Reviews with content warning for Homophobia - El Imperio del Vampiro

⚠️ TW: violence, alcoholism, gore, graphic content, animal death, murder, homophobia, torture ⚠️ Wow I don't even know where to start with this review because this book left me speechless, it is an absolute masterpiece of epic dark vampire literature and I loved every second!! This book follows Gabriel De León, a half man, half vampire creature known as a paleblood who is a sworn brother of the holy silver order, the Silversaints, dedicated to protecting humanity from the war waged by vampires since daysdeath happened 27 years ago when the realm was plunged into a constant state of night. But as the vampire royalty known as highbloods continue to build their eternal empire Gabriel, the last remaining Silversaint, is all that stands between the world and its end. Now as he finds himself imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy he is forced to tell his epic tale filled with legendary battles, forbidden love, family and friends, lost faith, wars of blood and the forever king and the almighty quest for humanity's last hope, the holy grail. Firstly this book will have you feeling every emotion possible as it takes you on an immense dark, high fantasy journey. You will swoon, get hot under collar, laugh, cry and more importantly be absolutely enthralled from the very beginning. The world building and character development in this book is just utter perfection and I genuinely believe this book will be known as a vampire classic in the future because it is impeccable. Also, it has given me so many new one liners and insults too and I love it 😂 Overall, if high fantasy, vampires and epic journeys sound like your thing then you need to read this book and I cannot recommend it highly enough and I need book two ASAP 🦇

Content Warnings

miacorvere14's review against another edition

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dark slow-paced

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

3.25

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ridleyreadsthings's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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

Okay let me first start off by saying I loved this book. The story was insane and gritty and the worldbuilding was to die for. Kind of like if castlevania and the witcher had a baby.

You can tell Kristoff really took his time with the worldbuilding and character building. It's a incredibly dark, dangerous world that is far from boring and every chapter brought more depth and lore. No two characters were really the same either. He's blended vampire horror and mystery and fantasy to create something truly epic. Definitely not for kids this book. It's visceral and brutal and will leave you bleeding for more.

It's not your typical vampire story either. While they are beautiful, elegant eternal creatures, they still are monstrous and act as monsters. They aren't climbing through your bedroom window to read you poetry, they are evil - but even that evil had layers. Full of characters you love to hate, and hate to love, I can't wait to see where this epic journey ends up.

On the downside though it was what I expected of Kristoff - arrogant "woke" MC with the mouth of a sailor. All the swearing and childish playground insults kind off took me out of the story, and I found myself rolling my eyes alot.

But in the same breath I was incredibly suprised by this book. It's different from anything he's ever written, and I enjoyed the back and forth of the story into two points in the past, and I liked the narritive of that it's Gabriel telling his story, but we are still building up to something greater in the present day.

I think everyone can find something they love about this book, whether it's the worldbuilding, the cast of diverse characters, the brutal horror aspects, the tattoo worthy tattoos or the twists and twists and twists.

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codyemma's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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sabrinz's review against another edition

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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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