Reviews
The illustrations were gorgeous and so was the writing style, I liked the concept of the novel, but Merlin, I was so disappointed with the execution. Gabriel is SO annoying.
** spoiler alert ** still torn between 2 and 2 and a half stars. while the world-building and lore is very well done and interesting, it was also the only part of this book that kept me going. i absolutely despised Gabriel as the main protagonist. the amount of 'yo mamma' jokes was also atrocious, as well as the fact that we only had limited female characters (with limited appearance) - who, by the end, also all died! (except Dior). the book definitely emerges with major "written by a man for men" vibes, which i don't appreciate. beautiful illustrations tho.
I surprisingly enjoyed this book. Loved the interview process of it all and how broken and real Gabriel felt. He’s by no means perfect or hardly good but by the end of the book I felt he redeemed himself. This book was extremely interesting from the beginning and I’m looking forward to the next book in the series.
1/28/19 jay kristoff and vampires??!? this is going to be a wild and crazy trilogy, you just know! 2020 is going to be a good year, i already know it!
Will not review due to problematic author
This is a big long epic well written , well imagined book about a world overrun with vampires, with a hero vampire hunter at its core. What’s not to like? I sped through it and totally enjoyed the escapism of it. Looking forward to the next book in the series.
Beautiful writing and amazing premise. This book has easily become one of my new favourites. A bit hard to get into at first, but soon I wasn't able to put it down anymore!
This was FANTASTIC. One of my new top 5 favourites. Fans of the Witcher will love this. Can’t wait for the next one!!!
A wonderful thrilling ride 10/5
5/5 Rating. "See, I never understood that. Why pride is looked on as an evil. You work hard at something you’re not born good at? Damn right you should be fucking proud. There’s nothing comes of quitting besides the knowledge you didn’t finish." "A life without books is a life not lived." "My friends are the hill I die on" "But it’s a fool who looks with more fondness to the days behind than the ones ahead."
I am not into Vampires that much but God, this book was so good. The Witcher and Interview with the Vampire are meeting in stunning fantasy.
"There is no hell so cruel as powerlessness." Empire of the Vampire was one of my more highly anticipated releases of the year. I wasn't dying to get my hands on it, but I was super interested in this very large, very dark, and very complex story. I haven't read a vampire book in a while and I really enjoyed Kristoff's take on the genre, but the book was still disappointing in some aspects. The book is divided into parts, each part is a different "book," and each book is being recounted by our main character, Gabriel, to a historian that has come to record his legendary story. With each new book, we switch timelines. We're either about two decades into Gabriel's past, following his training journey and his romantic subplot, or we are only about a couple of years into Gabriel's past, following an entirely different plot with Gabriel that involves a holy mission. The timelines go back and forth, never switching within one "book." I really enjoy non-linear stories, but I found myself so bored with Gabriel's early life. I thought his training scenes were boring and rather basic, it was a pretty standard "young boy learns how to wield a sword and falls in love and grows into a young adult" plot, bringing nothing new to the table. Which would have been fine had it not been so long. This book is thick, so using a pretty standard plot for such a long time makes the story get quite boring in my opinion. The romance during these parts was underdeveloped. Gabriel's love interest, Astrid, was actually one of my favorite characters. But I didn't see much chemistry between them. They didn't have too many scenes alone together, so I felt that they fell in love with one another rather quickly. I didn't dislike their romance, I just wasn't attached to it. My favorite parts were Gabriel's quest alongside his longtime friend, Chloe, and another character called Dior. I really enjoyed these "books" because they were fast paced, highly entertaining, and actually had some nuance to them. The entire book speaks on organized religion, particularly with Catholic influences, and this aspect was especially heavy during Gabriel's recollection of his more recent past. And I absolutely adored this. The book is full of illustrations that are heavily influenced by Catholic iconography and I could not get enough of them. I really enjoyed the way Kristoff weaved religion into this story. My final complaint is that Kristoff, unsurprisingly, writes within/for the male gaze. To be expected of course, but still disappointing. I don't like the way he wrote some of the female characters in this book nor how he wrote about women in general. It seemed like he was putting a naked woman into any scene he possibly could and it never ever served any real purpose. Women were very over sexualized while men were not. It gave me the ick, and I've heard this is a common issue with all his books. Overall, I enjoyed Empire of the Vampire, but I didn't love it. I likely won't continue with the series, mainly because of the male gaze issue. But I will google what happens, just to find out what happens with Dior. Empire of the Vampire - 3/5 stars
No spoilers! This book is insane. It’s long, heavy, dark and DAUNTING. Gabriel de Leon is such an asshole but as you get to know him you begin to understand him. This book is kind of hard to read at the beginning because it’s written in old English but once I got to page 70 or so, it came easily to me. I became so connected to all the characters. But be WARNED! Jay Kristoff is not scared to kill off every character and animal you love. He’s not scared of it and he will do it every chance you get.
This is what happens when I don’t read the blurb. I thought this book was going to be an epic vampire book, with the vampires being vampires in a way only Jay can write. I did not expect what it was, which was sad and a lot but melancholy. There wasn’t one particular character I liked, or anything that made me chuckle or had me hanging onto every word. In fact, I nearly DNFed this book a whole heap of times. Such a disappointment for me.
gabriel.... i want him........... in my mouth im eating him .........
I’ve been looking forward to Empire of the Vampire since the day it was announced. I pre-ordered it as soon as the link to do so went live. So to say that my expectations for this book were high would be a drastic understatement. Which makes it all the more impressive that I found those expectations not only met and surpassed, but completely blown away. I loved everything about this book, and after having loved the Nevernight trilogy fervently, Kristoff’s adult fantasy is something that I will immediately and always purchase. “We are hope for the hopeless. The fire in the night. We will walk the dark as they do, and they shall know our names and despair. For so long as they burn, we shall be flame. So long as they bleed, we shall be blades. So long as they sin, we shall be saints.” Kristoff is an absurdly, nigh on disgustingly talented writer. His prose is this seemingly effortless mix of heart-achingly beautiful and snarky in the same breath. Every word feels like the easiest, most natural choice in the world while also feeling as if it was only chosen after incredibly careful consideration. Honestly, his prose is breathtaking in its balance. The ease of it makes me sick, and I can’t stop reading it. The only other authors I can think of with even a remotely similar style are Patrick Rothfuss and Scott Lynch, and yet there’s still an effortlessness to Kristoff’s work that sets it apart. Obviously I know that this caliber of craftsmanship is far from effortless, but that’s how it comes across. “But it’s a fool who looks with more fondness to the days behind than the ones ahead. And it’s a man drenched in defeat who sings that sad refrain; that things were better then.” Speaking of Rothfuss, one of my favorite niche tropes ever is when the protagonist has built this insane, larger-than-life reputation while still young but like any excessively bright star has burned out fast, and are now being somehow coerced into telling someone else their life story so that “the truth” of their life can be preserved for posterity. Which I know is incredibly specific, but it happens more often than one would think. My favorite example of this trope has always been The Name of the Wind, but I honestly think that Empire of the Vampire did it even better. The framework story was compelling in its own right, and I’m desperate to know how Gabe ended up there. Beyond the framework, we are given a look into Gabriel de León’s life story through his own words, with the timeline slipping back and forth between his early years and his most recent adventure. I was equally engaged in all three facets of the plot, which isn’t always the case in books portraying the same character in different stages of life. “Put a man in a room for a hundred years with a thousand books, and he’ll know a million truths. Put him in a room for a year with silence, and he’ll know himself.” This is one of those rare adult novels where the illustrations are actually part of the plot, and they served to enhance an already incredible story. The artwork is absolutely stunning. And the religious imagery of the writing was aided by the art style, as well. Bon Orthwick, the artist responsible for all of these amazing illustrations, is insanely talented. The combination of his art and Kristoff’s prose is utter perfection. There’s this sensuality to both that worked incredibly well with the story itself. “You’re past is stone, but your future clay. And you decide the shape of the life you’ll make.” I deeply appreciate the way Kristoff handles hard topics in this book, like addiction and zealotry, faith and doubt and love and lust and what makes us truly human. The way in which he approached religion was fascinating and gave me a lot of food for thought. The belief system in this book very closely mirrors Catholicism, and while we knew from the very beginning that the faith was corrupted in some way, it was still presented with a nice balance of respect and skepticism. “If we spend all our lives in darkness, is it any wonder when darkness starts to live in us?” If you’ve read Kristoff’s Nevernight trilogy, it will come as no surprise to you that Empire of the Vampire is incredibly dark. There’s a lot of pain and gore and death here. Like, a ton. There’s also copious amounts of religious and relationship inner turmoil. But the humor Kristoff imbues in his writing served to keep the story from ever feeling too heavy, even when things were at their bleakest. Kristoff has a keen sense of when a dark scene is becoming too much, and somehow always manages to find a way to give you just enough relief from that oppressive darkness to keep going. However, I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that the bleakness of the story got to me at times. It was just handled in a way that kept me coming back to read more. “There’s no misery so deep as one you face by yourself. No nights darker than ones you spend alone. But you can learn to live with any weight. Your scars grow thick enough, they become armour.” There’s so much more I could say about Empire of the Vampire, but I’ll settle for saying that it’s a dark, sensual, snarky, philosophical, profane, profoundly romantic and impeccably written introduction to a series that I feel certain is going to become a lifetime favorite for many readers. Myself included. This is a novel that I’ll be rereading and pressing into the hands of anyone I think could handle the darkness and the worldview. I seriously cannot wait to get my hands on the sequel. You can find this review and more at Novel Notions.
Amazing writing, love Gabriel. It did take me a month and a half to read this when it should have taken me 4-5 days idk why it took me so long but anyways, it was really good.
** spoiler alert ** I thought that this book was really well written, I listened to the whole thing on Audible and the narration was perfect. For some reason, I went into this thinking that it was going to be quite heavy on the spice but it was way more of an action based book than anything else. It constantly felt like the cast of characters were running into more problems. Things that I really loved: - Enemies to Friends trope with Gabriel and Aaron. - The main characters narration of the whole story and his interactions with the historian. - Twisty moments: Chloe not being dead and trying to sacrifice Dior at the end, Celene being Liathe, Dior pretending to be male at the start. - I thought that the character development between Dior and Gabriel was very cute and I had some laugh out loud moments in their back and forth. - I loved the French influence in the language of the book, an I found it easy to picture the vampires with their French aristocracy vibes. I can't wait for the next book to find out what Celene knows and hopefully see Gabriel and Celene have the chance to make up since they didn't leave on great terms at the end of the book. There was only one thing that I thought was a little lacking and this is probably just me. I felt that the deaths of Astrid and Patience was a little weak. We knew early on that they were dead from the demeanour of Gabriel throughout the book, there were plenty of times he even referenced them in the past tense - so when we actually got to the scene at the end of the book where they died it wasn't quite as gut wrenching. I felt more from the "death" of Chloe and Fortuna but perhaps it was written that way as their deaths were more recent? Regardless, I loved the book and will go back for a reread at some point!
This book could easily be my best of the year. The whole story was so detailed and fleshed out, so interesting and complex, I loved every second of it. It had a bit of everything and is profoundly sad in moments throughout. I’m so intrigued as to how this series will end and I’m looking forward to the next book.
I loved this far more than I ever expected to. Hooked from start to finish, the story was so engaging! Half a point deducted though for what you made me read on page 37, sir. And for the amount of times I read milk-like skin or skin like milk in the first quarter of the book. I get it. She was pale.
Had all the right tropes and well loved fantasy notes, but were not executed well. I did however have a copy with pictures sprinkled throughout which were lovely and made me excited to read on and see the next scene representation. Liked the characters, banter and the overall idea, but found it just lacked… excitement. It lacked that feeling of excitement where when you finish the last page you’re already giddy to forget the details so that you can read it all again. Overall just alright.
This is one of my top five books I've ever read. I couldn't put it down, and the humor was so dark and dry I loved it! It is everything; action, vamps, plot twists, romance, beautiful imagery and gore galore. Cannot recommend enough!
Slow start but oh what was it worth the ending
Highlights
"There's no misery so deep as one you face by yourself. No nights darker than ones you spend alone. But you can learn to live with any weight."
Your past is stone, but your future is clay. And you decide the shape of the life you'll make.
For such an ass Gabriel does speak wisdom exactly an 1/8 of 2/3 the time…
A life without books is a life not lived.
'Poets are wankers,’ Gabriel sighed. And minstrels are just poets who’re allowed to strum themselves in public. It’s a self-important prat who believes his thoughts are worth putting to parchment, let alone writing a fucking ballad about.’
Please just read this book. It’s delightful.
My mama knew herself, and there’s a fearsome power in that. Knowing exactly who you are and exactly what you’re capable of. Most folks would call that arrogance, I suppose. But most folk are fucking fools.
'There's no misery so deep as one you face by yourself No nights darker than ones you spend alone. But you can learn to live with any weight. Your scars grow thick enough, they become armour. I could feel something building in me, like a seed waiting in cold earth. I thought this was what it felt like to become a man. In truth, I’d no fucking idea what I was becoming.
All my world was coming to pieces, but what could I do? I was being swept up in a river, yet even then, I was old enough to know; there’s a difference between those who swim with the flood and those who drown fighting it. And its name is Wisdom.
Truth was, he didn’t know if he was ready to go back. Unwilling to dredge up the ghosts of the past. They were hungry too. Locked inside in his head, the door rusted shut from long disuse.
‘See, I never understood that. Why pride is looked on as an evil. You work hard at something you’re not born good at? Damn right you should be fucking proud. There’s nothing comes of quitting besides the knowledge you didn’t finish.’
As wealthy as a priest after the collection plate has been passed around, and as strange as the idea that the creator of heaven and earth needs the money in the first place.
I'd killed a man with my own hands, and it's no small thing to be the one who takes a life from this earth. You make the world less by it, and if you're careless, make yourself less besides.
Gabriel fell silent, refilling his drink. Lost in remembrance of an angels eyes, a devil’s smile. Despite the wine, the memory was sharp as broken glass. He feared he’d cut himself if he lingered in it too long. And yet he remained, holding tight as he could.
But more, and truer still, there’s just no one with more to prove than the boy at the bottom of the pile. You feed a man your table scraps, he grows hungry long before he grows thin. And hunger can turn pups into wolves, and kittens into fucking lions.
A life without books is a life not lived.
There is no hell so cruel as powerlessness.
A letter unanswered is like a kiss ignored.
“War doesn't teach you to be a killer," he told me once. "Its just a key that opens our door. There's a beast in all mens blood, Gabriel. You can starve him. Cage him. Curse him. But in the end, you pay the beast his due, or he takes his due from you.”
That inquisitor cohort… Fuck, I sighed. “Fuuuck,’ Dior said. “Fuuuck?' I asked. "Fuuuuuuuuck,' he nodded.
Through all my years in San Michon, all the blood and sweat and darkling roads I walked, I learned one of my greatest lessons sitting in that Library with those girls in the still of the night. A life without books is a life not lived.
Wishing became wanting, and wanting became needing, and all of it, all of it was need of her.
Elaina's beauty was renowned across all five kingdoms, and each of the other four thrones sent a prince to seek her hand. [...] But Prince Matteo was poor. [...] He had no horses, nor goldglass, nor trothships to give. Instead, he vowed to Elaina he would love her fierce as four ordinary men. And to prove his point, as he stood before her throne and promised her his heart, Matteo laid at Elaina's feet the hearts of her other suitors. [...] Four hearts in all.
I suddenly like Prince Matteo.
And in sight of God and his Seven Martyrs, I do here vow; Let the dark know my name and despair. So long as it burns, I am the flame. So long as it bleeds, I am the blade. So long as it sins, I am a saint. And I am silver.
Worldbuilding: ( The vow of San Michon )
" War doesn't teach you to be a killer;' he told me once. It's just a key that opens our door. There's a beast in all men's blood, Gabriel. You can starve him. Cage him. Curse him. But in the end, you pay the beast his due, or he takes his due from you.’