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A Reader of Fictions: Wherever I May Roam - Metallica

A Reader of Fictions

Book Reviews for Just About Every Kind of Book

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Wherever I May Roam - Metallica

The Immortal Rules
Blood of Eden, Book 1

Author: Julie Kagawa
Pages: 504
ARC Acquired from: HarlequinTeen via NetGalley

Description from Goodreads:
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.


First Sentence: "They hung the Unregistereds in the old warehouse district; it was a public execution, so everyone went to see."

Review:
This has definitely been one of the books everyone has been most excited for this spring. Honestly, I was looking forward to it too, although with a bit more hesitation than most, even after watching the compliments roll in. Kagawa's Iron Fey series is immensely popular, but I am in the minority that doesn't think it lives up to the hype. I liked the first book, but quickly got frustrated as more and more YA tropes appeared, eventually giving up on the series entirely. I would have given up on Kagawa, but she wrote a dystopia, and those I just can't resist.

Pretty soon into my reading, I became convinced that The Immortal Rules is a far cry from Kagawa's Iron Fey seiers, which, for me, was definitely a good thing. If you like the lightness of the faerie books, be prepared for something totally different. There's not a ton of humor, and what there is definitely constitutes black humor. This book definitely would fall under the horror category. Seriously, I have never been more terrified of a deer.

Also, rabids...they're freaking scary. I'm not kidding at all. They're like a mixture between reavers from Firefly and velociraptors. Basically, they're crazy vampires that have no interest in anything but nomming people and they hunt in packs. No thanks. I think I would rather starve in the city than face those guys outside the wall!

I definitely agree with something iLive, iLaugh, iLove Books said in her review (I normally try to avoid them [them being reviews, not hers in particular] - because I hate spoilers and to keep my review my own untempered reactions -but I skimmed hers before entering the giveaway): Stick is completely obnoxious! I mean, I totally appreciate that everyone cannot be a badass and awesome at survival. After watching The Hunger Games movie, my friends asked how I would survive, and I responded that I wouldn't. My plan would be to die as quickly and painlessly as possible, because I'm slow and squeamish. I basically have no skills that would help me survive, except maybe cleverness and I don't think that would counterbalance enough.

Anyway, that's all just to point out that, yeah, not everyone is as well-equipped for survival as Allie is, even though she's shorter and lighter than Stick. There are mental components to strength too, and he sure hasn't got them. However, you still ought to either give up all together or really try. I do not get why he is not registered! And, obviously, the only way he can have survived for this long is by using people. Not cool, dude.

Julie Kagawa mentions in her acknowledgments that she never wanted to write a book about vampires, because, man, has that been done to death (punned!). Still, here she is doing it, because she had an idea that would not let her go, which is cool, because, though I may not be a writer yet, I am enough of one to know that sometimes the ideas kind of have you. Although Kagawa does not do anything especially 'new' with vampires, they do not feel stale at all. I really like that the reaction of humans to vampires is very anti-current-trends, aka people do not want vampires anywhere near them.

The only thing that I questioned about the book was the motorcycles. And, yes, I do know that that sounds like a weird thing to say. Well, in this post-apocalyptic dystopian society, there still is some technology around, and some of it even still works, but a lot has been lost or broken. There doesn't really seem to be much or any development of new things or particular knowledge of how to fix things. Cars sit around rusting. And yet, somehow, there are tons of folks riding around on motorcycles. Where'd they get the gas? Why do those still work and not other things? This isn't a huge issue, but I am hugely curious. Maybe the apocalypse was manufactures by Harley Davidson to increase sales.

To sum up this review, I basically loved this, both the world-building and the writing. I also liked how long the book was; YA should not be quantified merely by how long it takes to read. Iron Fey fans should prepare themselves for something darker and more epic. Perhaps more importantly, I want to urge those who were unimpressed with Kagawa's Iron Fey series to read this. I was skeptical, even more so than ordinary, and I was seriously impressed.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: " 'Words define us,' Mom continued, as I struggled to make my clumsy marks look like her elegant script. 'We must protect our knowledge and pass it on whenever we can. If we are ever to become a society again, we must teach others how to remain human.' "

"And with dust in throat I crave
Only knowledge will I save
To the game you stay a slave

Rover, wanderer

Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

But I'll take my time anywhere

Free to speak my mind anywhere
And I'll redefine anywhere
"

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14 Comments:

Blogger Lucia (iLive, iLaugh, iLove Books) said...

Aww... Thanks for the mention! I'm not stalking you at all or anything. :D

Also, I love how each of your reviews is titled with a song. What a brilliant idea!

As for the motorcycle thing, you're right. I never thought about it before... Everything does seem to be in disrepair, except the very center of the vampire cities. Then again, the only people riding them are affiliated with vamps of the bad, rich variety.

April 26, 2012 at 12:12 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

BUT even the vampire city wasn't super well off! That's why they chose the super smart humans to come keep their electricity functional! And, it wasn't just the vamps who had the bikes. It was the guys who wanted to be vamps. So, dudes, basically. Right?

April 26, 2012 at 12:14 AM  
Blogger Lucia (iLive, iLaugh, iLove Books) said...

Yes, they did say most of it was broken down. But I think that they should have at least enough resources to have motorcycles. And yes, I did mention in my earlier comment that those affiliated with vampires got to ride one. :) So the vamps were probably providing them.

April 26, 2012 at 7:46 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

I missed the 'affiliated with' part. Wah wah! I guess it just seems weird to me that they can keep so many motorcycles in good shape, but have so much trouble with everything else. I mean, are cars that much harder than motorcycles? Or, maybe it's just that they're more fuel efficient. Not like it's a huge point, but, you know.

April 26, 2012 at 7:54 AM  
Blogger Giselle said...

I,m so excited for this one! The reviews are insane! I even have it but I had to push it back for other review books and I'm dying!! Haha. I haven't read the Iron Fey series either I should get to that too it seems like she's a great writer! Awesome review!

April 26, 2012 at 9:39 AM  
Blogger Melissa said...

I've been reading nothing but good reviews on The Immortal Rules. I have yet to read one of her books (faeries just aren't my thing) but I will definitely be reading this soon. Great review!

April 26, 2012 at 9:59 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

Yeah, Iron Fey was not for me, but this book is way more mature! The writing and world-building were great. The characters I mostly didn't connect to, except for Allie and Zeke, but there's still time!

April 27, 2012 at 8:56 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

I wouldn't really recommend the faerie books myself, especially if you don't like faeries. This was awesome though.

April 27, 2012 at 8:57 AM  
Blogger Krista said...

I'm so glad you liked this book! I cannot wait to read it. I know it's supposed to be a really new take on Vampires. Great review :)

May 22, 2012 at 10:21 PM  
Blogger Stephanie T. said...

I'm so excited to read this! I haven't read it yet, but I have it on hold. I was looking through your reviews when I found The Immortal Rules. After reading your review, I'm honestly kind of scared to read this. I like deers and I'm happy with how I see them now, but I'll try the book since I've read so many 4+ star reviews.

July 30, 2012 at 8:32 PM  
Blogger Christina said...

I wouldn't say it's an especially new take on vampires, but, then again, I've read quite a few things with vampires, so it's a little bit harder to write something that's entirely new to me. Kagawa did do a great job with this though.

July 31, 2012 at 8:14 AM  
Blogger Christina said...

Don't worry too much. There's only one scene with a scary deer. Haha. You'll probably be okay. The example was mostly to illustrate how well Kagawa can do horror.

July 31, 2012 at 8:15 AM  
Blogger Katie said...

This is one I've been holding onto a while because I was also disappointed with the Iron Fey series toward the end, and I'm just not a huge dystopian fan. (They have to be really good for me to like them.) But I feel like if it pleased you, then it MUST be good! ;)

August 17, 2012 at 12:31 PM  
Blogger Christina said...

Yeah, I liked the first Iron Fey book, because I thought it did the cute and funny thing pretty well with some nice references. Then I thought it became just the same old awful and mean love triangle stuff for the rest of it.

I really was impressed with this. I thought her writing was much more solid even. If it helps, think of it as a vampire book instead of dystopian. :-p

August 17, 2012 at 12:47 PM  

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