching for city of Eden. The struggle to fight the bloodsucking hunger is hard. What's harder? Convincing herself she feels nothing for those weak human creatures. But she does. And that's what makes her different from other monsters of the night.

The world building is simply phenomenal, the characters are all multi-layered and so nicely done. Even those I hated, I hated them with pleasure (if that makes sense). I love Allison, but my favorite by far was Kanin. I wish there was more with him and I'm really looking forward to the sequel, hopefully we get to know his story more. He seems so different from other vampires, always burying himself with guilt yet trying to remain cold and heartless on the outside. Zeke, a human boy Allison falls for, was a great addition. He fights for his beliefs and he values loyalty, honesty, he's kind of an utopian character I believe... he sees the world from different perspective, he sees the good in people. But nevertheless is a fierce warrior when push comes to shove.

Overall, reading this book was one hell of a ride. ^^