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A review by emleemay
The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa
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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