Review: The Eternity Cure

THE ETERNITY CURE
Blood of Eden #2
Julie Kagawa
Paranormal Young Adult
446 pages
Harlequin Teen
Available April 30th
Received from publisher via NetGalley

THE STORY (from Goodreads)
Allison Sekemoto has vowed to rescue her creator, Kanin, who is being held hostage and tortured by the psychotic vampire Sarren. The call of blood leads her back to the beginning—New Covington and the Fringe, and a vampire prince who wants her dead yet may become her wary ally.

Even as Allie faces shocking revelations and heartbreak like she’s never known, a new strain of the Red Lung virus that decimated humanity is rising to threaten human and vampire alike.

MY THOUGHTS
The Eternity Cure is a beautifully dark sequel, delving deeper into the brutal vampire world of which Allie is a newly fanged member, and peeling back the layers of beloved characters to expose the painful and vulnerable flesh underneath. Ms. Kagawa does a brilliant job of slowly bringing us up to speed as we follow Allie in her search for Kanin, reminding us of the details we may have forgotten since finishing The Immortal Rules in a way that doesn't interrupt the pacing at all, instead the little clues and hints we need to jog our memories are seamlessly integrated into present events. Many times with second books in a trilogy, we find ourselves struggling with non-events–small dramas and superfluous details that don't necessarily move the overall story arc forward but rather set us up for the inevitable action-packed conclusion–but with The Eternity Cure we're given a multi-layered plot that only intensifies our connection to Allie, Kanin and Zeke, making us laugh, cry, and suck in our breath in the final chapter.

Allie is seventeen going on fifty, a world-weariness radiating from her as she sees and experiences things no one so young should have to, but she shoulders it without even the slightest of grimaces as acknowledgement of the added weight. Every moment of every day she struggles with her vampire nature, constantly trying to make choices that will leave the smallest possible black marks on her soul, but ultimately knowing they are black marks just the same. Though her future has the potential to be unbearably bleak, she never wallows or despairs of what might have been, even when reuniting with Zeke provides her with a poignant reminder of what she can never again have, instead she continues to put one foot in front of the other and mitigate the damage she has no choice but to cause as best she can.

Those who fell in love with Kanin despite his fairly minor role in The Immortal Rules will likely be thrilled with The Eternity Cure, his presence magnified and his past finally illuminated in all its gritty glory. He's still deliciously enigmatic in many ways and is never one to speak without purpose, so we can't help but treasure every word that escapes his lips as we know he's measured them carefully and is imparting something important whether we realize it at the time or not. Adding a little levity to Kanin's stoic presence is Jackal, a vampire we wouldn't have minded meeting a tragic end after his role in the deaths of many a human in book one, but we find ourselves snorting in amusement when he joins Allie on her quest, surprisingly grateful for his presence, his blunt nature, and his sometimes inappropriate sense of humor.

Despite its length, The Eternity Cure seems to fly by, tension wreaking havoc on our guts when Allie and company are tested and threatened but seem to emerge victorious, something we soon realize was simply Ms. Kagawa lulling us into a false sense of security as we approach the concluding pages. It's only then she comes at us from the darkness where we least expected her, a fist to the stomach doubling us over as Allie's world is suddenly and violently knocked off its axis, and we're left with hearts shredded but shockingly still beating, wondering whether the answer to Kanin's haunting question as to what kind of monster Allie will choose to be will forever change when we meet up with her again in the next book.

Rating: 4/5

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