There should be more than 5 stars available for this book...this series.

The Forever Song is book three in the Blood of Eden series by Julie Kagawa and oh my god I am going to do my best to review this so that I don’t include any spoilers. If you have read books one and two, you know that Kagawa doesn’t hold anything back and she takes the reader through just about every single emotion – this I what I love so much about this series. The other thing I love is that even though this is the final book, I had no idea what to expect her to do with these characters and their journey because even if I did go in expecting something to happen, I knew Kagawa would do something unexpected.

If you haven’t read any of the other books of this series I recommend you stop here, go get them now, and begin so that by the time this book comes out, you can dive right in.

The story picks up with Allison, Kanin, and Jackal hunting down Sarren. They need to catch him before he spreads the virus. On top of that, Allison wants revenge for what he did to Zeke and she doesn’t care what it will take to get him. Throughout the first quarter of the book we get to see how Allie still struggles with the monster inside of her. Without Zeke, she feels like she doesn’t have anything else left to keep her human and I thought this part was done really well. I think she had to fight that internal battle and face the pain of what happened before she could move forward.

Thankfully there is a balance of personalities around her as she faces this struggle. If she were alone with Jackal, I have a feeling she would have followed his path and become the monster she hated. Kanin is the one that helps her understand the choice is hers but she has to live with it…and his disappointment.

I really enjoyed seeing the relationships between these characters. Jackal is still the same old Jackal but as the story progresses, there is a shift in him. Yes, he wants to survive and will always take care of himself but now he is finding himself trusting Allie and helping other people. I love that despite that fact, he never really changed his personality. He was up front about what he wanted and didn’t apologize for anything he did. Also, his level of sarcasm was perfect.

As the group makes their way along the path of destruction that Sarren has left on his way to Eden, they are met with a number of surprises – none of which I can talk about without giving anything away…so I won’t. All you have to know is that Sarren is a twisted and deranged vampire who is doing whatever he can to break Allie and destroy the world. He doesn’t hold back at all and as Allie, Kanin, and Jackal uncover each horror he has left for them along the way, you can see just how crazy and determined he is.

I can’t really say much more about how the story progresses without potentially giving something up so I won’t. Just know that this series had me hooked from the very first page of book one and I never once lost interest in these characters and the paths they took. Kagawa has written a series that will have you running through every single emotion (good or bad) and begging for more. These books will be on my “Books I will love forever and ever” shelf for a long time (probably forever…) and if you are looking for a smart, well written, no holds barred, vampire series I recommend you start with this one.

To Julie Kagawa I say:

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin TEEN for the review copy!