The Eternity Cure

The Eternity Cure is the second book in Julie Kagawa's Blood of Eden series of vampire stories. Maybe it's just me, but I thought there was a little sophomore slump about it. Newly vamped Allie is on a fairly traditional fantasy quest to find her sire Kanin and save him from a crazy twisted vampire who is out for revenge. This quest is set against the larger quest in the entire series about finding a cure for a virus which kills humans and turns vampires into zombie-like creatures known as Rabids. The action sequences were still thrilling like in the first book The Immortal Rules, but our protagonist has lost her fresh and interesting voice. Instead, we get a lot of teenage angst as Allie tries to balance her former human values with her new-found bloodlust.

There's a love story involving a human, with all of the traditional forbidden love between a dark demon and a pure innocent that we've come to expect, but it really doesn't add anything that new or different to the genre. Fairly standard paranormal fodder ensues, and quite chaste since this is a young adult novel. Julie Kagawa is a good enough storyteller to make me forgive the fact that I've read so many similar stories before, but I could have done with more of the thrill of the chase and less of the Zeke and Allie relationship. It really is a bridge novel, advancing the story arc with no clear beginning or end. I'm eager to see if the virus is cured and will definitely read the next book, but I don't think this middle book in the series is particularly remarkable or memorable. It was just light entertainment that was a pleasant diversion.

Full disclosure: I received this book as a free advance review copy from NetGalley