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hud1986 's review for:
Empire of the Vampire
by Jay Kristoff
Note: Not a well-crafted review so much as a general dumping of my thoughts and feelings.
Blade. The Witcher. The Last of Us. Castlevania. This book is too reliant on everything it cribs from to be 5 stars. And it feels like it’s trying too hard to be 4 stars. So, when all accounts are balanced and the good and the bad have been totaled, I’m left feeling like a 3 out of 5 is appropriate.
My updates have already talked about the odd (IMO) choice to have damn near everything be in quotes — and again, I get why, but there’s a better way. But as clunky as this feels, it’s actually just a minor quibble. My bigger issue is just how unoriginal so much of this feels. And how repetitive.
As the book progressed, I just kept feeling like I’d been here before. Not that having influences is inherently a bad thing — it’s not — but this felt tantamount to throwing all of the above-mentioned properties into a blender and hitting purée. Forgive me for crossing mediums, but this book has the same issue movies like The Force Awakens or Ghostbusters: Afterlife have: it isn’t original enough to be truly great, to be truly its own. And on top of that, the plot seems to go thru it’s own internal repetition: run, fight, barely survive, recover, repeat. Or, alternatively, in the past Gabe does something he gets in trouble for but then proves he’s the main character by doing something impressive.
And let’s not forget that so often the characters are written as edgelords. Every other sentence is said in a growl, and everyone is constantly snapping at each other like the mark of being a serious adult is a vocabulary that is 50% four letter words and acting exclusively like an asshole. Is it a brutal, adult-oriented book? Sure. Do I take it more seriously because they say shit, cunt, fuck (if I never read “fuck my face” again…) sooooo incessantly? No, it just got tiresome, like a teenager who thinks he’s cool because he can say naughty words. Ooooh, look out, we got a badass over here. Ok, ok, sorry; I’m being glib.
The point is, this book isn’t bad, but it is a greatest hits compilation of other (better) things, and it tries too hard. Is there excitement and intrigue? Absolutely. But it also telegraphs a lot of its story beats because of its similarities to other works. For instance, as I broke into the final 30 pages I started to suspect where the story was going and, sure enough, that’s exactly where it went — but it was a pale imitation of what it was mimicking. So if you’re going to give it a go, Godspeed; just set expectations accordingly.
Blade. The Witcher. The Last of Us. Castlevania. This book is too reliant on everything it cribs from to be 5 stars. And it feels like it’s trying too hard to be 4 stars. So, when all accounts are balanced and the good and the bad have been totaled, I’m left feeling like a 3 out of 5 is appropriate.
My updates have already talked about the odd (IMO) choice to have damn near everything be in quotes — and again, I get why, but there’s a better way. But as clunky as this feels, it’s actually just a minor quibble. My bigger issue is just how unoriginal so much of this feels. And how repetitive.
As the book progressed, I just kept feeling like I’d been here before. Not that having influences is inherently a bad thing — it’s not — but this felt tantamount to throwing all of the above-mentioned properties into a blender and hitting purée. Forgive me for crossing mediums, but this book has the same issue movies like The Force Awakens or Ghostbusters: Afterlife have: it isn’t original enough to be truly great, to be truly its own. And on top of that, the plot seems to go thru it’s own internal repetition: run, fight, barely survive, recover, repeat. Or, alternatively, in the past Gabe does something he gets in trouble for but then proves he’s the main character by doing something impressive.
And let’s not forget that so often the characters are written as edgelords. Every other sentence is said in a growl, and everyone is constantly snapping at each other like the mark of being a serious adult is a vocabulary that is 50% four letter words and acting exclusively like an asshole. Is it a brutal, adult-oriented book? Sure. Do I take it more seriously because they say shit, cunt, fuck (if I never read “fuck my face” again…) sooooo incessantly? No, it just got tiresome, like a teenager who thinks he’s cool because he can say naughty words. Ooooh, look out, we got a badass over here. Ok, ok, sorry; I’m being glib.
The point is, this book isn’t bad, but it is a greatest hits compilation of other (better) things, and it tries too hard. Is there excitement and intrigue? Absolutely. But it also telegraphs a lot of its story beats because of its similarities to other works. For instance, as I broke into the final 30 pages I started to suspect where the story was going and, sure enough, that’s exactly where it went — but it was a pale imitation of what it was mimicking. So if you’re going to give it a go, Godspeed; just set expectations accordingly.