Monday 15 September 2014

The Forever Song review

I want to note that I don't think I've ever been so apprehensive to read a book.
The Eternity Cure may actually be my new favourite book now, so I knew that The Forever Song would have to pull out all the stops if it was to be on par with the second book.

I'm having mixed feelings about this book. I'm not sure if I truly enjoy it or not.
Each book in the Blood of Eden series has impacting openings.
Book One: Kids being hung.
Book Two: Allie's badass bar fight
Book Three: Sarren's victims strung from a tree.

The ending of The Eternity Cure, we're sure of a couple of things.
Zeke is dead, though we're also sure he's now a vampire, and Allie has decided she's a monster.

I have to admit the thing I was most excited for, was Allie's persona now that she had deemed herself a demon. I was looking forward to an emotionless Allie who destroyed everything in her wake to get her retribution on Sarren.
Sadly, that didn't quite happen. Though that's how the novel starts out. Jackel can't get a crack in about her do-gooderness, she's uncaring and unfeeling, and Kanin tries appealing to her humanity without any luck. It's totally cool! Allie even entertains the thought of staying and ruling with Jackel.
But within fifty or so pages, she breaks down and goes back to normal.
I was glad for her, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I'd been cheated a little. This book could have been a deliciously dark story if they would have let that run its course a little more.

The plot went along exactly how I thought it would. There were no real surprises, which was disappointing.

The final instalment of the Blood of Eden series has a very different feel to it.
The previous two were based solely around Allie's struggles with herself and finding/fighting Sarren.
Without being overpowering and angsty, the books showed the blooming and struggling relationship on a human and vampire. It was a perfect balance of the two.
Now in The Forever Song, there is so much angst!
It's like Allie trying to discover what kind of monster she was all over again, but it was Zeke instead.
And Allie was being the overly attached girlfriend, worrying over his every move and emotion, wondering what it meant for their love.
I felt like. old Allie, as in Fringer Allie, and even newly turned Vampire Allie, would never resorted to that kind of melodramatic stuff. I know she had changed over the course of the books, and come to terms with herself as a vampire. But even then she always kept part of herself strong and unyielding. Zeke seemed to bring the steam right out of her.

On the subject of Zeke.
Evil Zeke. He had so much potential at being this almost unstoppable force that Allie wouldn't be able to bring herself to kill. Zeke was evil for all over maybe four pages, and how is his deeply rooted compulsion broken. A single bite from Allie.
This is when all the angst came into play. I think he must have referred to himself as a demon and/or monster about forty times.
I admit, it was interesting to read how Zeke battled with himself. Especially up on the roof. After that, it had been just whining.
Jackel had been right on the money every time he spoke to the pair of them.
"It’s not like I can’t wait for yet another riveting night of listening to you people whine at each other. Oh, woe is me, I’m a vampire. I’m a horrible monster who eats babies and murders bunnies, boo hoo hoo.”

Jackel is the saving grace in this novel, without his witty lines and snark, I wouldn't have enjoyed the book nearly half as much.
“Puppy, I am getting so tired of listening to you whine about this,” he snarled at Zeke. “This isn’t rocket science. If you don’t want to be a monster, don’t be a bloody monster! Be an uptight stick in the mud like Kanin. Be a self-righteous bleeding heart like Allison. Or you can stop agonizing about it and be a fucking monster.”

“Oh, isn’t that sweet,” came Jackal’s loud, mocking voice... “Let’s make goo-goo eyes at each other in the middle of a stinking corpse field, how very romantic.” 

“Seeing as this is probably my last hurrah, I don't suppose I could get you two bleeding hearts to massacre a village with me? For old time's sake.

Jackel went through a huge change from our first meeting of him, and I would really love to see a spin-off about him. The opening is there, so I hope Julie gives in to the demands of more Jackel.
His relationship with Allison is perfect, the two are always butting heads, and yet they protect each other fiercely.

My dearest Kanin. The unwavering father figure of the group. I'll mourn his lose terribly, but found his end quite fitting for him. I really liked the little speech he gave Allie in those final moments.

I liked how the climax of the book was executed, and feel fairly happy with this trilogy's conclusion.
I love Julie Kagawa's writing style, and I'll definitely be picking up her other series.
I wish I could The Forever Song five stars, but it just didn't have the edge to it that I hope for, but on the whole, it was still a good read. So with that in mind, it gets 4 stars from me.

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