I received this galley in consideration for an honest review.
The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa Series: Blood of Eden
Published by Harlequin on April 15, 2014
Genres: Post-Apocalyptic, Paranormal, Young Adult
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 heart-wrenching ending of book two made me very anxious to read the final installment in this bleak vampire series. The teacher and his two students are forced on a journey to stop Sarren, who puts the psycho in psychopath, even for a vampire. The journey starts out as you would expect, with quips from Jackal and patience from Kanin, but a little more than halfway through, there is a huge and very satisfying twist that breaks up the monotony of the endless road they seem to be traveling. That twist made the story, as far as I’m concerned, but my feelings about The Forever Song, overall, were kind of apathetic. I really liked the continued bleakness, because it combines the best of post-apocalyptic with vampires, and I love Allison as a heroine, but the rest of it just left me feeling blah.
To me, this installment was extremely repetitive. It seemed that we were hearing about the same struggles in the same way over and over again. I do enjoy the characters, but even Allison’s foray to the dark side of her vampire nature seemed underdeveloped. It would be very difficult to keep momentum going on a series like this, so I understand how a stalling of the plot could happen, but the pacing felt more like a second book, than a series conclusion. It almost felt like the author had already moved on to other projects and was just trying to get this on over with, which pains me because I am a huge fan of Julie Kagawa. By no means will I stop reading this author, and the first two books in this series remain some of my favorite reads, but The Forever Song just didn’t live up top the quality I am used to seeing from this author.
Like you, I really loved the first two books in this series and have anxiously been awaiting the conclusion, but just haven’t had the time to finally get around to reading it.
I’m sad to hear that “The Forever Song” didn’t really do it for you – I have to say that I had the repetitive feeling a few time especially during the second book, but like you say, put it down to being the middle book.
I’m sure I’m going to get around to reading “The Forever Song” someday, but your review has at least made me feel less “guilty” about not having gotten to it yet 🙂
Thanks for a great one!
Camilla @ http://thegirlwholovedtoread.com
That’s too bad. Although I don’t like it, second book drag is common. But I hate when it happens in a series finale. This is it – you should bring it all to the table for that book.
Aww I am sad to see this! I just recently finished TEC and I loved it! But I didn’t love TIR as much as I had hoped so maybe this one will be on par with that for me, especially with the traveling similarities. I am excited to see what happens tho even if this won’t blow my mind like TEC did. I need closure on Zeke <3
Ahh, so nervous to read this book. Seriously, I want to read it yet I don’t.
Uh oh, “repetitive” doesn’t sound good at all! I think Kim had very similar reactions to yours in some ways–she loved books one and two, but I think this was her least favorite of the series, even though she enjoyed it. It’s always a bummer when series enders aren’t as oomphy as you want them to be.
Wendy @ The Midnight Garden