Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

Synopsis:
In a future world, vampires reign. Humans are blood cattle. And one girl will search for the key to save humanity.
Allison Sekemoto survives in the Fringe, the outermost circle of a vampire city. By day, she and her crew scavenge for food. By night, any one of them could be eaten.
Some days, all that drives Allie is her hatred of them. The vampires who keep humans as blood cattle. Until the night Allie herself is attacked—and given the ultimate choice. Die…or become one of the monsters.
Faced with her own mortality, Allie becomes what she despises most. To survive, she must learn the rules of being immortal, including the most important: go long enough without human blood, and you will go mad.
Then Allie is forced to flee into the unknown, outside her city walls. There she joins a ragged band of humans who are seeking a legend—a possible cure to the disease that killed off most of humankind and created the rabids, the mindless creatures who threaten humans and vampires alike.
But it isn't easy to pass for human. Especially not around Zeke, who might see past the monster inside her. And Allie soon must decide what—and who—is worth dying for.



My thoughts:
When I started reading this, it reminded me of the world Lauren Oliver created in Delirium mixed with the world Lauren Hammond created in Famished. So I liked it right off the bat. This is a society where humans are basically enslaved by vampires. But the ones who refuse to give in, like Allison, are starving and fighting to survive. Between the vampires and the rabids, death is all around Allison and her gang. And when Allison is almost killed by rabids, a vampire by the name of Kanin gives her the choice to become immortal. Kanin teaches Allison about being a vampire, but she's separated from Kanin when other vampires attack them. Allison finds a group of humans searching for Eden, a rumored place where rabids and vampires don't exist. But Allison has to keep her true identity a secret from them. After all, she's the bad guy as far as they're concerned.
I won't spoil the story and tell you what happens. Instead, I'll say Allison is very likable. Her struggle to keep some of her humanity makes her endearing. I really enjoyed this book, though the one downside for me was a lot of description. I know it's part of world-building, but I prefer to leave some things to the reader's imagination. That's just my personal preference though. And I heard this is being made into a movie. I'll be interested to see it.


Just for fun:
Allison is given the choice to die or become a vampire, the very thing she hates most. What would you do given that choice?