Reviews tagging 'Torture'

L'impero del vampiro by Jay Kristoff

76 reviews

teaforghosts's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, and Alcohol

jadehusdanhicks's review against another edition

adventurous dark reflective tense slow-paced

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

3.0

An ambitious start to a series this book is a monster at over 700 pages. I found its format to be quite unique in its format of our tale being dictated as a story to the enemy of our protagonist. You see two sides of Gabriel , the darkened drunk who’s lost his faith, family and friends  and the silver saint, national hero who still had hope and may have been the key to our problems. 

With days death, the light is nearly gone making it perfect for the vampires to rise and walk in the day when they previously couldn’t.  This story definitely focuses on worldbuilding to set the scene for the rest of the series, but also sets a tone of revenge between Gabriel and the Voss ruler. I enjoyed how intricate the world is, with nations broken down into main and indigenous areas as well as establishing a ruling religious system as well as opposing pagan beliefs. 

From grief to religious trauma, death to homophobia, murder to betrayal, and more this book covers a lot of tropes and topics and can certainly be a hard read with its length and depth. For some it may be confusing to follow at points as we jump from the story back to a scene of our MC being made to tell the story for documentation so it isn’t linear in its timeline  but it was a unique choice to format which certainly had me intrigued. 

It’s a shame that kristoff is the author as honestly i enjoyed this and would continue the series but with his fetishisation of wlw minors and appropriating and criticising Māori culture  in nevernight i morally can’t support him as an author and wouldn’t have purchased had i know this beforehand. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Injury/Injury detail

sadspringroll's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark 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

I loved this book. The world it built was akin to the Witcher, bloodborne, and/or castlevania. I loved the characters, the world building, aesthetic, lore, diversity, fight scenes and reveals. 

My only criticisms are the overuse of some French words/phrases. I liked most of them and thought it added depth and charm, but “ma famille”  and others did grate on me. The first half definitely had a few too many sexual innuendos in the dialogue for me. Sometimes it felt like forced humour (imo). I didn’t like the interview method as the storytelling mechanism at first, but got used to it fairly quickly and began to enjoy it. Finally, Locked like a secret was a phrase I’d never heard before yet read at least 3 times, but I know a lot of authors are guilty of this. 

So ultimately, if you hate French and aren’t keen on time jumps (or it’s the journey not the destination type stories) it may not be for you. But I can safely say this is a 10/10 book for me, even with its quirks.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death and Torture

Moderate: Alcoholism, Drug abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Murder, and Alcohol

Minor: Rape and Pregnancy

breezer's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Drug abuse, Gore, Torture, Blood, Religious bigotry, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Sexual assault and Sexual content

nancy_sch's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

0.25

A messy mash-up of other stories told with other people’s song lyrics, an abundance of adjectives (some of which should be adverbs) and misogynistic, homophobe swear-phrases in every other line. 
For all that, the 700-odd pages are just the preamble to the actual story that’s still to come.
Hard to believe this passed a plagiarism test. 
Hard to believe they’re not being sued for copyright infringements. 
Hard to believe an editor checked this or publisher might think this worthy of publication. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexism, Sexual violence, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, and Toxic friendship

jesshart8's review against another edition

dark sad tense slow-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

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

straybutterfly's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic friendship, Abandonment, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

vilde_a's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

Absolutely devoured this book! Perfect for a holiday when you have time to get into it quickly. The visuals the author manages to tell is absolutely stunning. The world building is believable and felt deep enough. The occasional illustrations in the book is a very nice treat!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Body horror, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Slavery, Torture, Grief, and War

Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Homophobia, Misogyny, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Outing, and Classism

faehistory's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.5

A well-written take on vampires that walks the line between horror and fantasy. Gabriel manages to be a flawed character who never quite crosses over into being unlikeable and I found myself emphasising that even when he makes poor choices. The setting manages to be dark and bleak without crossing into so dark you find yourself apathetic. 

Some of the bigger twists you can perhaps see coming if you have read a lot of fantasy because they fit the narrative conventions of this kind of book but are still well executed and some do take you by surprise. 

There is a really interesting thorough line about the difference between faith and organised religion which ties into Gabriel's main arc. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and War

Moderate: Child abuse, Physical abuse, and Abandonment

Minor: Classism

chaptermaggot's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? It's complicated

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Sexism, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Outing, and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Drug use, Rape, Torture, Pregnancy, and Classism