The Forever Song

Author: Julie Kagawa
Genre: Supernatural, Dystopian, Teen
Type: e-book
Pages: 402
Series: #3 in the Immortal Rules trilogy
Source: Personal Copy
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
First Published: April 2014
First Line: "The outpost gate creaked in the wind, swinging back on its hinges."

Book Description from GoodReads: 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, her triumph will be short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.

THE FINAL HUNT IS ON. 

My Rating: 3/5 stars

My Review: For YEARS I have been suggesting this series by Julie Kagawa to friends, patrons and family members because I adored the first and second books.  I had bought the final book in the trilogy but didn't jump right into it for various reasons - mainly because I like to savour a series and sometimes don't want it to end.  This was the case with the Immortal Rules series.

In the first two books Kagawa builds a unique, detailed and ruthless backdrop for her characters.  She fills pages with intense action, strong and diverse characters you care about, a good dose of humour (I do so love Jackal!) and some rather amazing twists and cliff hangers. The energy level is high throughout to keep the reader riveted. 

Unfortunately, The Forever Song was lacking some of the action that I came to love in the previous books and became more about teenage angst.  Compared to the first two books, Forever Song is more romance than dystopian action.  It's not that it's a bad finale, it's just not as strong as I would have hoped for one of my favourite series.

The difference in this book is the energy.  There's still lots of action but the bulk of the book feels like a lot of traveling with intermittent rabid attacks leaving the plot to feel quite slow and almost tedious with the teenage love angst at the forefront.  Too much time was spent repeating this combination of travel/attack/angst instead of adding some unique twist as they search for the cure.  The big cure that everyone is on the hunt for was too convenient and fit in right at the end as an easy way to wrap things up fast.  Meanwhile, I was left feeling a little let down. 

While I still loved seeing Jackal (king of the snarky wise cracks) he couldn't carry this book alone and I can't say that this final book lived up to the previous two books in the trilogy.  It's a decent ending to a fabulous series.