Review: The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3) 
Author: Julie Kagawa 
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release date: April 15th 2014
Source: Netgalley
Format: eARC

Rating: 5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of Dawn of Eden - here,  The Immortal Rules - here & The Eternity Rules - here

VENGEANCE WILL BE HERS

Allison Sekemoto once struggled with the question: human or monster?

With the death of her love, Zeke, she has her answer.

MONSTER

Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren, the psychopathic vampire who murdered Zeke. But the trail is bloody and long, and Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions—her creator, Kanin, and her blood brother, Jackal. The trail is leading straight to the one place they must protect at any cost—the last vampire-free zone on Earth, Eden. And Sarren has one final, brutal shock in store for Allie.

In a ruined world where no life is sacred and former allies can turn on you in one heartbeat, Allie will face her darkest days. And if she succeeds, triumph is short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.

The Forever Song is an incredible conclusion for the amazing Blood of Eden trilogy! Julie Kagawa is an excellent story teller and I really love her writing and and the way she tells Allison Sekemoto´s story and this time she had a surprise up her sleeve, yes! I was surprised and confused, but it was a good twist in the story.

This book picks up where The Eternity Cure end, Allison along with Kanin (her creator and mentor) and Jackal (her vampire brother whom enjoys to banter with her) are on the trail of the psycho vampire Sarren, he´s on his way to Eden, the last city not dominated by vampires and where all residents are humans, with the purpose of launching a deadly virus that affects both humans and vampires. Since Sarren envisions or dreams that the world needs healing and for this to happen it is necessary to annihilate humans and vampires alike for a fresh start. So Allison and company are trying to intercept Sarren before he gets to Eden, but Sarren has many surprises and roadblocks in order to delay them or stop them.

At the beginning of the book Allison has only one thing in mind ..... REVENGE ....no matter the consequences .... she´ll kill Sarren, and if by killing him she saves Eden, good for her, if not ... is not her problem any more. Because of what happened at the end of The Eternity Cure, she no longer see the world with the same eyes and the internal battle she had since the first book ..... her struggle to not to lose her humanity, to not let the monster inside her win, it doesn´t matter to her anymore, that´s why in the first part of the book we see a darker Allison that´s trying to embrace her vampire nature (to Jackal´s delight and Kanin´s disappointment).

Something that enjoy very much was the interaction between Jackal and Allison because they spend fighting and arguing all the way to Eden and I loved when Kanin intervenes (since he is a vampire of few words and usually just says "Allison" to stop the discussion), I applaud Julie´s achievement in making me liked the villain from the first book (I really hated Jackal in the Immortal Rules) and I ended up waiting for his sarcasm, funny moments; and that without him being the good vampire of the story , because Jackal never hides what he thinks of the human and shows no remorse for his actions. And because I don´t want to spoil anyone that is all I´m gout to say about the plot.

Overall, The Forever Song is an AMAZING book! I loved everything about this book, the twists and turns, the emotional part of the plot, the funny parts and I LOVED the ending (I´m very happy with it). The Blood of Eden trilogy has become one of my favorites of all time.

I received an eARC of this book from the publisher in exchange of an honest review.

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release date: April 30th 2013
Source: Netgalley
Format: egalley

Rating: 5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of  The Immortal Rules - here

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.

I LOVED this book! Julie Kagawa is an excellent writer and one of my favorite authors. The Eternity Cure is an amazing sequel to one of my favorite books in 2012, The Immortal Rules.

The Eternity Cure takes place a few months after the events of The Immortal Rules, Allison is in a search and rescue mission of her creator - Kanin who was kidnapped by a quite psychotic vampire and Allison thanks to the connection she has with her creator is able to trace him, but so far she´s several steps behind them. And on her travels she meets with certain prince vampire who wants her dead, but for now he would have her as an ally and decide to help each other, as both can benefit from this partnership.

All the characters are very well written and easy to grow fond of them, already love some from the first book, but now I loved them even more thanks to this book and certain character that I didn´t liked in the previous book, now I see him with different eyes. And this time in story there were several surprises and appeared of several characters that I didn´t expected to see in this book, as it was the vampire prince (which I will not say his name to avoid spoilers), but this character took a turn and we see another side of him the that although he has his own reasons to help Allie, and they´re not at all a secret, I like him a lot and he has several funny moments. I can not wait to see more of him in the next book and see what will he do next.

The Eternity Cure is a very excellent second book in a series, the beginning is a little slow but then takes strength and I could not stop reading it and I'm happy to report that there is no love triangle (I feared for a moment that if there would be). And the last chapters! NOO! I was in tears, it's so unfair what happens and it has a mayor cliffhanger that left me stunned and trying to process what was happening and dying to read the next book.

This book is a MUST read, if you like dystopian books with vampires and a strong female character that kick-butt, is loyal and smart. And if you have not read The Immortal Rules, first book of the series ... You should read it...now, it´s really amazing book. I highly recommend this book.

I want to thank Harlequin Teen and Netgalley for this review copy.

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'Til The World Ends by Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre, Karen Duvall

Title: 'Til The World Ends
Author: Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre, Karen Duvall 
Publisher: Harlequin Luna
Release date: January 29th 2013
Source: Netgalley
Format: egalley


Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa
Before The Immortal Rules, there was the Red Lung, a relentless virus determined to take out all in its path. For Kylie, the miracle of her survival is also her burden-as a doctor at one of the clinics for the infected, she is forced to witness endless suffering. What's worse, strange things are happening to the remains of the dead, and by the time she befriends Ben Archer, she's beginning to wonder if a global pandemic is the least of her problems....

Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre
After a catastrophic spill turns the country into a vast chemical wasteland, those who could afford it retreated to fortresses, self-contained communities run by powerful corporations. But for Mari Thistle, life on the outside-in the Red Zone-is a constant struggle. To protect her family, Mari teams up with the mysterious Thorne Goodman. Together, they'll face an evil plot in both the underworld of the Red Zone and the society inside the fortresses that could destroy those on the outside...for good.

Sun Storm by Karen Duvall
Sarah Daggot has been chasing storms since she was a child. But after the biggest solar flares in history nearly destroy the planet, she becomes a Kinetic, endowed by her exposure to extreme radiation with the power to sense coming storms-in the cosmos and beyond. And she's not the only one. Sarah believes the Kinetics are destined to join forces and halt the final onslaught of the sun. She'll vow to keep trying to convince the one missing link in their chain of defense, the enigmatic Ian Matthews, up until the world ends.

I´ve read the three stories and all of them are post-apocalyptic and I liked some more than others so I can not give an overall rating, so I will give separate ratings.

Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa
I decided to read this anthology mainly by this novella, last year I read The Immortal Rules and  I LOVED it and when I saw that its prequel was included in this anthology, I could not resist this book.

Dawn of Eden begins several years before The Immortal Rules, before the existence of vampires was known and they make their "cities", when the Red Lung epidemic is killing people and we see through Kylie´s, one of the first cases of virus mutation and the creation of the "rabids".

I liked this story but I was hoping that this story happened in the laboratories where the mutation of the virus happen and to got to see Kanin ..... but the beginning of the story takes place in the clinic where Kylie works and the plot follows her and Ben Archer, but despite this I loved it! especially because Kanin makes a cameo!

I highly recommended this novella for fans of The Immortal Rules and Julie Kagawa, this story gives us a background about the rabids.

One detail I should mention is that there is a sex scene not recommended for younger readers.

Rating: 4/5

Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre
This is the first time I´ve read a story written by Ann Aguirre and let me say that I really enjoyed this novella, I did not know what to expect from the story, but I definitely want to read more by this author! this story is really good.

Thistle & Thorne tells the story of Mari Thistle a girl that live outside of the gated communities in the red zone where everyone is struggling to live day by day and until one day she meets Thorne Goodman offered to join forces and help each other by a common good.

I really liked this novella, the post-apocalyptic world in which they live is very dark and a little bit depressing, but it's definitely a very good story.

Rating: 4/5

Sun Storm by Karen Duvall
It is also the first time I´ve read a story written by Karen Duvall and the synopsis sounds very promising, but it didn't live up to my expectations, the book was a bit slow at times and I feel like the ending was rushed.

Sun Storm tells Sarah´s story, she´s living in a post-apocalyptic world where sun storms are destroying the world as we know it, the storms are deadly and the few people that survive them develop super powers. Sarah is a survivor and she can predict storms and for some reason she need to chase storms to recharge her energy and she also alert people that a storm is on the way.

Sun Storm is my least favorite novella of the book, I felt something was missing, I didn’t connect with the story nor the characters.

Rating: 2.5/5

I want to thank Harlequin Luna and Netgalley for this review copy.

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release date: April 24, 2012

Rating: 5/5

But it at: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Read first chapter here.

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.

The Immortal Rules combines two genres I love, the paranormal and dystopian. This book is amazing; it let me happy and sad at the same time.

Allison Sekemoto is a girl who has lived her entire life in a city of vampires, where registered humans "donate" blood regularly and in exchange receive food. Allison is unregistered, so she steals and scavenger food, she does anything she needs to do to survive. Allie hates vampires and everything having to do with them. One night she is attacked by rabids creatures that used to be human and because of a virus they mutated and are now monsters that feed on humans. Because this attack Allie is on the verge of death and a vampire comes to the rescue and gives her the choice to die or become one of them. She chooses to become what she hates most, a vampire.

Later she has to flee the city and wander in a world she does not know. There she meets a group of humans who are in search of Eden, a city that may be a myth and Allie decides to join them, which is not easy because she must pretend to be human and try not be discovered.

The story is wonderful; I had a while without reading a vampire book that I liked so much.

The Immortal Rules takes place 60 years after a lethal virus called Red Lung has killed almost all the human population. At some point the virus mutate and humans were turned into rabids. And the non-infected humans live in vampire cities, where they must "donate" blood in exchange of food and protection.

In the characters we´ve  Allison a 17 year-old girl that had been living among others  unregistered, where everyone look out for themselves, and therefore she´s suspicious and she´s against any kind of authority, but has good heart and is very brave. Allie's love interest is Zeke a 17 year-old boy (I adore him), with very good heart and kind, brave and completely selfless. He was taught that vampires are demons, which does not bode well for Allie. Among the characters we have secondary characters such as Kanin, the sire of Allie, a mysterious vampire, he taught her how to fight with a katana, and also everything she needs to know to survive as a vampire.

The Immortal Rules is a book that it fast-paced (considering it's a book of 504 pages), has no downtime, this very well written and addictive. It has action, mystery and some romance.

I love it! I highly recommend it.

Quotes:

Naive, I thought at once. Naive, brave, selfless, incredible - and much too kind to survive this world. It´ll break you in the end, if you keep going like this. Good things never last.

They will never trust us. They will never accept us. We hide in their midst and walk among them, but we are forever separate. Damned. Alone. You don’t understand now, but you will. There will come a time when the road before you splits, and you must decide your path. Will you choose to become a demon with a human face, or will you fight your demon until the end of time, knowing you will forever struggle alone?

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