Book Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

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.

Title: The Eternity Cure
Series: Blood of Eden #2
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Australia
Release Date: 30th April 2013
Genre: Young Adult Paranormal Fantasy
Format: eBook
Source: Publisher via NetGalley and also purchased

**Please note: there may be spoilers for The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden #1)**

This is another fantastic instalment from Ms Kagawa in the Blood of Eden series. The Eternity Cure is a full on adventure and Allie is a fantastic character. As with all of Ms Kagawa’s books, I love the writing style, so easy to read and addictive and this one is no exception to that rule.

Allie survived her meeting with her blood brother, Jackal and is now having nightmares when she sleeps, but they aren’t true nightmares, they are visions of what Kanin is enduring while in the evil hands of Sarren. Allie can feel the pull of her Sire and after leaving Zeke, she is now determined to find Kanin and rescue him from the torturing hands of Sarren.

Following the pull between them, Allie travels surviving off thugs and baddies that she finds along the way. The pull is taking Allie to Old D.C. and once she gets inside the fences, she doesn’t find Kanin waiting for her, but somebody that she thought she left behind. They form a pact and decide to call a truce to their fighting, wanting to find Kanin together and discover a cure for Rabidism. Allie decides not to trust him, but figures two is better than one when confronting the likes of Sarren.

After a close call with the Rabids in Old D.C., the pair travels back to where it all began, New Covington. Allie is a little apprehensive of returning to where she was born twice and doesn’t really want to go back.

Following protocol and trying to be good vampires, they go to check in with the Prince of New Covington. Finding that things have changed, the Fringe is no longer safe to humans or vampires. It appears a new strain of the virus has been released and is creating a new version of rabids, bleeders. These crazy psychotic humans tear their own flesh and try to eat anything they can catch before dying. Having to go underground, they find a guide through the sewers and into the City to see the Prince.

Allie cannot be sure who to trust anymore, can she really trust the Prince even though they both want the same thing? Finding betrayal in the Prince’s tower and love, Allie doesn’t know what she will do, but the only thing she does know is that a cure must be found to stop the bleeders virus from spreading. With no humans, the vampire race cannot survive either.

Will they find a cure for rabidism or the bleeders? Does one really exist? Can Allie find Kanin and stop Sarren from destroying him for good? Can a vampire have a broken heart? What will the next adventure be for Allie?

I really enjoyed the twists and the unexpected turns along Allie’s journey. She really did mature in this one and learned from some of her mistakes, but the biggest lesson of all is to come. She had so many questions that she hasn’t gotten the answers to; she was a little annoying about her feelings and the indecision, but I still love her. Allie has such an attitude and I love her cheekiness when she tries to talk herself out of situations. I cannot wait to read book 3, The Forever Song that will come out next year (a whole year to wait, aarrrggghh!)

4 FANTASTIC VAMPIRE ACTION BOOKS

Book #1 - The Immortal Rules

You can read my 5 book review HERE.

About the Author

Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.

When not swimming for her life, Julie immersed herself in books, often to the chagrin of her schoolteachers, who would find she hid novels behind her Math textbooks during class. Her love of reading led her to pen some very dark and gruesome stories, complete with colored illustrations, to shock her hapless teachers. The gory tales faded with time, but the passion for writing remained, long after she graduated and was supposed to get a real job.

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon.

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Book Review: Revealing Eden by Victoria Foyt

Goodreads Summary: Eden Newman must mate before her 18th birthday in six months or she'll be left outside to die in a burning world. But who will pick up her mate-option when she's cursed with white skin and a tragically low mate-rate of 15%? In a post-apocalyptic, totalitarian, underground world where class and beauty are defined by resistance to an overheated environment, Eden's coloring brands her as a member of the lowest class, a weak and ugly Pearl. If only she can mate with a dark-skinned Coal from the ruling class, she'll be safe. Just maybe one Coal sees the Real Eden and will be her salvation her co-worker Jamal has begun secretly dating her. But when Eden unwittingly compromises her father's secret biological experiment, she finds herself in the eye of a storm and thrown into the last area of rainforest, a strange and dangerous land. Eden must fight to save her father, who may be humanity's last hope, while standing up to a powerful beast-man she believes is her enemy, despite her overwhelming attraction. Eden must change to survive but only if she can redefine her ideas of beauty and of love, along with a little help from her "adopted aunt" Emily Dickinson.

Title: Revealing Eden
Series: Save the Pearls #1
Author: Victoria Foyt
Publisher: Sand Dollar Press Inc
Release Date: First published 6th October 2011
Format: e-galley
Source: Publisher via NetGalley

Wow, this is an amazing fantasy novel. I have seen a lot of mixed reviews regarding this book, generally because of the racism that some believe this book is about. I have read and am reviewing the book for the whole story and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  This is a unique and riveting book that I couldn’t put down; I read it in one day and found the page turner storyline and characters fascinating.

Eden Newman is seventeen and a half years old, in six months she will be eighteen and if she doesn’t find a mate, she will be left outside in the heat to die. In a world where procreation is limited to one child per couple, her meals consist of pills and water is rationed to a cup a day; Eden is starting to panic that she will die of The Heat and never find her mate. Civilisation has been all but wiped out and the survivors are living in tunnels underground away from the blazing sun. Eden’s Father is a scientist and a very good one; he is trying to adapt humans DNA with an animal’s DNA in order to help humans survive on the surface.

It is unusual for Eden and her Father to have such highly ranked jobs; their social standing is classed as low because they are Pearls. Pearls have light coloured skin and Eden in particular has a very low mate-rate of only 15%. Eden works in her Father’s lab assisting with the test subjects and on this particular day trouble starts. Eden and her Supervisor have an altercation; Eden tries to run away and is caught by the guy that runs the place, Bramford. Eden sees Bramford as arrogant and a self-righteous man that is only out for power and glory.

The test subjects go missing and as a last resort Bramford requests that he become the new experiment. There is an explosion in the lab during the procedure and all hell breaks loose. Bramford takes Eden and her Father on his jet to escape. Eden feels she is kidnapped and doesn’t know what will happen to her life or her Father.

Arriving in the Jungle, Bramford is adapting to his new DNA and is unpredictable. Eden doesn’t know why he helps them or where they are going.  Arriving in a small village they have to adapt to their new surrounding and the food available. There is something very mysterious going on, the children are calling Eden Rebecca and nobody will tell her why.

Will Eden ever find out why Bramford is really helping them? Does she have feelings for Bramford or does she like just ticking him off? Will they ever get back to civilisation? Can Eden really survive out on the surface? Can Eden find out the mystery behind Bramford and who Rebecca is?

I cannot wait for book 2, Adapting Eden to be released next year; Goodreads says it is due for release in January, but I found somewhere else that it isn’t until March. Anyway, I will be looking out for it and can’t wait to see what happens to Eden, Bramford and her Father next. I really loved the story behind this book, the world building could have been a little more detailed as to what and how everything happened, but the characters and Eden in particular are intriguing. Eden is struggling through her life and trying to work out what it all means. Being an emotional 17 year old is difficult at the best of times, but put in the mix of trying to live in a jungle with a strange man that she has always had to fear, well what more could you want. Betrayal, love, mystery, family relationships and adventure all mixed into one. I recommend this to those that enjoy a fantasy.

5 AWESOME STARS

About the Author

Victoria Foyt's debut novel, The Virtual Life of Lexie Diamond, a young adult fantasy 
mystery thriller (HarperCollins) was Recommended by The Center for Children's Books, and received a five-star, must read rating from Teens Read Too: “Foyt has created a compelling character and an electrifying story that will hold readers until the last page.”

Victoria co-wrote and starred in several acclaimed feature films, including "Going Shopping" with Rob Morrow, "Déjà Vu" with Vanessa Redgrave, "Last Summer in the Hamptons" with Melissa Leo, and "Babyfever" with Eric Roberts.

Victoria has appeared on news outlets such as Good Morning America, Entertainment Tonight, E! Entertainment, HBO, CNN-TV, Showbiz Today, ABC Radio, Turner TV Entertainment Report, TNT Rough Cuts, and Westwood One Radio, and has received extensive coverage on Siskel & Ebert. 

She also has been featured in Vogue Magazine, O at Home, Elle Magazine, Movieline, Venice Magazine, Avenue Magazine, Night Magazine, Moviemaker Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, La Opinion, Miami New Times, Dramalogue, and Backstage West, among others. 

Born and raised in Coral Gables, Florida, Victoria attended the University of Miami, where she received her Bachelor of Arts in French and Spanish and German. She currently resides in Santa Monica, California. She loves reading--at least two or three books a month--movies, tennis, swimming, hiking, and lots of dark chocolate.

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