The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

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This is another book that I have been sitting here stewing about for a few weeks since I read it. I just find it so hard to put into words what I am feeling about it! You can find my rambly review of book one RIGHT HERE.

This book was sooooo crazy. Julie Kagawa has this perfect way of writing where things are gritty and intense and you start see the light and the end of the tunnel "Everything's going to be ok!!" and then all of a sudden in the last chapter the light goes out and you are left sitting there feeling empty and sad and like you have been hit by a train or some other really powerful force. It's intense!! I don't quite know what to make of it either. Did I enjoy that book? Did that really all just happen?! Do I really have to wait for freakin' ever for the next book?! gah!!

This is my first series of Julie's and I wish.....so wish I had read them when they were all out. Then I might be able to give it 5 stars, but the questions and the things left in the air drive me nuts!!! In a way this series reminds me of my favorite YA series of all time by Patrick Ness, Chaos Walking. It just has the same dark undercurrent that leaves you breathless the whole way through. That's really the only book series I have been able to compare this to in my mind.

Like the last book, this book really does take you to another world and you get lost in it. I can clearly picture everything in my mind and watch it all play out and I love that so much!!! I was much happier with the amount of time we got with Kanin too. I so love him as a character and was sad we only got a snippet of him in the first installment. He just has so many layers to him and I feel like he has a lot to tell.

All in all I do love this series. It has the possibility of being one of my favorites, but I need all the books to be out before I can actually say that it is for certain. So...in a year I'll let you know! ;)

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

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It seems like I am handing out 4 stars left and right around here huh?! I guess it's a good thing that I have been reading so many decent books lately! Hopefully soon I will find a 5 star one again!

I don't really know what I was expecting going in, but for some reason this book was nothing like I thought it would be. I guess it's because it was "another vampire series" in my head. I was sooooooo wrong! This was more "I am legend" (which I haven't actually read..only watched) than it was say...Vampire Academy. It was gritty and intense and kind of gross at times honestly. It wasn't lovey dovey or sweet or even romantic, though we do get a couple glimpses of that...but that's all they were..glimpses. If you were to blink you would miss them.

The story takes place in a futuristic society where vampires rule and most of the population has been wiped out by a virus called Red Lung. The people who weren't wiped out have turned into scavengers...or rabids. Allison, our heroine, is a scavenger but when given the choice to die or become a vampire she chooses the latter. She is forced to flee from her home town of New Covington and stumbles upon a group of people on a quest to find Eden. She decides to travel with them while hiding what she really is.

The whole time I was literally just shaking my head. How it could all work out was beyond me, but I was totally rooting for her in a weird way because honestly I didn't think she was that likable. Most people aren't that easy going and friendly when they have been fighting for survival though, and I could recognize that and relate to her because of everything she had been through.

The "love interest", if you can call it that, was Ezekiel Cross aka Zeke. I loved him. I can see why some people wouldn't....he's very good and the trend now a days is a bad boy. While I too can appreciate the appeal of the bad boys in this world, I so love a good hero on occasion. Someone you can always root for because you know their intentions are always good. You never have to wonder about their motives. They are steady and Zeke was definitely steady for me.

I am getting rambly..but I am almost done!!

The vampires in this book are good old fashioned vampires for the most part. They are the bad guys. They kill and hunt and they enjoy it while they do. I know people say they wish there more books like that again and this was one of them. They aren't as creepy as the rabids...but they are definitely not the good guys here.

My biggest complaint is that at times it was slow. There is a lot of descriptive writing, which is nice for visualization, it did make some of the chapters really drawn out. I read somewhere that these were being made into a movie and honestly while reading them, I felt like it was written for that purpose. It wasn't annoying enough to detract from the story..just enough to make it drag for me sometimes.

I haven't read anything else by Julie Kagawa before now but I definitely think I will pick up the Fey series one day soon!