Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Steph’s Rating: 5 stars

Dani’s Rating: 5 stars

Overall Rating: 5 stars

Reviewed by Dani with Commentary by Steph

Format: Hardcover

Publication Date: April 30th, 2013

Publisher: Harlequin Teen

Pages: 446

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

*Spoilers for The Immortal Rules (Book 1)*

Dani’s Review:

As usual, Julie has never ceased to amaze me. I have loved every single thing she has written. I fell head over heels in love with her Iron Fey series, and her Blood of Eden has earned my eternal devotion as well. The Eternity Cure was a stupendous follow-up to The Immortal Rules, and I can’t imagine it being any different. I didn’t and can’t find anything lacking about this book. It is one of the best Julie Kagawa books I’ve read to date.

The Eternity Cure begins with Allie searching for her sire, Kanin, who was captured by the crazy, psycho, and insane Master vampire known as Sarren. Allie has a blood tie to Kanin, so she can feel the excruciating pain Kanin feels as he undergoes Sarren’s horrible torture sessions. Sarren is probably the  most terrifying antagonist I have EVER read about. I was surprised to discover that Julie could create such a dark character. This entire series is so much gloomier and cynical than her Iron Fey series. Julie did an AMAZING job portraying Sarren’s broken logic and mind. He is desperate for revenge from Kanin for giving fellow vampires to human scientists to experiment on. He needs his retribution as much as he needs blood to survive. He is a true master of torture and loves to make his “birds sing”. *shudders*

Julie’s trademark description and imagery is in this novel, although it is much more grisly. It was such a change to read about the the “crunching of bones” and “skin peeking out of flesh” instead of “Oh look there’s Ash the extremely hot Winter Prince!” There is so much action and emotion packed into this book. I hated to read about Ally going through a truckload of pain, grief, anger, hatred, and the ongoing battle of the Hunger, her vampire instincts. She constantly fights her inner demon that is telling her to give in to the bloodlust and kill all the “puny, weak bloodbags”. I loved to learn more about Ally’s inner strength and will. She is truly one of the strongest protagonists in the YA world.

Julie somehow managed to include some humour into this dark novel! She never ceases to make my jaw drop in awe. Remember Jackal from the Blood of Eden? He was the raider-king who murdered several of Allie and Zeke’s friends. Well, he plays quite an important role in this novel and also happens to have a hilarious yet sick sense of humour. He is incorrigible; even when he’s in extreme pain with a pole impaled in his gut, he still manages to crack some jokes!

In the first chapters of The Eternity Cure, Allie is trying to cope with the loss of Zeke, her biggest regret. The Blood of Eden ended with a HUGE cliffhanger: Allie leaves Eden, where she is not welcome for being a vampire, and subsequently leaves the boy who might be the love of her life, Ezekiel Cross. Of course, no good writer and especially not Julie Kagawa leaves the two protagonists of their story apart for long. Don’t worry! Zeke makes a reappearance and is a HUGE part of this novel! However, Zeke has changed....

If you have read The Blood of Eden, you must already be dying to get your hands on a copy of The Eternity Cure! So, I don’t have to explain again why you MUST read this novel. And if you have not read The Blood of Eden yet for some reason are reading this review, I HIGHLY recommend you to read it, especially if you are a Julie Kagawa fan. To sum it up, Julie Kagawa has created another YA series that will blow your mind!

Steph’s Commentary:

I totally agree with everything Dani said, especially on The Eternity Cure being rather...dark and chilling. I don’t know how many times I got shivers when I was reading the scenes with Sarren. He is a psychopathic mess, and yes, flat out terrifying. I didn’t even know Julie was capable of portraying characters like this, especially after The Iron Fey goodness. Blood of Eden is definitely not for the weak-stomached!

Allie is just amazing in this book. Her continuous battle against herself is really admirable, since she is going against her vampire instinct and nature. The suffering she has to deal with is just horrendous, and she is such a “big girl” who doesn’t cry throughout. Most definitely one of the best!

I feel like I should mention this. Remember that twiggy boy named Stick from way back whenever? Well I hate his guts. Just read The Eternity Cure and I’m sure you will be harboring the same exact feelings.

Jackal. While Dani doesn’t like him very much from his past actions in The Immortal Rules...Julie kind of made me love him. Okay, really love him. He has the crudest and nastiest humor, along with terrible manners and timing, but he is just hilarious! The funniest scenes in the book pretty much included Jackal. I actually had a love/hate relationship with him throughout the book, but I settled with really love by the end of the book. You’ll just have to read to find out why. His antics with Allie is so funny to read, because they seriously act like bickering siblings (which they are, but they are just closer in The Eternity Cure than before. Loved reading that!). I’m basically writing this commentary to tell the world I love him now. ;) P.S. ZEKE </3.

I also highly recommend this book and series, along with anything else written by Julie Kagawa! Eagerly awaiting book 3 of this series!