Oh my word, what a book Empire of the Vampire is. Gripping, terrifying and visceral, this is that rare beast of a tale that rips your heart from your chest, stamps on it and leaves you wanting more. Characters you love and hate, a world that feels hauntingly real, and an adventure that grabs you and does not let go, this book is destined for the Fantasy Hall of Fame. I loved it.Full 5/5 stars from me.

Let's begin with the usual caveats: I received an Advanced Reading Copy of this book, for free, from the publisher. I think Jay Kristoff is a nice person. And I think that neither of those two things will affect my honest review of this book. First impressions: 879 pages! And it's only the first part of the story. So for people who like to move into a book and live there for several years, this is for you. It's a rich, well-realized world of darkness and danger. You won't be bored there. The bla...

1.25 stars and the .25 is given incredibly reluctantly. This is an absolute dumpster fire of a book and I’m going to do my best to articulate why in a concise and organized way...but honestly the book made me so angry that I might go off the rails.First of all I’m gonna separate the problems I have with this book into four sections:The misogynyThe obsession with underage childrenThe “humor”And lastly, the actual writing style/story1. The misogyny So yes, we are starting off with the misogyny. It...

Vampires are making a comeback and the late 2000's are quaking

UPDATE: $3.99 on Kindle US today 2/27/22Omg! Artstation - Sara Mirza - captured Gabriel’s hotness 😏I’ve been back and forth with this book. My feelings may change as I’m trying to sort myself out. I will say the narrator did an amazing job on the audio. The book is really sad and of course dark. I'm not sure about keeping books like this anymore as life is doom and gloom enough. I enjoyed most of the book accept a few parts. I’m interested to see where this trilogy will go. I want to know if it’...

Five 'blood drenched' stars, for a Vampire tale in the Empire of the Undead.“From holy cup comes holy light;The faithful hand sets world aright.And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,Mere man shall end this endless night.”I am about to tell you a story that was hundreds of years in the making, a story of deadly vows and death, of love, loss, fate and promise, as we are ‘sucked’ into a supernatural and gothic world of vampires and demons, as Jay Kristoff creates a lurid theatre of evil to reveal his lat...

I received a 400 pages SAMPLER of this book via NetGalley (thank you St Martin's Press). All thoughts and opinions are my own. *This is a review for the whole book, not just the sampler* ✅ Great writing✅ Cruel and vicious vampires✅ Beautiful cover✅ Thorough world-building ✅ Dark atmosphere✅ Characters✅🆗 Pace❗️❗️ This is not a book for kids, it is bloody, vulgar, and dark.4.5 stars There is a time for grief, and a time for songs, and a time to recall with fondness all that has been and go...

the empire of the vampire is upon us. and i was not prepared for how much i would love this, obsess over this, devour this. the story is dark and gritty and vulgar and takes vampires, as well as the tale of the holy grail, in a completely unique and bloody direction. JK wasnt lying when he said this book is for adults only - it gives ‘nevernight’ a run for its money in terms of mature content. but i love how brutally real this feels. if vampires were to take over the world, this is exactly how i...

i feel like this book is just purely based off of aesthetics and it almost got me too, i was loving Gabriel in the being, he’s like Geralt from The Witcher mixed with Klaus from TVD and i was eating it up at first. But as the book went on i began to not care, I don’t care for the side characters and i was getting bored. I noticed that Jay Kristoff focused on his flowery writing and aesthetics more than anything else and that was my problem with Nevernight as well. This book does remind me of Int...

wow I thought I was over vampires but suddenly I am not

Star Rating: —> ALL. OF. THE. STARS. (!)[ But if we have to get technical/ official here... FIVE(5) bright, bursting with light, Stars ! ]🩸🩸🖤🩸🩸RE-READ(!!!)— 12/15/21 [ Well, f*ck. my. face. (!) FIVE (5), bursting with light, & lifeblood, Stars, again, of course. What other outcome would you expect ?! 😉 ]🩸🩸🖤🩸🩸Which, quite honestly, I know that may sound pretty odd, given how dark as night this novel was, but every single aspect of it was a bright & incredible light in my eyes. I mean, the signatu...

EMPIRE OF THE VAMPIRE is not a book for children. It's basically what would happen if INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE hooked up with NAME OF THE WIND in an S&M club while all eight seasons of GAME OF THRONES streamed in the background (consecutively not simultaneously). It is not a book for children.It concerns an ex-monster-slayer named Gabriel de León, who was once quite-the-awesome but has been having a tough time of late and has become a bit of an edgelordbut he mostly gets away with his drunken...

First, Renée Ahdieh...now, Jay Kristoff...VAMPIRES ARE MAKING A COMEBACK!Me:Also me:

Two things I can say about this book:1)This is definitely not for children as Jay Kristoff mentioned on Goodreads review.2)This is more than vampire story: it’s about losing your belief, your life purpose, your inner source of light, your compass! So far I can honestly say this is the best thing the author wrote. And I want to read the rest of it ! The world building, the clear, dark, wild, haunted depictions, emotional depth of characters are pure perfection! I was up all night and my head feel...

I received an advanced review copy of Empire of the Vampire in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Jay Kristoff and Harper Voyager. Minor spoilers may follow. "It was the twenty-seventh year of daysdeath in the realm of the Forever King, and his murderer was waiting to die."The murderer is Gabriel de Leon. Paleblood. Silversaint. Vampire-hunter and bane of the creatures of the night. He is a legend and having settled a vendetta, killing the Forever King, he is now at the mercy of his ene...

Fuck my face. Bloody brilliant.Hands down Jay’s best work and a fav of the year.You gonna do us dirty like that, Jay? 😒

I'm pulling the plug on this one for the moment at 36%. This isn't an official DNF. I may pick it up again later. I mean, I am not in a rush about it, but it could happen.I'm just not into it at the moment. There's nothing inherently wrong with it. I like the set-up and the writing is lush, with dark, descriptive elements.However, it is requiring way more brain power than I am willing to invest in it right now. This definitely has a heavy, epic fantasy feel, which I generally love, but yeah, I a...

Many thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for access to this eARC sampler, in exchange for an honest review.UPDATE 9/6/21: I’ve stewed in my thoughts for a while now, and I’ve decided to lower my rating completely.Note: this is a review of the 400-page sampler I was provided, NOT the full book (which is around 800 pages).This book is: The Witcher meets Interview with the Vampire meets Game of Thrones meets the movie UnderworldIt’s also:•Violent as fuck•Bloody as fuck•Profane as fuck•And so...

4.5 stars In Empire of the Vampire we are following the infamous Black Lion, Gabriel de Leon, as he recounts his life story to a historian shortly before he is executed for the murder of the Forever King.Throughout the course of the book, Gabriel tells his story across 2 timelines - his early days being initiated into the Silversaints, a holy order dedicated to fighting back against the creatures of night, and over a decade later, as he stumbles into an old friend and joins her quest to find th

A huge thank you to HarperVoyager for sending me an ARC copy of 'Empire of the Vampire' by Jay Kristoff. I've not long finished this and I'm still trying to process my feelings. I have been wanting to sink my teeth into a really good vampire story for such a long time, and this FINALLY gave me that fix that I've been craving forever. This is dark, bloody and downright entertaining. I was filled with a constant sense of dread every time I turned a page for fear of what was going to happen next.Th...