The Happy Booker's Vampire/Zombie Acrostic Challenge

The Happy Booker  has issued a poetry challenge to go with a giveaway and I just have to accept it. Mock my acrostic at your own peril!

The challenge is to take the title of one of your favorite vampire and/or zombie novels and write an acrostic poem about it. Here's mine for Warm Bodies.

Without breath or life
A lost soul
Roaming aimlessly
Moaning, groaning

Brains sustain him
Opening doors into memories
Dreams of the living
In them is a girl
Everything changes as
Still hearts learn to beat

               Lieder Madchen

Book Review: The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

The Eternity Cure
by Julie Kagawa

Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Science Fiction / Dystopian / Post-apocalyptic / Romance

Ages: 14 and up

This is the second book in the Blood of Eden series, sequel to The Immortal Rules.

I received an e-copy of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Reviewer's Note: This is the third Julie Kagawa novel I have read and reviewed in the past 24 hours. I started in the very wee hours of the morning with The Lost Prince (reviewing it about 5 seconds after reading the last page) then picking up with The Immortal Rules in the afternoon (I was interrupted by a plumbing crisis so the review didn't get published until a couple hours after I finished reading) and, to top of my lovely marathon, I just finished reading The Eternity Cure.

P.S. I'm listening to Fall Out Boy as I write this, which is strangely fitting.

Description:

In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left:

Blood calls to blood

She has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever—and possibly end human and vampire existence.

There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago—and this strain is deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries, if Allie can get to him in time.

Allison thought that immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to make.

My Thoughts:

It has been four months since Allie left Eden and Zeke. She is now fully adjusted to being a vampire and has become more comfortable in her skin. She's more dangerous, harder-edged, but her humanity is still intact. Well, as intact as possible. As much a survivor as ever, she teams up with her untrustworthy blood-brother in her quest to rescue Kanin..

The characters in this story are just so good. Even Jackal, murderous, untrustworthy bloodsucker that he is, is strangely entertaining. Sarren is the creepiest villain I have met in a long time and every word he says gives me shivers. If there is ever a movie, he should be played by Bill Nighy because he has the perfect voice for it. Zeke is so lovably loyal and self-sacrificing that I spent a lot of time cheering him on. My faint inclination for Kanin as a love interest faded the instant Allie was referred to as his 'daughter'. Oh well, I can still have a crush on him if I want. I'd read a whole book about Kanin.

Story-wise, I didn't like The Eternity Cure as much as The Immortal Rules until the end. Oh. My. Gosh. That ending...how will I survive waiting for the next one? It was brilliant, but completely evil. This is a great sequel, and I have a feeling Book 3 will be magnificent.

Rating System: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).

Profanity:
I rate it a 5.10 for one use of the f-word and some mid-level swearing and name-calling.

Sexuality:
I give it a 2.10 for brief sexual innuendos and threats.

Violence:
I rate it a 7.10 for fighting, murder, torture and vast quantities of blood.

                            Lieder Madchen

Book Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

The Immortal Rules
by Julie Kagawa

Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Science Fiction / Post-apocalyptic / Dystopian

Ages: 14 and up

I received an e-galley of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Description:

To survive in a ruined world, she must embrace the darkness…
Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a walled-in city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten. Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them—the vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself dies and becomes one of the monsters.

Forced to flee her city, Allie must pass for human as she joins a ragged group of pilgrims seeking a legend—a place that might have a cure for the disease that killed off most of civilization and created the rabids, the bloodthirsty creatures who threaten human and vampire alike. And soon Allie will have to decide what–and who–is worth dying for…again.

Enter Julie Kagawa's dark and twisted world as an unforgettable journey begins.

My Thoughts:

This book takes some old ideas and squishes them together in new ways to make a delightfully original story. It is a vampire/zombie apocalypse adventure with more than a few hints of samurai legends. I love it. It's dark and dramatic and powerfully written. Plus it has vampires fighting zombies. Beat that! Well, they're called 'rabids' in the book, but they're basically zombies.

Allie is one tough lady. Having spent her entire life hating vampires, she suddenly is one. Under the tutelage of Kanin, a mysterious, solitary vampire with many secrets, she starts to learn how to be a monster without becoming a monster. He teaches her how to use her new abilities to survive and defend herself and gifts her with a katana. (A vampire slaying zombies with a katana - like I said, beat that!) This interlude does not last long, however, and Allison is forced to set out into the world on her own. It is there that she discovers a wandering group of humans - and Zeke.

I really like Zeke (full name Ezekiel Crosse). He still has hope in a world that offers none. He's a born leader; protective, selfless and brave. He's also falling fast for Allie - or the human he thinks she is. Despite how much I like him as a love interest, I have this kind of half-hope that Kanin will turn out to be...but I doubt it. Maybe. We'll see. He's pretty entrenched in the mentor role for now.

All-in-all, I loved this book. Great characters, wonderful story, serious and fun at the same time...what's not to like? I would highly recommend The Immortal Rules.

Rating System: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).

Profanity:
I rate it a 4.10 for some mid-level swearing and name-calling.

Sexuality:
I give it a 3.10 for some innuendos and brief threats.

Violence:
I rate it a 7.10 for fights, murder, gore, torture and vast quantities of blood.

                                          Lieder Madchen

Book Review: The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa

The Lost Prince
by Julie Kagawa

Genre: Young Adult / Fantasy / Romance

Ages: 13 and up

Sequel to the Iron Fey Trilogy and The Iron Knight.

I received an e-galley of this book through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Description:

Don't look at Them. Never let Them know you can see Them.

 That is Ethan Chase's unbreakable rule. Until the fey he avoids at all costs—including his reputation—begin to disappear, and Ethan is attacked. Now he must change the rules to protect his family. To save a girl he never thought he'd dare to fall for.

Ethan thought he had protected himself from his older sister's world—the land of Faery. His previous time in the Iron Realm left him with nothing but fear and disgust for the world Meghan Chase has made her home, a land of myth and talking cats, of magic and seductive enemies. But when destiny comes for Ethan, there is no escape from a danger long, long forgotten.

My Thoughts:

Wow. Cute little Ethan is all grown up and has gone punk...sort of. After years of hiding from the Fey, he's developed a surly attitude and a bad reputation that acts as a wall between him and the human race. Plus his hair's all spiky and his ears are pierced. Like I said, sort of punk. But he's still cute. On his first day at a new school (he kind of accidentally set the last one on fire), he runs straight into trouble in the form of a bullied half-phouka. And so the adventure begins.

I love all the new characters in this book. Kenzie, who worms her way past Ethan's snarkiness by sheer force of will and stubbornly refuses to give up on him. Todd, who's a little peculiar but quiet promising, and Keirran. Oh, Keirran, I don't know what to think of you. All I can tell so far of Keirran is that anything to do with him promises to be very interesting and he has a marvelous pet, the entertainingly random gremlin named Razor. It was also lovely to see old friends again - Meghan, Puck, Grimalkin and brief glimpses of Ash. Can you virtually hug fictional characters?

This book is as beautifully written as Julie Kagawa's previous novels, perfectly swirled with rich descriptions and dark secrets. The Nevernever has become even more wondrous and dangerous than ever, if such a thing is possible.

I would recommend this book to all and sundry, though it is a good idea to read the rest of the series first even though it is technically the beginning of a new trilogy. I must also warn you that it spoils some of the plot of the film Serenity (it ticked off my sister when she read it, but I just loved the fact that Ethan is a Firefly fan).

Rating System: Profanity, Sexuality and Violence
1 (mild) through 10 (extreme).

Profanity:
I rate it a 2.10 for some mild swearing.

Sexuality:
I give it a 2.10 for a couple of brief sexual slurs.

Violence:
I rate it a 5.10 for some fighting and injuries as well as murder.

                                           Lieder Madchen