Reviews tagging 'Grief'

L'impero del vampiro by Jay Kristoff

68 reviews

dria510'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

Screaming. Crying. Throwing up. WTF did I just read. Jay why did you do this to us. Be warned this book will break you.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Murder

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. 

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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

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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

elskede's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

florian's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Blood, and War

Moderate: Animal death, Homophobia, and Grief

Minor: Rape

laneylane573's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark funny sad tense fast-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? No

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Drug use, Gore, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

aladybug19's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

5.0

Empire of the Vampire is masterfully written. I would gush more about this book but I think going into it with as little information as possible is the best course. This book keeps you at the edge of your seat when it’s not making you weep for the characters.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, and Death of parent

Moderate: Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Pedophilia, Pregnancy, and Sexual harassment

amy14's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Child death, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

booksalacarte's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

4.75

Empire of the vampire- 4.75⭐️ 3🌶️

Epic Fantasy

Vampires

Catholic inspired religion

Storytelling style narration

Confinement

Secret society 

War

🏳️‍🌈 side characters

Tw: addiction, homofobia

To break it down to the bare minimal… this was an interview with the vampire styled story with dual timelines and a flawed MC. The story was slow, as journeying can be, but entertaining the whole time.

So often male authors, choose to sanitize the softer emotions in their books, to push the physical. Moving the plot forward for the glory and the heroism of their main character. As a woman, the more sterilized approach to emotion in men’s writing, tends to turn me away… 

This book is anything but emotionally sterile. I found myself enjoying the emotional and spiritual journey of the main character and the friendships and bonds created and broken.

There were so many plot twists. Character flaws were aplenty. 

I must have the humor of a 14 year old boy, because some of the insults and jokes had me chuckling.

The things that I didn’t enjoy include misogyny  standard to European medieval feudalism centered around religious orthodoxy. If you thought a book that was inspired by medieval Catholic Europe was going to be without it being present, I don’t know what to tell you. But it’s there, it’s never fun to have to read in excess. But it’s an adult fantasy, with cursing and I get it.

Bad guys as pedophiles. Yup. Tracks. But the other underage sexualization was not great. A lot of times this is used as a chance to show how disgusting the enemy is. And it’s just gross all around… even when the MC is underage. 

I am so looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Excrement, Vomit, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, Toxic friendship, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

freckleface3's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Animal death, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol