{Review} The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Eternity Cure
Author: Julie Kagawa
Format: NetGalley e-book ARC
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release date: April 23rd 2013
Date Read: February 12th 2013
Rating: ✭✭(.75)

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.

For THE IMMORTAL RULES

THE ETERNITY CURE is sadly not as good as its predecessor, THE IMMORTAL RULES. It isn't a bad book but not nearly as great as the first book. THE ETERNITY CURE starts off around a month after the events of the first book, which basically means Allie is still trying to find Kanin, her mentor.


Though special in its own way, THE ETERNITY CURE didn't meet my sky-high expectations after reading the last one. Perhaps it's my own fault, for wanting a better book than THE IMMORTAL RULES but I honestly thought that was possible. 

It obvious wasn't.

THE ETERNITY CURE's biggest downfall happens to be THE IMMORTAL CURE's biggest strength and that is Allie. Allie, our resident vampire chick was one of the best heroines I'd met back when I first read it in May of 2012. She was all around awesome and I don't think I could describe her properly if I tried.

Basically, I love her.

In THE ETERNITY CURE however, she is still funny and intelligent but she seems to loose something about her. I can't really place all the reasons I didn't love her in this book, but I can name enough to count. The first reason is that Allie turns into one of those gah-vampires-are-humans-too vamps. The second reason is she suddenly develops an I-can-never-love-him-because-I'm-not-good-enough-for-him personality which is one of the most ANNOYING THINGS EVER. 

Another reason why THE ETERNITY CURE just didn't meet my expectations is with the ending, but I'll go into that deeper later. Basically: the ending sucked. A lot. 

Characters

In THE IMMORTAL RULES, Allie was a headstrong, street-smart girl who didn't give a shit about whether she was good enough for the guy she loves. I also really loved how she knew that she was a monster and there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it. She drank human blood and killed people. She was awesome.

In THE ETERNITY CURE, she was less awesome and more focussed on whether or not she was good enough for Zeke. She was convinced that she wasn't and spent half the time crying over how she could never be with him and how she wasn't good enough for Zeke.


NO NO NO NO. Allie what happened to you? I loved you and now? I'm debating on whether or not I should take you off my Girlfriend list. You're still funny and occasionally badass but over all? You... *sigh* are just not the same girl I loved.

Zeke. Zeke. He got more annoying. I never loved him but now he's insufferable. He must be unable to make up his mind because in one part he's telling Allie how they can't be together and that he sort of hates her now but in the next chapter? He tells her how they can be together and they'll be perfect and that he loves her.

whut

MAKE UP YOUR MIND ALREADY BECAUSE THIS IS ANNOYING

The only redeeming character is Jackal, some may remember him from the ending of THE IMMORTAL RULES as the blood brother of Allie. In a terrible way, he was awesome. Jackal has very little morality and has no problem with killing. He has a very morbid sense of humor that I adored. He's never redeemed himself and I was unable to forget that he is a terrible person, but Jackal is a very fun character. 

Plot and Writing

Plot

The plot of THE ETERNITY CURE revolves around Allie trying to find Kanin who is currently dying at the hands of his torturer. Allie instead finds Jackal, her blood brother and everything goes wacko. For a while, there are only two characters: Allie and Jackal but later Zeke, Allie's sort-of-not-really boyfriend who hates her. Yeah... awkward. Shortly after they find Kanin and something happens which lead Allie and Co. to having to find a cure because people are dying.


*attempts to turn off sarcasm*

The plot isn't bad necessarily; it just lacked that "thing" that made THE IMMORTAL RULES so lovable. Maybe it was the characters and the character interaction because that's definitely something that this book was lacking since there are really only three characters in the story that are almost always present. 

The worst part of the story had to be the ending. The ending was sloppy, rushed and implausible. It was one of those "the more you think about it, the worse it gets" endings. Though not nearly the worst ending, it's really terrible.

Writing

The writing was pretty standard Kagawa, which is a great thing for some and a terrible thing for others. The writing hadn't really evolved since THE IMMORTAL RULES, or her newer one THE LOST PRINCE. I know some people hate her writing, some love it, and some - like me - don't really care about it.

One positive thing I have to say about THE ETERNITY CURE is that the pacing was fast and felt appropriate to the book. The narrative tone (look at me, I sound like my English textbook) was very strong and was one of the only things that didn't change from the first book.

Likes and Dislikes

Likes:

- Jackal

- Plot 

- Pacing and Narrative Tone 

- Allie to an extent

Dislikes:

- Ending

- Lack of characters

- Allie to a larger extent

- Zeke

In conclusion

THE ETERNITY CURE just doesn't measure up to its predecessor. It doesn't even come close. I'm hoping it's just middle book syndrome but I'm still very sad because I'd been looking forward to this book ever since I first read THE IMMORTAL RULES. I don't know if I'd recommend it to anyone except for fans of the first one. It was an enjoyable read but nothing amazing.

Lisbeth is an American teenager who enjoys blowing shit up in videogames and discussing decapitation in great detail. She's also obsessed with Oceana, but you're not supposed to know that.