ARC Review: The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2) by Julie Kagawa

Publisher: April 30, 2013 Harlequin Teen
Genre: Paranormal, Fantasy
Format: egalley
Source: gifted from Netgalley and Harlequin Teen for honest review


*Please note that it is very hard to review books past the first one in the series without having any spoilers at all. I will try to keep it as spoiler free as I can, but if you haven't read the first book in this series, you may just want to read that review instead of continuing with this one.

Goodreads Summary
Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

Completely immersed in this stimulating story

The Good

Imagine you are living in a world where being a human means you have three choices: to be a vampire's pet, to be a fringer living a life of crime on the streets, or to be dead. If you are a fringer like Kagawa's main character Allie started in the first book in this series, The Immortal Rules, you are not allowed to read without it being a crime, you may have never heard music, and you don't allow yourself to become close to anyone because you know odds are good that they will soon be dead. You are in constant fear and poverty.

Now, that more closely describes Ezekiel Crosse (Zeke) because Allie became what all humans hate: a vampire. What's so great about Kagawa's writing is that you don't have to do much imagining at all because she fully transports you to this world. You feel like you are right there beside Allie with no electricity, battling the morality of a vampire's nature, and feeling yourself wishing for a world that could have been.

This book has you really diagnosing what makes a monster a monster. This subject was really explored in this book and was very well done. Allie is with Jackal for some part of the story. If you remember him from the first one, then you know that he has no problem doing some questionably heinous things and he repetitively tells Allie to embrace the monster within her. I was often pausing to think about what makes someone evil in my own opinion. If they are doing something to survive, does that make it better than doing something horrible for no reason at all? If you are transformed into a monster that wants to rip someone's throat out, but you don't...are you really worse than a human who kills someone out of spite?

Allie has doubts about whether Jackal is as bad as he seemed. She thinks she is worse than I think she is. We get a glimpse at humans vs. vampires. Vampires are supposed to be the Big Bads right? The main villain in this book is quite an evil vampire, but second to him is a sniveling power-hungry human. Both monsters in my opinion. It all comes back to choices and that was made clear here. I loved how much this book made me really stop and ponder this.

The Bad

This was a slow book in parts. I won't deny that I did set this book down and read others. However, with how much Kagawa fully put me into her world, I feel like I would have these moments of no action if I was really in Allie's shoes. I also loved everything else about the story so much that I'm not taking anything off for the slow parts. This was too great of a book all in all.

The Romance

Hmmm, yes the romance. I knew from the very start in The Immortal Rules that Allie and Zeke's relationship couldn't really have a happy road. It just seemed doomed to me from the start. She's a vampire and she lied to him about being one and then the fact that he's a human that she can't resist wanting to bite will lead to a lot of complications. However, in this book there are a lot of great moments. Still, I don't think there will be a happy ending for these two for some time and won't say more for fear of spoiling.

Conclusion

I adored this book. Kagawa put me right there in New Covington beside Allie walking the hard road with her. I was moved by the thought-provoking discussions and actions that The Eternity Cure held within and I hope she continues to provide these in future books. I felt tortured by the ending and cannot believe that I will have to wait for the next book as it's almost unbearable with how this one was concluded. Absolutely recommended.

Excerpts

“I glanced up, looking past the sofa, and saw another shelf standing in the corner by the window. This one was full of books, more than I'd ever seen in my life. And for just a moment, I felt a tiny prick of envy." ARC Location 1967

Sarren was the most dangerous thing in the room now, and I didn't trust even the guards and their crossbows to keep us safe. ARC Location 2177