The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden - Book 1) [Kindle Edition]

This book is set in the future, a future where vampires are rulers and humans are just their cattle. Some humans choose to comply and register themselves, in exchange for their blood they are given food to survive. The rest, the unregistered, are treated like the rats, they have to forage and steal their food to survive. We meet Allie an unregistered human; she hates vampires with a passion. When a food scavenge goes horribly wrong in the ruins outside the walled city, Allie is left on the brink of death after being savaged by the rabids, (these are a cross between zombies and vampires,) Allie has the choice to accept death or be turned into a vampire and live. Bearing in mind the hatred Allie has for vampires this is a pretty big deal! If she does decide to go down the vampire route then her life as she knows it will be no more.

I have to say that at first I did struggle to settle into this book, but after settling into a couple of chapters it was whoosh. I think there is such a huge amount of detail to absorb that the mind just boggles. The story is exciting and at times had me on the edge of my seat. After the first hurdle was over, I have to say that it more than made up for it. This book is a WOW book. This is not a light and easy read, at times it did get dark and gritty.

From start to finish I was rooting for Allie, wow she had some seriously gritty times to deal with. Allie is such a fiercely strong person; she is a fantastic and complex character. I really connected with her.

The details in the story made it so real and my imagination could certainly put me there. Such rich detail! Powerful and compelling, I really struggled to put this book down. Again as I've said before once I got past the first hurdle there was no stopping me.

This is the first book I have ever read by this author; I have heard good things about the Iron Fey series. Which if they are as good as this book I will definitely be reading them sometime soon.

I was given a copy of this book for review purposes.

I have read a lot of vampire and paranormal fiction and when I received this book I did think that it would be the same sort of story, a romance with a few sharp teeth thrown in. Actually, it was nothing like that! The book reminded me a lot of 'The Passage' by Justin Cronin. It's a dark look at vampires, there are no romantic bloodsuckers in this book.

We begin the story with Allie, surviving in the fringes of a vampire city. She is an unregistered human, meaning that the vampires do not feed from her. This also means that she has to scavenge or steal food to survive. She lives with her gang in a run down building. The world has suffered a disaster in that most humans were wiped out by a virus, vampires have taken over and outside the city are rabids (think zombie type creatures). So Allie is doing the best that she can, staying off the radar of vampires and getting by. She hates the vampires and dreams of a time when humans will rise up and reclaim their place in the world.

One night while out scavenging Allie is caught by a rabid and then then given the choice of immortal life by a master vampire. Will she choose to become something that she reviles or die? Well you can probably guess...

Anyway there is a bit of romance when Allie meets Zeke, a human looking for a place called Eden where he and his friends will be safe from vampires.

I gave this story four stars instead of five because the parts of the story dealing with the virus and possible cure for rabidism reminded me too much of other books and films, like 'The Passage' and 'I am Legend'.

I enjoyed it and would read more books in the series.

I am a fan of Julie Kawaga's Iron Fey series so I was very excited to have the opportunity to read this, especially as a lover of vampire and supernatural books. It did not disappoint, it is a different take on a much used and abused subject.

Vampire's rule the world following a disease that has wiped out most of the population, the human's are kept almost like cattle, registered, fed and kept in exchange for blood. The main character Allie, is an "unregistered" scraping by everyday just to get enough to eat. After the worst happens and Allie is turned her whole life takes a new direction and she struggles to cope with the guilt and betrayal of her friends. The book really took off for me when she met Zeke and his band of travelers searching for mythical Eden. Hiding her vampirism and coping with the hunger becomes her biggest battle, as well as trying to supress her feelings for Zeke.

I quickly became drawn into her world and cared about the characters. I read it in just a couple of days as I could not put it down! It is refreshing to read a book where vampires are portrayed as monsters rather than mysterious and brooding romance interests! I will definitely be looking out for the sequel.