The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa

The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa is the conclusion to the Blood of Eden trilogy. I previously reviewed the first two books, The Immortal Rules and The Eternity Cure. While I enjoyed the first book, I didn't particularly like the second, which is why it took me so long to get around to the third. In the end, I picked it up on a whim when I saw it in the library. In case you can't be bothered clicking on the links for the first two books, the worldbuilding premise of the series is that there have always been vampires, but when a plague threatened to wipe out humanity, the vampires, concerned about their blood supply, took over and more or less started farming humans. The main character, Allison, came from one city-farms, but was turned into a vampire at the start of book one. Anyway, the rest of this review, including the blurb, contains spoilers for the earlier books.

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, her triumph will be short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.

THE FINAL HUNT IS ON.

When I started reading this book, I couldn't actually remember exactly why I'd disliked the second book. I did remember the cinematic fight scenes from the first book, though, and the general premise if not all of the details. It was actually very easy to pick this book up even with a three year gap since reading book two; the author does a good job of reorienting the reader at the start. And the fight scenes are, again, cinematic.

As is to be expected from a book three of a trilogy, the plot was mostly centred on the Allie and friends completing their saving-the-world mission. The story opens with Allie not caring about anything else after the death of her boyfriend in the previous book. She is travelling with her sire and Master vampire Kanin (who taught her how to fight and is all about honour and being nice to humans), and the significantly less honourable Jackal, and there is a nice rapport between the three of them, even when Allie is in the depths of despair and anger.

Although I think the prose could have been tighter, I enjoyed this concluding volume of this trilogy. I certainly liked it more than the second book, and I'm glad to have finally finished the series. In general, I'd recommend it to fans of vampires, post-apocalyptic tales and YA. If the premise sounds interesting to you, give it a go. If you got through book two but haven't read book three yet, I do recommend doing so.

3.5 / 5 stars

First published: 214, Harlequin Teen
Series: Blood of Eden book 3 of 3
Format read: Paper *gasp*
Source: Borrowed from the library

The Iron Traitor by Julie Kagawa

The Iron Traitor is the second in Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten series, itself a sequel series to The Iron Fey. You can read my review of the previous book, The Lost Prince, but I have not read the earlier series which will inevitably have an impact on my reaction to this sequel series. Also, I should note that this review contains spoilers for book one.

In the real world, when you vanish into thin air for a week, people tend to notice.

After his unexpected journey into the lands of the fey, Ethan Chase just wants to get back to normal. Well, as "normal" as you can be when you see faeries every day of your life. Suddenly the former loner with the bad reputation has someone to try for-his girlfriend, Kenzie. Never mind that he's forbidden to see her again.

But when your name is Ethan Chase and your sister is one of the most powerful faeries in the Nevernever, "normal" simply isn't to be. For Ethan's nephew, Keirran, is missing, and may be on the verge of doing something unthinkable in the name of saving his own love. Something that will fracture the human and faery worlds forever, and give rise to the dangerous fey known as the Forgotten. As Ethan's and Keirran's fates entwine and Keirran slips further into darkness, Ethan's next choice may decide the fate of them all.

Much like the previous book, The Iron Traitor is a quick, fun read. There was a bit less Kali fighting — to my disappointment — and more varied interactions with the fey. The same characters from The Lost Prince appear again in The Iron Traitor. It's again narrated by Ethan and the character-based part of the plot centres about his blooming relationship with Kenzie.

We also revisit Keirran, Ethan's nephew, and his illicit summer fey girlfriend, Annwyl, who is dying after being banished to the human realm. The action part of the story is based around everyone trying to stop Annwyl's fade from existence. Ethan and Kenzie are dragged into Annwyl's and Keirran's problems, facing faery dangers and dealing with crazy faeries. Other than the ending (which I did not see coming), there wasn't an awful lot here that was surprising. But I'm not saying that's a bad thing. It was the kind of book I was in the mood for: easy to read.

The most interesting thing Kagawa does is juxtapose Keirran and Annwyl's relationship with Ethan and Kenzie's. Both boys are in similar positions in that their girlfriend's are dying, Annwyl of fey banishment and Kenzie of cancer. While Keirran does everything in his power to keep Annwyl alive, Ethan accepts that Kenzie is going to die and that trying to keep her alive with faery magic is only going to end badly. At times it was a bit heavy-handed in the delivery of that moral (keeping Annwyl alive is to everyone's detriment) but it mostly worked for me.

And did I mention I didn't see the end coming? I am eager to see how Kagawa deals with it in the next book. Personally I'm expecting some amount of backtracking, but maybe it will shift to Kenzie as the protagonist. Time will tell.

All in all, The Iron Traitor was a pleasant read. It was exactly what I expected (well, with less Kali fighting and a surprising ending) and I will definitely be getting a hold of the next book in the series. Coming from the perspective of someone who hasn't read the earlier Iron Fey books, I'd say it's not necessary. I would recommend reading the Lost Prince first, however, mainly to get to know the characters and backstory.

4 / 5 stars

First published: November 2013, Harlequin Teen (world wide, I believe)
Series: Yes! Book 2 of The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten, itself a sequel series to The Iron Fey
Format read: eARC
Source: publisher via NetGalley

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa is the second book in the Blood of Eden series, which started with The Immortal Rules. The premise of the series is: when a virus threatens to wipe out humanity, vampires come out of hiding to protect their food supply and more or less set up "safe" areas where humans won't die of the plague (which causes rabid zombie-like creatures) and can provide uncontaminated blood for their vampire protectors.

I enjoyed The Immortal Rules a lot. I thought the writing was cinematic with just the right amount of action and tension. By contrast, when I first picked up The Eternity Cure I was very disappointed. The writing was much more pedestrian and lacklustre. After about 60 pages I put it down and read something else. When I came back to it, about six weeks later, with severely lowered expectations, I found I was ultimately still able to enjoy the book. There were some descriptive and action passages which I found myself skimming over to get to the dialogue which was more enjoyable to read.

The mundanely written action scenes were a particular let-down since there was so much action in the story. And a lot of twists. It was nice to be surprised by expected developments but by the end there had been so many twists and turns, it was wearying. It did keep me turning the pages because the tension rarely let up, but many of the developments had me groaning.

On to more positive things! The worldbuilding and plot were well thought out. Every time I though "hang on, that doesn't make sense" it would soon be explained how that particular element fit seamlessly into the plot/world. Although the ending sets us up for an obvious showdown in the last book, it also left me keen to find out how the worldbuilding questions will be resolved. (Will there be a cure for rabidism? Will humans be able to live independently from vampires on a large scale? Will Allison and friends indeed save the world?)

The characterisation was also well done. Allison continues to be a believable character and her angst about pretty much everyone else is justified and not angst for its own sake. The character that got the biggest rise out of me was Stick. In the first book, he was Allison's friend pre-vampirification, but then things change. When we encounter him in The Eternity Cure, his new situation makes him a massive prat and I really wanted to bash him over the head with something every time he appeared. He was so frustrating! But getting an emotional rise (on purpose) is a mark of good character writing.

Unfortunately, unlike in The Immortal Rules, there weren't any female characters other than Allison which was disappointing. Hopefully that will be remedied in the sequel.

I recommend The Eternity Cure to readers who enjoyed The Immortal Rules, with the caveat of not having overly high expectations. I think the story is worth continuing with despite some of this volume's shortcomings. I am looking forward to reading the last book and seeing how everything turns out. For readers who haven't picked up The Immortal Rules yet, I highly recommend doing so, particularly fans of vampires or dystopias who might be sick of the usual stuff.

3.5 / 5 stars

First published: May 2013, Harlequin Teen Australia
Series: Blood of Eden, book 2 of 3
Format read: eARC
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa is the first book in her new Call of the Forgotten series. In a way it's also the fifth book in the Iron Fey series, set in the same universe and chronologically later in time. However, I was told it was a good place to start if I didn't want to commit to the earlier books. The only other book by Julie Kagawa that I've read was The Immortal Rules, which is set in an entirely different universe. So this review is from the perspective of someone who hasn't read any of the Iron Fey books. Since the Iron Fey series does provide back story to The Lost Prince, it's possible this review will contain spoilers for the earlier books, but I suspect only in the form of who survived them. A copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley for review purposes.

Ethan Chase is a normal kid except for one thing: he can see faeries. He spends most of his time keeping them away and trying to ignore them, because once they realise he can see them, they enjoy making his life difficult. Ethan also tries to make himself  unapproachable to his peers out of fear of putting them in faery-shenanigan danger. As a result, the first half of the book was a bit of a metaphor for teenage angst. Not in an annoying way, but a) he was moody and pushing everyone away and (thanks to faeries) getting into trouble and b) his problems were something that no one could understand (because faeries).

The secondary character, Kenzie, was great. She's a smart high school reporter who starts off wanting to know the story behind Ethan. Then she gets dragged, with Ethan, into the world of faeries. Of course, it's not just any faeries. Some new dangerous kind is running around causing trouble and killing things.

What I really liked about Kenzie is that she was smarter than Ethan. I can't think of another book told in first person from the boy's point of view where the girl gets to be the smarter one. Of course, Ethan's brawn and kali (Filipino martial art) are also required to save the day, but it was refreshing. There was also an interesting reveal about her towards the end, which I don't want to be specific about because spoilers, but I'm looking forward to how it will be addressed in later books. Highlight the rest of this paragraph for a minor spoilery comment: basically, I'm hoping for heartbreak at the end of the series, not a magic saves the day scenario.

I enjoyed The Lost Prince a lot. It was a fun read. It didn't rely on the earlier books to make sense and I am definitely keen to keep reading about Ethan when the sequel comes out. I'm interested to have a read of the earlier series, but I'm not going to rush out and buy them immediately. They're on my "when I have time to get around to it" TBR list.

That said, I definitely recommend The Lost Prince to fans of YA fantasy looking for a fun read with action and faeries. Do not be put off by the pile of preceding books, they are not necessary for the enjoyment of this one.

4.5 / 5 stars

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa grew on me as I read. It started well, but I couldn’t help but feel knowing the premise, as described in the blurb, detracted from the surprise of events near the start. However, this feeling quickly passed and by the time I finished, my overwhelming reaction was AWESOME.

The setting for The Immortal Rules reminded me of a cross between I Am Legend and the alternate Buffy universe ruled by vampires. In The Immortal Rules, Vampires have always existed on the fringes of human society but when a plague threatens to wipe out humanity, they step in and take measures to preserve their food source. The resultant norm has the main character, Allison, living in a city where humans are branded and required to submit to blood “donations” regularly. Infected rabids are kept out by the city wall. Rabids are the result of the plague and are something like zombies with some vampiric elements. Compare with the reanimated dead vampires vs the live undead vampires in I Am Legend.

The start of the book feels like a YA dystopia more than anything else. If I hadn’t read the blurb, I would have expected the standard dystopian arc of: 1. identify societal issues 2. revolution! However, that isn’t where the story goes, at least not in any conventional sense. If I’ve whet your appetite and you haven’t yet read a blurb for this book, you could do worse than to stop reading this review now and go pick up a copy. If you don’t mind not being surprised for a development near the start (or you’ve already read the blurb), then keep reading.

Instead of the story taking place in Allison’s home city as she overthrows the vampires or something like that, disaster strikes and Allison finds herself turned into the very thing she despises; a vampire. The story then goes off in another direction as she is forced to deal with being a monster and loosing everything from her human life. And forced to deal with how humans now see her, judging her based on what she is not who she is, despite any intentions she might have.

She’s a pretty independent, competent and compassionate character that I very much enjoyed reading. The secondary characters all complement her well. I like that Kagawa included annoying characters to antagonise Allison semi-benignly (as in, not just actual ‘bad guys’) and rub the reader up the wrong way. People fearing/hating her when they learn she’s a vampire is a prime example, but there were also personality clashes between Allison and other characters which added depth to the story.

It’s been a while since I’ve read a novel from a vampire’s first person perspective (unless you count the last part of the Twilight saga, which I don’t). Possibly not since Anne Rice. It was also a nice change to read about a female main character struggling with being a vampire and what that might mean for relationships (although any romantic aspects don’t dominate the story) rather than having the genders swapped as seems to be more common. Another nice thing was a lack of white-washing in this novel. Despite being set in the former US, Allison is of Japanese descent, other prominent characters are brown and black and there is, generally, a mix. Really the only white-washing is the cover because that girl is not Japanese.

Structurally, this did not end up reading like a conventional YA novel, despite starting like one. First, it’s longer — just over 500 printed pages — and it’s in four parts which have pretty distinct minor story arcs of their own. The overall arc is her journey and isn’t event-centred (not the revolution kind of event, anyway). Stylistically it felt like a fantasy novel that happened to have teenagers and vampires and so forth rather than a YA vampire novel. I think that reflects a difference in style to other (much shorter!) YA vampire or dystopian novels I’ve read recently. (They’ve all been and felt like quick reads, which this was not.) While it’s a book 1, I expect the subsequent books to continue in more of a fantasy style than a YA dystopia trilogy style.

The other thing I really enjoyed was the cinematic quality of many of the scenes. The descriptions were vivid, especially the action scenes, without dragging out. That and the nature of the setting and story made me feel like this story would work really well on the screen. Maybe as a TV series, since it’s too long for a movie. It would be awesome.

I highly recommend The Immortal Rules to anyone with even a passing interest vampires, fantasy or YA. I think this is a book that will appeal to a fairly broad audience. I will definitely be reading the next book when it becomes available.

5 / 5 stars