Reviews tagging 'Drug use'

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

65 reviews

lunaruprising's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Blood, Religious bigotry, and Murder

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Bullying, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, and Death of parent

fromlindenmere's review

adventurous dark tense 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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Pregnancy, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

itsraveekah's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Drug use, and Blood

no1willnot's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Bullying, Domestic abuse, Homophobia, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, and Religious bigotry

It’s a book about vampire wars that centres around a religious order of vampire hunters based heavily in Christianity, so there is a LOT of blood, violence and institutional abuse

firstdreams's review

adventurous dark funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Drug use, Homophobia, and Suicidal thoughts

sophiesmallhands's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Bullying, Death, Drug use, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Homophobia, Sexism, and Death of parent

Minor: Sexual violence

sabrinz's review

adventurous dark funny hopeful 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

4.5

Update: After re-reading this book again in preparation for book 2, I can stay I still whole-heatedly agree with my first impression. I loved the little call-backs and hints that were scattered throughout the book to its individual parts. Reading it again has made some parts clearer and I do have a few new theories for book 2 and all the lore/myths mentioned in EotV.
______
700 pages never felt so short  (and so full of beautiful art! Those art pieces alone should receive 5 stars). However, I have to give a minor dedication because of the sheer amount of cultures that are thrown around in the book (and for most of them you recognize the actual culture/country they were based on) - sometimes it just felt like a little too much.

Having said that, the story is nothing to frown upon. This book is a fest of vampire stories and movies from the past (the scarily good ones, the brutally ugly ones, and the bloody ones). It tells the story of a vampire slayer and his journey from a once devoted member of the Silver Order to a man, jaded and stooped by his years and fallen from his believes. Locked up in a cell with a vampire chronicles, Gabriel de León tells the story of how exactly he came to be in that cell. And that story ain't all kicks and giggles. There are kicks (and punches, and cuts and sword fights) aplenty, some giggles but also bleak and brutal story telling (very reminiscent of Nevernight).
If you pick up this book, you better buckle up for a ride, mes amis!

I don't really want to say much more about the story, apart from that it jumps between three times (the now with Gabriel being imprisoned, the beginning of how he came to be a vampire slayer and the bit in between). 
I honestly have to say I did not like him at first, but the more I read the more he grew on me ... like moss. It seems annoying at first, but it's soft and nice - and by the end of this book, my heart was breaking for him (and many other people). 
This story has evil vampires a plenty, gore, slaying, cursing and really, really good lines and sentiments, but above all the thing that hit me most was the damn tragedy of it all.

I have answer for a few questions I picked up along the way, some are still unanswered and by the last 100 pages I had more new questions on my list of things that need to be talked about. So now all I can do is patiently wait for book 2.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Torture, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Minor: Child abuse, Homophobia, Suicide attempt, and Outing

sennaje's review

dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

kommatator's review

dark slow-paced

• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Reasons to not read this book:

1. Dislike of illustrations
2. No fan of anoying bards
3. Hating the found family trope
4. Family freud with a vampire clan is a no go

Reasons to read this book:

1. Love of the drug addicted, alcoholic main character who's grieving and a bastard

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Homophobia, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Torture

Minor: Sexual content