Early Review: The Eternity Cure

The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden #2)

Julie Kagawa

Publisher: MIRA Ink – to be released 30^th April 2013

E-Arc Courtesy of Netgalley and Harlequin

In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left: Blood calls to blood 
She has done the unthinkable: died so that she 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.

After saving her friends and delivering them safely to Eden at the end of The Immortal Rules, Allie is now on a quest to safe her Sire, the vampire who turned her, who has been captured and tortured by another vampire. Blood calls to blood, but can she be sure she is chasing the right blood..? After the road trip from hell (in a good way) that was The Immortal Rules (think Mad Max Road Warrior with Vampires), The Eternity Cure is less road trip and more dysfunctional family drama. But this doesn’t make it less exciting, tense or edge of your seat thrilling.

Allie is a great lead having fought against what it is expected of her, her whole life. She never accepts the status quo and figures things out for herself. Sometimes she is right. Sometimes she is wrong, but you can’t help but root for her, hoping that her relationships work out the way they should. Her father-daughter relationship with Kanin has matured and it is nice to see how far she has come since he first turned her. Add in her ‘brother’ Jackel, a vampire who has a great turn of phrase – some of his lines are hilarious – but you don’t know what his plan is. With Jackel likely to turn on her at any time, Allie has to work with him to find Kanin, a task that becomes further complicated when Zeke, the boy she left in Eden returns. Add in a new plague that threatens to kill the remaining human population (and thus all vampires as well), a psycho vampire out for revenge and the return of an old friend, Allie has enough to deal with in this book. However, it is a mark of a great writer that this story never feels too complicated or bogged down, but flows wonderfully from action to relationship and back again.

The writing is wonderfully expressive allowing us to get under Allie’s skin and feel for her as she struggles between her feelings and what she is now – how she decides on ‘what sort of monster she wants to be’. I loved the development of her relationships especially with Zeke – they have grown so much over the two books and that evolving relationship is a joy to read. The end is very much a cliff-hanger that will have fans biting their nails for the conclusion to this trilogy – I think 2014 is going to be a long time to wait to find out what happens next!

Recommended for fans of Kristin Cashore and Richelle Mead. 8 out of 10 

Garden of Stones Review

Garden of Stones

Sophie Littlefield

Publisher: Harlequin

Review Copy Courtesy of Netgalley and Harlequin

Lucy Takeda is just fourteen years old, living in Los Angeles in 1941, when the bombs rain down on Pearl Harbor. Within weeks, she and her mother, Miyako, are ripped from their home, rounded up—along with thousands of other innocent Japanese-Americans—and taken to the Manzanar prison camp. Buffeted by blistering heat and choking dust, Lucy and Miyako must endure the harsh living conditions of the camp. Corruption and abuse creep into every corner of Manzanar, eventually ensnaring beautiful, vulnerable Miyako. Ruined and unwilling to surrender her daughter to the same fate, Miyako soon breaks. Her final act of desperation will stay with Lucy forever...and spur her to sins of her own.

I was a huge fan of Sophie Littlefield’s Aftertime trilogy and while the historical setting of Garden of Stones is completely different to post-civilisation zombie-invested world, the strong writing and involving characters remains constant. The story is split between the teenaged Lucy, the daughter of two Japanese immigrants shortly after Pearl Harbour and Lucy’s daughter, Patty in the late seventies finding out that there might be more to her mother than she thought.

As a teenager Lucy is very young and naive. Her mother struggles with manic depression and as such Lucy feels the need to take care of her. This is complicated by the fact that all those with Japanese ancestry are rounded up into internment camps. I’m British and this was a big surprise to me as I wasn’t aware that happened in America – it even raises some disturbing parallels to the early concentration camps (although thankfully it doesn’t go to that extreme). The way in which the guards and staff take advantage of others is disturbing and horrifying. Lucy’s experiences are heartbreaking and would have a huge impact on her life.

One of the major themes of the book is mothers and daughters as Lucy’s relationships with her own mother is examined in detail and how her mother tries her best to protect her despite the consequences. Patty then realises there is a lot her mother has been trying to protect her from other the years and there is a slow reveal of Lucy’s secrets. The whole story reminds you that while Lucy is mother, she is also a person outside that single relationship. While the elements set in the camp are stronger, the story needs Lucy’s recovery as a chambermaid to balance her experiences and bring her back to life again.

The writing is melodic and hypnotising. I was just swept along and struggled to drag my eyes away from the pages. I just adore Sophie’s style and was swept up into Lucy’s life. Usually when I read historical novels I approach them as fiction first but this felt so recent and well researched I almost felt like it was real and wanted to give Lucy a hug. An emotionally moving story set in a fascinating period of American history – high recommended.

Recommended for fans of Jojo Moyes and Philippa Gregory. 9 out of 10

Early Review: 'Til The World Ends

‘Til The World Ends

Julie Kagawa, Ann Aguirre & Karen Duvall

Publisher: Harlequin Luna: Released on 29th January 2013

E-Arc courtesy of Netgalley & Harlequin Luna

This is a collection of three stories all set at shortly after the end of the world – with each story focused on a very different apocalypse so I really need take this review one story at a time.

Dawn of Eden by Julie Kagawa

Before The Immortal Rules, there was the Red Lung, a relentless virus determined to take out all in its path. For Kylie, the miracle of her survival is also her burden-as a doctor at one of the clinics for the infected, she is forced to witness endless suffering. What's worse, strange things are happening to the remains of the dead, and by the time she befriends Ben Archer, she's beginning to wonder if a global pandemic is the least of her problems.... 

This is a prequel to the fantastic Immortal Rules. Set at the start of the zombie plague, this focuses on Kylie, a young doctor who continues to help those infect with the Red Lung disease, until Ben Archer turns up at her clinic and the dead suddenly don’t stay dead for long. The relationship between Kylie and Ben is a joy to read as they are thrown together in the most terrifying of circumstances and try to build something together. Theirs is a really tender relationship, really heart warming. Although for a YA book, there is a rather hot scene at one point! The writing is absorbing and captivating – it was impossible to stop reading until the end!

Thistle & Thorne by Ann Aguirre

After a catastrophic spill turns the country into a vast chemical wasteland, those who could afford it retreated to fortresses, self-contained communities run by powerful corporations. But for Mari Thistle, life on the outside-in the Red Zone-is a constant struggle. To protect her family, Mari teams up with the mysterious Thorne Goodman. Together, they'll face an evil plot in both the underworld of the Red Zone and the society inside the fortresses that could destroy those on the outside...for good. 

This was just a wonderful ride through a post-apocalyptic wasteland with thief Mari forced to work with mysterious Thorne in order to save her family and over throw the leader of the underworld in their zone. As ever Ann Aguirre creates realistic characters that aren’t invincible but smart enough to play to their strengths. Mari and Thorne think their away obstacles and problems, while the Red Zone and the enclosed fortress worlds are wonderfully described and I really felt like this was just the beginning of Mari’s story. Hopefully Ann will revisit this world at some point!

Sun Storm by Karen Duvall

Sarah Daggot has been chasing storms since she was a child. But after the biggest solar flares in history nearly destroy the planet, she becomes a Kinetic, endowed by her exposure to extreme radiation with the power to sense coming storms-in the cosmos and beyond. And she's not the only one. Sarah believes the Kinetics are destined to join forces and halt the final onslaught of the sun. She'll vow to keep trying to convince the one missing link in their chain of defense, the enigmatic Ian Matthews, up until the world end.

Sarah has the ability to predict the devastating sun storms that are ravaging the planet but when Ian turns up in her home town she finds herself in the midst of a battle for the survival for the world. There was enough action in this short story to fill a whole novel. However, I felt that Sarah wasn’t someone I felt much for – she seemed to believe people very quickly. There were plenty of occasions when characters were just info-dumping to her, bringing her up to-date and she kept changing her mind based on what they said. I’d rather she was shown what was happening more rather than just listening. It made her seem quite gullible. I liked the idea of the dangerous sun storms and the mutations for those few who survived but overall I just didn’t connect with the main character.

The Dawn of Eden and Thistle and Thorn were both excellent and well worth a read, but I was less enthused with Sun Storm

Recommended for fans of Suzanne Collins and Jennifer Estep. 8 out of 10