Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa - Megan

Synopsis from Goodreads
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.

Just as I was beginning to think that the vampire genre had finally emptied it's bowl, Julie Kagawa turns the tables on us and delivers a thrilling new story that you'll want to sink your teeth into. I was sceptical at first considering the book was based on the original vampire stories without the whole glitz and glamour of Twilight or The Vampire Diaries but Kagawa proves that her imagination has endless boundaries!

In New Convington, vampires are greatly feared and instead of admiring them, everyone wants to keep as far away from them as possible. After a virus ravages the earth's population, vampires rise to power and the remaining humans become their blood cattle. Unregistereds - like our protagonist, Allison - struggle to survive in the Fringe because, technically, they don't 'exist' so they aren't allowed any food or resources that come from the Inner City.

The book commences strongly, with the rules and regulations of New Convington clearly outlined so we get an understanding for the law system. It took no time at all for Kagawa to firmly grab my attention as she introduced me to this dark and dangerous world. The world-building was impeccably structured with the plot moving forward at a comfortable pace with no forced or rushed events occurring. The fluency of the writing had me engaged throughout because there's nothing I love more than an author who can actually write!

The characterisation was superb. I've noticed that some people seem to have a problem with Allie's choice to become a vampire - considering the fact that her hate for them is clearly stated in the first chapter - but, as told to us during this scene, Allie wanted to live. I mean, she's spent the majority of her life barely existing, so naturally her survival skills would kick in and urge her to go down the immortal path. Allie's determination to not feed on a human was commendable but she also had the sense to understand that sooner or later she would need to sink her fangs into someone or the Hunger would send her on a crazy killing spree. Her loyalty was also torn between her master Kanin and the group journeying to Eden but she balances both, with her rescue mission for Kanin unfolding in the sequel which I'm actually pretty excited for due to the cliffhanger at the end of this book!

The romance was as sweet as sugar; the fact that we didn't meet Zeke (also known as, Ezekiel Crosse) until halfway through the book made it that much better as it gave Kagawa enough time to fully create this world. With no insta-love and no love-triangles in sight, the relationship between Allie and Zeke spread its wings gradually and their growing trust for each other was expertly handled as we came to the climax of the story.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and it has definitely lived up to my expectations. I really couldn't recommend this more.

Rating: 5/5 stars