Life Eternal is the sequel to the brilliant Dead Beautiful. Renee Winters has changed after the events of last year. She seems older, sadder and her senses have dulled except when she's with Dante Berlin, her soul mate and one of the Undead. No-one can know what happened as Dante's existence will be in danger but this leads to the rumour that she's immortal. Not a good rumour when events mean that you have to transfer to a new school, one that's only for Monitors (those whose task is to keep the Undead in check). Dante's also running out of time as the Undead can only escape the final clutches of death for 21 years and he only has a few years left. This leads Renee on a quest to solve the puzzle of the Nine Sisters to help save him after she starts to receive terrifying visions. But she's not alone in trying to find the answer to immortality and the others won't hesitate to destroy anyone who is in their way.
I really enjoyed Dead Beautiful and one of the things I liked most was that I wasn't desperate for the story to continue as it seemed to wrap up well. Looking back I'm not quite sure why as there were certain plot points that were unresolved and so perhaps I was just desperate for there to be a teen book without a sequel. It actually took me a few weeks to realise that Life Eternal and Dead Beautiful were related when Life Eternal appeared in our kids section and it's taken me a few more to finally get around to reading it because of the lack of urgency I felt. However, having just devoured it in two sittings I'm not quite sure what has taken me so long! If you loved Dead Beautiful it will not let you down.
Woon's writing style is so easy to read that I found I just kept going from one chapter to the next without really realising (occasionally I would notice the butterflies on the page and so spot that I had strayed into a new one - they're a nice touch). I really love Renee too. She's not one of the popular crowd but will stand up to them when necessary. She doesn't go falling madly in love with multiple guys and she's pretty down to earth. Dante has that nice mysterious quality about him. Plus I love their names! I also really love the whole idea of this series. Philosophical Latin-speaking zombies without the gross factor and there's the rules of their existence that make things a little more interesting. I've never read anything quite like it and it's a weird one to classify as it doesn't feel like a dark romance normally does but it's definitely out there in the fantasy world. It's brilliant!
Life Eternal does have a lot of unanswered questions and so I'm assuming there will be a third (and I'll definitely be anticipating it more this time!) and this kind of leaves it with that middle book filler feel (think Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince which is setting the scene for the big finale) except that I'm unable to predict quite what form the next one will take aside from having something to do with the Nine Sisters secret. It's well written and enjoyable and there are so many things I would love to see happen (finding out what happens to Elenor, if Clementine and Renee have a big coming together and what will be the consequences of the Nine Sisters secret, etc). It is seriously promising an excellent third installment and so I really hope Woon won't let us down. Okay, now I really can't wait for the next one!
I give Life Eternal 7/10 :)
Title: Life Eternal
Author: Yvonne Woon
Publisher: Usborne
Teenage Fiction
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