SUMMARY
VENGEANCE WILL BE HERS
Allison Sekemoto once struggled with the question: human or monster?
With the death of her love, Zeke, she has her answer.
MONSTER
Allie will embrace her cold vampire side to hunt down and end Sarren, the psychopathic vampire who murdered Zeke. But the trail is bloody and long, and Sarren has left many surprises for Allie and her companions—her creator, Kanin, and her blood brother, Jackal. The trail is leading straight to the one place they must protect at any cost—the last vampire-free zone on Earth, Eden. And Sarren has one final, brutal shock in store for Allie.
In a ruined world where no life is sacred and former allies can turn on you in one heartbeat, Allie will face her darkest days. And if she succeeds, triumph is short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.
ABOUT JULIE
Julie Kagawa, the New York Times bestselling author of the Iron Fey and Blood of Eden series was born in Sacramento, California. But nothing exciting really happened to her there. So, at the age of nine she and her family moved to Hawaii, which she soon discovered was inhabited by large carnivorous insects, colonies of house geckos, and frequent hurricanes. She spent much of her time in the ocean, when she wasn’t getting chased out of it by reef sharks, jellyfish, and the odd eel.
Jaime’s Thoughts
The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
There is a rumor going around that Julie Kagawa’s writing muse feeds off of the fear and tears of her readers … This has to be true, especially after The Eternity Cure, book 2 in this series.
Let me just get this out of the way up front… Kagawa will have you pulling your hair out, crying… (maybe even sobbing), laughing and cheering while you read the third and final installment of the Blood of Eden series.
I WILL TRY TO KEEP THIS SPOILER FREE, but well… you’ve been warned especially if you haven’t read the other books…
The Forever Song begins where The Immortal Rules leaves off… Allison now only has revenge on her mind and her struggle with her identity is the key point when we get back into the story. Is she really this monster that people fear, or can she still retain some of her human-ness. But Zeke’s death has shattered her desire to live the life that Kanin tried and tries to instill in her and with Jackal at her side the pull to become a monster is even stronger.
She’s determined to find Sarren and finish him off. As she, Kanin and Jackal make their way to Eden, following Sarren’s sometimes horrific path of murder and destruction… they find themselves in Jackal’s old stomping ground.
And he’s left a surprise for Allison.
Okay… so first of all, I still absolutely loved Allison and she’s been a major reason why I can’t get enough of this series. She’s so well done as a character. Her struggles with accepting herself are really well done and to be perfectly honest… she kicks ass. Like a lot of ass, and I love it.
But more than that, her relationships in this story are wonderfully written. We saw a lot of development with her sire, Kanin in book 2, but we get even more of it in The Forever Song. Her struggle to live up to the expectations that he has for her, and the pressure she puts on herself and ultimately her wavering was great to see because it was realistic. But I think her relationship with Jackal was one of my favorite. Here is this despicable guy who she finds out is basically her brother and he’s a total a-hole. Not only to her, but to the people she cares about… he’s done horrible things and yet, her humanity shines through and I really loved what Kagawa does with not only Jackal, but the relationship he has with Allison. Plus he’s a sarcastic jerk and I tend to find that awesome. LOL
”So, go ahead, tell him that everything is going to be fine. All the meatsacks are perfectly content on their happy little island, Sarren has given up world destruction to raise kittens, and the magic wish fairy will wave her wand an turn shit into gold.”
When I started this book, I remember turning to my sister and saying… “you know, I might shelve this series as horror.” And I say that because Kagawa does not hold back one bit. From the very first pages you see and experience the horrors that Allison and her crew are seeing and experiencing while searching for Sarren… from the trail of destruction Sarren leaves to the showdowns with the rabids they were just so horrifically, brilliantly done.
If you’re looking for an amazing vampire series to dive into this needs to be on your list. Amazing characters, wonderfully done relationships and a well-paced story arc will have you loving every second of this story just like I did.
An excellent end to an amazing series … in my opinion anyway. And that’s where I leave you, because I’m determined not to spoil one single second of your reading of this book.
Thank you so much to Harlequin Teen & Netgalley for sharing an advanced copy in exchange for my honest thoughts.
Erin’s Thoughts
The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa
My rating: 5 (million) of 5 stars
There should be more than 5 stars available for this book…this series.
The Forever Song is book three in the Blood of Eden series by Julie Kagawa and oh my god I am going to do my best to review this so that I don’t include any spoilers. If you have read books one and two, you know that Kagawa doesn’t hold anything back and she takes the reader through just about every single emotion – this I what I love so much about this series. The other thing I love is that even though this is the final book, I had no idea what to expect her to do with these characters and their journey because even if I did go in expecting something to happen, I knew Kagawa would do something unexpected.
If you haven’t read any of the other books of this series I recommend you stop here, go get them now, and begin so that by the time this book comes out, you can dive right in.
The story picks up with Allison, Kanin, and Jackal hunting down Sarren. They need to catch him before he spreads the virus. On top of that, Allison wants revenge for what he did to Zeke and she doesn’t care what it will take to get him. Throughout the first quarter of the book we get to see how Allie still struggles with the monster inside of her. Without Zeke, she feels like she doesn’t have anything else left to keep her human and I thought this part was done really well. I think she had to fight that internal battle and face the pain of what happened before she could move forward.
Thankfully there is a balance of personalities around her as she faces this struggle. If she were alone with Jackal, I have a feeling she would have followed his path and become the monster she hated. Kanin is the one that helps her understand the choice is hers but she has to live with it…and his disappointment.
I really enjoyed seeing the relationships between these characters. Jackal is still the same old Jackal but as the story progresses, there is a shift in him. Yes, he wants to survive and will always take care of himself but now he is finding himself trusting Allie and helping other people. I love that despite that fact, he never really changed his personality. He was up front about what he wanted and didn’t apologize for anything he did. Also, his level of sarcasm was perfect.
As the group makes their way along the path of destruction that Sarren has left on his way to Eden, they are met with a number of surprises – none of which I can talk about without giving anything away…so I won’t. All you have to know is that Sarren is a twisted and deranged vampire who is doing whatever he can to break Allie and destroy the world. He doesn’t hold back at all and as Allie, Kanin, and Jackal uncover each horror he has left for them along the way, you can see just how crazy and determined he is.
I can’t really say much more about how the story progresses without potentially giving something up so I won’t. Just know that this series had me hooked from the very first page of book one and I never once lost interest in these characters and the paths they took. Kagawa has written a series that will have you running through every single emotion (good or bad) and begging for more. These books will be on my “Books I will love forever and ever” shelf for a long time (probably forever…) and if you are looking for a smart, well written, no holds barred, vampire series I recommend you start with this one.
To Julie Kagawa I say:
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