November is already shaping up to be a massive reading month, and after tearing through the sampler for Empire of the Dawn, I’m seriously tempted to book a week off work to devour the final book the moment it drops.

This sampler delivers precisely what you want from Kristoff: razor-sharp writing, high-stakes tension, and that signature blend of blood, beauty, and brutal emotional damage. Even in just a few chapters, the atmosphere is thick with dread and longing. The characters are exactly as sharp and broken as I remembered, and the story picks up with the kind of momentum that makes it physically painful to stop reading.

Kristoff doesn’t ease you in. He throws you back into the fire, and it burns in all the right ways. The prose is still gorgeous, vicious, and darkly poetic. The relationships are messy and aching. The world is even more dangerous, and somehow, more seductive than ever.

As a teaser, it’s almost cruel. It reminds you of everything you loved (and feared) from Empire of the Vampire and Empire of the Damned, and it dials the tension up even higher. If the full novel delivers on the promise of these opening chapters—and let's be honest, it will—then Empire of the Dawn might just wreck us all in the best way.

I’m already clearing my calendar for November. Sleep can wait. The end is coming, and I plan to meet it with a sword in one hand and this book in the other.

Stunning teaser for the book of the year. I already know that I will love the rest of Gabriel's story. Jay Kristoff is the new master of epic horror fantasy!

So ready for this book! Really enjoyed the sampler I was given but now I have to wait until November! I may not make it. lol

This was a fantastic sample of EotD! I'm so excited to continue on release day! I'm anxious to find what happens next but also sad that this will be the last of the series.

NOT A REVIEW OF THE BOOK.

I noticed today that this was updated to indicate it's a sample and not the complete text.

As I didn't download this before, I'm not sure if this was always a sample, or if the decision was made to rescind my access to the complete text and provide a copy of this instead.

Either way, I'm not interested in reading and reviewing a sample of the book, so I'll not be posting anything in relation to this book until whenever I get around to reading it after release day.

As I gave the previous two books in the series 5 stars, I'll give this 5 stars as well, as Netgalley won't let me provide feedback without providing a star rating.

This sampler demonstrates every detail of Jay Kristoff's haunting writing. The reader is kept on the edge of their seat, all the while their heart is being torn. The plot moves forward, strangling any sense of hope you have that things will be okay, but somehow you cannot stop reading. I eagerly await and dread the ending to this book and series.

ARC REVIEW FOR BOOK ONE:

“I woke upon the floor. Scarred cheek pressed to the boards, heart athunder in my chest. I dragged myself upright, looking to my shaking hands, still smeared with the blood of the Holy Grail. And I said what anyone in my place would have at that moment.”
“Fuck my face?” Jean-François asked.
The silversaint nodded. “Fuck my face.”

JAYYYYY YOU MONSTERRRRRRR.

This is book one. BOOK ONE. So many events happened in so little time. Never once in my life did I think I would be crying over a sword, a SWORD.

I can’t help but ever be sucked deep into this man’s writing. As my good friend described it, it is very dense writing but you can’t help but be enTHRALLed 👀 at what is on the pages. Maybe we’re all just sucking from jays veins at this moment because I AM HOOKED. The flow of the story is just absolutely liquid. From one off comments from Jean-Francois right back to Gabe being a wondrous storyteller - it just hits. I have never read books like this series. I am anxiously awaiting what will happen next, with very little hope as we know there are no happy endings here.

I will leave you with my rating of 5/5 stars and my favorite quote:

“‘Will you pray with me, my son?’ “‘I’d rather shit in my hands and clap.’

Empire of The Damned was sooo freaking good that when I finished, I immediately dove into my ARC sampler of Empire of The Dawn and if you weren’t already excited for this release,

What a great read already! I have to learn to trust in Kristoff. After being disappointed by other authors in their final installments of a series, I found myself questioning certain decisions that seemed wholly different than his approach in the first two novels. Fortunately, it was just intentional sleight of hand and I was so relieved.

Love the surprises I've already experienced.. and the dread I still hold for the rest of the book. The new artwork is stunning, as expected. And I just know the author is going to crush us.. because it's what he does.

Will do a full review after finishing the complete ARC. Then I'll post it around. I just happened to get this sampler first.

A short review, as this isn't the full novel, but if this sampler is any indication of how Jay Kristoff will end the series, I can't wait until the fall. All of the pieces are coming together as Gabriel's past and present coalesce into one final showdown to determine whether the sun will ever rise again. Beautifully written as always, the opening chapters of Empire of the Dawn point towards, if not an uplifting ending for our vampire hunter, a well-deserved rest instead—whatever the outcome may be.

Empire of The Damned was sooo freaking good that when I finished, I immediately dove into my ARC sampler of Empire of The Dawn and if you weren’t already excited for this release, GET THERE!

What we receive in the sample is book one (or part 1) of Empire of The Dawn. When I tell you, I couldn’t put it down— I mean it. We’ve got our found family, those band of characters that we love (or love to hate), Gabe’s struggle with the monster within, grief, faith, love (and how it evolves), and of course-the ultimate question. Do we have reliable narrators? This is a true finale, there was not a point where it felt slow. I really don’t have the right words to describe how excited I am to get the rest.

🩸Thank you, NetGalley, @misterkristoff, and @stmartinspress for the opportunity to read this sampler!

I have no idea how I’m going to wait until November for the rest of this.

CHEFS KISS SO FAR, MR. KRISTOFF. CHEFS. KISS.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press & Jay Kristoff for the sampler

It should be illegal to only give us a sampler 😩 WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE THIS.
Either way 10/10. I love this series with my whole heart and I need it the book immediately.

I, like most others, didnt realize this was just a sampler, so I don't have a full review. I will say, though, that I will take whatever I can get from this author! Lol. His writing is so good and I cannot wait until this book is released. I know it's going to be one of my top reads of the year.

Thank you Jay Kristoff and Netgalley for this sneak peek!

Didn't realize this was just a sampler. Will be on the lookout for the full book where I can give a complete review.

Jay kristoff kills it in so many ways, and he has not destroyed me and my very existance at this time... I will be billing him for my therapy ... thankyou that is all

Incredible start to the book, as mentioned in other reviews on NetGalley, it wasn’t clear that this wasn’t the full book when requesting and downloading it. It’s now made more clear, but I am feeling VERY teased.

My favorite thing about these books is that the author offers an EXTENSIVE review of what happened in the previous books as a refresher if it’s been a while since you read them (like me who read the 2nd book a year ago). While this Sampler is a little less than 200 pages it’s incredible how much action is packed into it. Waiting until November for the full release is going to be torture now that my appetite has been whetted. I feel like Gabriel when he has a whiff of blood.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the Sampler, if you wanna send me the full ARC I would be *much* appreciated.

This sampler gave me just the smallest taste of what's to come, and now I am simply feral. Kristoff has outdone himself with this series and I am absolutely hooked.

Thanks to SMP and NetGalley for the sampler. I wish I had been labeled as a sampler to begin with.

But OMG this just makes me even more feral to have the whole thing in my hands.

I was not ready for this to end. I have to blow my own horn here for a second and point out that I knew Aaron was right when he said there was something wrong with the city, and I predicted Aaron’s actions once he left the stables had been staged by the two who met in the stables beforehand.

Baptiste and Aaron are breaking my heart, I have a feeling Lachlan (at least) is going to die because of G’s being the only silver saint left by the time he’s telling the tale. (Baptiste and Aaron will also probably be dead by then, but who knows?)

I would read more books set in this series, though I am ready to see this story end. I predict it’s a rocks fall; everyone dies ending.