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A Reader of Fictions: Review: The Eternity Cure

A Reader of Fictions

Book Reviews for Just About Every Kind of Book

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Review: The Eternity Cure

The Eternity Cure
Blood of Eden, Book 2

Author: Julie Kagawa
Pages: 446
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: YA Books Central for Review

Description from Goodreads:
Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.


Previous Book in Series:
1: The Immortal Rules

First Sentence: "I smelled blood as soon as I walked into the room."

Review:
The Eternity Cure has been among my most anticipated reads of 2013, and I was completely thrilled to obtain an ARC. The early reviews almost all agreed: The Eternity Cure improves on The Immortal Rules, which I really loved. Sadly, I never got absorbed into this one as much as I did with TIR. Perhaps I was in the wrong mood or was done in by expectations once again. For all that, The Eternity Cure is still a thrilling, adventure-packed saga that will appeal even to those who did not care for the Iron Fey books.

Julie Kagawa can write the heck out of some action scenes. She keeps the pace of Blood of Eden moving at a steady clip. There's pretty much always something exciting happening: sneaking, chase scenes, verbal sparring, kissing, or battles to the death. On top of that, the stakes are definitely raised. Where The Immortal Rules focused primarily on Allison fighting to maintain her humanity and on rescuing a little tribe of humans, in The Eternity Cure Allison is still trying to avoid becoming a monster, all while attempting to rescue Kanin her maker from a plot with far-reaching consequences.

Another big plus of this series is that, unlike Kagawa's Iron Fey series, romance is a very minor element in the plot. Survival comes first, and thinking about boys and their feelings comes second. For readers who like romance, yes, there is some, but the book doesn't go in the love triangle direction I was expecting. Plus, Allie doesn't just sit around all the time thinking about Zeke when she should be doing other things. Romance doesn't keep Allie from being a force to be reckoned with, especially when armed with her katana.

My favorite character, and my favorite aspect of The Eternity Cure, is Jackal. He's Allie's "brother," as he was also sired by Kanin. He also killed Zeke's dad and a couple of others from that little group, so he's her enemy. However, they have to team up to find Kanin/a cure for rabidism. Listen, Jackal isn't the most trustworthy guy around, but he knows what he is. What can I say? I'm weak to characters that unapologetically wield sarcasm. Jackal's black humor and brutal honesty are necessary to counteract Allie's endless optimism in the face of this post-apocalyptic world.

What kept The Eternity Cure from being a more beloved book of mine were the other characters. Both Allie and Zeke lack spark. They're nice, sure, but they're boring. They reminded me a lot of Stefan and Elena in TVD, right down to me rooting for the demise of their relationship. I just have trouble with characters who are oh so noble and virtuous all the time; even when they're killing people, it's out of necessity. I prefer heroines and heroes with more darkness to them...like Jackal. Kanin still has a lot of potential to be a fascinating character, but he gets so little actual screen time. In a first person narration, it's just really hard to care overly about where the book is headed if you don't love the MC.

The ending, too, was a mite disappointing. Kagawa employs one of my least favorite plot devices to bring everything to a close, which left me disappointed. I wanted the book to be just that slightest bit darker, even though I knew there was probably no way Kagawa would actually go there. Added to a number of other twists that felt very run of the mill, the ending lowered my rating from a 3.5 to a 3.

Kagawa's Blood of Eden series is cinematic and packed to the brim with action. If you enjoy vampires or dystopian/post-apocalyptic scenarios, this is a series you will not want to miss. I'm looking forward to book three, and hoping the romance between Zeke and Allie will fizzle out, though I doubt it.

Rating: 3/5

Favorite Quote: "'Don't tell me you fell something for the little . . . oh.' The vampire blinked, then curled his lip back, disgust and pity crossing his sharp features. 'Oh, sister. Really? That's just sad.'"

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11 Comments:

Blogger Amy said...

It's too bad that this wasn't as good for you as TIR. I loved it. The end I thought was pretty fantastic, even though as the end was happening, I already knew what was coming. I was still a sobbing mess lol!!

I liked Jackal since he's so hot and cold and you have no clue whether to trust him or not.

I liked Allie in the first one, but in this one I thought that her trying to hold onto her humanity really was making her weak. I think it's sweet and all, but not great when you are tracking a psychotic vampire.

Fabulous review chick!!

May 8, 2013 at 9:47 AM  
Blogger meg said...

I don't know if I even want to bother continuing this series. I think I wanted to like The Immortal Rules more than I actually did and I think a large part of my desire to read this one is because I'm slightly compulsive about finishing series once I start them. Would you recommend it to someone on the fence who thought the first one was only OK?

May 8, 2013 at 10:07 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

Ha, I definitely did not sob, not that I often do. I know Kara did, though, so you're certainly not alone. I was never emotionally plugged into this one, and I did some eye-rolling.

Jackal's awesome. He's pretty much the only character that ever managed to surprise me, because he's deeper and more complex. Love him.

Allie seriously was weaker in this one. I mean, I get that she's trying to be a good vampire and that she's still physically powerful, but she lacked the fire from TIR.

May 8, 2013 at 10:17 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

Hmmm, I really liked TIR, but this one just did not impress me as much. Most people have liked this one better, though, so I guess I would recommend reading a sample (there should be a preview on Amazon), and seeing if it grabs you. If not, I would wait and see how things in go in the rest of the series. If it ends solidly, it's worth getting through a meh book.

May 8, 2013 at 10:39 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I seem to have enjoyed this a lot more than most people, though I agree with your points. Zeke was definitely lacking in luster in this one - which is a shame, because I remember liking him a lot in The Immortal Rules. I preferred Jackal so much more. Julie Kagawa can really write edge-of-your-seat, read-till-your-eyes-pop action scenes, for sure!

May 8, 2013 at 11:17 AM  
Blogger Maja (The Nocturnal Library) said...

Sometimes I pick something up I'm not in the mood for and end up not liking it as much as I normally would. It happens. But I'm glad you didn't hate it, Christina, and Jackal seems to be winning everyone over, one heart at a time. The first book really needed more humor, especially in the middle part when Allie just wandered around, and he brought precisely that.
I wish Kanin was around more too, to be honest, but I have hope for the next book.
Lovely review!

May 8, 2013 at 11:26 AM  
Blogger Katie said...

Blogger ate my comment, dangit! What I said (in a more lengthy way) was that I'm sorry you didn't like it as much as you were hoping you would. Jackal sounds awesome, and I'm sensing I'll probably like him too. I wasn't hoping much for Zeke, since Kagawa doesn't tend to write love interests that I'm into anyway (like Prince Ash in her fairy books). I'm disappointed though that Kanin isn't in the book much - I really liked him in TIR and was secretly hoping the whole time that he and Allie would have a romance (...although I had no idea how old he was).

May 8, 2013 at 2:13 PM  
Blogger The Insouciant Sophisticate said...

I definitely agree that this series can appeal even to those who were not fans of The Iron Fey trilogy as I'm someone who didn't like Meghan but who did really like both of these books.

May 9, 2013 at 10:32 PM  
Blogger Kat said...

The ending was a bit cliche - I guessed what was going to happen quite a while before it did, and it felt kind of unnecessary.

Having said that I LOVED Jackal - he was definitely the highlight for me!

May 11, 2013 at 5:47 AM  
Blogger Renae @ Respiring Thoughts said...

I agree that Zeke and Allie are pretty boring, especially Zeke. I REALLY don’t want them to end up together, but of course they will. Bleh. I think both of them should die and Kanin/Jackal should have an epic bromance. Yes/yes?

And don’t get me started on the end. I HATE that shit. Nothing makes me roll my eyes as fast.

May 13, 2013 at 2:24 PM  
Blogger Christina said...

Considering that Kanin and Jackal hate each other, could be tricky. However, I could TOTALLY get behind that. At least they're both interesting.

May 13, 2013 at 2:52 PM  

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