Wherever I May Roam - Metallica

The Immortal Rules
Blood of Eden, Book 1

Author: Julie Kagawa
Pages: 504
ARC Acquired from: HarlequinTeen via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
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.

First Sentence: "They hung the Unregistereds in the old warehouse district; it was a public execution, so everyone went to see."

Review:
This has definitely been one of the books everyone has been most excited for this spring. Honestly, I was looking forward to it too, although with a bit more hesitation than most, even after watching the compliments roll in. Kagawa's Iron Fey series is immensely popular, but I am in the minority that doesn't think it lives up to the hype. I liked the first book, but quickly got frustrated as more and more YA tropes appeared, eventually giving up on the series entirely. I would have given up on Kagawa, but she wrote a dystopia, and those I just can't resist.

Pretty soon into my reading, I became convinced that The Immortal Rules is a far cry from Kagawa's Iron Fey seiers, which, for me, was definitely a good thing. If you like the lightness of the faerie books, be prepared for something totally different. There's not a ton of humor, and what there is definitely constitutes black humor. This book definitely would fall under the horror category. Seriously, I have never been more terrified of a deer.

Also, rabids...they're freaking scary. I'm not kidding at all. They're like a mixture between reavers from Firefly and velociraptors. Basically, they're crazy vampires that have no interest in anything but nomming people and they hunt in packs. No thanks. I think I would rather starve in the city than face those guys outside the wall!

I definitely agree with something iLive, iLaugh, iLove Books said in her review (I normally try to avoid them [them being reviews, not hers in particular] - because I hate spoilers and to keep my review my own untempered reactions -but I skimmed hers before entering the giveaway): Stick is completely obnoxious! I mean, I totally appreciate that everyone cannot be a badass and awesome at survival. After watching The Hunger Games movie, my friends asked how I would survive, and I responded that I wouldn't. My plan would be to die as quickly and painlessly as possible, because I'm slow and squeamish. I basically have no skills that would help me survive, except maybe cleverness and I don't think that would counterbalance enough.

Anyway, that's all just to point out that, yeah, not everyone is as well-equipped for survival as Allie is, even though she's shorter and lighter than Stick. There are mental components to strength too, and he sure hasn't got them. However, you still ought to either give up all together or really try. I do not get why he is not registered! And, obviously, the only way he can have survived for this long is by using people. Not cool, dude.

Julie Kagawa mentions in her acknowledgments that she never wanted to write a book about vampires, because, man, has that been done to death (punned!). Still, here she is doing it, because she had an idea that would not let her go, which is cool, because, though I may not be a writer yet, I am enough of one to know that sometimes the ideas kind of have you. Although Kagawa does not do anything especially 'new' with vampires, they do not feel stale at all. I really like that the reaction of humans to vampires is very anti-current-trends, aka people do not want vampires anywhere near them.

The only thing that I questioned about the book was the motorcycles. And, yes, I do know that that sounds like a weird thing to say. Well, in this post-apocalyptic dystopian society, there still is some technology around, and some of it even still works, but a lot has been lost or broken. There doesn't really seem to be much or any development of new things or particular knowledge of how to fix things. Cars sit around rusting. And yet, somehow, there are tons of folks riding around on motorcycles. Where'd they get the gas? Why do those still work and not other things? This isn't a huge issue, but I am hugely curious. Maybe the apocalypse was manufactures by Harley Davidson to increase sales.

To sum up this review, I basically loved this, both the world-building and the writing. I also liked how long the book was; YA should not be quantified merely by how long it takes to read. Iron Fey fans should prepare themselves for something darker and more epic. Perhaps more importantly, I want to urge those who were unimpressed with Kagawa's Iron Fey series to read this. I was skeptical, even more so than ordinary, and I was seriously impressed.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: " 'Words define us,' Mom continued, as I struggled to make my clumsy marks look like her elegant script. 'We must protect our knowledge and pass it on whenever we can. If we are ever to become a society again, we must teach others how to remain human.' "

"And with dust in throat I crave
Only knowledge will I save
To the game you stay a slave

Rover, wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

But I'll take my time anywhere
Free to speak my mind anywhere
And I'll redefine anywhere"