Despite the oversaturation of the market with vampire stories, Im still constantly on the lookout for something fresh. Julie Kagawa brings a refreshing grittiness to vampires in her new paranormal-dystopian series, starting with THE IMMORTAL RULES, which, while far from perfect, is still an enjoyable read for the forgiving, vampire-crazy reader type.
I like that Kagawas vampires dont glitter. They dont try desperately to mimic humanity for the sake of a romantic story. They are manipulative and volatile and scary as all helland thus, when the uncommon vampire displays some semblance of human emotion or empathy, you know its because of the character, not just for the sake of a story.
THE IMMORTAL RULES is also written in a controlled yet smooth-flowing manner, keeping a tight rein on potentially overdramatic situations, and yet moving the story along from event to event, dialogue to dialogue, in a natural-feeling way. It was nearly effortlessat least for meto become immersed in the story. Its not fast-paced, per se (to be quite honest, I have no idea how this book managed to run longer than 400 pages; that number of pages was probably not all necessary but it didnt deter from my reading experience either), but it is easy to read.
I was quite keen on the first part, where Allie learns about being a vampire and begins to see her city in a different light, but where THE IMMORTAL RULES stumbled for me began when Allie met the humans. There is no nice way to say this, because the human characters in this book are such clichés. Theres a mean girl whose hatred of Allie is unfoundedno, really, Im not even being overly subjective here, the girl heard that Allie came from a city and was all like, You beeyotchuh, wut?whose main purpose for being in the story seemed to be to make readers even more sympathetic to Allies difficult situationbut if you liked her enough in the first part of the book, then you already are sympathetic to her. Theres a preacher-esque leader who speaks in the destiny-speak of adults who think they know everything. Even Zeke, as a love interest, was bland in his perfection: the guy is nice to everyone, likes Allie even though shes sullen and secretive, andthis is my favoriteengages in very lame banter with his male BFF. Im telling you, the humans come straight out of a CW beach town drama. I found myself groaning and wishing we were back in Allies old city (with Kanin, he of the badassery and no-nonsense nature).
Im not sure how there came to be such a disjuncture between the effortless grittiness of the first part of the book and the forced camaraderie/backstabbing/bravado of the rest. The villain talks like a done-thrice-over villain from a 1940s comic. Science gets pushed to the wayside for the sake of good triumphing over evil (the wet gun, the wet gun!). My best guess is that Kagawa had a great setting and the ideas for sequels and didnt allow her characters to get from Point A to Point B without a whole lot of interference in characterization from her.
Despite my frustrations with this novel, I would still be interested in reading the sequel (but there better be fewer stupid humans), because I found Allie sympathetic and the vampire-human tension interesting. THE IMMORTAL RULES wont be everyones cup of tea, but those who enjoy True Blood over The Vampire Diaries or Twilight might consider giving this one a try.
I like that Kagawas vampires dont glitter. They dont try desperately to mimic humanity for the sake of a romantic story. They are manipulative and volatile and scary as all helland thus, when the uncommon vampire displays some semblance of human emotion or empathy, you know its because of the character, not just for the sake of a story.
THE IMMORTAL RULES is also written in a controlled yet smooth-flowing manner, keeping a tight rein on potentially overdramatic situations, and yet moving the story along from event to event, dialogue to dialogue, in a natural-feeling way. It was nearly effortlessat least for meto become immersed in the story. Its not fast-paced, per se (to be quite honest, I have no idea how this book managed to run longer than 400 pages; that number of pages was probably not all necessary but it didnt deter from my reading experience either), but it is easy to read.
I was quite keen on the first part, where Allie learns about being a vampire and begins to see her city in a different light, but where THE IMMORTAL RULES stumbled for me began when Allie met the humans. There is no nice way to say this, because the human characters in this book are such clichés. Theres a mean girl whose hatred of Allie is unfoundedno, really, Im not even being overly subjective here, the girl heard that Allie came from a city and was all like, You beeyotchuh, wut?whose main purpose for being in the story seemed to be to make readers even more sympathetic to Allies difficult situationbut if you liked her enough in the first part of the book, then you already are sympathetic to her. Theres a preacher-esque leader who speaks in the destiny-speak of adults who think they know everything. Even Zeke, as a love interest, was bland in his perfection: the guy is nice to everyone, likes Allie even though shes sullen and secretive, andthis is my favoriteengages in very lame banter with his male BFF. Im telling you, the humans come straight out of a CW beach town drama. I found myself groaning and wishing we were back in Allies old city (with Kanin, he of the badassery and no-nonsense nature).
Im not sure how there came to be such a disjuncture between the effortless grittiness of the first part of the book and the forced camaraderie/backstabbing/bravado of the rest. The villain talks like a done-thrice-over villain from a 1940s comic. Science gets pushed to the wayside for the sake of good triumphing over evil (the wet gun, the wet gun!). My best guess is that Kagawa had a great setting and the ideas for sequels and didnt allow her characters to get from Point A to Point B without a whole lot of interference in characterization from her.
Despite my frustrations with this novel, I would still be interested in reading the sequel (but there better be fewer stupid humans), because I found Allie sympathetic and the vampire-human tension interesting. THE IMMORTAL RULES wont be everyones cup of tea, but those who enjoy True Blood over The Vampire Diaries or Twilight might consider giving this one a try.
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