I've finally recovered from the brutal cliffhanger Julie Kagawa dropped on us like a bomb at the end of this book. The Eternity Cure was the most violent, gory, emotional and gripping book I've read this year (my whole life, in fact). It has everything I was anticipating: character development, plot twists, emotion, action, EVERYTHING. Julie used one of the most over-used concepts -vampire dystopia- and turned in into a captivating and memorable story, as from the first sentence.
"I smelled blood as soon as I walked into the room..."
We meet Allison again and she's still searching for Kanin who's being held hostage by a psychotic, evil vampire Sarren, who holds a lifelong grudge against her sire. On her way, Allison comes across Jackal and they agree, though reluctantly, to form an alliance and look for Kanin together. However, they discover a new threat: the deadly Red Lung virus has spread and a cure is urgently needed or else the entire population will be wiped out. And by entire, I mean both humans and vampires.
Allison is so badass. She can fight. I love girls who can fight. The way she handles that katana of hers is impressive. She grows from this sensitive, caring person from The Immortal Rules to his ruthless, independent, ass-kicker bitch. We also get to see more of the "demon" part of her and how she learns to fight it back especially during the scenes where she's really trying to hold herself back from just losing it and draining people of their blood. This inner battle between her human conscience and instinctive vampire nature is just, wow. That girl is incredibly strong.
And then there's Jackal. I pretty much hated him in book 1 but god, this hate quickly transformed into something else entirely in this book. Sure, the guy is twisted, cocky, heartless, ruthless, sadistic and doesn't give a damn about humans, but his sarcastic remarks and his humour undoubtedly lightened up the tension during the whole book. I doubled up laughing everytime he snapped back at Allie, and I really liked their relationship. Although they joked (or not) about sliting each other's throats when everything would be over, they were still sticking together and saved each other's lives constantly. I'll be honest and admit that the plot twist about Jackal took me by surprise. I was too engrossed by his presence that I didn't even take the time to wonder if he had any hidden motives, or where his loyalty really was.
Kanin. What to say... I love him. Zeke too. I found him a little bit annoying in this book, but I still liked him.
I don't have much to say about Stick. He had changed a bit, but he was still the same coward he was in The Immortal Rules. He kept shoving it in Allie's face but it was obvious that he was avoiding being alone with her and admitting that he was -and still is- a pathetic, weak guy. (SPOILER: His death wouldn't have affected me otherwise, but the way Kagawa wrote it sliced my heart. I actually felt sorry for him in the end.)
And of course, our brilliant villain. Sarren is the most insane and terrifying villain I've ever come across in a book. The guy gave my chills. He talked about torture the way I would talk about book shopping. Yeah, he's that twisted. But I love him. I have this thing for villains (not in the way you're thinking). They're so badass. (SPOILER: I mean, who wouldn't pee on themselves if Sarren said that:
"Perhaps I will pluck out both your eyes, then remove all your teeth, and make a necklace from them. Or perhaps a wind chime. I do love wind chimes, don't you, little bird?"
I definitely would.)
When I completed the book, tears had formed in my eyes, I was breathless, like I had just run 10 laps around a race track. That. damn. cliffhanger. The hardest part was: (SPOILER:
“I didn't hear the exact moment Sarren ended Zeke's life. I was just aware of his breathing, tagged at first, then seizing up, as if he could no longer gasp for her. And then, a long, agonizingly slow exhale, the last gulp departing his lungs, as Ezekiel's tortured breaths finally, irreversibly, stopped altogether.
"Good night, sweet prince." Sarren crooned, a velvet whisper.
The recording clicked off.”)
I truly thought that after that, this series would never end well. I wanted to scream in agony. But this last part. With Sarren in the van. Oh God. I still shiver whenever I think of that.
This book was phenomenal. I could read it a hundred times and still have the same reaction to the end than when I first read it. Julie's writing was absorbing and I love how this series of hers is completely unpredictable. It's definitely not the usual happy ending stuff. She doesn't hesistate to make her characters go through unimaginable degrees of pain and difficult situations. She doesn't care if she tortures her readers. This is what I liked about her. THIS is how to write a sequel.
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