Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

110 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

honeywaffles's review against another edition

Too dark and gruesome

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Sexual assault

faefolkreads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Gore, and Grief

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

wildflower030's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gore, Misogyny, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Religious bigotry

Moderate: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Homophobia, and Abandonment

el_pender's review against another edition

dark slow-paced

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

2.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Religious bigotry, and Outing

Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child abuse, and Child death

Minor: Addiction and Alcoholism

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