Review: The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa

The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #3) by Julie Kagawa

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.

Publishes in US: April 15th 2014 by Harlequin Teen
Genre: YA para
Source: Harlequin Teen via Netgalley
Series? Blood of Eden #3
my reviews:
#1  The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa 
#2 The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

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    I wanted to read The Forever Song because I loved the first book in the series, and can't wait to see the culmination of the work and world building in this final installment. Allie really got to me and with her loss and heart set on vengeance, I'm eager to see how this will ultimately transform her even further and what surprises Ms. Kagawa has up her sleeve for us readers. 

    While I enjoyed the first part, I feel like a lot of it was repetitive. Allie is giving in to the monster, rationalizing her way into becoming numb and shutting down every last bit of her humanity to forget the pain and don a devil may care attitude. Which, I know, is not going to last. This book has ultimately been about her overcoming, putting others and greater good ahead of what she desires. It has been a story of her feelings, of not letting the darkness win, and of light in the dark hopeless world that she was born into. And while I understand where she is coming from with trying to let the monster take over, and give it to the hunger and the chaos--she has seen a lot and been through a lot of pain including watching the boy she loved die. So, we get a lot of her internal monologue and some banter with her and Jackal to keep things entertaining. 

     Of course she has her breakthrough that she still has that spark in her and that she doesn't want to give her life to the darkness, and it really was the powerful and first turning point of the story. The scene could not have gotten to her on a deeper emotional level, and it made me cheer to see her turning around and back into the character that I so admired. 

     The Forever Song had a lot of travel, dialogue and in it, some action thrown in. It also held some surprises and twists. One of which I almost knew for certain, I just wasn't sure how it would happen and what would trigger it as well as Allie's response. But I think that one of the things that left me the most satisfied besides seeing Allie prevail and begin to change not only herself but the world one step at a time was Kanin's story arc. He has done so much that he regrets, but he always was trying to be about balance once he saw the way he'd messed up. He would feed from a human and then stack their wood and leave them meat for a day. He tried to mentor and teach Allie what he knew. He cared for Jackal no matter how far to the left of Kanin's views he went. But I love his ending--the balance, his peace and a way for redemption.

     I think that it wrapped up well and I can't really place many complaints on the story besides maybe repetition and my frame of mind. I cannot think of a better way for it to end and I am not sure why I didn't completely fall for it like I did the first book.   

Bottom Line: Content with the wrap-up, but felt repetitive at times.

My question to you, my lovely readers:
Would you want to live as a vampire?