The Forever Song

The Forever Song

by Julie Kagawa

SYNOPSIS:

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, triumph is short-lived in the face of surviving forever alone.

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Book #3 in Series

Such a wonderful ending to an amazing series!

Such a rush, such a tremendously touching carousel of emotions.
This story has.. everything: edge gripping action, mind-blowing turnarounds, laughing out-loud humour and a bit of a heartbreak every now and then. What more can one expect from a book, huh?

forever-songSaying goodbye to these characters feels so wrong, it actually pains me. I love them all and I know that they’ve been through hell and back multiple times, but I would want to spend  more moments with them.

Just a few..
Just one more..
Pretty please?
Ooooh, I know I am being silly, but why put these feeling into my heart if you don’t want them to take root, to expand, to grow wildly and devour me?

*sigh*

I am still recovering here, there was so much happening in this book, I could barely wrap my head around one random, gruesome scene and some more action’s been thrown at me. There was a lot of suspense, the characters got through various dangerous situations and I never really knew if they could make it unscathed, or -well- if they might make it out of it at all. My heart broke so many times, there are still pieces of me scattered all over the floor. The turnarounds made my head spin out of control. Some of them I did see coming, but from there things evolved in ways that surprised me.

Seriously, this story is nothing if not full of twists. Some felt like a horse ride (my heart ran at full gallop – and I don’t even know how to ride, for crying out loud!), some left me in a state of dream (because well, my heart is also mushy like that), and some others felt like twisting the knife deep into my heart. Twist after twist.. after twist. And then more twists.

I can’t say too much about the plot, it goes against my spoiler policy, but this book is all I ever wanted and then a lot more. OK, it might still be safe to tease you a bit:
allison

– If you’ve read the second book, then you will probably wonder (like I did) when two particular characters will meet again (I was dying to see someone come back to life) and what will happen then. And how the very screwed up situation will get… well, unscrewed. I was hyperventilating the whole time, rushing through the words to just get there already. And when I finally did, it was nothing and everything I wanted – all at once.

– If you’ve read both first books, then you will wonder about Eden, about saving the world, about killing (hopefully) in a very painful way a particular character and making right as many wrongs as possible. Well, you know what they say – the path to Heaven is paved with pain and loss and now gruesomeness too – so brace yourself.

– If you loved the first two books you really don’t have to worry, as this one lives up to the others and makes the story complete (I am not saying that your heart won’t break, I won’t say you will come out of it completely and utterly happy, I can’t promise rainbows and candies and shiny unicorns at the end of the journey, I can only promise that everyone that counts in this story gets what they deserve, in a way or another – even when you don’t agree with them & their deepest desires *crying in a corner*)

THE CHARACTERS:

Looking back to the beginning, I can’t believe what a wonderful journey these wonderful characters have taken and how much it got to change them all. Not only did the characters get stronger, better skilled, but they really connected on an emotional level, they felt like family one to another, and you can only fear for each and all of them, because you want them all safe.

– First there is Allison with her moral struggles, with her own emotions tearing at her – she really was torn between the monster inside and the remains of her humanity. She thought that the last tie to her humanity has been lost, but embracing her dark side won’t make the past disappear, won’t mask her pain forever. She needs to fight her inner demon, she needs to win, otherwise she won’t ever find happiness (not even comfort) in this world.

– Jackal is still the sweetest monster alive. His humour made my heart ache less and I laughed quite a bit. We had some trusting issues here, I wouldn’t turn my back to him not only for a moment, but I still love him.

– Kanin is the voice of conscience, as always. His patience has been tested all though the story. He was like a grumpy father for the other characters, but always compassionate, such a strong old soul in need of his own peace of mind.

– As for Zeke.. show

I won’t say how things turned out to be. You will see on your own.

allie

And because I am a bit at a loss for words, I will do something I haven’t done in a while, I will leave the story itself tell you just how great it really is…
After all, if these words won’t reach you, I don’t know what else will anyways..

The sorrow:

I felt broken, as if my soul had shattered like a mirror, and the pieces were cutting me from within.

The dark humour:

I didn’t even get to rip his heart out before he went up in smoke. Inconsiderate bastard.

… More Jackal-ness:

I figure I can be the smart, practical, logical one and you can be the pretty, hotheaded, overemotional one, and between us, we’ll be ready for anything.

The heartbreak:

“Look at me as I kill you. I want my face to be the last thing you see before I send you to hell.”

The overwhelm:

Eternity is not a gift. It is a curse. The longer you live, the bleaker and darker the world becomes, until you are stumbling around, blind, in shadows.

 

CONCLUSION:

Don’t get me wrong – I am still not into vampires (only this story), this book didn’t change my perception on the genre, but I am so, so, sooo glad that I read this story, because I loved it to pieces, I cherish it and I will probably read it again (the full ‘Blood of Eden‘ series).

And that’s because of the characters: how fleshed-out, 3 dimensional, complex and wonderful they are.
It’s not only Allie, but the sarcastic and funny Jackal, the grave, serious & mysterious Kanin, not to mention the other unmentionable character. There is so much love I hold in my heart for this story, I can only hope that you will all feel the same while reading it.

Happy midnight reading!

Early review: ARC received for review from the publisher, thank you!

Music of choice:

Yeah, yeah.. don’t even bother telling me how it belongs to another (dystopian) series, ‘cuz this is me caring! :)) After all, I guess this song goes well with any apocalyptic story where all you care about is for your characters to get trough what might be their last night.. safe and sound.

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