The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1) by Julie Kagawa
Release Date –  April 24, 2012
Publisher Website –  HarlequinTeen
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages -  485 pages
My Rating- 4.5/5
**obtained from the publisher and Netgalley for an honest review**

Here is the Goodreads synopsis

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.

It’s no secret I adored Julie Kagawa’s Iron Fey series. I love Julie’s writing and was thrilled to hear about her new series involving vampires. Julie has created a world where the stakes are high, and love might just be something worth living or dying for.

The world Julie has created will give you shivers. The cities have crumbled, a plague has decimated our population and vampires have decided to come forward as a means to help “protect” their food source.  For most humans the options are either to become a registered citizen and live under vampire control. You will have to provide them blood once a month and in return you are taken care of. Your other alternative? Be unregistered and live on the Fringe. You are not given any food, shelter, or other necessitates. You are also on constant alert of attacks from either other unregistered, or rabids, and this if of course you don’t die of starvation first. One of Julie's strongest abilities in writing is creating the world, and she has created one that feels chillingly real.

Allie is a character I loved immediately. Strong, cunning, and a survivor. Her life prior to the fateful meeting with a vampire is filled with danger, and struggle. She shows herself to be quite capable and a force to be reckoned with even before gaining super strength. She does not trust a lot of people, having been burned in the past. She is a little sarcastic and funny.

What I love most about Allie though is her journey. The Allie we meet at the beginning of the novel versus the Allie at the end has undergone many changes and with that her priorities and what is important to her have shifted. Her surprise and willingness to embrace this is one of my favourite parts of the story, and her character.

Zeke, a boy Allie meets become quite significant to Allie’s journey and Allie herself. Zeke is caring, determined, and pretty swoon worthy . The interactions between he and Allie will leave you exasperated, hopeful, and swooning all at the same time. There are some intensely romantic scenes in the novel that play out wonderfully in between lots of action, and meaty plot.

I adored Kanin, Allie’s maker. An intense, and driven vampire who offers Allie a chance to survive when all hope is lost to her. She snatches it and under his guidance becomes a katana wielding vampire goddess.  Kanin is someone I hope to see much more of in subsequent novels.I loved how different he was from most vampires, and feel like we just began to learn about him and his motives.

As dangerous as the world around Allie is the stakes are even higher once Allie becomes vampire and new foes are introduced. The body count is high and that means not everyone makes it to the end of the first act in this story. If this is any indication for what’s to come readers are in for a dangerous, action filled trilogy.

Immortal Rules is filled with tingling chills, heart stopping romance, kick ass action and Allie’s journey is just beginning. I, for one, am happy to follow her, and Julie, wherever they wish to take us next.