Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Eternity Cure
Series: Blood of Eden series
Placement in Series: Book 2/3
Author: Julie Kagawa

Description:

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.

Review:

This book is one of those books which was just so good I want to give you all copies and sit and watch you read it while trying to remain expressionless, but really I will be sitting next to you hitting your arm and saying with wide, crazy-eyes: "I KNOW, right?! THAT part!"

But I'm going to try to get my thoughts out on this book in a slightly more coherent way, because you all need to read this book. Because you just do.

If you have yet to read the first book in the Blood of Eden series (The Immortal Rules) by Julie Kagawa, I suggest you do that first if you want both my review and the book itself to make any sense. You can read my review on The Immortal Rules here.

(Note: The following has very few spoilers.

What I liked about The Eternity Cure:
Once again Julie Kagawa's writing continues to amaze me. I seem to forget each time I open one of her books just how visually descriptive and real her writing is, then I start reading and it's like eating a perfectly baked fudgey brownie after months of not having any (I really like brownies and I'm hungry, okay? No judging). It's descriptive without being too descriptive, and the action scenes (which there are a lot of) are perfect. She makes you feel like you're there (though you might not always want to be, based on some of the things that happen and what the characters are seeing!) and are a part of the action.

What I did not like about The Eternity Cure:
The fact that I have to wait a year from now for the next book. Seriously, I have zero complaints about this book.

What I loved about The Eternity Cure:
Jackal! And the plot itself. Without spoiling too much, I will say this: The Eternity Cure starts not too long after where The Immortal Rules ends, and Allie, now a vampire who should not be able to dream, keeps having 'dreams' about her sire, Kanin. He is in trouble, and so she sets out to find him, following the bond that connects them. But when she finally reaches her destination, what she finds is far from what she expects! She stumbles upon Jackal, her vampire 'brother' whom she faced off against in the last book (and nearly did not make it). He requests her help in finding Kanin, whom Jackal is also searching for, and they set off to find their sire, putting aside their differences (or not really, based on the massive amounts of humourous - at least to me - bickering that is exchanged between them).
On their journey to find Kanin, we discover a bit more about Jackal (and in my case, start to fall in love with him - he is just too entertaining, despite how incredibly evil he can be) and even meet up with a few figures from Allie's past.
Also, a new string of the Red Virus has broken out and it affects not only humans, but threatens the vampire population as well.

The book is full of plot twists and turns that kept me on the edge of my seat (or at least sitting up in my bed clutching my Kobo), and just when you think everything is fine and phew, we can relax now... Nope! Julie Kagawa rips that chair right out from behind you and leaves you slamming hard onto your backside on the floor. And I loved every second of it.

You see a lot of Allie's development as a person (er, can we still call a vampire a person?) and a vampire in The Eternity Cure, and some shocking development in a few other characters (whom I will not mention because spoilers) as well.

The reappearance of Jackal was one of the best things to happen to this book. He is annoying and hilarious and sassy, and even though he did many unforgiveable things in The Immortal Rules, I could not help but like him in a very different way from the rest of the characters. I want to say more, but I know it will count as a spoilers, so I will just leave it at that. All I will add is this: more Jackal, please!

Rating: 5/5
I recommend this book for: Anyone over the age of 15 (some violence/language/themes that might not be suitable for younger readers) who has read The Immortal Rules (why read the sequel without first reading the book that started it all?)

Where you can buy this book:

In Canada:
Indigo/Chapters/Coles

In the USA:
Barnes and Noble

Internationally:
Amazon

For your e-reader:
Kindle
Kobo
Nook

Cover Judging #2 + Cover Reveal: Blood of Eden series by Julie Kagawa

The publishers of the Blood of Eden series have designed new covers for Julie Kagawa's vampiric dystopian series, Blood of Eden. The new covers looks great, and I am excited for them, but I do understand why some fans of the series are concerned about the new cover designs. However, I have a few points that should soothe your hesitation, Kagawa fans.

(The first edition The Immortal Rules cover)

Like with Tahereh Mafi's Shatter Me trilogy, Blood of Eden is going to have new cover designs, presumably so the series can have covers that flow. Both YA series had standard covers featuring the main character (See my post on the new Shatter Me trilogy cover reveal here), and I believe that having a cover that features more of a design than a face will appeal to readers. Current fans already love the series, and a cover that could appeal to everyone would only benefit the series. I don't want to get into a super deep analysis of what type of covers attract what groups of people, so I won't say much else about that.
Plus there isn't much you can do with a character's face at the cover, unless you change up the characters featured on the cover, or if you do what the Delirium trilogy did with their covers (which I personally am not a fan of, because it was just different angles of Lena's face with a different colour featured on each colour. It did not feel as creative as it could have been, but hey).

Cover changes happen, and usually it is for the better, even if not everyone is a fan (and it's impossible to please everyone, so) of the changes.

And honestly, I had a feeling the covers would change. I personally love the new covers. They're fun to look at, and even though this means I'm going to have to buy another copy of The Immortal Rules so my covers will match, I can live with that.

So what are your thoughts on the new covers? Let's discuss in the comments!

Cover Reveal: Clockwork Princess

FINALLY something to tide us over until March 2013, when the final Infernal Devices book is set to be released. After over 30 000 tweets containing the hashtag #ClockworkPrincess, shadowhunters.com revealed the Clockwork Princess cover.

Is it not gorgeous? *stares*
I cannot decide what I love more: the glowing book or Tessa's dress. *stares some more*

The tweet count on the cover reveal page is still rising, and I doubt it will stop anytime soon. You can view the page here, and even grab the Clockwork Princess Countdown widget to put on your site.

It pains me to think that I still have to wait so many months to read the final book in The Infernal Devices. I posted a review (my second on this blog!) on Clockwork Prince, which you can view here. As you can tell by the informal but necessary caps used towards the end of that review, Clockwork Prince got me VERY excited, and I am literally bouncing with excitement for Clockwork Princess.

So what do you guys think of the cover?
I'm glad we finally get to see Tessa!
I don't think that dress would have been appropriate time-wise, but hey, what do I know? I haven't done any research and I don't really care because that dress is hot and I want one.
But anyway, leave your comments about the cover and discuss how EXCITED you are (or not) over Clockwork Princess in the comment section below.
:D

Review: Infinity

Title: Infinity
Series:  Chronicles of Nick
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon
Goodreads Link: Goodreads Description
Rating: 4/5

Review:

(Note: This review contains minor spoilers.)

Firstly may I just point out how much I like the 'f' on the cover? Okay, cool. Moving on.


I really enjoyed this book. It's the first 'zombie' book I've read, and it wasn't what I expected. Then again, I don't really know what I expected. There is a lot going on in this book, and I was left very confused as to who could be trusted and who was and was not aware of all of the supernatural going on. But I'm pretty sure that was the point, considering we were left with a very confused Nick.


I do not have too much to say about this book. In this case, it's a good thing. I thought the writing was good; it felt juvenile at times, but if that botheres you, you have to keep in mind that it's written from the main character's point of view, and he is a fourteen year old male. The voice throughout the book was perfect. And when it switched points of view to someone who was not our fourteen year old Nick, the voice was readably more mature, so Sherrilyn Kenyon did a great job on that.


One thing I noticed was the mention of Dark Hunters. I guess I'm a bit slow realizing this, but Sherrilyn Kenyon wrote a series about Dark Hunters. Chronicles of Nick is a series that is loosely connected to her Dark Hunters series, I'm assuming. I definitely want to read that series to see where this all 'began', for lack of a much better term.


There were a lot of characters introduced, and so many were male that I kept forgetting who was who. I'm just generally not good with names right away, so it was not until I reached halfway through the book that I was finally able to say 'okay, this character is Nick's bully' or 'okay, this character is a random football player'.


I really enjoyed Nick's character. He was a very believeable character, but he was also very interesting. I liked how even towards the end of the book he was in denial about most things. There aren't a lot of people who will just sit back and accept that the world as they knew it was actually full of supernatural beings. He called bull on a lot of characters who tried to tell him of this, which kept things very real. There are too many books out there nowadays where a main character will be introduced to some strange concept, and they will accept it within the first half of the book. The book is finished and Nick is still a skeptic. Although if I were Nick I would have just accepted it all by the time he met Simi. I mean, really, how could you not tell simply by the way that she spoke and acted that she is pretty out there.


And I just love his mother. She's an amazing person who brought her son up right. I think her whole story is just really tragic, too, and she's a secondary character I've come to love. Oh please don't let her die. I mean just think of what it would do to Nick.


The one reservation I had with this book is how no major or secondary characters died. Not that I wanted any to, but with everything that was going on, I find it crazy that no one was killed. Everyone miraculously escaped, with only Nick and that guy who got a chunk taken out of his arm having the most serious injuries. I guess this isn't really a complaint, though. I mean, the major chunk of the plot happened in one night and most of the supernatural stuff was happening around Nick, and all of the explanations the characters had for surviving made sense. Maybe I'm just too used to seeing and expecting deaths in books. Plus there are three (four?) more books to go in this series. Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself.
And what even happened to the principal? I mean, I'm assuming he died, but that was not very clear to me. Then again, Nick could probably care less, and so perhaps that is why.


There are so many questions I have that I'm sure will be answered in the next books (and one I know is since I have already started on the second in this series, Invincible), plus I feel like anything else I have to say about the book is a huge spoiler, so I'm going to cut this review short. Basically, if you're into the supernatural and don't mind a book from a fourteen year old's perspective, give this one a try. It's pretty fast paced and I was never bored.

Review: The Immortal Rules

Book: The Immortal Rules
Series: Blood of Eden
Author: Julie Kagawa
Goodreads Link: Goodreads Description
My Rating: 4.5/5


Review:

Caution: Possible spoilers below. This has been your warning. You may now proceed with the knowledge that anything I say from hereon out is not my fault for spoiling it, as you have been warning. I cannot stress that enough. Although I do promise that I do not spoil anything of too much importance other than basic plot points that the book trailer and synopses let on.

Okay wow. Where do I begin?

The story begins with a look into the life of Allison Sekemoto (who we can only assume through several hints is of Japanese heritage, but is unaware of it as race is far from importance in this dystopian world -- in the means that people have much bigger things such as vampires and survival to worry about than where they came from). She lives in a dystopian USA run over by vampires. Her city is protected by walls that keep out the rabids (crazed vampires with no sense of thought, personality, or humanity), while the inside is run by the regular vampires. Registered humans give blood to the vampires every so often in exchange for shelter and food. The Unregistereds, which includes Allie, basically forage for themselves and try to stay out of the vampires way.

I must say that I love how there are two very different groups of vampires: the crazy out-of-control rabids, and the city ones. Neither, of course, are the kind you want to be buddy-buddy with, considering all you are to them is a food source, but I would rather take my chances in the city than out in the ruins where the rabids could get me. Then again, I wouldn't want to be under control of vampires, either.

Anyways, Allison gets Turned into a vampire (through events which I will not spoil) and her Creator teaches her the ways of being a bloodsucker. I really liked this bit, because it was not just Allison learning, but also the readers. And we don't learn it in a super boring 'oh my goodness, just get on with it already!' kind of way. We get fed pieces that we can take the time to digest. It worked well, and I applaud Julie Kagawa for that. I won't reveal much more plot-wise, because I hate spoilers and I don't want to ruin anything for anyone, so here are some scrambled thoughts of mine about The Immortal Rules:

I thought the vampire genre had been killed repeatedly already, but Julie Kagawa was able to bring it back in a really interesting way. Tying it in with the current popular genre of dystopias was pretty genius, I must say. But the plot was again an interesting twist on dystopias, as well. It follows, of course, some basic dystopian plot norms, but it does not do so in a way that we know pretty much what is going to happen next. There were a lot of moments where I was like "Whoa! I did not see that coming!" which was great. Predictable is not always fun.

 The characters were pretty amazing, too. Of course Allison is the protagonist and we see everything from her perspective. She is a pretty BA heroine, I must say. Very unlike other protagonists in the vampire genre. Of course, they are usually human and unable to help their helplessness, so perhaps that is a factor.

 One thing I'd like to learn later in this series is how exactly the vampire cities are run so well. Do humans have jobs or do they just slack around? Do vampires do much or do they just feed? We don't get to see that in The Immortal Rules, and that's no fault to the plot or the author or anything -- Allison was never a part of the vampire cities in a direct way, so we might not ever get to see it. But I am curious to know.

The way Allison fought her Hunger felt very realistic to me (although what do I know? I'm no vampire), because she had a lot of trouble with it. In other vampire books and stories (and I'll point out Twilight as a specific because it's one of the few I've read, and also The Vampire Diaries - at least the TV shows as I've not read the books) they show the vampires as 'vegetarian' vampires. Allison's Creator makes it very clear that while it is possible to survive off animal blood, it's like junk food for vampires and never truly fills them up. This makes more sense to me, because it does not glorify being a vampire. As a vampire, you will kill a human. It's what they do. The Hunger will always win out. There are a few exceptional quotes from Allison's vampire Creator when explaining this, and they are some of my favourite quotes from this book. BUT I don't want to give too much away, so... go read the book :P

I know that I am seriously rambling here, so here are some quick sum-up points:

• The description Julie Kagawa uses to describe the vampiric dystopian world sucked me in. It is definitely not a place I would want to live in, but the description was so amazing that I could picture everything in my mind as I read, which is very important to me. Some books have amazing plots but seriously lack in the description, and some books have great description but that overshadows the plot. There was a great balance between plot, characters, and setting in TIR. So, go Julie!
• Allison is great. She is sarcastic, witty, caring, and overall bad ass. I do not picture her as the model on the cover art, considering Allie is supposed to be Asian (I'm guessing Japanese considering the references to the katana and her surname), but that's fine. It did bother me a bit at first, but Julie painted a well-enough description of Allie that I managed to pick up (I'm usually terrible at imagining characters in my mind and often rely on the cover art. My fault, no one else's).
• There is romance. And it is done well. It certainly does not over-shadow the plot. It is a small vine in the forest of the plot, and is done very well. Kudos.
• Julie was not afraid to kill characters. I learned this in the first few chapters and found myself feeling Allison's relectance to get close to any other characters. Which was cool.
• Eden! I don't want to spoil anything. So I won't say anything else about Eden. But I want to. I have questions. But I am sure those questions will be answered in the later books. Hopefully.
• The plot twists! Just when you think you know where the story will go, Julie snags the rug out from under your feet and points you down a new path in the maze. And not in a whiplash sort of way, either. Each twist was well-placed and well-done.
• If you are not a fan of vampire books, this book might just change your mind. I've been hesitant, but picked this one up for two reasons. 1-Julie Kagawa. I read her Iron Fey series and cannot wait for Ethan's trilogy. 2-vampire dystopia? That's new!

 In conclusion, Julie Kagawa continues to be amazing. Some may say the vampire genre has been overdone, but Julie brought it back in an original way. Knowing I have to wait about a year for the second book in this series to be released is...slightly torturous. Buuuut I know it will be worth the wait. Go read this book.

ps: My next review will be less scrambled, this I promise. But if I didn't type this out now, the procrastinating would never end.