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.'"