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1.2k reviews for:

The Immortal Rules

Julie Kagawa

3.95 AVERAGE


It just got better as it went along, enough said. I'm sorry that I didn't check out ms. kagawa sooner, but I confess I was repelled by her fey books

Many people are already fans of Kagawa’s Iron Fey series, I’ll admit I haven’t read it all yet, but what I have read I loved. When I saw that she was going to come out with a book featuring vampires, I jumped at the chance to read it. What Julie does for the fae, she does for the vampire. She has made a fresh story featuring a society that has crumbled and is now overrun by vampires. Having different versions of the vampires is wonderful too – they aren’t all beauty and glam, actually – we never really see that side. What we do see is a girl who becomes what she was born to hate and how she deals with it.

Allison Sekemoto isn’t like the other teens that are living in the vampire city, she refuses to give in. Even when she becomes a vampire, she still refuses to give in and become the monster she has despised. The story features action and some gruesome battles and left me wanting more. I can’t wait to see what will happen next as Allie continues on her journey to yet another fight.

Reviewed by Jessica for Book Sake.

This book was suspenseful, romantic, exhilarating, and everything at the same time! The Immortal Rules is definitely one of everyone's favorite books!

This was definitely a great book and I'm mad at myself for not reading it before! It felt a little long at times, but despite that, I finished the audiobook in just a couple days and I'm interested to see how the series plays out!
adventurous mysterious tense fast-paced

Ich hab wirklich einen laaaaaangen Einstieg gehabt. Lang = ca. 3 Monate, in denen ich eher keine Lust auf Vampir-Stuff hatte. Und als ich dann mir wirklich Zeit nahm für das Buch, hatte ich es rasant durch. Julie Kagawas Ideenreichtum scheint absolut keine Grenzen zu kennen, wie kommt sie nur auf so brillante Geschichten und Charaktere? Allison war so ne richtig geile Sau, das muss gesagt sein. Sie sieht die Dinge wie sie sind und es wird nix romantisiert im Buch, das finde ich sehr gut gemacht. Vor allem weil das so ein Unterschied ist, zu dem, was wir sonst von der Autorin kennen. Vampire sind ja schon nicht mehr meine Sparte, aber wie das in Unsterblich aufgezogen wird, mag ich die Existenz von Vampiren und die Probleme mit den Menschen und Vampire sind mal nicht glitzernd und süß, sondern richtig garstige Biester. Deshalb finde ich auch, dass englische Cover passt viel mehr als das deutsche, das mir zu harmlos daherkommt. Auf die Liebesgeschichte wird schon eingegangen, das aber nicht zu sehr und Zeke mocht ich so richtig gerne. Allerdings tendier ich wohl eher in Richtung Kanin, selbst wenn das nur ne Meister-Schülerin-Freunde-Beziehung bleiben sollte. Ich mag Allie und ihn als Team zusammen. Allies Reise innerhalb des ersten Bandes geht ja schon richtig weit, ich hätte weniger erwartet vom Plot. Und genau deswegen, bin ich so positiv überrascht gewesen von der restlichen Hälfte und wie verdammt spannend es war! Das Buch sollte man sich wirklich nicht entgehen lassen, SELBST WENN ihr die Plötzlich Fee Bücher nicht so dolle fandet - das hier ist ne ganz andere Liga!
adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

Expand filter menu Content Warnings

The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa is what I would define as a vampire, post-apocalyptic, survival-horror. Set in a world where the human population has been decimated by a plague and the attempts of a cure. Human beings have been reduced to becoming bottom links on a food chain that leads up to soulless vampires and the devolved rapids. There is no democracy, no human Government, and no civil society; what once was has now become a country filled with ghost towns and walled up cities where vampires rule the streets and rapids roam the outer wilderness.

Allison Sekemoto is an unregistered inhabitant of the vampire city New Covington. She, like almost every one of her generation, is an orphan and the only family she has are the boys in her group of invisibles who survive by stealing and foraging for anything that aids in their survival. And however hard life was for Allison and her group before it’s getting harder as food becomes scarcer, winter approaches, and rumors spread of the vampires locking down the city. A problem Allison had miraculously found a solution to, but one that quickly leads to tragedy and Allison dead.

The Immortal Rules is a story starkly different from Julie Kagawa’s The Iron Fey series in both plot and format. Where the protagonist of The Iron King (the first novel in the Iron Fey series) had a clear set objective from the very beginning – save her kidnapped brother, Allison’s story does not have a clear narrative path for the reader to follow, at least not until midway through the book. I had no problem with this for the majority of the novel because I prefer character-centric stories and the story of The Immortal Rules was mainly about Allison – her struggles of balancing what she is with who she was.

“The shadows lengthened like grasping fingers, sliding over the ground.”


Julie Kagawa’s writing style, constantly filled with vivid descriptions, always did a great job with unfolding the mood for a scene or setting, especially when it came to tense moments or action scenes and trust me this is a book brimming with action.

Unfortunately, in spite of all of these highlights I can’t give The Immortal Rules a perfect rating because despite me loving Allison’s character and being intrigued by her vampire mentor Kanin I couldn’t connect or care about the other characters in the story. To me they were all mainly just there to fill a role so when it came to moments that should have gained reactions out of me I was just reading quickly to move onto the next scene despite how engrossing the current one should be.

So overall, if you want an action-packed novel about a strong, kick-ass heroine then pick up The Immortal Rules but don’t except to fall in love with ensemble of characters or to shed a tear over them.

Honestly, I did like this book! There were some parts of it that I thought weren't necessary plus I wasn't too much of a fan of the main character screaming out her crushs/lovers name almost every time (to me it felt like we were being reminded about who she was talking about when we knew who it was to begin with.) Still, I liked it. I won't deny that. Would I read the second one? ... Maybe. Kinda wanna see what happens now.

By kinda, I mean I'm going to.

*Sorry for any mistakes, english is not my first language*
When I first read the synopsis of Immortal Rules, I thought the book would be a mess. How could she manage to mix dystopia and vampires like that? It would definetly not work. I was decided I wasn't going to read it, until I began to see lots of positive reviews and it showed up on NetGalley for reading.

Really, if you are having the kind of prejudice I had, don't be afraid. Immortal Rules manages to mix dystopia, vampires and zombies in a awesome way, with enchanting characters and an amazing plot.
In the beginning, I thought Allie to be a mixture of Katniss Everdeen and Rose Hathaway, but after few chapters, she gained her own voice and won my heart. After that, it become easy to read the book until the end. The characters that showed up were all really loveable and they made the story even more interesting.

The world that Kagawa built is amazing and well done, with lots of details that add up to the main plot. The reason why there are vampire cities in this world is one of the best things of the book, just as all the things related to the vampiric existence. (By the way, my favourite character is Kanin, Allie's vampire master. He is so awesome and badass and amazing and-)

Another thing that I loved was the way Julie depicted the dillema between being human and being a monster. What makes a monster? Nature? Choices? Actions? Is Allie a monster just because she is not human anymore?

Immortal Rules is also full of action. You are never safe, you never know what is going to happen next. The world is hostile and Julie is not afraid to show it to the readers. Along with that, there is a romance that runs miles away from the clichè for vampire books and is so heart-warming and bittersweet that I got really attached. I am usually annoyed w/ YA romance and how they seem to love each other from first sight and the fact that this one wasn't like that was a relief.

In the end, I would give Immortal rules five stars without a doubt, but I found the beginning to be a little bit slow for my taste. But it is an amazing book - and you all should give it a try!