My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Summary from GoodReads
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.
BUY ON AMAZON (click the covers below for the affiliate link)
REVIEW
The review follows all the books of the series.
I had read many reviews about Julie's works. "Iron Fey", "Talon" and finally "Blood of Eden". After the hiatus with "Twilight"
BUT, I decided to begin my Julie Kagawa read-along with this series.
(GAH NOW! For the record I'm still Team Jacob!)
Few things made this series stand out and finally making me loving it. First, the world is destroyed by a virus named "Red Lung". I would say that human pride and greed led to this result but this is not mentioned in the book. Then there are the rabbids, zombie-wraith-like creatures which prey at night and you want to run like crazy when you see them.
Then there are the vampire cities. That's right, vampire cities. When the world went to hell, few of the most powerful vampires, stepped up, revealed their identities and created forts on major cities all across America. The humans who survived hid into the walls and since then they live in a regime of blood and fear.
Alison Sekemoto (I liked very much the Asian background) lives in one of the cities, trying to survive day by day. Her life is cruel, she doesn't depend on anyone and knows nothing but death and hunger. She hates vampires and there is a good reason for that. After a horrible accident, she is offered a choice from Kanin, a vampire who finds her half dead.
And from this point up to the end of the series, Ali will have to fight her inner monster, tame the hunger for blood and help her mentor fight a very horrible past, which answers in the name of Sarren. Needless to say that this guy was the most horrible villain in any book I've read and I'd NEVER, EVER want to come across him. His actions in the books were turning points for Ali, especially towards the end of the second book. That part was the hardest of all and I did cry as the narrator spoke with such anguish.
Other supporting characters are Zeke and Jackal. Zeke is the human who Alison will fall in love and Jackal is the sarcastic, litte sadistic vampire who joins the books and follows through the end. His remarks tend to be funny sometimes but mostly you want to punch him.
Very hard.
This vampire world is nothing like "Twilight" nor has the gothic elements of "Interview with a vampire". There's blood, gore at some point but also romance and very inner turmoil. It shows in what lenghts anyone can go for self preservation, for friends and family and how easily loyalties are formed and destroyed. Without a doubt, this series would make a great anime. Not like "Hellsing" but close to it.
The ending was bittersweet and open, with hope for the futre and the eternity of it. I was glad I began with this one and I can see how everything is detailed, how real the worldbuilding was and finally how Ali "grew" emotionally in the span of the books Highly recommended!
About the author:
For book news, art and extras!
No comments