TEEN KAGAWA
RO TEEN KAGAWA
I’ve had a bit of a string of books that were not so good and The Immortal Rules made up for all of it. I absolutely loved everything about it. Now, I’m not a huge fan of vampires. They’re okay, but I don’t really see the appeal. It takes a lot for me to really get into a vampire book, and boy, it didn’t really take me long to get into this one. I love Julie Kagawa’s writing and I’m a huge fan of The Iron Fey, but I believe that, not only has this series become my favorite of her’s, but that she can also write anything. If it wasn’t for her name on the cover, I would have never guessed that it was written by Julie Kagawa. The tone is so completely different from The Iron Fey. It’s much darker and morbidly sarcastic then her romps through the land of faerie. But the one thing they have in common: fantastic world building.
The dystopian landscape was just so well imagined and put together. I had no trouble picturing the landscapes. One element that really added to the experience were the rabids. The rabids are pretty much failed vampires that are almost zombie-like. The rabids mixed with the dystopian setting was really what I need to fill the hole that the mid-season finale of The Walking Dead left. And speaking of rabids and other monsters, I thought The Immortal Rules had the best depiction of vampires and vampire life that I have ever read. I feel that vampires are so romanticized in popular culture, and the book does a really excellent job of dispelling that. They may have been human once, but the will never rid themselves of the hunger and the demon inside them.
And speaking of vampires, Allison has to be one of the best heroines ever. I absolutely loved her character and her progression into becoming a vampire. She is such a strong character. She’s grown up pretty much on her own, living on the fringe of this vampire city and is always on the run, trying to survive, and I think that is what makes her an even strong vampire. She knows how to take care of herself and she’s not afraid to get her hands dirty if she has to. I was also quite happy to see that, although there is a romance, there were no love triangles and it wasn’t that prominent. Allison is a loner and her way of life requires her to be. I guess I like my protagonists to be tortured in some way.
Overall, The Immortal Rules was an excellent novel, and was just the thing I needed to help me wrap up the year and get me out of a reading rut. It had twists that I wasn’t expecting and elements in the plot that made me want to *bookshimmy* (Especially when that have to take a detour to a run down, dystopian Chicago. I always love me some dystopian Chicago). And if anything, it has just exemplified my need to read everything by Julie Kagawa. I’m so glad I already have the second book.
- Caroline
Originally posted on The Attic blog.