ARC Review: The Forever Song (Blood of Eden #2) by Julie Kagawa

The blurb as seen on Goodreads:
Release Date: April 15, 2014
Publisher: Harlequin Teen
416 Pages

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.

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When I started this book, I knew that first off, it wouldn’t end happy. This comes from the author who pretty much feeds on our tears. So I was expecting heartbreak. How bad? Now that I was unsure of. So I came up with 3 versions of how it was going to end:

Scenario 1. There is no life anymore and there never will be again.

Scenario 2. I feel only pain and happiness doesn’t exist.

Scenario 3. I understand, but it doesn’t mean I have to like it or be ok with it.

While I admit, I thought Kagawa would go for 1 or 2, I ended up getting Scenario 3 – which, not going to lie, still killed me.

Forever Song picks up where the second book ended with our three “musketeers” on the hunt for Sarren. Kanin, Allie and Jackal: one quiet, one angry, and one just flat out amusing. Allie is still dealing with the loss of Zeke at Sarren’s hands and her mind is only on revenge. With every step she takes, she becomes closer to accepting the monster inside her and Jackal is all too happy to help her along. Along their way, they find all of the surprises that Sarren has left for them, including one especially for Allison. 

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What I love about Kagawa’s work is how true she stays to her characters. Throughout all three books, there is a constant growth of every character. While you may not always agree with their actions, they always make sense. We see Allison’s struggle to maintain her humanity for Zeke, and when he’s gone, we see her struggle to accept the monster. She is constantly at war with herself over doing what she thinks people expect of her and what she actually wants to do. Kanin tries to guide her, but there’s only so much he can do. Especially when there’s someone counteracting his every move.

Enter Jackal, who has quickly become one of my favorite characters. I don’t know how Kagawa did it, but she took a character who was egotistical, conceited, sarcastic, and basically an all-around ass and…well, actually he kind of stayed the same, but oh how I loved him. In a book that was so burdened with heartache and horrors, we needed his comic relief. So thank you, Jackal.

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Parts were predictable, but not so much that it ruined the journey for me. The whole series was a giant build-up to the inevitable showdown between Kanin and Sarren, and Kagawa did not disappoint. There were losses and tears and anger but I truly loved this series…and I totally feel like I’ve made my payment in tears to feed Kagawa’s muse. 

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I received an e-copy of this novel from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for a honest review.