The Immortal Rules

by Julie Kagawa

Published by: Harlequin Teen

My Rating: 

Blurb 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.

My Review:

If you follow my blog or my reviews, you will note that I do not read and review too many Young Adult books these days. However, when I heard about The Immortal Rules, read the blurb and some of the early reviews, I knew that this was a book I wanted to try for myself. I am happy to report that I really enjoyed this book, it does live up to the hype.

The setting is in a futuristic/dystopian type of world. The human and vampire races have been hit hard by a virus that transforms humans and vampires alike into rapid, feral vampires. Vampires have taken control of human populations for their “protection” from the rabies, but the humans are little more than cattle feed for the vampires. This is the world Allie knows, vampires are vicious and cruel and you can trust no one. However, after being turned into a vampire herself, Allie’s world is turned upside-down. She runs away from her district and meets up with a group of humans seeking a safe human-run compound. To protect herself, Allie must pretend to be human. Soon, she becomes attached to the group, especially to Zeke. But, secrets are difficult to keep, especially when danger is around every corner.

I am very impressed with The Immortal Rules. The book is extremely well-developed, there is depth to all the characters, the plot takes unexpected turns, and I was hooked on the story. Often times with books that are first in a series and there is a new world, the first book can be slow and difficult to get into. This was not the case with The Immortal Rules, I was intrigued from early on in the book, and curious about what Allie would continue to discover and learn. Allie is an excellent heroine, she is determined to survive, tough, caring for others, and yet she is not always perfect herself. She has a lot to learn, she has her own misconceptions to overcome, and I felt for her when she was hurt by others misconceptions about her.

The Immortal Rules is an impressive beginning to striking new paranormal series. The Immortal Rules has a superb writing quality and mixed with the fantasy nature of the paranormal, the book is an excellent read. The vampires hold to more traditional vampire-like qualities, they can’t stand sunlight, and they are powerful, strong beings. The book is YA, but because of the violence and dark nature of the world, it is more mature in nature. I feel that even adult level readers will enjoy this book. Readers, if you enjoyed The Hunger Games trilogy and like paranormal and urban fantasy books, I highly recommend reading The Immortal Rules. This is a series to watch, I know that I can’t wait to read the next installment in the series myself.

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