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A review by ketreads
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Empire of the Vampire was a pick by a friend of mine for our book-buddy-duo.
I had not heard of this book, nor read any of Jay Kristoff's other works before starting on this one.
Simply: I loved it.
Kristoff's use of age old vampire lore + grim-dark & French Gothic setting is something that just fits together effortlessly. The world he has created is full of darkness, danger and years of history that has created the feeling of a well-realised and lived in world.
This book follows our main character of Gabriel de Leon throughout two time-lines in his life:
Naive boy becoming a legend, and the broken legend trying to survive in a world that failed him.
It is a tale about love, loss, faith, humanity, and found family. The book starts with our character already defeated and alone, being forced to tell his story to another. He's immediately a dick, unlikeable and arrogant, even at his lowest. Throughout the story you come to understand him better (often better than even he seems to understand himself), feel for him, his family, and his friends. The story is one of adventure, mystery but most importantly it's a human story.
In a world full of vampires, the story is about humans and the lengths they would go to protect those in-which they love.
I liked it a lot.
Though do be warned this is a foul mouthed and often gory tale, I never found it without reason to be.
I had not heard of this book, nor read any of Jay Kristoff's other works before starting on this one.
Simply: I loved it.
Kristoff's use of age old vampire lore + grim-dark & French Gothic setting is something that just fits together effortlessly. The world he has created is full of darkness, danger and years of history that has created the feeling of a well-realised and lived in world.
This book follows our main character of Gabriel de Leon throughout two time-lines in his life:
Naive boy becoming a legend, and the broken legend trying to survive in a world that failed him.
It is a tale about love, loss, faith, humanity, and found family. The book starts with our character already defeated and alone, being forced to tell his story to another. He's immediately a dick, unlikeable and arrogant, even at his lowest. Throughout the story you come to understand him better (often better than even he seems to understand himself), feel for him, his family, and his friends. The story is one of adventure, mystery but most importantly it's a human story.
In a world full of vampires, the story is about humans and the lengths they would go to protect those in-which they love.
I liked it a lot.
Though do be warned this is a foul mouthed and often gory tale, I never found it without reason to be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism and Animal death