I give this a solid 4.5 strictly because I am not usually one for dark, gorey, fantasy with little to no romance. Most peoeple say this is Name of the Wind meets Interview with a Vampire meets Witcher. 100% agree and can see where that comparison has been made. I loved the story telling and how well the dual storylines flowed and merged, I loved the characters and withe very loss felt a little part of my heart shatter. Given this was my first adult book by Jay, i would say that it was a win for me.

Wow. that isn't a very good description, I know it's actually a bad description, yet that was the overwhelming thought as I read this book. so much so that I immediately pre-ordered a special edition copy as well as the audiobook via audible. I've seen the same old reviews as you have.. " it's name of the wind meets interview with a vampire". I'm sorry, but is there another version of name of the wind that is way darker than the one I read? Having a MC tell his unreliable life story is the where any and all similarities end. this book is it's own monster. I will be doing a reread soon enough and will dive more into the nitty gritty at that point.

Told in a storytelling format, this is not your average vampire story. Be prepared for an education of the different vampiric bloodlines with their strengths, half vampires, Silversaints and an awful happening for all called Daysdeath that has left the world plagued by vampires.
Great read and I’m looking forward to the sequel!

This was a lot on the overhyped train. An interesting concept that has been done before, but nothing special. The writing leaves something to be desired.

Jay kristoff as always.....sets the stage magnificently. His words flow together and you feel as though you are in the story.
This short-ish preview is only a taste for what is to come.

I can't wait to read the whole thing. Which I can now since the book is out 😅👀

How does one even go about properly rating this book? It was awful and gross and everything you'd expect from Jay Kristoff. Absolute perfection in every manner.

Can I give this book enough stars? No. There are not enough stars to exclaim my affection for this amazing tome. This has everything I delight over, epic battles, struggle, a fallen hero, unique fantasy world.

Empire of the Vampire takes the glorious adventure epics of Joe Abercrombie and adds Vampires. To me, that combination is the epitome of my desires.

Empire of the Vampire is astounding, magnificent, comedic, dark, passionate, sexy, gory, exciting, and lush.

Thank you, NetGalley for an advanced copy of this book for my honest opinion.

This book is so different from any other vampire story I've ever read. The background (day's death) is absolutely intriguing, and something to seriously think about. The vampires, the bloodlines, the everything, just draws you in and hold you there and keep you hanging on and wanting more. Then the storylines come into play, the blood lust, the fighting, the blood, guts, gore, sex, everything piles on. You think it's too much at first, but the more you read, the more you want it to keep going. And just when it starts getting good...

IT FUCKING STOPS!!! I know you said it was a sampler, but Jesus H Christ that was cruel.

4/5 stars because that was a tease and just wasn't nice at all.

Thank you St martins, and Jay Kristoff for this exclusive sampler. I was totally not expecting to get the sampler and was totally surprised when I actually received it. Jay has incredible world building. I can barely find the words to describe it. His world and histories are so fast that I can see why this book is so big. I have been really craving a good vampire book at this one does not disappoint. Jay definitely steers away from twilight vampires into a more mature and classic bloodsucker vibe. There’s just so much that goes on and I am here for it. But be warned this book is not for the faint hearted!

Thanks to netball and the publisher for granting my wish because after reading about 400 pages of this sample, I had to go out and buy the full book. I really enjoyed this. It wasn't original but was told in a way that I couldn't put the book down! Excellent 5 stars!!!

If you have been looking for a new vampire book to sink your teeth into look no further! This book was glorious and I won’t say anything more than that!

I really enjoyed this book. I have finished the entire book at this point and really enjoyed it more than I thought I would. There was some good character development, a lot of surprises, and some really good story telling. Can’t wait for the next installment!

I received a sampler of EmpireoftheVampireExclusiveSampler from #NetGalley.

This sampler was around 400 pages, which is pretty unusual. I'm used to samplers only having a chaper or two. This was at least a fourth of the book. It was an excellent read that stopped on a cliffhanger. The story was phenomenal and the world building was top-notch. The artwork was also amazing. I just wish the images were larger so I coud see the details better. I am definitely buying a copy so I can find out what happened.

While my sample only offered the first half of this story, it was absolutely enthralling. Jay Kristoff has made quite the reputation of himself and Empire of the Vampire lives up to it. Blending fascinating and rich world building with a cast of multifaceted characters, Kristoff creates a world that is impossible to leave.

The writing is, as always with Kristoff, absolutely beautiful. Mixing flowery witting with grotesque descriptions of violence is one of the reasons Kristoff is so notorious. From page 1 I was sucked into the story and was never let go.

The characters are so of the most interesting Kristoff has to offer. An anti-hero, a priest, a singer, a chosen one, a nun, what could go wrong? Turn out, everything.

The plot of Empire of the Vampire is enthralling. For 400 pages it never lets up. I loved everything I read so far and finished the rest of the book physically instantly. So so good.

Below is a partial review of the sampler!

This was everything I was hoping it would be! I'm not finished with the book yet obviously, but even though this book is a brick, it is so readable and compelling, it's hard to put down! I love the complex world-building, the interesting and flawed characters and the way the story is told is all really captivating. I am absolutely savoring this one and will likely enjoy it to the last drop (pun intended haha).

I'm happy to have a new vampire book where the vampires are actual monsters, but the vampire hunters are monsters themselves! It adds such an interesting complexity to an age-old story. Also, they don't sparkle lol

Looking forward to reading the rest! Also, I got my hardback edition and the design is absolutely stunning. Amazing artwork and beautiful details!

Overhyped is what this book is.

Empire of the Vampire was very meh at best for me. The whole vampire making a come back and the concept around it seemed intriguing enough at first, but I had a very hard time keeping up with the story. The time jumps were disorienting and the story in general was unclear and non-linear so it took a toll on my attention span. I lost interest pretty quickly.

There are a lot of weird undertones to this book that kinda border on toxic masculinity. You can just tell by the writing that it was written by a cishet white dude. The treatment of women was pretty questionable as well. I can see the author tried, but I think that's as far as he ever went. I should have stopped reading at the period blood drinking scene.

I just couldn't bring myself to care about it al. The story was boring and honestly it didn't stand out that much. The characters were not interesting, we barely had time to get to know the rest of the cast because everything was always centered around the main character. Speaking of the main character, I really don't see what's so special about Gabriel de Léon. He's just a soft boy turned bad boy with a sad backstory who swears and drinks a lot. Male version of 'I'm not like other girls' with daddy issues pretty much sums up his whole character.

I do like where the author directed the story with the second timeline. Dior (I’m not sure if that's how her name is spelled, I finished reading on audiobook) is the only person I appreciated in this entire book. Her developpement is really interesting and surprisingly, I don't dislike her strange friendship with Gabriel. However, that subplot was introduced too later on in the game to redeem the whole novel.

This was a fresh adult take on the vampire craze. highly recommend for those who grew up on twilight and want something more intense, lots of world building, and less of the romanticization.

This is a review of only part of the book.

Thus far, I am really enjoying the story, which contain our main character, Grabriel de Leon, telling his life story from a jail cell.

When Gabriel was a child the sun stopped shining on the world. When this happened all the vampires came out of hiding. The Silversaints then organized themselves against the vampires. Gabriel eventually joined their ranks.

The story takes place in three time lines. The present where Gabriel is locked up. The past when Gabriel was a teenager. The past about 5 years ago. The two past time lines have about 100 pages devoted to there stories before the narrative switched to the other story. Part of me really likes this narrative choice because it builds tension, and keeps me wanting to read more in order to get back to the other story. But, it also annoys me a bit because as we reach a climax in one story, we’re thrown back into the other one.

So, I received an exclusive book sample of Empire of the Vampire from NetGalley. The sample was about 400 pages long, and included the first few ‘books’ from the novel. I must say that the formatting was way off in the sample, and many of the illustrations were not present. So I have bought a physical book to read from.

I will keep it brief only to say I’m not a fan and DNFd. I got a substantial amount of the book read before I made that decision however so my comments I feel are justified based on what I’ve read

For starters I will never be ok with adult authors exploiting the sexualization of minors. Mr. Kristoff has been critiqued for this in the past and apparently decided to double down. Do minors have sex? Of course. Should we as adults profit from and get entertainment from the graphic, and frankly unrealistic, depiction of minors having sex. Nope. I don’t care if they are fictional. Sorry, but no. Do better.

The story itself, could have been intriguing and unique, but was told in such a way that I kept saying “where is that from? How do I know this line? This sounds so familiar.”

The language and writing style was derivative. I could tell the author was trying to pay homage to Stoker or Le Fanu but it just felt like a pretentious knock off of the two.

Jay has done it again! I can’t get enough of Jay’s snarky and give no fucks writing style. It’s what drew me to his writing when I read Nevernight and I was not disappointed with this work of art! Gabe is the most interesting and mysterious protagonist and there was never a moment I wasn’t thirsting to learn more about him, his past, his relationships with others, etc. Not only is our main character thrilling, but every side character that Jay writes is so full of life and personality as well! I am eagerly awaiting Book 2 and it can’t come quick enough!…..If it wasn’t clear, 5 freaking stars goes to this one!