Review: The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa

The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa
Published: April 15, 2014
Publisher: Harelquin Teen
Pages: 416 (Hardcover)
Series: Blood of Eden #3
Source: Bought
My Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

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.

The Forever Song was easily the book I was most looking forward to reading in 2014. From the very beginning, this series has not disappointed and even though I had a few issues with two of the characters, I still ended up loving the book.

It is very hard to chose, but the thing I liked best about this book is the detail and just the overall style of the writing. Many young adult books would gloss over the gore and horror that comes with vampires, but not this book. Kagawa isn't afraid to go into the gory details without the book being entirely about the violence and bloodshed. The descriptions of the fight scenes made me feel like I was right there with Allison.

I also love this author's version of vampires. There are so many different versions out there, some better than others, but this one is definitely one of my favorites, if not my all time favorite. I love how even though the vampires are exceptionally strong and powerful, they are still able to be weakened and don't heal immediately. The rabids and bleeders are also fantastic monsters because they are creepy and something that I haven't seen before. Sarren is also extremely creepy and insane, which just added to the overall darkness of the book. He is one of those villains that I love to hate mostly because he's so good at being a murderous psychopath.

The characters are very believable and while I had a few issues with Allison, I still ended up liking her character. In the beginning of the book, Allison is mourning a death and I understand that it is painful, but the constant repetition of why she is behaving like a monster is a little too much for my taste. Thankfully it didn't last for long because she finally realized that becoming a monster is not the path she wants to go down. There was still the issue about her priorities, but I'll get to that later.

My absolute favorite character is definitely Jackal. His sarcasm and snark are perfect editions to the book. This book isn't exactly uplifting, so Jackal provided the much needed comic relief and his character development was something that made me love him even more. He is also not afraid to tell Allison like it is and I love him for it.
 
 Kanin is another character that I really liked, but for some reason I wasn't very upset about how his story ended, possibly because I guessed what would happen to him. Even though I figured out what would happen to Kanin about half way through the book, it didn't take away from the ending because I feel that it was the only way for his story to finish believably.

I liked Allison and Zeke's relationship before this book, but for most of the book I wanted it to be a little less about Zeke and a little more about saving the world from the psychotic vampire. Both of them needed to worry less about each other and more about the end of the world. Once that happened, I was able to enjoy the little scenes with Zeke and Allison more.

While this book is very dark, it still has a few sweet moments. I highly recommend this to anyone looking for a good vampire series.