I expect nothing else but a brutal, encompassing and vibrant story from Kay Kristoff and he sure delivered.

A fantasy narrative that derives its inspiration from the early catholic church, it left me feeling hopless, jaded and horrified.

I wouldn't pick up this sort of novel normally but Jay wrote in such away that he's become and auto buy and an auto recommend.

“Here’s the truth about sword fighting: Even if you’re bad at it, if the person you’re fighting doesn’t have one, you’re still going to be pretty good.”

I’ll begin by saying that this is not the vampire lit book that I was expecting going in, and is really more of an epic high fantasy adventure than a standard vampire trope novel. That made it a bit difficult to settle into at the outset, but ultimately worked beautifully.

I’ve long maintained that high fantasy needs to be at least a little bit funny and a little bit buddy comedy-ish to be good, and the vibe of this book is very much in that vein. There are, of course, moments or serious intensity and devastation, but Kristoff found excellent balance between those elements and a sense of lightness and adventure through wry and clever dialogue, both in terms of our hero’s inner monologue and his banter with other characters.

Is it too long? Yes. Did it absolutely need to be this long? Also yes. Do with that what you will, but despite the high word count, once I was immersed in the story I was in no rush to get to the end.

If you like Alex Marshall, Scott Lynch, or Nicholas Eames, I expect you’ll like this one very much too.

Thank you to the publisher for providing a copy for review.

I have no words! This was so SOOOO AMAZING! Easily favorite of the year for me. Gabriel is a surly bastard, and those are my favorites. The world building is so great and I can't wait to see how it expands throughout the series. These vampires are my favorite kind of vampire. Unapologetic, ruthless, vicious and still vulnerable to things like holy water and rivers and the sun. I really liked the narrative style too. I like the whole timeline jumps and narrator/scribe set up. The timeline jumps were a little confusing at times but once you find your groove it makes sense along the way. Yeah I just loved these characters, even though they are all quite unlovable creatures. Gabriel and Dior have great banter that helps balance all the gore and blood. There's a lot of that. I can't wait for book 2 to destroy my emotions even more.

Please see my full review on Cemetery Dance: https://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/review-empire-of-the-vampire-jay-kristoff/

Empire of the Vampire is not for the faint of heart. Clocking in at over 800 pages, this is a book bursting with darkness of both the literal and the figurative variety. From the cataclysmic event known as “daysdeath,” which literally darkens the sun to violent, to bloody battles between the living and the dead that lead to (multiple) heartbreaking deaths, this is not a story that’s here to coddle its readers or pull any punches, narratively or figuratively speaking.

But as a result, Empire of the Vampire is also genuinely compelling, a rich, layered story that embraces real stakes and wrestles with complex questions about faith, belief, and family, both found and otherwise.

I think I'm too old for these stodgy 700+ page fantasy epics and although I have read other books by Jay Kristoff, I probably prefer his YA stuff. The story takes place 27 years after an event stopped the sun rising and since then vampire forces have been getting stronger and stronger, with mankind now on its last legs, with the majority dead and the last sparks of light disappearing between.

I did not feel the way the plot is told was particularly engaging. At the start a famed vampire killer (himself half vampire - a Silversaint) has been captured and is forced to tell his legendary story, from childhood to a vampire historian, who writes it down for the annals of history and vampire lore. The story then flips back to when Gabriel de Leon was a farm boy, who was yet to dedicate his life to a holy brotherhood, the Silver Order, from the vampire hordes.

Once the scene is set, the story moves from soap opera, through high fantasy with great battle sequences, as Gabriel begins to dust vampires. Kristoff's spin on vampire lore was interesting, but I felt I had been here before and for such a long book the characters were just not engaging enough and the vampire foes became dull and repetitive long before the 700 pages were up.

This is not the sort of thing I read too much of these days and even though there were vampires, it still read as a fantasy novel, rather than a horror novel and traditional fantasy readers will get much more out of it than I.