Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

132 reviews

amy_reading_23's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful sad fast-paced

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

5.0

This book broke me. It is the best vampire book I've read in ages. I really didn't expect it to be this good. 

It's about Gabriel De Lion, a dhampir recounting his life to a vampire who has him imprisoned. He focuses on two tales, the one of his upbringing and the one of the adventure leading him here. Just when one tale comes to a cliffhanger he switches to the other. 

I really enjoyed Gabriel's character. He is a destructive mixture of cynical, sad, fearless and hopeful, a man having lived an incredibly hard life. But although the book has dark and sad moments, he tells his story with humour and I couldn't get enough of it. 

There were some bits I was unsure of, that made me a bit uncomfortable. E.g. I don't know why Kristoff felt the need to write such explicit sex scenes between teenagers in an adult fantasy book. That felt unessecary and having heard some criticisms of his other books I do have to wonder why he chose to do that. But other than that, the book was great and I'll be thinking about it for a while. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

simmich429's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad 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

5.0

starts off very slow but SOOOO worth it. can’t wait for the book 2 to come out

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

katsa6'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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A new take on vampires set in a 1500s Christianity environment. Very dark, very grim with sparks of humor and love and revenge. The main character Gabriel is a likeable but unlike able character. But as you read through the book you start to understand more and more of why he is how he is. There is multiple timelines which took a bit to get into but as Gabriel would say "Patience". You will be rewarded. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Violence, and Blood

januaryt123's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Homophobia, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, Outing, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Child death

Minor: Abandonment

brightwatcher's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Gore, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing

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

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

darkwolf28's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• 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: Death and Blood

Moderate: Violence, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Animal death and Death of parent

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

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

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

pippohno's review against another edition

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

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