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reddyrat's review
4.0
It's always sad when a beloved series ends. Too often the final book in a series is a pale shade of its predecessors. Thankfully, Julie Kagawa's series enders do no suffer that fate. The Forever Song is just as good as Immortal Rules and Eternity Cure.
The book starts off with Allie, Kanin, and Jackal headed to Old Chicago on the hunt for Sarren, who's threatening to unleash a disease that will destroy humans and vampires alike. Allie is in a dark place, mourning the loss of her love Zeke. Kanin, for the first time, is disappointed in her. Jackal remains Jackal. Fun and sarcastic.
Of course the reader knows what Allie does not. Zeke didn't die at the end of the last book. That's good news for Allie but bad news for me. I don't like Zeke. I think he's boring. I'd much prefer to see Allie with Kanin (despite their father/daughter relationship) or better yet, Jackal (who appears to be amoral but is really funny). I was so excited when it looked like Zeke died in the last book.
To my dismay, Zeke is still not dead. He goes through a lot of character development as the novel progresses. Objectively, I can see why he and Allie are a good match, but my dislike for him is too strong to change now.
Like many of Kagawa's novels, this book is based on the journey plot. The characters are traveling and hit various roadblocks and opportunities along the way. There are plenty of twists and turns. I sort of expected most of them and was quite happy with the result. The ending of the series was bittersweet, but also very fitting. All of the characters got an appropriate send-off.
Reading The Forever Song had the result that any author dreams of. I put the book down and then spent the next hour flipping through my favorite parts of the previous two books. There are so many scenes that I love. The only thing they have in common is that each scene features Kanin, by far my favorite character. Writing this review makes me want to go back and read the books another time. The characters sunk in my consciousness in a way that too few characters do nowadays.
If you haven't read the Blood of Eden series, you should put down whatever you're reading and pick it up. Julie Kagawa does with vampires what she did with fairies - turn the genre on its head and perfect it. The Forever Song is a good ending to a series I treasure.
Rating:4 / 5
The book starts off with Allie, Kanin, and Jackal headed to Old Chicago on the hunt for Sarren, who's threatening to unleash a disease that will destroy humans and vampires alike. Allie is in a dark place, mourning the loss of her love Zeke. Kanin, for the first time, is disappointed in her. Jackal remains Jackal. Fun and sarcastic.
Of course the reader knows what Allie does not. Zeke didn't die at the end of the last book. That's good news for Allie but bad news for me. I don't like Zeke. I think he's boring. I'd much prefer to see Allie with Kanin (despite their father/daughter relationship) or better yet, Jackal (who appears to be amoral but is really funny). I was so excited when it looked like Zeke died in the last book.
To my dismay, Zeke is still not dead. He goes through a lot of character development as the novel progresses. Objectively, I can see why he and Allie are a good match, but my dislike for him is too strong to change now.
Like many of Kagawa's novels, this book is based on the journey plot. The characters are traveling and hit various roadblocks and opportunities along the way. There are plenty of twists and turns. I sort of expected most of them and was quite happy with the result. The ending of the series was bittersweet, but also very fitting. All of the characters got an appropriate send-off.
Reading The Forever Song had the result that any author dreams of. I put the book down and then spent the next hour flipping through my favorite parts of the previous two books. There are so many scenes that I love. The only thing they have in common is that each scene features Kanin, by far my favorite character. Writing this review makes me want to go back and read the books another time. The characters sunk in my consciousness in a way that too few characters do nowadays.
If you haven't read the Blood of Eden series, you should put down whatever you're reading and pick it up. Julie Kagawa does with vampires what she did with fairies - turn the genre on its head and perfect it. The Forever Song is a good ending to a series I treasure.
Rating:4 / 5
flowersofquiethappiness's review
4.0
Everything explodes in this final book of the series. Not literally! But not one character comes out unharmed or unchanged. If book two was dark and twisty, this one just increases that darkness and throws in several plot twists I wasn't expecting, as well as others I was. Allie is such a great mix of strength and vulnerability. She is the biggest reason I love this series! Her fight to bring her two sides together finally comes to a head and the choices she makes frustrated me at times, yet intrigued me constantly. As did Kanin and Jackal! While I could never fully understand either of them, I was fascinated at the same time. And watching the three of them together, as a makeshift family of their own, is so much fun! I never thought I'd say that, but it's true. :) Another character really irritated me in this book, however. He'd been such a nice guy in the first two books (and a light for all the darkness!) that his change disappointed me. Luckily it doesn't last too long, yet while I understood his reasons, it bugged me nonetheless. Regardless, this is a series I really enjoyed! It kept me up half the night and that is always the sign of a fabulous story. :)
libraryofmel's review against another edition
5.0
incredible, amazing, spectacular, show-stopping, need i go on? this series was just as good, actually even better than i remember it being TEN WHOLE YEARS ago. i DID however completely forget the ending involving kanin’s self-sacrifice which absolutely tore my heart into pieces for a second time.
this series was so enjoyable and the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. i felt so many emotions while reading and i’m not over exaggerating when i say this is quite possibly my favourite book series ever written. i love zeke and allie’s romance and jackal is one of the funniest characters ever (despite being a murderous vampire king). so many of my highlights are just “lol” or “he is so funny”
i am 100% sure i will reread this series again and again and i can only hope that i continue to love them as much as i do right now (and have for the last ten years!!!!) i’m truly so impressed and amazed that this series not only held up to but exceeded my very, very high expectations from my first read.
one million ⭐️/5
this series was so enjoyable and the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat the whole time. i felt so many emotions while reading and i’m not over exaggerating when i say this is quite possibly my favourite book series ever written. i love zeke and allie’s romance and jackal is one of the funniest characters ever (despite being a murderous vampire king). so many of my highlights are just “lol” or “he is so funny”
i am 100% sure i will reread this series again and again and i can only hope that i continue to love them as much as i do right now (and have for the last ten years!!!!) i’m truly so impressed and amazed that this series not only held up to but exceeded my very, very high expectations from my first read.
one million ⭐️/5
mamap's review
3.0
Pg-18 for Sex in a YA novel - mild, but still.
Not sure it's an epic, but it's pretty good.
You can always choose what sort of monster you'll be. You don't always get to choose what happens to you, but you always get to choose how you will respond. Wouldn't it be nice if the whole world would pay attention...
Not sure it's an epic, but it's pretty good.
You can always choose what sort of monster you'll be. You don't always get to choose what happens to you, but you always get to choose how you will respond. Wouldn't it be nice if the whole world would pay attention...
livarleth's review
4.0
A good ending to a good series. It wasn't dragged out and it wasn't too fast. I am satisfied with the ending of this series.
elbyjosie's review
3.0
5.5/10⭐
i never thought i'd get tired of zeke and allie. thank goodness for jackal's awesomeness, this book has some redeeming qualities.
i never thought i'd get tired of zeke and allie. thank goodness for jackal's awesomeness, this book has some redeeming qualities.
patriciadanisova's review
5.0
AAAAA, to bolo pekné. Veľmi, veľmi pekné!
Až na to, že Ezekiela som nemala rada, lebo bol presladený a taký... pozitívny a tak.
Jackal bol môj miláčik. Škoda, že boli súrodenci.
Ale za to hrdinka vedela čo chcela, nefňukala vkuse a ked áno, tak to nebolo také strašné. A to ako fungovali upíry mi pripomínalo True Blood, ale inak v pohode.
Napriek tomu, že Iron Fey mi od tejto autorky prišlo detinské a napísané strašne, toto bolo veľmi dobré.
Mňamka.
Až na to, že Ezekiela som nemala rada, lebo bol presladený a taký... pozitívny a tak.
Jackal bol môj miláčik. Škoda, že boli súrodenci.
Ale za to hrdinka vedela čo chcela, nefňukala vkuse a ked áno, tak to nebolo také strašné. A to ako fungovali upíry mi pripomínalo True Blood, ale inak v pohode.
Napriek tomu, že Iron Fey mi od tejto autorky prišlo detinské a napísané strašne, toto bolo veľmi dobré.
Mňamka.
bmg20's review
2.0
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Another series ender that has unfortunately ended in disappointment for me this year. I found The Forever Song to be, for the most part, incredibly lacking in any sort of plot progress. Basically, there was walking, walking, then they’d fight some rabids, walking, walking, oooh let’s stop to feed on some humans, fight some more rabids, walking, walking.. throw in the occasional snarky comment from Jackal, soap opera style drama and various near death scenarios and that’s The Forever Song in a nutshell. Oh and let’s not forget how they have to save the world. Apparently, saving the world isn’t as exciting as one would think. In addition to the lack of excitement, there was an extreme lack of common fucking sense that made for frequent eye-rolls.
‘What do you mean, when he realized what was happening?”
“This was a trap, Allison.” Kanin looked back at the inferno. “Nothing catches fire that quickly unless it has been doused in something.”
You mean to tell me these idiots with their heightened sense of smell weren’t able to tell that the entire house was drenched in gasoline? I realize their not needing to breathe means they aren’t smelling constantly but you think if they’re entering a house with someone shooting at them from upstairs they’d open up all their sense to check and make sure they aren’t walking into anything disastrous. Like a house drenched in gasoline.
‘The door loomed dead ahead, and I didn’t stop. I didn’t pause to reconsider my plan. Whether I was walking into a trap or straight to my death.’
And that’s the problem I have with Allison; the lack of common sense. She’s constantly trying to prove to herself/everyone around her that she’s a badass and can handle herself except it’s clear that she’s not. Now, I think I would normally say that this show of weakness is meant to make her likable or relatable or something of the sort, but it came off making her look completely senseless and like a complete imbecile.
Where Allison lacks in common sense she makes sure to make up for it in ANGST. LOTS AND LOTS OF ANGST. When she wasn’t whining about her ‘monster’ she was whining about Zeke or about Sarren or whining about everything being her fault and it was PAINFUL to read.
I read the first 1/3 of this book and had to set it aside for a few weeks because it was just too much. I understood in the beginning of this series that Allison would have to go through the inner turmoil of coming to terms with being a vampire that is forced to kill people to survive but I thought we’d be over that by now. Jackal once again made this installment bearable but even he irritated me with his shit sometimes. But his sarcastic quips did allow me to finish this and find out the ending to this story. Was it worth it? Sure. Was I disappointed how everything turned out? A bit. See, the ending involves aspects that truly come out of nowhere and only serve to be a convenient solution which kind of felt like a cop out. It also was incredibly predictable and I wasn’t surprised in the least. It could have been done worse though.
Minus the angst and ending cop-outs, there is one aspect of this book that was done extremely well: the atmosphere. Kagawa knocked it out of the park describing this broken and gloomy world. It truly immerses you. If only the characters had been a bit more tolerable. The Forever Song is a satisfying conclusion that answers all the lingering questions but is undoubtedly the least interesting of the series. This is the second series I’ve read of Kagawa’s that has ended up feeling very mediocre for me but I can see this one being a good one for fans of dark, gritty and violent dystopians that are heavy on the romance.
I received this book free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Another series ender that has unfortunately ended in disappointment for me this year. I found The Forever Song to be, for the most part, incredibly lacking in any sort of plot progress. Basically, there was walking, walking, then they’d fight some rabids, walking, walking, oooh let’s stop to feed on some humans, fight some more rabids, walking, walking.. throw in the occasional snarky comment from Jackal, soap opera style drama and various near death scenarios and that’s The Forever Song in a nutshell. Oh and let’s not forget how they have to save the world. Apparently, saving the world isn’t as exciting as one would think. In addition to the lack of excitement, there was an extreme lack of common fucking sense that made for frequent eye-rolls.
‘What do you mean, when he realized what was happening?”
“This was a trap, Allison.” Kanin looked back at the inferno. “Nothing catches fire that quickly unless it has been doused in something.”
You mean to tell me these idiots with their heightened sense of smell weren’t able to tell that the entire house was drenched in gasoline? I realize their not needing to breathe means they aren’t smelling constantly but you think if they’re entering a house with someone shooting at them from upstairs they’d open up all their sense to check and make sure they aren’t walking into anything disastrous. Like a house drenched in gasoline.
‘The door loomed dead ahead, and I didn’t stop. I didn’t pause to reconsider my plan. Whether I was walking into a trap or straight to my death.’
And that’s the problem I have with Allison; the lack of common sense. She’s constantly trying to prove to herself/everyone around her that she’s a badass and can handle herself except it’s clear that she’s not. Now, I think I would normally say that this show of weakness is meant to make her likable or relatable or something of the sort, but it came off making her look completely senseless and like a complete imbecile.
Where Allison lacks in common sense she makes sure to make up for it in ANGST. LOTS AND LOTS OF ANGST. When she wasn’t whining about her ‘monster’ she was whining about Zeke or about Sarren or whining about everything being her fault and it was PAINFUL to read.
I read the first 1/3 of this book and had to set it aside for a few weeks because it was just too much. I understood in the beginning of this series that Allison would have to go through the inner turmoil of coming to terms with being a vampire that is forced to kill people to survive but I thought we’d be over that by now. Jackal once again made this installment bearable but even he irritated me with his shit sometimes. But his sarcastic quips did allow me to finish this and find out the ending to this story. Was it worth it? Sure. Was I disappointed how everything turned out? A bit. See, the ending involves aspects that truly come out of nowhere and only serve to be a convenient solution which kind of felt like a cop out. It also was incredibly predictable and I wasn’t surprised in the least. It could have been done worse though.
Minus the angst and ending cop-outs, there is one aspect of this book that was done extremely well: the atmosphere. Kagawa knocked it out of the park describing this broken and gloomy world. It truly immerses you. If only the characters had been a bit more tolerable. The Forever Song is a satisfying conclusion that answers all the lingering questions but is undoubtedly the least interesting of the series. This is the second series I’ve read of Kagawa’s that has ended up feeling very mediocre for me but I can see this one being a good one for fans of dark, gritty and violent dystopians that are heavy on the romance.