Review: The Forever Song

Book three of the Blood of Eden trilogy
By Julie Kagawa
Available now from Harlequin Teen
Review copy
Read my reviews of The Eternity Cure, The Iron Daughter, and Grim

Julie Kagawa brings her Blood of Eden trilogy to a fitting conclusion, full of action, grief, love, and sacrifice.  Somehow, when I started the book, I thought Kagawa would instantly find a loophole to make the ending of THE ETERNITY CURE all better.  But she doesn't, and heroine Allie has give up struggling with her vampiric nature in her despair.

Allie, along with her mentor Kanin and brother Jackal, are traveling to stop mad vampire Sarren before he can make it to Eden and unleash a virus to kill all humans and vampires.  Unfortunately for them, Sarren is mad like a fox.  I truly enjoy the quasi-familial relationship that the three share, so it was nice to spend quite a bit of time with them on their journey.  It's also interesting to see how three people can pursue the same course while motivated for such different reasons.

I really didn't like Kagawa's faerie series (I quit halfway through the second book), so it's kind of amazing to me how much I loved this trilogy.  I thought it mixed post-apocalyptic fiction with vampire lore very well, creating something that played with the tropes of both without being the same old same old.  The strong characterization and relationships are also a highlight.  The romance is front and center (this is a Harlequin imprint), but it's certainly not the only relationship explored.

I definitely would read THE IMMORTAL RULES and THE ETERNITY CURE before diving into THE FOREVER SONG.  It doesn't spend any time explaining what is happening to new readers.  It is entirely focused on moving the story forward to the conclusion.  I think this trilogy finishes strong, for those who have been waiting for the reaction to the final book to start.  The science is terrible, but I can forgive that in a vampire book.  Especially in a vampire road-trip trilogy.

Review: The Eternity Cure

Book Two of the Blood of Eden
By Julie Kagawa
Available now from Harlequin Teen
Review copy

I avoided reading THE IMMORTAL RULES, the first book in the Blood of Eden series, for a long time because I wasn't a fan of Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey books.  But people kept saying that they didn't like the Iron Fey books, but they loved THE IMMORTAL RULES.  So I gave it a chance and liked it.

THE ETERNITY CURE picks up where THE IMMORTAL RULES leaves off.  Allie helped Zeke reach safe harbor, but she's not welcome since she's a vampire.  That's okay because she needs to leave to rescue Kanin.  Since he's her maker she can sense that he's in peril and track him down.  She's not the only one of Kanin's children seeking to help him, but that doesn't mean she can trust her brother-by-vampirism Jackal.

I loved how THE ETERNITY CURE built on the first book.  Characters return in different forms - some friendlier than before, some now enemies.  There's also more uncovered about the plague, and why some might not want it cured.  The romance also proceeds apace.  Zeke and Allie can now be open about their relationship, which means its a good time for them to start exploring the practicality of a human/vampire relationship.  For instance, should Allie turn Zeke if he's dying?

The best part of THE ETERNITY CURE might be that there's more Kanin.  Allie's vampire maker is a fascinating figure and an incredibly likeable one.  He's burdened by guilt, but he does his best to bring positive change to the world.  He refuses to not follow his principles, but he's more careful since he realizes just how big the consequences of his actions can be.

This is a great series for vampire fans.  There's lots of action, a touch of forbidden romance, and complicated relationships in a complicated world.  It's good enough to make me consider reading the Iron Fey again to see if I was wrong about those books.  I'm looking forward to the third book, especially after the dramatic events of the ending of THE ETERNITY CURE.

Who wants to guess what the cover of the third book will look like?  I'm happy this one doesn't have a white girl on the cover, since Allie is half-Japanese, but wish they'd put her face on the cover instead of the front flap after the brouhaha about THE IMMORTAL RULES cover.

Review: The Iron Daughter

I start my job today! I am finally employed!

By Julie Kagawa
Available now from HarlequinTEEN
Read my review of THE IRON KING
Review copy



As you might recall from my review, I wasn't big on THE IRON KING. As I was interested in the quest, I decided to try THE IRON DAUGHTER anyway. I didn't finish it because the first part did nothing to change my mind about the series.

Meghan Chase and Ash are together now, but because of their agreement she must stay in his mother's treacherous Winter Court. He gives her several warnings about the situation she's gotten herself into. Instead of trusting him, Meghan proceeds to draw attention to herself and their relationship.

There could be potential in the court. After all, Ash has several conniving brothers who aren't happy that the youngest is the favorite. The queen herself has all those issues with Oberon. But the Winter Court is quickly dispensed with (and several potentially interesting characters - as set up in the beginning - are killed) and the real story begins when Meghan continues her quest.

At this point, I closed the book to go do something. It's been quite awhile now and I haven't bothered to pick it back up and doubt if I ever will. I know several people have been enjoying the Iron Fey series, and more power to them. But I don't think Julie Kagawa's works are for me.

Review: The Iron King

First order of business: Be entertained! Enter to win a copy of MY SOUL TO SAVE and giggle over the longlist for the oddest title prize.

By Julie Kagawa
Available now from Harlequin Teen
Review copy



Meghan Chase gets crap at school for living in the middle of nowhere, but she does love her family and quickly notices that her brother has been replaced by something wrong. She decides to rescue him, and is off to search for him among the faeries with the help of her best friend Robbie, who turns out to be Puck. Obviously a book that was right up my alley, so I was very excited to read it. Unfortunately, my reaction was, "Eh."

Meghan has ties to the Summer Court, which is why Robin Goodfellow was watching her in the first place. How can Oberon have enough foresight to give her a bodyguard but not have anyone teach her the first thing about faerys? Seriously, she doesn't even know not to say thank you, which a quick exposure to choice children's lit could have taken care of. I was a bit baffled by the parenting fail.

On to the romance. Julie Kagawa does a wonderful job of showing how Robin cares for Meghan without having him say anything direct. Then there's love interest Ash, who I do like, but who seems to win Meghan over with nothing more than good looks. She trusts him and falls in love ridiculously quick. (Of course, so does Ash, while Robin is proof that faeries are inhuman and weird about that sort of stuff.)

The plot does move once the quest starts. I am interested in reading the next book and finding out how Meghan will get herself out of the pickle she put herself in. At the same time, I hope it is a step up. THE IRON KING wasn't bad, but it was average. It didn't have the spark of a modern faery tale like TITHE or EYES LIKE STARS. I was reading about things I enjoyed, but also things I'd seen done before and better.