Review: The Forever Song

Title: The Forever Song
Author: Julie Kagawa
Category/Genre: YA, Paranormal, Fantasy, Post-Apocalyptic


See it at 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.


The Forever Song, the final installment for the Blood of Eden series, didn’t give me as much oomph as the first two books-- the second still being my favorite, I think-- and while it was still great, I felt it flat most of the time. I’m also in a terrible reading slump, so most of the books I’ve been picking up lately, I’ve not had much desire to really read anyway (it’s a tragic situation to go through for any reader or book blogger).

**Also, there might be minor spoilers ahead. It's hard to avoid that when reviewing a later installment for a series.**


We finally get Zeke back into the story. Most of my followers and reader friends already know I haven’t been a Zeke fan since the beginning. He was a lot more tolerable in book two… I was even emotionally impacted by the ending there because I finally felt a mild attachment to his character.. But once again, The Forever Song gave me a Zeke I couldn’t like. Much more of an annoyance than anything, to be honest. I get that he’s upset… I just didn’t want to spend over half of the book reading the back-and-forth between him and Alison on this when I felt like there were more important things going around the characters. It wasn’t terrible enough to completely affect my enjoyment of the story, but I could have certainly done without a lot of it.

I particularly liked the further development of Jackal. He became a key character that I got attached to easily, despite his brutal honesty and sometimes hardcore style. Often, I felt like he was much more the type for Alison’s personality. But I don’t remember his description or how “old” he looks. I just have my own imagination when his character is speaking. Haha.

Kagawa also knows how to make you hate a bad guy when you really need to hate one. That’s for sure. Characters are put through some hell and torture, and there’s a lot to endure, and by the end you’re likely to be left saying “whoa.”

I also really liked the attention to details and ideas of family strength. Kagawa painted great pictures for the readers with her words and actions to develop a story about bonding, family, loving unconditionally, and sacrifice.

If you haven’t yet started this series, I don’t know what you’re waiting on. It’s one of the best vampire reads out there. Read it. Come on.