Member Reviews

"The Immortal Rules" is a triumph of storytelling that will leave readers craving for more. With its compelling characters, gripping plot, and atmospheric setting, it's no wonder that this book has garnered such widespread acclaim. Julie Kagawa has once again proven herself to be a master of her craft, delivering a must-read novel that transcends genre boundaries.

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I was going through my shelf on Netgalley and noticed I had once gotten this one for review. I can't find my ecopy of it anymore. I've since lost interest in this book and even donated my paperback copy copy to a free little library. So I am shelving this one as DNF.

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*May contain spoilers*

About sixty years after Red Lung, a deadly virus killed off most of the world's human population, vampires rule the world. The few humans left are considered blood cattle to them. Registereds are well fed and protected from rogue vamps and other dangers while Unregistereds are half starved barely living on the fringes of societies. While the registereds live a privileged life it also has it's draw backs, they must give blood. Being unregistered means that they don't have to give blood, but it also means you are unprotected from danger.

Allison Sekemoto is one of the unregistereds, living in an abandoned school building, with her friends. She has had a hard life. Hunger is nothing new to her. Allison doesn't just sit there and take it though, while out scavenging for food, she finds a whole basement full of food. Going back to get the food means Allison and her gang must go through the rabid infested ruins, but it's a risk they're willing to take and it costs them their lives. Lying on the ground dying a mysterious vampire named Kanin finds her. He gives her a choice, a quick death or to become like him, an immortal. Allison has always hated vampires, for what they are, what they've done, everything about them, but she doesn't want to give up either.

Once she becomes the thing she hates most, a monster, she fights to hold onto her humanity, struggles with the demon that threatens to overpower her.

Kanin is a good teacher, although cold, secretive and standoffish, he has his reasons. He teaches Allie what it takes to survive as a vampire.

But Allison's time with Kanin is short lived. She soon has to leave. She comes across Zeke and his small band of traveling humans. In their quest to find Eden, a city without the threat of vampires or rabids.

From the first page I was drawn into Julie's world. The characters of the book are amazing. Allie was strong and afraid of nothing. She was a fighter. Zeke was sweet, caring and compassionate. The vampires in this book were terrifying and bloodthirsty (think 30 days of Night) and the rabids were horrifying (I thought of The Descend). I love dystopian and I love vampires so for me this was one of my favorites of 2012.

Beg, burrow or steal (well not steal) this book because you will want to read it!

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Teen!
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I loved it and I cannot wait for the next book to come out; I hope we see more of Kanin there, he is becoming a firm favorite! Definitely a book I would recommend if you're looking for an entertaining, action-packed book that is also thoughtful.

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I won't be able to leave a review for this book; I requested it in a past lifetime of my NetGalley use and it no longer fits with my reading interests. If I ever do end up reading it I'll come back and update this!

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Julie Kagawa doesn't disappoint! I really love her writing and I really loved this take on the lore! It was fast paced, well written, and fun!

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I was wary at first when I got this book, because I was not sure how vampires were going to be portrayed in this book. Julie Kagawa did a wonderful job!!!! I loved this book, mainly because of Allie, but also because of the new vampire world she created. Dare I say it, but I think I enjoyed this book more than Twlight series...

Allie is a very strong character, and it was captivating, watching how she grew into a monster and still clings to humanity at the same time. We see right from the beginning that Allie is cunning human because she goes into underground tunnels to get food, and she stands up for herself. When Allie meets Kanin, he is moody and mysterious but he agrees to teach her everything about vampires. One of my favorite scenes is when Kanin and Allie are searching for a weapon, because all vampires carry some type of weapon to fight other vampires.

Allie finds herself in the woods, and meets Zeke, and Jeb's human group. Allie blends in but she is constantly fighting the hunger. I liked the chemistry between Zeke and Allie, and I hope we see more of it in the next book. ( I am guessing that there will be a second book just because of the what happens at the end of this book) Jeb and Ruth are the characters that I disliked the most in the book- but in every book you read- there is usually a character that annoys the hell out of you. Ruth was jealous of how Zeke 's sudden interest in Allie, and Jeb is a harsh person- he must be like because of the harsh world that they live in. But one of the worst parts is when Jeb abuses Zeke in order to teach him a lesson... I hated that part.

Julie Kagawa created a very harsh cruel world in which humans are the food, and the vampires are on the top of the food chain. She makes the world so believable though - with the crumbling outskirts of the Fringe, the scary, rabids- infested woods, and the vampire cities. This was the first book by Julie Kagawa that I have read , and now I am scrambling to get my hands on the Iron Fey series, because I loved Kagawa's writing style, and creativity in The Immortal Rules. This is a must-read for anyone who love vampires or young adult paranormal novels. Please, please go read this book if you have not already - you will not be disappointed.

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Reviewing old arcs, have tried to read but couldn't get into. Won't be trying again so no formal review will be posted on social media.

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Julie is a phenomenal author and this book dragged me into the book from the first page. She’s so good at creating epic worlds from the first page. I loved the originality of the plot line and something old could be fresh and new.

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I loved it! To begin with I didn't really care for Allison. I thought she was such a cold indifferent human being but then as I settled into the story I realized I had not lived the life she had and she was the way she was because of the many things she had been through and for survival. I was then able to empathize more with her.

The more I "walked" with her and then her "monster" I started having more feelings towards her especially respect for what she was trying to accomplish no matter what she was. My heart eventually literally cried for her because every time she tried to belong someplace something would happen.

I am ready to move on to the next book now and see what's next!

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After reading the Iron Fey series, I was dying to get into whatever Julie Kagawa wrote next. When I found out this was a vampire book, I was a little hesitant - lately I've felt very burnt out on that genre. I'm happy to report that The Immortal Rules breathes new life into the tired genre. With well rounded characters and an interesting plot, I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a fun paranormal YA book.

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I loved this book! Honestly, I haven't found a book by this fantastic author that I didn't love. Her writing style is so unique and just perfection. It was just the book that I really needed to read.

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Well, I can’t believe I waited this long to start such an amazing series. I am in love with The Immortal Rules.

In my defence I have been burned a couple of times by other authors and decided to wait until all three books in the trilogy were released before starting, and I guess the silver lining is now I don’t have to wait for the next one I can just dive right in.

The immortal rules is a story about an orphaned 17-year-old girl who is living her life in the outskirts of a walled-in city that is run by vampires. She scavenges, steals, and begs to keep herself alive with the other “unregistered” because she refuses to sell her blood to the monsters that run the city in exchange for food and shelter. Outside the walls the world is in ruins and swarming with “rabids” - infected people and animals that are zombie-like with a vampire flare. I don’t know how much more to say without major spoilers. It’s a vampire book with a Walking Dead feel.

Although it’s YA it’s not angsty or juvenile. Allie is a strong female lead that is bad-ass and like-able. The supporting characters are both lovable and loathable (yes I’m making up terms) making for a well-rounded cast to traverse the story with.

One thing I will say is that it took me a few chapters to realize that Kannin isn’t meant to be a love interest, but more of a mentor role. That may be obvious to others but I thought it was worth mentioning.

I loved the story and world-building. Julie Kagawa has been one of my favourite authors since her Iron Fey series and she didn’t disappoint with her take on vampires.

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I've always been a fan of Julie Kagawa, and that hasn't changed with this new series! The Immortal Rules brings a new supernatural world that is unlike any I've seen before. Fresh and original, I absolutely loved it.

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Definitely a new spin on vampire fiction. I was hoping it would be a stand alone novel, but it still had a satisfactory ending. I would recommend this to our teen patrons.

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I really wanted this to be better. I love Julie's Iron Fey books - it's one of my favorite series ever. I'm not usually drawn to vampire books OR dystopian books, so when you put them together, I'm definitely not interested. But when I heard about this book, I thought, "Well, it's Julie Kagawa. It has to be awesome, right?" And while it wasn't bad, it definitely wasn't my thing.

First and foremost, this book is sorta creepy. And it's definitely supposed to be. It reminded me a lot of the movie/book "I Am Legend," with this zombie/rabid population that feeds on humans at night and the possibility of a cure that the MC will do anything to find.

In her review, my Goodreads pal Stephanie from Cuddlebuggery likened this book to the lovechild of "Underworld" and The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and I think she's very right! Unfortunately, I didn't much care for either of those. I don't like scary things. They, well, scare me. I can handle creepy stuff in books better than in movies, but this book still sorta freaked me out. The rabids were too similar to zombies, and I don't do zombies. Like, ever.

Also, I thought the beginning was REALLY slow. Like...wow. I understand why she included so much of it, but I still felt like it dragged until at least the 50% mark. But if you can wait that long, I felt like the story really picked up once Allie teamed up with the human group looking for Eden.

As far as characters go, I was just sorta ambivalent about all of them. Allie suffered a little from I'm-tough-with-no-personality syndrome, but she was a vampire, so I could maybe overlook some of her unrealistic kickbutt skills. Zeke was sweet, which I appreciated, but he didn't strike any cords with me. I'm still waiting for Julie to create another Puck or Ash for us all to fall for, and maybe Zeke will end up becoming a character we all love, but he isn't now.

My favorite character was probably Kanin, Allie's sire. Mostly because he's so shrouded in mystery. And he's a vampire with a conscious, like Allie. I found him really interesting, and until the whole vampire family dynamics were brought up at the beginning, I was hoping that he was young and could be a potential love interest. (I don't think his age is every described in the book.)

Probably my favorite part of the book was the integration of Biblical themes. I thought this was done REALLY well. Julie drops a lot of Christian references and themes, and even Bible verses, but it never felt overbearing. These characters are genuinely questioning faith and whether God has abandoned their world or not. I also loved how the group of humans looking for Eden (the almost-mythical city where no vampires or rabids live) are almost described as the Children of Israel, on their way to the Promised Land. The symbolism was really great, especially considering (view spoiler) Was that on purpose, mayhaps? I don't know, but I appreciated the connection nonetheless.

Even though this book was totally not something I normally like, I felt like Julie wrote a book that was still enjoyable. She kept me interested the second half, and I'm debating whether I want to read the next one or not (whereas I'm definitely not reading any of the sequels to other vampire dystopians I've read).

And on a side note, the cover is terrible. That girl is totally not Japanese. Just saying.

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It was very interesting. The main character seemed to have some anger issues, but overall it was really good.

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I lost interest in this book and did not read it so I cannot write a review.

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Julie Kagawa should stick to fairies. This was such an annoying, trying--too-hard novel. It's as if Kagawa decided that strong people have to be written as annoying brats.
I didn't even bother with the sequels.

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All of Ms. Kagawa's books are extremely popular with my students. In fact, she's always being recommended by book club students. This series is a personal favourite.

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