The Forever Song (Blood of Eden)

OMG, where do I even begin to say how much I adored this book! Well adored is probably the wrong word, because you adore a little bunny or a cute dog, and your kids, maybe? ;) But there was NOTHING adorable about this book! Nope, their was SO MUCH BLOOD!! And MORE BLOOD, then MORE!! I LOVED IT!! I don't really know what that says about me, but hey, I have to keep it real, right??? ;)Julie Kagawa has done it again in THE FOREVER SONG!! It's just a little depressing now that it's over!! I could read millions of books in this series and never get tired of THE BLOOD OF EDEN!!And Jackal, where do I begin to say how much I love him!! Really, he always steals the show for me in THE BLOOD OF EDEN Series!! Now, don't get me wrong, I love Allie and Kanin and even Zeke, I do, I really do! But Jackal is the fire that ignites the flame in this book! He is sooo hilarious, but so seriously honest at the same time!! He had me cracking up through most of this book, well really through all the books! I am just sad to see him go, I would love for Julie to do a spin-off series with Jackal!! I would read them all, then read them again!THE PLOT...Allie, the unregistered human Fringer, has had her world ripped out from under her since vampires have taken control of their cities and use humans as blood cattle, and control them as they see fit, since they are the superior race! Allie has always hated vampires with every ounce of her soul, that is until the day she loses her soul to the very thing she despised, a vampire!Now a newly turned vampire, the very thing she's always hated, Allison has learned to adjust to the harsh life of being a vampire, with the intense thirst for human blood and a demon that lurks deep inside just waiting to rip through and unleash hell on earth! But she has slowly learned to hold on to her humanity at the same time, thanks to Zeke, the one boy who always told her she wasn't evil, that she wasn't the demon she thought herself to be. But when Zeke, the very thing that kept her attached to her humanity is murdered by the insane vampire Sarren, all her humanity goes out the window in order to find the crazed vampire and end him for the pain and suffering he has caused her and the rest of the world!! And she vowels to end it, one way or another!!With Sarren on the lose and on his way to Eden, the only Vampire-free zone left, and set on destroying the world with his concocted virus, that turns vampires and humans alike into crazed monsters, and eventually will spread like wildfire and bring the ends of time! But Allison, Jackal, and their Sire Kanin, are hot on his trail, trekking through the vicious rabid-filled wasteland, stumbling through many of Sarren's traps, and detours with some very interesting surprises that will shock them to the very core! And no matter what they do and how far they get, Sarren is always one step ahead of them. But that won't stop Allison and her group, they are ready to fight their way through hell and back to save the world an exact revenge on the brilliantly insane vampire, Sarrne!Will Allie and her group be able to get through Sarrens traps and make it to Eden in time? Will they be able to keep the virus if from leaving Eden if Sarrne has set it loose? But most off all, will they be able to stop the madman before it's to late?? Believe me these are answers your going to want, even if you haven't read this series yet, PLEASE PICK IT UP!!!Julie Kagawa has brought this explosive conclusion that has left me breathless and craving more, then defuse it, and left me utterly satisfied, and fully complete! I will read anything Julie Kagawa writes, and I can't wait to read her newest creation Talon, releasing October 2014. I know it's sure to leave the same feeling!Overall, THE BLOOD OF EDEN Series will go down as one of my favorite series of all times! And Allie, Zeke, Kanin, and especially Jackal, will live in my heart for years to come!! Thank you Julie Kagawa for creating such a brilliantly, Vicious, heart-pounding, memorable adventure in the BLOOD OF EDEN Series! :)I received an eARC copy for reviewing purposes! All opinions express are my own, and are not influenced in any way!

WARNING: This review will contain spoilers for The Eternity Cure as well as some spoiler-ish details about The Forever Song. (But nothing you couldn't have predicted if you finished The Eternity Cure.)Well. I've come to the end of one of my favorite, most epic series ever. That's never easy, but as you can tell by my 4-star rating I'm pretty happy with the way Julie Kagawa wrapped it up. A more accurate rating of my opinion of the book would actually probably be 4.5 stars.Plot summary: Allison, her sire Kanin, and her blood brother Jackal start the book off tracking Sarren toward Lake Erie and the human city of Eden. Allison has become cold and emotionless after hearing Zeke being tortured and killed by the psychotic vampire Sarren at the end of The Eternity Cure, and her only goal now is to take her revenge by destroying Sarren. Of course, Sarren also intends to release a new mutated form of the Red Lung virus on Eden and kill everybody on the planet, so stopping him from doing that would be good too.Thankfully, Allison's heartless-and-vengeful phase doesn't last too long into the book, and she is back to being what Jackal calls a "bleeding heart" by the time the group gets to Old Chicago and Sarren's most shocking surprise. (Well, shocking for Allison, not for me. I predicted this as soon as I originally finished reading The Eternity Cure's epilogue, because I couldn't stand the thought that Zeke was actually permanently dead.) The surprise (and I don't consider this a spoiler, because it was obvious from the epilogue of The Eternity Cure): Zeke is a vampire now--the very thing he swore he never wanted to become. Worse, Sarren has twisted his mind so that he's almost as insane as his sire.Being brainwashed, Zeke of course tries to kill Allison. They fight and Allison has the opportunity to kill him, but naturally she can't bring herself to do it. Eventually she manages to jolt Zeke back to his senses so that he's not trying to murder her anymore. Thus begins Zeke's struggle to come to terms with the fact that he's a vampire now and he's killed innocent people while under Sarren's compulsion.One thing I really liked about The Forever Song was Allison and Zeke's relationship once he becomes a vampire. When Zeke was human, he was the one reassuring Allison that being a vampire didn't make her automatically evil. Now the tables are turned, and it's Allison's turn to be Zeke's emotional anchor. I love how they can both see each other's flaws and the wrongs they've done, but they each save the other from their inner demon. I think that's a great thing to have in a relationship--to have someone who helps you be a better person, and to do the same for your partner.One thing I did not like about The Forever Song was Jackal's foul mouth. That guy uses the F-bomb for almost everything, which detracted majorly from my ability to enjoy the book and is the main reason I gave The Forever Song 4.5 stars and not 5.The other reason I didn't rate this book a full 5 stars was because one of my favorite characters died. His death didn't hurt as much as it could have, because he died doing something meaningful, but I still cried. (Congratulations, Julie Kagawa. Your books have made it onto the short list of books that have made me cry.)I have just a few more things to say. There comes a point very near the end of the book where Allison learns something about herself that is a Very Big Deal. And when it came to light, I was like, "Ha! I KNEW it!" Ever since book one, I have been wondering if it might be true, and I was very happy to be vindicated in this case.All in all, a satisfying conclusion to one of my favorite series. I dearly hope somebody eventually makes a movie or movies out of these books and doesn't screw it up too badly.

I was so excited for this series, I started it at the start of the year when I manged to pick the first book up for £1 in my local supermarket. I began reading it and though I loved the concept I though it moved to slow at the start but was optimistic knowing it was a trilogy. Then I got the second book and I loved it more than the first, i thought it was so much better, the pace of the book and the character development really came through perfectly. So when I joined my friend Amanda's read-a-thon and found out The Immortal Rules was on it and if I'd already read it, I could read another by Julie Kagawa I jumped at the opportunity to finish what I considered a good series. Sadly, it wasn't the ending to the trilogy I thought it would be. It was lacking in a lot of things.In the first book we met Allie, Kanin and Zeke, we learnt about how the world had changed, how vampires had taken over and how they were using humans as personal bloodbags. Allie was turned at the brink of death and helped a group of humans reach Eden, the last human town where they are working on the cure for rabids. In the second book Allie had another personal mission to deal with, it took her mind of Zeke, and the bloodlust but things didn't exactly go to plan and she wound up on a more important mission than before. Still she handled it better than she thought, but still had to sacrifice so much. And in this book she had to deal with the choices she mad and what went wrong .This book took so much longer to read than I thought it would, at first I was under the impression it was just because I had Silver Shadows waiting to read after, but when I took some days to really think about it, I realised that it wasn't that at all. The book was just not what I expected, and from what I've read it's the same way for a lot of people. Though the book had the same amount of blood, guts and darkness to it that the other two it, it didn't seem to have the..heart that the others did. It had adventure, it had twist's and turns, but it also had predictability. I knew what was going to happen, and even though I knew at the ending of book two what would happen to a certain character, it didn't make it any less disappointing when it was true. If you ask me, I think it would have been more dramatic if it didn't happen. And its hard to say that, as it will be one of the most 'WOW' things for some readers, but for me it was predictable and that made me lose interest very early.As far as the characters go, it still had the great ones as before. Even though he's as crazy as ever, Jackal still had me laughing, though half way through I was getting sick of his constant recycling of words.I didn't like the sudden turn in Allie's character, she was moody and horrible and so concerned with her inner demon that she was a different person, and not someone I could like. In the last two book's I really loved her, I thought she was a strong minded young girl that despite everything she went through was so level headed. This book did away with that warm feeling I once had.I wanted to like this book so much, even though its been a pretty up and down ride for me from the start, but I just couldn't see past the disappointment. It felt that there was this big build up to catching Sarren and what happened was over and done with so fast. I was just hoping for a different ending.

Enthralling, dark and action-packed, The Forever Song is the finale instalment in Julie Kagawa’s Blood of Eden series and gosh, what an ending it was!After her love Zeke was killed Allison has done the one thing that she said she’d never do. She’s given in to her inner monster and becoming what she is she most fears, just so she doesn’t have to face the pain of losing Zeke. Now on a journey with her sire Kanin and blood brother Jackal to try and stop Sarren from releasing the new virus that will kill everything that walks on the earth. However, Sarren being the true monster he is has left Allison a few surprises on her journey to try and distract her. But can Allison reach Sarren in time before it’s too late?I feel like I’ve been waiting for The Forever Song for forever, but really it’s only been 3 years. For 3 years we’ve been on the Blood of Eden journey which Julie has created and of course, it was completely amazing. As usual, Julie delivers an epic finale, one that’s unforgettable. Her writing is simply brilliant and even when she’s writing dark stories there’s just something beautiful about her work. She always drags me in from start to finish and whenever I finish a book, I’m left wanting more from her. With quotes like this; "The world went red. Screaming, I leaped down into the middle of the swarm and began laying waste with my katana. Limbs and heads parted for me as I carved my way through the horde. My demon reveled in the chaos and destruction, howling in delight with every body that fell, painting the snow and the cars around me with dark blood." This is the reason Julie is one of my favourite authors!Allison has come such a long way and I couldn’t be prouder of the person she’s become. She struggles every day but she’s completely committed to do the right thing. It helps that she has people around her that want to help her like Kanin and Zeke – even Jackal in his own twisted way. The relationship between them all really grows though The Forever Song. The bonds they form are touching and loving. They also bring a lot of humour into the story, especially Jackal. I honestly can’t remember how many times I burst out laughing because of the things he says. Simply brilliant!The plot of the story was fast paced and really entertaining. I was so pleased with the outcome of the story – although sad for one characters future but I could see why things needed to be that way. And honestly, by the end of the story, I still wanted more even though I was completely satisfied as a reader. I definitely believe Jackal could have his own standalone book. I’d love for him to find love and I think it would be really epic to what that happen.In all, Julie Kagawa has done it again and delivered an epic end to an awesome series. And this makes me even more excited to read Talon.

I loved the first two books in this series and I so badly wanted to love this one too, but for me it fell a little flat. Perhaps if I had read it hot off the heels of the other two I may have felt a bit different. But with a little space between books Allie seemed to rub me the wrong way. Everything was doom and gloom and more than a little monotonous with her inner monologue torn between being her concern over being a monster and her determination to kill Sarren.Kagawa provides us with all the answers to the questions that have been asked in the previous books. We got a resolution to the story and an ending that most people would be happy to walk away with but the journey back to Eden? Not quite as gripping or entertaining as it should be. I honestly contemplated putting the book down and walking away from it because the vast majority of the book was constant bickering between Allie and Jackal (think small kids in the back of the car fighting over who gets to look out which window and asking constantly "Are we there yet").I was able to continue reading and I did find the ending riveting. All in it was a nice way to wrap up the trilogy

The book started where it left off in book two. It was full of suspense and surprises. Allie was still angry and started to lose faith in view of what happened in book two. She nearly lost herself to her dark side a few times, which I found heartbreaking. Kanin was his patient and supportive self. Jackal was there too, despite his views on Kanin's and Allie's feelings towards humanity. He brought humour when things were grim!It was a struggle to get to Eden to find the cure before Sarren could cause any more damage. There were so many obstacles in the way, which kept you wanting to keep on reading. I won't say much more as I don't want to give anything away to those who might read this little blurb and have yet to read the book. I made the mistake of reading a review where there was too much detailed information, which nearly spoiled everything. I stopped myself in time and glad that I did.It is definitely worth reading the Blood of Eden Trilogy and this last installment did not disappoint and fully deserves five stars. I agree with some of the other readers that it would be nice for Jackal to have his own book. He is a great character and I became fond of him in this book.

Having just finished Forever Song I am left feeling bereft, a wonderful set of characters and storyline which draws you from the first page to the last sentence. We are told this is a trilogy, however the ending is open. It would be good the see the characters again, each with their own endearing features and flaws, a wonderful teen romance.An adventure in a hard unforgiving world where Allison faces an uncertain future helped by her sire and sibling the taunting James who just lives to fight, who also under all his many faults comes through which makes him all the more the loveable rogue. Trusting her instincts and training help overcome many of the traps which they all face in trying to save vampires and humans. If you read paranormal romance this authors work will not disappoint, so pleased to have had the pleasure of reading this series, I now look forward to reading Julie's other novels, great writing style, which I find compelling.