Contagious Reads: Review: Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
by Julie Kagawa
first published April 24th 2012 by 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.

Synopsis from Goodreads

I put up the picture of the new cover, which I think is a little better than the last one. Am I wrong? Probably. I think most people preferred seeing Allison on the cover, but it did bother me that the character was Asian, but the girl on the cover clearly wasn't. They definitely could've done something a little more amazing with the cover, but this was at least a step in the right direction to correct their previous mistake.

I have heard a year's worth of raving about this book. As many outstanding reviews I heard though, I was reluctant to pick this one up for two reason. 1) My hopes would be raised because of all the reviews, and 2) I hadn't really loved The Iron King, also by Julie Kagawa.

But, as per usual, I gave into the peer pressure. Everyone else loved it! Fine! I'll read it! And I admit, I enjoyed it more than I was expecting to. Plot-wise, it's a pretty great story, although it doesn't necessarily stand out from all the other vampire books out there. I really do love the characters, but they're a little cliche now. The moral vampire, the romantic attachment to a human. Standard, but at least it was told in a compelling way.

Despite the dialogue feeling forced at times, and the slight errors in "time" where Allison strangely knows about things she couldn't possibly know, and despite it being longer than it needed to be, I really did love the story. As I had started reading it, I thought the whole story would take place in New Covington, the vampire city. It was a nice surprise to have such a wide variety of scenery throughout the story. I ended up with a very clear picture of what the world has become. And the Rabids! Yeah! I definitely need more of them! I hope the sequel gives us a little more of that terror, and maybe some insight into their existence.