4.5 stars

I can't handle how good this was! From the characters to the world building, Empire of the Vampire is the deliciously dark fantasy you need - and I don't even like vampires books. All the stars to this book. I've even just bought myself a signed copy because I need it now and always.

Since this is a sampler, I can only tell that the worlds this author creates are always to detailed and they suck you in right away. An amazing start of what I know will be an incredible series!

Thankyou to Netgalley and HarperCollins Publishers Australia for providing me this eARC an exchange for an honest review.

I'm glad this was just a sample copy because I DNF.

This is basically a story of the MC's narration. He is telling the plot which means every single sentence as quotations marks and it makes for a dull and boring start to the read. I personally do not like the style of narration. A lot of telling within telling.

After reading the bits that I did and seeing the author's description of the book it is just way too much me. There is some really vile stuff that goes on and what has been implied further on to reading. Also if the book's first page has the 'C' word, it's already lost my attention. (Personal Opinion)

#DontRuinTheEmpire

Promising not to ruin the Empire, my quick review on the generous 328 page sampler, is obviously going to be different compared to my normal reviews.

Empire of the Vampire, is literally the holy grail book of vampires. It's delicious, blood thirsty, and it's exactly what a Vampire book should be about.

Gabriel De Leon, a half human, half monster and Last of the Silversaints is captured by the monsters he has been killing most of his life. Leon, tells us his stories of battles, blood loss, love, the Forever King and the possibility of saving humanity by finding The Holy Grail.

I highly recommend reading Empire of The Vampire however, it's definitely NOT for young teenagers, it's more for the older generations 18+ for those who enjoy Fantasy and/or Vampires.

I want to say a huge thank you to Harper Voyager and Netgalley for allowing me to read Empire of The Vampire. And to Jay Kristoff why on earth did it take me so long to read one of your books? Your writing is fabulous.

Just epic! Can't wait to read the rest of this!

In classic Jay Kristoff style, we have incredible world building, fascinating characters, and gore galore. It's action packed, and the illustrations are top notch. This is a promising start to what will be Kristoff's best work yet.

The opening pages were like diving back into the dark gritty pool that is Jay Kristoff's mind. We enter the story with Gabriel having been captured by the enemy he has spent his life trying to eradicate. And before his demise, they request a full account of his life, and quest to find the holy grail. Now, this is only a sampler, not the whole book, so I am left at a cliffhanger, as Jay is wont to do to his fans, and cannot discuss how the story resolves or not. But we are shown different stages of Gabriel's life and meet some interesting and twisted characters along the way. I do love Astrid, she's my type of Queen.
The setting is so dark, depressing, and grim, yet you can't help but get caught up in Gabriel's life and struggles. Even though we know he survives his encounters to be able to tell his story, it is told in such a way as to keep you wanting more!
Fans of The Name of the Wind, as well as classic vampire stories, and just of the man himself Mister Kristoff, will fall in love with this world and these characters, just as I have.

If you pre-ordered the beautiful edition with foil embossed pages, I will do my best not to spoil the joy, almost sacral and primal in its essence, you will most certainly experience when you read this book.

Yes, it is big. I only read 'sampler' and it is over 300 pages. But it was not enough. Truly.

Empire of the Vampire reminded my why we love vampires' stories so much. It is not sickly sweet Twilight saga or even my all-time fauvorite cheeky Buffy and moody Angel. Empire of the Vampire is a universe of its own. And you are cordially invited for a visit.

What took me in was the language, the colours and textures, images and atmosphere. Yes, that's the right word - atmosphere. The empire of Jay Kristoff' new series has a very definite atmosphere. It is doomy, gloomy, bloody and silver sparkly. It is icy hot and smoky red. It is everything your heart desires when it comes to darkness, fantasy, desire and search for unattainable.

Well, I can go forever. But I do not want to spoil the joy for you.

Empire of the Vampire is the saga of the eternal fight, good against evil. No, scratch that. There are no clear boundaries. And silversaints are definitely not your shining angelic knights.... but you will love them anyway.

Wait just a little bit longer. Just wait...

Let's preface this to say that I'm not the biggest vampire fan, but here we go anyways.


When I started the excerpt, I found it really slow to start, and it took me a long time to power through this one. Yes there was things I thought were worthy of the hype everyone's going on about, however I just felt flat over most parts; maybe the pacing is what threw me off. I'll give it another try when I get my mitts on a full copy - I'll still finish this one wholly though!

This sample of Empire of the Vampire has made me desperate for more! It is definitely a lot darker than I was expecting, but I am absolutely loving it so far. This is not a YA, just to make that very clear. It is gripping, it has increased my heart rate tenfold, and I am literally now just counting down the seconds until I can finish this book.

Huge thank you to Netgalley and the author for the sample, bring on the rest!

𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖
𝐓𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞: Empire of the Vampire
𝐀𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫: Jay Kristoff
𝐆𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐞: Adult, Fantasy
𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
𝐒𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐞: 🌶 🌶 🌶

𝐆𝐔𝐒𝐇:
• This was my first JK book and whilst I had no expectation, I didn’t expect myself to be so engrossed by this—I couldn’t put the book down.
• The writing was dark and enthralling and I couldn't fault the pacing, though this was a long read.
• Intriguing and immense world-building.
• The characters were complex and I liked the main character, Gabriel, he’s an intriguing character and I enjoyed his witty banter and smart remarks.

𝐆𝐑𝐈𝐏𝐄:
• Due to the style of this, parts of the narrative can be “Info-dump-y” at times (though I didn’t mind this).

Sinister and mesmerising, Empire of the Vampire is a feast of a tale. If you’re a fan of gothic macabre reads I suggest you devour this book!

𝐈𝐧 𝐚 𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐥, 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:
✔ dark, gothic macabre reads
✔ disillusioned and complex anti-hero
✔ rich world-building

𝐑𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫: fans of dark adult fantasy, anti-hero protagonist, vampires

𝐂𝐖: Adult themes: violence, gore, language, sexual content, there are religious aspects in this book and I feel like some people may be uncomfortable reading that

Thank you to @NetGalley and the publisher (Harper Collins Australia) for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. 𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠: 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐬𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐣𝐨𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐛𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝐮𝐩𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞.

I look forward to completing this book when it is published as I've only received half the book. I have to write some more words here in order for the review to go through

Thank you NetGalley and Harper Collins for this e-Arc sampler!

All i can say is holy shit. Jay Kristoff has outdone himself and this is such a phenomenal first half of a book. I was not prepared for the masterful writing that was in this book, nor was i expecting to love the characters as much as i did.

I need the rest of the book immediately and you bet i am devouring it as soon as its released.

I’d like to thank Netgalley for provided me with this teaser of Empire of the Vampire, book one in Jay Kristoff’s epic new vampire series.

This is dark, bloody, and downright entertaining. I was in a constant state of dread every time I flipped a page, in fear of what madness could be happening next. This really is a rare feral beast of a tale that plunges it’s hand into your chest, rips your heart out, and pulverises it to pieces… in the best way possible.

I fell in love with, hated and wanted to slap silly some of these characters, which is the sign of a damn good book. I am so invested in their stories and the hauntingly beautiful world that they live in. Thank you Mr Kristoff, I can’t wait for release day so I can find out what happens!

Thank you so much for letting me review this sample!!
I absolutely loved all that I read and it has definitely got me salivating to read the rest when it’s released!!
I can’t wait!!

Thank you for this sneak peak into what looks to be an awesome read.

Hard to review without reading the entire book but the writing and set up looks incredible. Reviewers on Goodreads who have read the whole book claim it to be epic and I can see how that could be the case.

Looks to be a new promising take for adults who love vampire stories.

NOTE this review is for the 300+ page sampler ARC and NOT for the whole book.

Thank you to HarperCollins Australia, Harper Voyager and Netgalley for the review sampler.

If you have read and loved Nevernight you are probably going to love this book. Empire of the vampire is kind of a boy version of Nevernight.

There are no footnotes as far as I can tell (I loved the footnotes in Nevernight but I know not everyone did) but the whole story is narrated by world weary Gabriel de Lion, a disillusioned, middle aged vampire hunter from his prison cell as he is awaiting execution for assassinating the vampire king (not a spoiler, we are pretty much told this on the first page). Gabriel tells his life story to a forever young vampire scribe.

The story switches between young Gabriel who was sent off to train to kill Vampires at a monastery of vampire murdering monks and middle aged Gabriel sort of accidently ending up on a quest to find the Holy Grail which is rumored to be the only weapon that can defeat the vampires.

The story is definitely NOT a Young Adult novel or a kids story. It is definitely for adults. The humour is ireverant, sweary and often bawdy & the book is definitely NOT for the easily oftened. It's gory and there are scenes of a sexual nature.... with a vampiric twist. The religion featured in the novel is kind of a parody of Catholicism so if that aspect is likely to offend you, maybe avoid.

The sampler ends with a major twist/cliff hanger & I'm keen for this book to be published so I can learn what happens next.....

I received an exclusive sampler covering the first ~330 pages of this book from HarperCollins Australia prior to release. The story is told from Gabriel's perspective, as he narrates his past experiences to a vampire historian (who also happens to be an artist!). It is a little bit info-dumpy at times, with Gabriel being interrupted by the historian to tell his story 'as if to a child' in order to explain things that may not be immediately understood. Gabriel is foul-mouthed, bad tempered, and an ass to most of the characters, but as he tells his story you begin to understand why. There's a good amount of wry humour mixed in with the story, along with some fun characters whose personalities are biased by Gabriel's telling of the story.
Looking forward to reading the rest of this book when it is released!

Yes I have only read the sampler and not the complete novel, but I’m hooked. I cannot wait until September and I can read the complete version. The story told by Gabriel de Leon is one I am longing to read but also terrified of reading as I know there will be characters I will love that will probably be killed before the final story is told.
Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins Australia for the sampler

I have been so excited for Jay's new book, I love Vampire stories and this one is epic. This is no Twilight, this is gutsy, sexy, mean, terrifying gripping 879 page massive tale that will grip you and drag you through a beast of a world and if you love fantasy you will love this.

THIS REVIEW IS BASED ON A SAMPLE OF APPROX. HALF THE NOVEL

Overall, my initial impressions of this story are good. I enjoy Kristoff's prose style, and I like that he doesn't shy away from a little darkness in his stories. Gabriel is an engaging character and I quickly got caught up in his narrative, wanting to know more about his life and the experiences that had led him to his current situation. The world building was nicely handled, with the reader learning things as Gabriel does, through his narration of past events, and when I reached the end of the sample, I was keen to see how things would progress through the rest of the story. I think this book will appeal to fans of vampire fictions, and it certainly won't disappoint those who've enjoyed Kristoff's previous works, as it has a similar vibe.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this sample.



(This is the text for the review as posted on Goodreads. I will also create a post to share on IG; however, I am not posting on my blog at this stage. I will post there if I come to read the rest of the book later in the year, when I can offer a complete review of the full text.

When I first requested this book from NetGalley, I thought I was requesting the full text. The fact it was a sample was only noted on the cover image, and then not in very clear/obvious text, so I didn't spot it. It wasn't mentioned in the title or blurb info, where I am used to seeing such notes. So, if I may, I would like to offer the suggestion that such a note is included in the text as well as on the cover in the future. That would help us as reviewers when deciding whether to request a book. Many thanks!

I will amend my review on GR and share on my blog and across social media again whenever I do finish reading the rest of the book upon its release.)