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cvsuthie's review
4.0
3.5 stars.
This book is a hard book to rate. This series started out with a bang of a first book - The Immortal Rules was fast-paced, action-filled, angsty, and everything one could want from a book. After that, though, this series started to lag. The Eternity Cure was a downright snoozefest. I was afraid this book would be a bore as well, and don't get me wrong - the first 100 pages are slow as heck. But this definitely picks up and it turned out to be a strong conclusion to the series despite the VERY slow beginning.
My personal advice, however:if you don't like The Immortal Rules, it's not worth it to continue the series. This is not the fast-paced book series most people tend to favor. This series is, for the most part, slow, angsty, and thought-provoking. Yes, there is a lot of action and gore because it's a vampire trilogy, but that's only one aspect of a multi-dimensional series. If The Immortal Rules isn't enough to entice you, then you might as well stop there, because in my opinion that is the best book in the series.
This book is a hard book to rate. This series started out with a bang of a first book - The Immortal Rules was fast-paced, action-filled, angsty, and everything one could want from a book. After that, though, this series started to lag. The Eternity Cure was a downright snoozefest. I was afraid this book would be a bore as well, and don't get me wrong - the first 100 pages are slow as heck. But this definitely picks up and it turned out to be a strong conclusion to the series despite the VERY slow beginning.
My personal advice, however:
jyotikab's review
4.0
I really liked the final book. there was quite a bit of angst going on and it felt like the plot line was just kind of rushed in towards the end to explain the evil mastermind but I still worked. the end broke my heart but was still satisfying. the author has a habit of tying off all loose ends in a nice neat bow which is how I like it. even if the plot was a bit confusing and far fetched. good series and development of characters. moral struggles were very realistic even if a bit drawn out. would recommend.
emleemay's review
3.0
"So, this is me, all of me, forever. No more looking back. No more regrets. From now on, vampire girl--" he lowered his head, brushing his lips across my skin "--I'm all yours."
I promise no spoilers for this book but it would be impossible to review The Forever Song without giving away some things from the previous books. In my opinion, this final installment is the weakest. I thought the second book was a hard one to follow, so maybe that fact contributed, but I would have very few good things to say about this if it wasn't Jackal - who is actually one of my favourite YA paranormal characters and I so hope he gets his own spin-off (which looks quite likely).
So... what's up with all the angsting?
I've known from the start that these books are quite dark, dreary and full of drama, but that's kind of what I liked about them. I liked reading about Allison's moral struggles and how she came to terms with being a monster and learned to embrace both sides of who she is. I liked reading about her relationship with Zeke and the convincing way the author depicted problems faced in a human/vampire relationship. I liked Kanin. And I LOVED the comic relief offered by Jackal's bitingly sarcastic sense of humour. But the latter was one of only two things that remained consistent with this last book. The other being the grittiness and vivid gory details.
The first book in this series - The Immortal Rules - is an introduction to the world and characters. It's also slower than the other two and focuses on the changes in Allison's life and the way she adapts to them. The second book - The Eternity Cure - is much better. It's a complex, well-plotted story that mixes fast-paced action with humour, and nail-biting tension with romance. It's one of those books that just ticks every box. It excites, it surprises, it holds your attention. This last book isn't like that, in my opinion. It's 416 pages long and about 80% of that is about Allison and Zeke's romantic angst. And maybe I wouldn't mind so much if they didn't go round and round in the same circles.
There are very few surprises.
The plot was exactly as I expected it to be, in between copious amounts of vampire love drama. In fact, there is only one thing that happens near the end which I would consider a "surprise" and even that isn't particularly difficult to see coming - especially when you remind yourself that something dramatic has to happen at the climax. I keep saying it but without Jackal, this book would have been very disappointing. It's also, in part, an extremely long meditation on what it means to be a monster and how to be a vampire without choosing to become evil. Which is basically what the entire first book was about - why did we need to cover this again? It was like de ja fucking angst.
The stuff I did actually like:
Gritty details: Kagawa seems to be really good at this. This series, despite the age of the characters, often feels like a set of adult books because the author isn't afraid to go there and she never skimps on the details. I don't know about her Fey books, but this series is very gory and bloody... in horrific detail, at times. Which may or may not be your thing, but it works well for me. It also suits the dark, depressing setting and general feel of the novel - this is not a nice world and Kagawa isn't about to let you forget it.
Jackal: Have I mentioned that I like him? Oops ;) But Jackal is just 100% the kind of character I like. He's witty, sarcastic and yeah, a bit of an asshole too. I can't help it; I love multilayered characters that are neither all good or all bad. And I think it's great when an author can take a character who does bad things but manages to make you love them anyway. I cannot tell you how much I would love a spin-off series featuring Jackal.
I would still recommend this series for fans of YA paranormal dystopias/romances. These books are still very much worth reading - everyone deserves a bit of Jackal in their lives - but I think the trilogy peaked with the second book. Three stars, for me, is a positive rating and I can't deny that even at its weakest points, this series delivers enough drama, action and gore to keep readers interested.
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I promise no spoilers for this book but it would be impossible to review The Forever Song without giving away some things from the previous books. In my opinion, this final installment is the weakest. I thought the second book was a hard one to follow, so maybe that fact contributed, but I would have very few good things to say about this if it wasn't Jackal - who is actually one of my favourite YA paranormal characters and I so hope he gets his own spin-off (which looks quite likely).
So... what's up with all the angsting?
I've known from the start that these books are quite dark, dreary and full of drama, but that's kind of what I liked about them. I liked reading about Allison's moral struggles and how she came to terms with being a monster and learned to embrace both sides of who she is. I liked reading about her relationship with Zeke and the convincing way the author depicted problems faced in a human/vampire relationship. I liked Kanin. And I LOVED the comic relief offered by Jackal's bitingly sarcastic sense of humour. But the latter was one of only two things that remained consistent with this last book. The other being the grittiness and vivid gory details.
The first book in this series - The Immortal Rules - is an introduction to the world and characters. It's also slower than the other two and focuses on the changes in Allison's life and the way she adapts to them. The second book - The Eternity Cure - is much better. It's a complex, well-plotted story that mixes fast-paced action with humour, and nail-biting tension with romance. It's one of those books that just ticks every box. It excites, it surprises, it holds your attention. This last book isn't like that, in my opinion. It's 416 pages long and about 80% of that is about Allison and Zeke's romantic angst. And maybe I wouldn't mind so much if they didn't go round and round in the same circles.
There are very few surprises.
The plot was exactly as I expected it to be, in between copious amounts of vampire love drama. In fact, there is only one thing that happens near the end which I would consider a "surprise" and even that isn't particularly difficult to see coming - especially when you remind yourself that something dramatic has to happen at the climax. I keep saying it but without Jackal, this book would have been very disappointing. It's also, in part, an extremely long meditation on what it means to be a monster and how to be a vampire without choosing to become evil. Which is basically what the entire first book was about - why did we need to cover this again? It was like de ja fucking angst.
The stuff I did actually like:
Gritty details: Kagawa seems to be really good at this. This series, despite the age of the characters, often feels like a set of adult books because the author isn't afraid to go there and she never skimps on the details. I don't know about her Fey books, but this series is very gory and bloody... in horrific detail, at times. Which may or may not be your thing, but it works well for me. It also suits the dark, depressing setting and general feel of the novel - this is not a nice world and Kagawa isn't about to let you forget it.
Jackal: Have I mentioned that I like him? Oops ;) But Jackal is just 100% the kind of character I like. He's witty, sarcastic and yeah, a bit of an asshole too. I can't help it; I love multilayered characters that are neither all good or all bad. And I think it's great when an author can take a character who does bad things but manages to make you love them anyway. I cannot tell you how much I would love a spin-off series featuring Jackal.
I would still recommend this series for fans of YA paranormal dystopias/romances. These books are still very much worth reading - everyone deserves a bit of Jackal in their lives - but I think the trilogy peaked with the second book. Three stars, for me, is a positive rating and I can't deny that even at its weakest points, this series delivers enough drama, action and gore to keep readers interested.
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tiffb's review
2.0
It was not great. I still don't like Allie, Zeke saying "vampire girl" resulted in eye rolls and Jackal is the best.
The end.
The end.
narteest's review
5.0
Brilliant. Proper review later.
**Updated**
This was a great ending to the story. It kinda sucked that there were only three parts this time. I actually really enjoyed seeing the different 'Parts' that marked the changes in Allie's character. Such as in [b:The Immortal Rules|10215349|The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)|Julie Kagawa|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1323357921s/10215349.jpg|15114912] where the first part was "Human" just before she was turned into a vampire and then there was her vampire stage, then the "Monster" stage, etc. This book only had three parts. It begins with 'Demon' in which we see Allie--SPOILER AHEAD FOR THE ETERNITY CURE--dealing with her loss of Zeke in the last book. She is a demon because she must deal with the monster that threatens to erupt from her as she is consumed with her grief.
By the end of this part, Allie finds herself and recovers (of course I did find this part a bit tiresome, but I liked how she stayed in character and also stayed true to who she was, and who others believed she was). And then along with the others of her chummy crew go off and find Sarren, the antagonist of the series.
Overall, I loved this series, I enjoyed this vampire trilogy, and believe me, I don't usually read them, because I really don't care for vampires. But I liked seeing a dark interpretation of vampires (this is probably very one-sided of me because really, I've only read Twilight and Vampirates when it comes to vampires lol....). I liked seeing Allie fighting and dealing with the dark side of being a vampire. She is a monster, she knows that and while she fights it sometimes, and retains her humanity as often as possible, she sometimes succumbs to it, and there's no stupid whining about what she had done. She faces it, accepts it, comes to terms to what she is, and I love that kind of internal conflict!
But really, Jackal was my favourite character throughout the trilogy. An awesome lovable antihero asshole. He was a jerk more often than not, but yet he still stuck around and just when you think he's gonna run and ditch, no, he's actually not that bad. I think I liked his interactions with Allie the best! They really had like a brotherly/sisterly/sibling-like relationship which made it worth reading.
**Updated**
This was a great ending to the story. It kinda sucked that there were only three parts this time. I actually really enjoyed seeing the different 'Parts' that marked the changes in Allie's character. Such as in [b:The Immortal Rules|10215349|The Immortal Rules (Blood of Eden, #1)|Julie Kagawa|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1323357921s/10215349.jpg|15114912] where the first part was "Human" just before she was turned into a vampire and then there was her vampire stage, then the "Monster" stage, etc. This book only had three parts. It begins with 'Demon' in which we see Allie--SPOILER AHEAD FOR THE ETERNITY CURE--dealing with her loss of Zeke in the last book. She is a demon because she must deal with the monster that threatens to erupt from her as she is consumed with her grief.
By the end of this part, Allie finds herself and recovers (of course I did find this part a bit tiresome, but I liked how she stayed in character and also stayed true to who she was, and who others believed she was). And then along with the others of her chummy crew go off and find Sarren, the antagonist of the series.
Overall, I loved this series, I enjoyed this vampire trilogy, and believe me, I don't usually read them, because I really don't care for vampires. But I liked seeing a dark interpretation of vampires (this is probably very one-sided of me because really, I've only read Twilight and Vampirates when it comes to vampires lol....). I liked seeing Allie fighting and dealing with the dark side of being a vampire. She is a monster, she knows that and while she fights it sometimes, and retains her humanity as often as possible, she sometimes succumbs to it, and there's no stupid whining about what she had done. She faces it, accepts it, comes to terms to what she is, and I love that kind of internal conflict!
But really, Jackal was my favourite character throughout the trilogy. An awesome lovable antihero asshole. He was a jerk more often than not, but yet he still stuck around and just when you think he's gonna run and ditch, no, he's actually not that bad. I think I liked his interactions with Allie the best! They really had like a brotherly/sisterly/sibling-like relationship which made it worth reading.
pinkpassionpages's review
3.0
This book didn't get my attention as much as the other two. It didn't felt right and sometimes it felt like I was reading the same chapters over and over again. I don't know, this book wasn't my favorite in this series.
longtimewish's review
4.0
Después de como tres años, por fin terminé esta trilogía. Releí los dos anteriores, y me parecieron tan buenos como los recordaba. Mis expectativas no eran altísimas, pero las tenía. Y las cumplió. Demasiado.
Es predecible. No pasó nada que no haya esperado.
Cada vez que pensaba "ahora seguro pasa esto" PASABA. Y era rarísimo porque en los anteriores eso no ocurrió (The Eternity Cure y sus plot twists say hi).
¿Y saben que? No me importó. Kagawa fue por un final seguro, y lo hizo bien. Muy bien. Cerró todos los cabos sueltos (cortesía de la ciencia mágica que hace todo lo que sea conveniente para la trama, pero en un libro de vampiros y zombis no te podes quejar de eso), nos hizo sufrir y emocionar (@ el final del capítulo 18 aka la escena más emotiva y por lo tanto mejor escrita del libro), y por sobre todo, le dio un desarrollo GENIAL a todos los personajes.
Me encantó esta trilogía, amé a los personajes (aguante Jackal no me importa nada), y el final fue satisfactorio. Tal vez podría haber tenido un final mejor, pero a mi este me pareció perfecto. Voy a extrañar esta historia.
Es predecible. No pasó nada que no haya esperado.
Cada vez que pensaba "ahora seguro pasa esto" PASABA. Y era rarísimo porque en los anteriores eso no ocurrió (The Eternity Cure y sus plot twists say hi).
¿Y saben que? No me importó. Kagawa fue por un final seguro, y lo hizo bien. Muy bien. Cerró todos los cabos sueltos (cortesía de la ciencia mágica que hace todo lo que sea conveniente para la trama, pero en un libro de vampiros y zombis no te podes quejar de eso), nos hizo sufrir y emocionar (@ el final del capítulo 18 aka la escena más emotiva y por lo tanto mejor escrita del libro), y por sobre todo, le dio un desarrollo GENIAL a todos los personajes.
Me encantó esta trilogía, amé a los personajes (aguante Jackal no me importa nada), y el final fue satisfactorio. Tal vez podría haber tenido un final mejor, pero a mi este me pareció perfecto. Voy a extrañar esta historia.
desertlover's review
3.0
3.5 STARS
"Still incredible, vampire girl. Dangerous, beautiful and unstoppable. You haven't changed."
I liked this final book in the series, but didn't "love" as I did the previous two. Book 2 ended was a large CH and I had been waiting anxiously to see how everything would end. I felt that the large drama from book 2 was anti-climatic. Most of the events felt as if they were repeated from the other two books. Jackal was a surprise - he totally won me over in this book. His banter with Allie was amazing and he finally became the hero he tried so hard not to be.
I liked that there was a complete ending. Overall, I enjoyed the series and would recommend to any YA/PN fan.
"Still incredible, vampire girl. Dangerous, beautiful and unstoppable. You haven't changed."
I liked this final book in the series, but didn't "love" as I did the previous two. Book 2 ended was a large CH and I had been waiting anxiously to see how everything would end. I felt that the large drama from book 2 was anti-climatic. Most of the events felt as if they were repeated from the other two books. Jackal was a surprise - he totally won me over in this book. His banter with Allie was amazing and he finally became the hero he tried so hard not to be.
I liked that there was a complete ending. Overall, I enjoyed the series and would recommend to any YA/PN fan.
liinukka's review
4.0
This vampire romance is SOOOO cheesy! But somehow, I don't hate it either??
Maybe it's because all the angst, emo-ness, and saccharine declarations of love are interspersed with quite horrifying vampire/zombie violence. (I'm calling the rabids 'zombies' because that's pretty much what they are).
This series doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the genre, but it still combines tropes in a way that makes me want to read on. Fairly standard vampire lore, bad science induced zombie plague, post-apocalyptic Earth. And at the center of it all is the vampire-led society and the enslavement of the human race. I have to applaud the author for bringing it all together! (I kind of want to read about vampire politics and society as Kagawa would imagine).
And though it did get somewhat tired after a while, I did enjoy watching Allie struggle with her inner demon, because I think that's a fascinating aspect of vampires -- the tragedy of what they've lost, and what they've become. The story never once shied away from the idea of vampires as monsters, which is so refreshing to say the least. In the age of Twilight and Vampire Diaries, it's easy to romanticize vampires as beautiful and sexy rather than hideous and scary.
Jackal was quite amusing yet again. I'd love to read a series centered around his life! Or better yet, the Adventures of Jackal and Kanin as they grudgingly tolerate one another over the centuries!
The one thing that kind of bothered me throughout the trilogy was the villain. I suppose every hero needs a baddie to fight, but this one lacked something. He was just so evil and sadistic I couldn't really believe him. Maybe psychos aren't supposed to be understood, but I think if he had either less cruelty or more rational bases for his actions, I might have enjoyed him better. Villains that are three dimensional can be so much more interesting.
Maybe it's because all the angst, emo-ness, and saccharine declarations of love are interspersed with quite horrifying vampire/zombie violence. (I'm calling the rabids 'zombies' because that's pretty much what they are).
This series doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the genre, but it still combines tropes in a way that makes me want to read on. Fairly standard vampire lore, bad science induced zombie plague, post-apocalyptic Earth. And at the center of it all is the vampire-led society and the enslavement of the human race. I have to applaud the author for bringing it all together! (I kind of want to read about vampire politics and society as Kagawa would imagine).
And though it did get somewhat tired after a while, I did enjoy watching Allie struggle with her inner demon, because I think that's a fascinating aspect of vampires -- the tragedy of what they've lost, and what they've become. The story never once shied away from the idea of vampires as monsters, which is so refreshing to say the least. In the age of Twilight and Vampire Diaries, it's easy to romanticize vampires as beautiful and sexy rather than hideous and scary.
Jackal was quite amusing yet again. I'd love to read a series centered around his life! Or better yet, the Adventures of Jackal and Kanin as they grudgingly tolerate one another over the centuries!
The one thing that kind of bothered me throughout the trilogy was the villain. I suppose every hero needs a baddie to fight, but this one lacked something. He was just so evil and sadistic I couldn't really believe him. Maybe psychos aren't supposed to be understood, but I think if he had either less cruelty or more rational bases for his actions, I might have enjoyed him better. Villains that are three dimensional can be so much more interesting.
mlliu's review
I feel bad about abandoning this book. I'd enjoyed the first two books in Kagawa's trilogy, but I read only a few chapters of The Forever Song before skimming the rest.