Reviews tagging 'Gore'

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

109 reviews

novaleestar's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional reflective 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

I loved this book just as much as anticipated! It is a dark, macabre trek through an endless forest full of horrible frights, and I often felt as if I were a phantom being led through a bloody painting. Viseral, beautiful, heart wrenching. Jay Kristoff always does such a good job making me reach out to find the hope he has hidden in the darkest nooks and flaws of his characters. This was no exception, and I can't wait for the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Animal death, Death, Alcoholism, Gore, Religious bigotry, Fire/Fire injury, Addiction, Grief, Violence, and War

Moderate: Cursing, Child death, Physical abuse, Death of parent, Torture, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Excrement, and Rape

phrogonalilypad's review against another edition

It's believed "Woman born" cant kill the big bads... And it's not explained why that's thought... Like even if this is ever proven wrong in the books... de Leóns general attitude towards even the women he "cares" about this far is reading as pretty misogynistic... Like to even name a mare Jezebel, after a biblically evil woman in a biblically coded book... Just seems unnecessary. I know Kristoff likes to be edgy but if this was 100% intentional I at this point don't even want to find the intention... It's just a bit too much for me.

A little less misogyny and I'd probably be hooked tbh

Might pick it up later and try again but... My interest continues to wane unfortunately.

There is some amazing artworks in this book though!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore and Misogyny

seekerxr's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional 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

is there even any words to describe this masterpiece?

i was engaged from the beginning to the very end. there wasn't a single moment of this book where i wasn't on the edge of my seat. it is worth every single bit of its 700-something pages because the story simply couldn't be told in less than that.

the atmosphere? unable to be duplicated. take every hard, dramatic aesthetic of the church and turn it up to eleven. it's blood and silver and hopelessness and battle fury.

the characters were intensely flawed and intensely loveable. no one could have told this story like gabriel did.

i didn't realize this was an incomplete series when i started it (i don't usually read incomplete series) but i am absolutely locked in. i cant wait for the rest of the story.

if you want a grimdark vampire fantasy epic, why aren't you already reading this?

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry

Moderate: Xenophobia, Homophobia, War, and Gore

grets_reads's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Drug use, and Blood

Moderate: Addiction, Alcohol, Child death, Sexual content, War, Death of parent, Religious bigotry, Murder, Grief, and Gore

Minor: Slavery, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Animal death

pippohno's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

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

2.5

I'd probably rate this around a 2.5/5 stars. There was a lot of good, a lot of bad, a lot of ick, and a lot of unnecessary plot twists... but it was still pretty entertaining I guess.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Physical abuse, Cursing, Blood, Gore, Grief, and Misogyny

shadesofdivine's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious sad tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Drug use, Murder, War, Animal death, Child death, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Addiction, Blood, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Pedophilia, Sexual content, and Violence

wrensreadingroom's review

I made it to book 2 chapter 4 and the main character is is incredibly unlikeable and honestly kinda whiny that i had to just give up. Also there is hardly any action as well. Like 3 cool parts up till this point. The rest is like lore and politics 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Violence, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, War, Emotional abuse, Gore, Addiction, Blood, Body shaming, Grief, Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Classism, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Bullying, Cannibalism, Child death, Child abuse, Pregnancy, Vomit, Misogyny, Alcohol, Body horror, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Domestic abuse, and Physical abuse

breazy777's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gore, and War

Moderate: Death, Animal death, and Cursing

Minor: Misogyny, Death of parent, and Homophobia

n_j_k's review

adventurous challenging dark inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Drug abuse, Blood, Death, Murder, Sexual assault, Bullying, Cursing, Gore, Torture, Vomit, Rape, Death of parent, and Sexual content

edu_caldelas's review against another edition

dark tense 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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Blood, Gore, and Murder

Moderate: Alcoholism