{Joint} Review: The Forever Song by Julie Kagawa

Title: The Forever Song
Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Blood of Eden, book #3
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Publication Date: April 15, 2014
Source: from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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.

So, The Forever Song is another book that April and I read "together" and discussed afterward. We chatted back and forth about it, and I pretty much pasted the contents of our discussion below for your reading pleasure. We tried to stay spoiler-free for the entire series, but as always, read at your own risk.

Jen:   As a series finale/the ending to a trilogy, I found The Forever Song to be adequate yet slightly mediocre. I liked it, but it didn't have the pull for me that the previous books in the series did. I found that I could easily put the book aside and read other things without my mind wandering back to it, wondering what all the vamps were up to while I was elsewhere. This saddens me because this is one of the best vampire stories I've read in awhile, but it also should be noted that my lackluster feelings on the finality of the series are in no way detrimental to my opinion of the series as a whole. It's still one of the best vampire series I've ever read.

April:  I really loved this one. Though I do know what you mean as far as being able to put it down. I didn't think about it much when I wasn't reading it. It's certainly not as gripping as the first two. But overall, this series is pretty awesome.

The thing that made The Forever Song for me was Jackal. He kept me laughing the whole time. While I love all of the characters, Jackal outshines them all in my eyes.

Jen:  No doubt about it, Jackal made this book for me, too. I mean, I loved him more with each book as the series progressed, but he was undeniably awesome in The Forever Cure. And how far his character has come...he's no angel by any means, but by the end, there's something redeemable about him. I'm really going to miss that guy. Probably more so because I always pictured him as Chris Hemsworth while I was reading. =) Also, he had the best lines. His banter with Allie was priceless. I think it's kind of obvious that Kagawa loved him as much as we did. I know this is probably wishful thinking, but I'd love to see him get his own spin-off series. I could read about him and his antics ad nauseam.

I also love what a survivor Allie has proven herself to be over the course of the series. She's suffered loss time and time again, and yet she keeps moving forward. Allison battles her humanity the entire time, questions whether she is a monster, and yet I don't think it was ever tested as much as it was in this final book.

April:  Yes!! Allie has always been strong through-out the series, but in The Forever Song, she really shows her strength. Both mental and physical. I can't imagine what it must be like for a vampire fighting off that hunger. But I do love food and if humans were like cupcakes to me, it would be really hard to contain myself. So major props to Allie.

And how about that twist? That "No Freaking Way" moment! I won't mention what it was, but I so didn't see it coming and I'm not sure why I didn't, but wow. I was hesitant at first whether I was happy about it, and it took me a while to warm up to it, but in the end I think it worked out alright.

Jen:  Ha! I actually had a few of those moments, but I think I know which one you're talking about. :) I actually expected something along those lines, and I was anticipating and dreading it at the same time. But you're right, it did work out plot-wise and hurting-my-heart-wise, so I'm okay with where Kagawa took the story from there. That last thing that happened, though, that last major thing...that gutted me. I actually cried some. I don't cry often or easily when reading, but damn.

I wish I'd felt such powerful emotion -- even if it was only hatred toward Sarren -- for the entirety of the book, and not just in a few spots. It just felt like the guts of the book was lacking: we're moving along well, exciting things are happening, then we fall into that valley of a middle where I stayed away from the book for well over a week because I was kind of bored, and then we're at the end, which is damn near explosive with all the things that are happening. I mean, the middle wasn't a total snoozefest because we were learning things about the characters, even when things weren't happening to them, but I needed more to hold my interest at that point.

April:  Oh my gosh, yes that last thing. That might have killed me just a little bit. But I guess it made sense and I can see why she wrote it that way. Still it didn't make it less heartbreaking.

I agree that the middle didn't hold my interest as much either. I put it down as well, but picked it back up way sooner than you did lol. I found it interesting enough, but I think my biggest problem is that I'm not as into vampires as I was when I first started reading this series. The ending sure was jam packed though! Near explosive is the perfect way to describe it. Once I neared the end it was hard to put down and I was pretty happy with the conclusion. I'm kinda sad that it's all over now but I feel like there could definitely be a spin of if she chose to write one.

Jen:  Yep, I was in the market again for a good YA vampire story when I found The Immortal Rules, but I've since overcome that desire. I do appreciate that Kagawa's vampire tale featured a post-apocalyptic setting, which made it very different from those that came before it, and the series will forever have a place on my shelf. This ending is bittersweet but satisfying. And, yet, I still find myself hoping for more of this world by way of a Jackal spin-off. (Nope, I'm not going to let that go. :D)

GIF it to me straight:

We want more Jackal!!

About the author:

To pay the rent, Julie worked in different bookstores over the years, but discovered the managers frowned upon her reading the books she was supposed to be shelving. So she turned to her other passion: training animals. She worked as a professional dogtrainer for several years, dodging Chihuahua bites and overly enthusiastic Labradors, until her first book sold and she stopped training to write full-time.

Julie now lives in Louisville, Kentucky, where the frequency of shark attacks are at an all time low. She lives with her husband, two obnoxious cats, one Australian Shepherd who is too smart for his own good, and the latest addition, a hyper-active Papillon puppy.

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