Review & Giveaway: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Author: Julie Kagawa
Title: The Eternity Cure
Series: Blood of Eden #2
Publication: April 30, 2013
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Source: Publisher via Netgalley
~Website | ~Blog

Synopsis from Amazon
In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left: Blood calls to blood.

She has done the unthinkable: died so that might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever—and possibly end human and vampire existence.

There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago—and this strain is deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries, if Allie can get to him in time.

Allison thought that immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to make.

The story begins with Allie searching for her sire, Kanin, and she's running out time as his sanity hangs in the balance. Every time she sleeps she can see what he's going through and fears that he will succumb to the monster within and become lost to her completely. Never having much family of her own lately, Kanin is all she has left, well so she thinks as the "blood call" leads her down an unexpected path. Allie may think Kanin is her only task but chaos is just around the corner. She must save many or all will be lost to Sarren's madness.

“You will always be a monster - there is no turning back from it. But what kind of monster you become is entirely up to you.” 

Allie struggles with holding to the last threads of humanity she has and refuses to give in to the hungry demon within. She's a vampire with morals, and chooses to live differently than what she views as the norm in vampire society. Throughout this story, she grapples with her choice to become a vampire...ghosts from her past won't let her forget the events that lead to her decision. I found her voice to be authentic and could sympathize with her uncertainty, loss and pain. She's lonely; having left behind the one boy she cared for in the safe haven of Eden and facing the possible loss of her sire. It's seems that she just keeps losing everyone she loves. 

“You're still beautiful and dangerous and incredible, and I'll keep telling you that for as long as it takes you to believe it. But right now, all I want to do is kiss you, except I'm terrified that if I try you might throw me off this balcony.” 

Allie and Zeke, though they shouldn't be together for obvious reasons, Zeke tries to convince Allie that things will work out between them. However, Allie remains afraid that in just a moment of letting her guard down, she will slip up and hurt him. Zeke has changed some in this book, maybe I missed how fearsome he was in the first book but he's become a very incredible but naive young man this time around. It's so hard not to want him to be with Allie as his love for her has given him the ability to be more open about all vampires not being evil. Allie experiences much emotional torment with trying to keep him at bay for his safety and her heart but as things gradually start to spiral out of control, she finds this to become difficult. She wonders if it's possible for the two of them to make a relationship work and it not end in disaster for them both. 

"I'm not going after that psycho unless I have to. You think I'm bad?' He snorted and shook his head. "You haven't seen anything until you've met crazy Sarren."  

Which brings me to Sarren, he’s one sadistic lunatic. I'm still trying figure out exactly what the heck he's trying to do. He claims to have a solution to end the Red Lung virus but no one is going to like it. This man freaked me out; he is a whole new level of crazy that Kagawa has crafted. Overall, this has moments of goriness and loads of action. It felt like being immersed in a Resident Evil movie or video game. Kagawa's writing moves fluidly and the plot has some humorous yet gory segments throughout. I liked the characters but surprisingly my favorite in this book would have to be Jackal, his development is interesting. I think this is a good read that zombie and vampire fans will enjoy this book.

Note: Quotes are from the Arc copy that I received and may be different in the original copy.

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