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anntharai's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
The bits I liked I REALLY liked.
The issues I have with it REALLY irk me.
The world building is immaculate if a bit on the nose, really vivid writing and visceral descriptions, a great mechanic. Love the use of tattoos and the lore building. Overall I liked the story itself.
The issues, though?
I found myself rolling my eyes at a lot of the vulgarity because it was genuinely ludicrous at times. Swearing doesn’t bother me in the slightest but the lengths to which these characters went just to get a “banged your relative” joke in was over the top.
Everything has a simile. Everything. The doors locked like a secret. The floors cold like the night. The night air cold like knives. Wind like knives. Words like knives. Running frightened like a startled horse in a barn on fire and the devil whipping it all the way. The lips red like red things.
The repetitive phrases (fuck my face, like his lady’s lips the last time he kissed her, better a bastard than a fool) stopped feeling symbolic and started feeling like a crutch about half way through and using the same *twist* mechanic used twice (gender neutral names being the crux of two stories told so closely together) made it feel less polished than it could have been.
Thanks to various reviews etc I was also expecting a “big thing” to shock me at the end but I kind of felt it was obvious…?
Anti-climactic, in a word, but I do want to know what happens so it’s not like I hated it.
The issues I have with it REALLY irk me.
The world building is immaculate if a bit on the nose, really vivid writing and visceral descriptions, a great mechanic. Love the use of tattoos and the lore building. Overall I liked the story itself.
The issues, though?
I found myself rolling my eyes at a lot of the vulgarity because it was genuinely ludicrous at times. Swearing doesn’t bother me in the slightest but the lengths to which these characters went just to get a “banged your relative” joke in was over the top.
Everything has a simile. Everything. The doors locked like a secret. The floors cold like the night. The night air cold like knives. Wind like knives. Words like knives. Running frightened like a startled horse in a barn on fire and the devil whipping it all the way. The lips red like red things.
The repetitive phrases (fuck my face, like his lady’s lips the last time he kissed her, better a bastard than a fool) stopped feeling symbolic and started feeling like a crutch about half way through and using the same *twist* mechanic used twice (gender neutral names being the crux of two stories told so closely together) made it feel less polished than it could have been.
Thanks to various reviews etc I was also expecting a “big thing” to shock me at the end but I kind of felt it was obvious…?
Anti-climactic, in a word, but I do want to know what happens so it’s not like I hated it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Abandonment, Violence, War, Torture, Suicide, Slavery, Sexual violence, Sexual content, Religious bigotry, Physical abuse, Outing, Murder, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Homophobia, Hate crime, Gore, Excrement, Addiction, Drug use, Drug abuse, Alcoholism, Animal death, and Blood
caitlinbutcher's review
Insanely boring. Like oh my god. I got EIGHT HOURS into the audiobook and I was still SO bored. I could have read an entire book in the time it took me to learn that Gabe is a horny watered-down-vampire but vampire-killing legend who swears a fuck ton. I was on the fence about whether to continue with it or not when I looked up some goodreads reviews. I was feeling a little weird about the portrayal of women in this book but the goodreads reviews really cemented it for me. Apparently only the women in the story die horrific and graphic deaths. So yeah. I understand now why people hate this author.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Torture, Sexual violence, Sexism, Self harm, Pedophilia, Child abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Addiction, Violence, Physical abuse, Animal death, Blood, and Drug abuse
karapillar's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Stalking, Body horror, Child death, Drug abuse, Grief, Addiction, Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Gun violence, Murder, Religious bigotry, and Torture
Moderate: Excrement, Confinement, Fire/Fire injury, War, Kidnapping, Abandonment, Animal cruelty, Vomit, and Stalking
Minor: Pregnancy and Rape
gardenofroses's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This was such a journey… I started reading this book in February and only just finished this month but it was such an amazing story. I had been searching for a fantasy book with great world-building and a morally grey MC and this delivered that and so much more.
His writing definitely brought life to the world and the characters. The world-building was done so beautifully I could imagine everything Kristoff was describing and every time I sat down to read I felt immersed in the world; It felt alive and I think that also came down to having art within the pages to go along with the story as you’re reading. It felt like a reward.
The platonic relationships depicted in the story were everything to me. Reading Gabriel’s friendship with Baptiste, and especially Aaron, grow throughout the story was so heartwarming. You could just feel the brotherhood spilling from the pages. And Gabriel’s relationship with Dior omg. It’s heartbreaking but so warm and full of love and I want to protect them both from everything that they’ll probably experience as the series goes on. Their relationship definitely gives off Ellie and Joel vibes from The Last of Us if you’ve ever played that game!
There were, however, some areas of the book that could be considered problematic. There is an age gap relationship represented which did make me slightly uncomfortable at the beginning of the story. And I also found it hard to feel the all-consuming love that Gabriel and Astrid were supposed to have for each other. I’m not sure if Kristoff intended to write very little of their interactions in the first book because he’s planning on expanding on it in the sequel but it made it hard for me to believe that they loved each other as much as Gabriel said he did. I did feel the love Gabriel has for his brothers, his daughter, and Dior but I couldn’t connect that love with Astrid which made it seems sort of dry at times.
Overall, it was a really great story with amazing writing and characters I want to protect and make sure nothing bad ever happens to them ever again. I’ll definitely be checking out more of his other books and I can’t wait for the sequel. If you've been wanting to read it I highly suggest you do! DON'T LET THE SIZE INTIMIDATE YOU!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cursing, Grief, Drug abuse, Addiction, Homophobia, Death, Drug use, Death of parent, Murder, War, Torture, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Adult/minor relationship
holly_n's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, and Alcoholism
Minor: Child death, Drug abuse, Torture, and Sexual assault
booksarefriends_notfood's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Blood, Cursing, Death, Body horror, War, Addiction, Drug abuse, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Death of parent, Child abuse, Grief, Homophobia, Child death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry
Minor: Sexual content, Sexism, and Torture
writingcaia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
It’s been twenty seven years of darkness, twenty seven years since the sun barely shines in the world, and now the black lion, the last of the Silversaints, the hero of the people, Gabriel de Leon has been captured by the new ruling vampire house.
There Gabe is forced to relay his life’s story which he fast forwards to when he turns fifteen just before being sent to the Ordo Argent, the Silver Order, to become a Silversaint. Half-human half-vampire it seems to his mother that the order will be his best option, and it is. It is there he will find a family, love, power, and recognition all he has ever dreamed and more, but at a cost. That price we see in another period of his life’s journey that he also relays to the vampire historian writing his story down, which is when he is thirty two, just two years before the present time.
In sum we will have a pretty clear idea of who Gabe was until he was seventeen and at thirty two, the rest we get only scraps that tease our appetite for more. One thing is clear Gabriel de Leon is now jaded and crushed, but the light of his hatred for the vampires is unbroken and mighty, and there seems to be hope for his current status as a prisoner or so we hope.
It is hard to review a book I’ve waited for for more than a year, the expectations were enormous, first because it’s Jay and second because I freaking love vampires.
So, what did I think?
I loved it, it was awesome. It’s medium-fast paced, has a great world building, the characters are amazing, well fleshed, and just overall super interesting. It is dark, bloody and the narration has the snarky-ness, which I adore, we are used to since Nevernight, and I mean Gabriel is mega hot, those illustrations wow, and another favourite is Dior. The only minus for me was the back and forth between timelines, I got so invested in one and then had to go back to the other, and vice-versa, plus on those almost seventeen years between them so much happens that we just know from small references dropped here and there, that specially annoyed me. I do prefer a more regular timeline particularly if we almost know what happen between the two timelines but not enough to quench the curiosity. But, honestly it didn’t take much from my love of the story.
And, now the suffering begins, the wait for the next two books in the series.
If you love adult fantasy, vampires and dark moody books, this is for you.
There Gabe is forced to relay his life’s story which he fast forwards to when he turns fifteen just before being sent to the Ordo Argent, the Silver Order, to become a Silversaint. Half-human half-vampire it seems to his mother that the order will be his best option, and it is. It is there he will find a family, love, power, and recognition all he has ever dreamed and more, but at a cost. That price we see in another period of his life’s journey that he also relays to the vampire historian writing his story down, which is when he is thirty two, just two years before the present time.
In sum we will have a pretty clear idea of who Gabe was until he was seventeen and at thirty two, the rest we get only scraps that tease our appetite for more. One thing is clear Gabriel de Leon is now jaded and crushed, but the light of his hatred for the vampires is unbroken and mighty, and there seems to be hope for his current status as a prisoner or so we hope.
It is hard to review a book I’ve waited for for more than a year, the expectations were enormous, first because it’s Jay and second because I freaking love vampires.
So, what did I think?
I loved it, it was awesome. It’s medium-fast paced, has a great world building, the characters are amazing, well fleshed, and just overall super interesting. It is dark, bloody and the narration has the snarky-ness, which I adore, we are used to since Nevernight, and I mean Gabriel is mega hot, those illustrations wow, and another favourite is Dior. The only minus for me was the back and forth between timelines, I got so invested in one and then had to go back to the other, and vice-versa, plus on those almost seventeen years between them so much happens that we just know from small references dropped here and there, that specially annoyed me. I do prefer a more regular timeline particularly if we almost know what happen between the two timelines but not enough to quench the curiosity. But, honestly it didn’t take much from my love of the story.
And, now the suffering begins, the wait for the next two books in the series.
If you love adult fantasy, vampires and dark moody books, this is for you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Homophobia, War, Religious bigotry, Torture, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, Alcoholism, Gore, Sexual content, and Drug use
paperbackprincess19's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Jay Kristoff is an auto buy Author for me, and this book did not disappoint, a must read! Full review coming soon.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content, Violence, and Drug abuse
theboundbookmark's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
By the Holy Father…
the Blessed Mothermaid…
and the Seven Martyrs…
Empire of the Vampire, written by New York Times bestseller Jay Kristoff, is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. It features bloody vampires, bastard halfbreeds, religions reminiscent to our current and historic ones, lust and romance, several cuss words, a sword that stutters, a mysterious prophecy, and a cold and blighted land where the sun is shrouded by a mysterious darkness.
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS:
Gabriel de León, the anti-hero, the Last Silversaint, awaits his doom in a tower cell and tells his story to a vampire historian. Readers will journey through Gabe’s childhood in Lorson, his short time with the Silver Order of San Michon, and his disasters with a small group of individuals set to fulfill a prophecy.
If Interview with a Vampire and The Kingkiller Chronicle were ever to mingle, this would be their child. It’s been said by others, but it rings sure and true.
WHAT I LOVED MOST:
As with all my favorite books, I fall in love with the believable characters and world-building. Empire of the Vampire rushes in, somewhat in medias res, and I immediately had hundreds of questions when I started to read. Patience is a virtue and it awarded me with several answers down the road of Gabe’s travels. I also gathered more questions that must be answered in the future installments of this series. Mister Kristoff used clever strategies to avoid cliches, fleshed out his dark and cold world, and crafted characters who made believable choices. I gasped, I cried, I smiled, I hoped, and I cursed at these inked pages. I cherished it most for those reasons. Because it fucking made me feel.
the Blessed Mothermaid…
and the Seven Martyrs…
Empire of the Vampire, written by New York Times bestseller Jay Kristoff, is easily one of the best books I’ve ever read. It features bloody vampires, bastard halfbreeds, religions reminiscent to our current and historic ones, lust and romance, several cuss words, a sword that stutters, a mysterious prophecy, and a cold and blighted land where the sun is shrouded by a mysterious darkness.
SPOILER-FREE SYNOPSIS:
Gabriel de León, the anti-hero, the Last Silversaint, awaits his doom in a tower cell and tells his story to a vampire historian. Readers will journey through Gabe’s childhood in Lorson, his short time with the Silver Order of San Michon, and his disasters with a small group of individuals set to fulfill a prophecy.
If Interview with a Vampire and The Kingkiller Chronicle were ever to mingle, this would be their child. It’s been said by others, but it rings sure and true.
WHAT I LOVED MOST:
As with all my favorite books, I fall in love with the believable characters and world-building. Empire of the Vampire rushes in, somewhat in medias res, and I immediately had hundreds of questions when I started to read. Patience is a virtue and it awarded me with several answers down the road of Gabe’s travels. I also gathered more questions that must be answered in the future installments of this series. Mister Kristoff used clever strategies to avoid cliches, fleshed out his dark and cold world, and crafted characters who made believable choices. I gasped, I cried, I smiled, I hoped, and I cursed at these inked pages. I cherished it most for those reasons. Because it fucking made me feel.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Alcoholism, and Drug abuse
Minor: Sexual content
rabidpookie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Grief, War, Religious bigotry, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, and Sexual content