The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

The Eternity Cure
Julie KagawaYA Dystopian

Publisher’s Summary:
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.

My Take:

Katanas, blood, revenge, and betrayal. What more could you want from a YA vampire dystopian?

“Eternity Cure” picks up right where “Blood of Eden” left off and keeps the momentum going until the very last page. I have to applaud Ms. Kagawa, once again, for her talents in writing and storytelling. Taking an overworked storyline, like vampires, and making it new, and fresh, and serious, is a hard thing to do, but she does not disappoint.

Just like “Blood of Eden”, “Eternity Cure” is filled with fights, blood, revenge, and betrayal. There’s even a bit of forbidden love to keep those romantics happy. But in the end, it’s a tough book with an even tougher female lead. Allie is everything a protagonist in a post-apocalyptic, vampire-run world: Brave, smart, leery, and rough; but not without a dark sense of humor and a little bit of humanity still intact.

I’ve said it before, this is, hands down, my favorite vampire series and my favorite of Julie’s books. Definitely worth the read.

Rating: 4.5/5, and a strong PG-13 for the amount of violence and blood between the covers.

Read more here: http://blogs.idahostatesman.com/katanas-blood-revenge-and-betrayal-what-more-could-you-want-from-a-vampire-dystopian/#storylink=cpy

--Me

The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

The Lost Prince

By: Julie Kagawa

Genre: Awesomeness (Although some people might call this YA fantasy)

Rating: PG-13 for some kick-ass kali

Spoilers: I’m gonna try not to

Coffee Beans: 5

Cover: Pretty good. Not particularly enjoying the half naked Ethan, since nowhere in the book does he show up that way

Instalove Factor: zilch                                                                                    

My Personal Recommendation: Please sir, can I have some more?

Opening Line: My name is Ethan Chase. And I doubt I'll live to see my eighteenth birthday.

Favorite Line: So many

Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for this honest review

Publisher’s Summary

Don't look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

That is Ethan Chase's unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he'd dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister's world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

My Review

Awesomeness, awesomeness, followed by some brilliance and more awesomeness.

The end.

For realz, though. Julie became one of my favorite authors after reading The Immortal Rules. I own the Iron Fey series now, but haven’t read them yet, and when this book came up for grabs from NetGalley, I jumped all over it (and probably mauled a couple people in the process).

Oh, keep in mind that this review is based on only the Lost Prince and not the Iron Fey series (as I haven’t read those yet). So any spoilers as to the first series are completely unintentional.

This book picks up 15 years after Megan has left to become the Iron Queen in Nevernever. Ethan has been trying for that long to forget the Fey even exist and live a normal life. Sucks to be him, because that ain’t happening. The fey know he can see them so the follow and torment him where ever he goes and as a result he’s switching schools constantly and just started another one, midterm.

Enter school newspaper editor and resident cutie, Kenzie, and resident Halfbreed, Todd. Of course Ethan tries to keep himself away from those two, but it’s a losing battle. The Fey know he’s there and start to harass him. Maintaining as low of a profile as he can, he discovers that outcast fey and halfbreeds are disappearing from the real world, and no one knows why.

When mysterious and deadly Fey come after him and Kenzie, Ethan has no choice but to escape with her to the Nevernever. And so begins his journey.

This story really is kickass. Like I said, having not read Megan’s story, I really had no idea about the world or Ethan’s history. But that didn't matter. This book was a standalone story and everything was explained to me outright or in context ad was easy to pick up on.

As always, Julie’s plots are detailed and sound, her world real, and I’m particularly in love with her dialogue and the fact that all her MCs know how to fight (which comes in handy in her books, obvs.). It always feels like I’m there with the characters and I want to hurry up and get to the end to know what happens, but then am always so sad when it’s over.

For sure pick up a copy and read it for yourself. If you’re a fan of awesome writing, good plots, engaging characters, and the Iron Fey/Julie Kagawa, this one will be another book added to your Favorites list. 

--Me

The Immortal Rules Book Report

Title: The Immortal Rules
Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: YA Paranormal Dystopian
Rating: PG (Awesome violence)
Coffee Beans: 5/5
Spoilers: No major plot points
Favorite Line:The air was thick with the smell of mold, dust and vegetation, and the house seemed to hold its breath as I stepped inside. (ebook, pg 33)
Disclaimer: I received this book free from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for this unbiased review.

Publisher's Summary: 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:


I hate reading a book like The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa.


Now I have to wait an entire YEAR (if I'm lucky) before the next installment comes out.


Seriously, books like this one—engaging and addicting and AMAZING from the very first word—are dangerous. Personal relationships are in danger of neglect. You're brought to the cusp of wasting away from sleep deprivation and lack of food. Your social life suffers. You've been called into the boss' office a few too many times because you've been reading when you should've be working.


But it's all worth it? Isn't it?


Julie, simply put, is one of the most talented writers I've read. This book is going on The List. They way she weaves together layers and layers of plot is just astounding. And the fact that she does it with such ease and skill—that on the surface it looks like nothing when in reality it's a very precise story and snare she's created—knocks my socks off.


The world in which Allies lives was set up so naturally and believably, I could envision what it looked like, and most importantly, what it was like to live there, by the end of page one. People, that's hard to do, and enough to make anyone stand in awe and drool at that kind of talent.


All of the characters in The Immortal Rules are deep and multi-faceted. You know their motivations and their reactions even though they might only be a secondary character. Every single one of them had a separate and convicting drive to their actions and it's plain what that is. The best character she's created is her protagonist, Allison Sekemoto. A kickass Japanese girl with a hard attitude and mad katana skills.


One thing I was completely impressed with: This book is around 500 pages, and every single one of them is jam packed with tension and risk for Allie. The struggle to stay alive, to find food, to keep from becoming a snack for a vampire, rival gangs, the rabids. Then, as the story progresses, the balancing act Allie has to maintain of keeping people from figuring out who she really is and keeping herself from being killed by the people she's with and a raider biker gang. There's no time for Allie to breathe or relax, so why should there be for the reader?


It's 100% AWE.SOME.


This book is the perfect blend between the stories 28 Weeks Later, I Am Legend, The Road, Resident Evil, and Daybreakers. Seriously, perfection between two covers (or in my case, perfection in Nook form).


It begs to be said again: Kagawa is one of the most skilled YA writers out there right now, expertly weaving a complex and layered story with ease. Grabbing her reader by the shirt and ripping them into the story yelling, "Sink or swim, baby!" on the way.


There were two things I didn't care for in the story.


Number one: That it ended. But, Julie has another series out for me to read until book two in the Blood of Eden series comes out (a New York Times best selling series, the Iron Fey. Which, I have purchased on my Nook as of…now), so at least I can fill some time with more of her amazing writing.


Number two: Sometimes I felt a little lost, like I'd missed something that just happened. I think Kagawa was going for the whole "I'm not holding your hand to tell you that they got a glass of water, I'm going to let you assume that they got off the couch and walked into the kitchen to get that water" thing. Sometimes I felt too much was left out. But that was only towards the end and a few times.


C'mon. I really had to dig to find that criticism. Give me a break.


Pick up a copy, read it, and decide for yourself. Seriously, I doubt you'll regret doing so.


Happy Reading, my friends!