Jay Kristoff does no wrong! He is the master of fantasy and gore. This new tale of a half breed vampire hunting down vampires is a fresh new take on vampire novels. Much better than the YA paranormal romance tropes that are so overdone!

Jay Kristoff has done it AGAIN! I cannot put into words how much I loved this, and I truly cannot wait for the sequel. All the world building and twists that I've come to love from his writing were all here, and he pulls it off as brilliantly as ever. Maybe even more so! I, personally, am a fan of werewolves, but Jay makes a pretty good argument for vampires here... Well done, and highly recommended! (BUT STILL NOT YA!)

Imagine the Vampire Lestat and Pillars of the Earth. That is my approximation of the scope and tone of Jay Kristoff's deliciously dark and robust new novel. It is the story of Gabriel de Leon, silversaint, a sort of knights templar-esque society charged with protecting the world from evil and supernaturals. But, you see, they've kind of failed. living in a sort of post-humane world where vampires are able to run a bit amok. Gabriel is the last of his kind and the world has become the perfect place for vampires not vampire hunters, if you will. So our guy Gabe is out-numbered and out-fanged. He's imprisoned at the start of our story, bu he gets to be a boy again at the start of his, a story he is made to tell so vampires can amass all of the silversaint secrets he possesses.

I know all of that sounds enticing, especially if you love vampire fiction. But vampire history ins't the good bit, despite the endless capacity for world building it affords (and believe me Kristoff takes advantage. For me, lit-crit-nerd-extraordinaire that I am, the good bit is that it's meta. It's meta and massive and beautiful. It's a veritable buffet of visual, auditory and gustatory imagery. And despite the language being dense and a bit purple in places; it is also deliciously dark and poetic. Could the story be a bit more streamlined? Yes. Would cuts take away from it? it might, and it's not worth finding out when it works.

I would like to thank NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This preview only wets my appetite for me! I love the way it starts and the hero of the book. The vampires in this book are fearsome and yet irresistible. I absolutely loved the way it played out and I can't wait for more!

I am certainly glad that the book is out today because I am desperate to find out how the rest of this book will go! Jay Kristoff is easily one of my favorite authors, and the Nevernight Chronicles has maintained a very special place to me, and I am so relieved, excited, and all-around overjoyed to say that Empire of the Vampire is just as amazing as I'd hoped! Kristoff's writing is just as stunning and visceral and flowing all at the same time and I have enjoyed it so much. I genuinely cannot wait to see where this story goes.

DNF 41%

What a waste of a gorgeous book cover.

I am wondering why Robin Hobb (I love) and John Gwynne are bigging up this puerile flex of profanity, your mama/wife jokes, and Periods as an excuse for bitchiness referenced TWICE in the span of a few pages (my gawd, hi, the 90s called and they said to tell you that v-health bashing is passé *eye-roll*).

Moving on.

Utterly boring dogmatic pontification (of the lazily disguised Catholic secret sect variety) but, get this, with tattoos (ummm hello, Peter V Brett would appreciate your stanning via his socials/Dms).

M/M sex referred to as sodomy (that means rape, in case anyone cares, a term which has absolutely no bearing on what happens between consenting adults) but yet underaged sexing/ problematic behaviour exhibited by the sketchy adults in the first half of this book is part of the narrative. I shudder.

I thought I'd be able to get through this but it's really a litany of vulgarity, and I'm bored of how many times I have to read that Gabe is into women, or something about their milky thighs, or some serving woman/thrall who reminds him of whoring or/ of a brothel or something to that effect that I've already tuned out and forgotten. Oh, and of course, breasts.

I get it. Sort of.

I mean, I thought Gabe took vows of chastity or some shit. So I don't really understand this continuous affirmation of het sex as a thing. In this story. Chock full of nuns and Brothers. Who cuss and quote scripture in the same breath. Which, by virtue, is the absolute fuckin opposite of sexy. Unless that's like your fetish or something. Right.

I'm really mad that this book had Alucard potential, but it's really just two-dimensional vapid characters braying, bullying and being insufferably boring.

There were three vampire fights. At 40%.

There are better books to read... perhaps ones more surreptitious about biting Game of Thrones' white walkers and LOTR's love of the pipe.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for this exclusive sampler of Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff. At just over 400 pages, this sampler put me over halfway through the book and if the first half is like the second half, then this is going to be one of my favorite books I've read this year. I like the fact that it is a story within the story and it is a nonlinear timeline jumping between the present and two different parts of the past. Never did I feel confused when Kristoff jumped between the timelines as it felt like a natural progression of the story. I love the characters and without spoilers, I can say this book has already broken my heart. Can't wait to continue on with the story!

“ASK ME NOT if God exists, but why he’s such a prick.“

Thus the book starts with the greatest first line ever. Honestly- unforgettable.

I am gaga for Jay Kristoff and his books that are NOT for kids. Mia Corvere was not for children and neither is Gabriel de León.

This sampler was rough because I knew it was only a portion of the story so I definitely held off as long as I could so I can get my hands on the rest with my preorder.

This is sexy, gruesome and everything you expect from Mr.Kristoff and the sampler gives you a taste but definitely does not leave you sated.

I cannot wait to see where this delight of a vampire tale goes in the rest of this book and the upcoming sequels. I am excited already. Definitely one to check out and demand bookstores move from the YA section.

I was so into the story and got to the last page and found out that the eARC I got is just a sampler of the book. I was planning on getting this book on hard cover and after what I read I cannot wait for the weekend to go get my copy.
I love how we were reading about the events that take place in the past and is like reading an interview with the vampire, which it is in fact a vampire, LOL.
Well, I can only say that I’m in love with what I read :)

Wow wow wow!! I didn’t realize this was just a sampler but now I must go and read the whole thing because that was amazing!

I cannot wait for my preorder to arrive so I can finish this book! Probably my favorite thing about this story so far is the manner in which it is being told. Gabriel de Leon has been imprisoned and is forced to tell his life story to Jean-Francois, one of the creatures that de Leon spent his life as a Silversaint eradicating. It truly feels like you are in the room with them hearing de Leon tell his story with little remarks and comments interspersed by Jean-Francois. The world and character development so far have been out of this world. There is not a single side character that feels flat, they have all been fleshed out in a manner that you really understand their purposes and actions, and the world is described in such beautiful detail that I have had no problem thus far picturing what every location looks like and how the magic/belief systems interact with the people and environments.

As Jay Kristoff said himself this is definitely NOT a book for kids. It is dark and gruesome and plot twisty in the best way. I will be demolishing the rest of the book the moment I get my hands on it.

From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hand sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.

It has been twenty-seven long years since the last sunrise. For nearly three decades, vampires have waged war against humanity; building their eternal empire even as they tear down our own. Now, only a few tiny sparks of light endure in a sea of darkness.

Gabriel de León is a silversaint: a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defending realm and church from the creatures of the night. But even the Silver Order could not stem the tide once daylight failed us, and now, only Gabriel remains.

Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. A story of legendary battles and forbidden love, of faith lost and friendships won, of the Wars of the Blood and the Forever King and the quest for humanity’s last remaining hope:

The Holy Grail.

I didn’t love this book for me. I think the writing was great and the story was pretty good, however I just don’t think it is the right book for me! The illustrations were amazing and I will still recommend this book to others because it is a good story and I know there are other people out there that will find it as their next favorite read!

It comes as no surprise to anyone that has been following me for awhile that Jay Kristoff is one of my favorite authors. I am also a huge fan of vampires so when I found out that he was writing a book trilogy about vampires…. I almost lost my mind in excitement. And when St. Martin’s Press sent me the exclusive sampler, whoa boy! I was torn between wanting to devour it and savoring it because I knew that the sampler was going to leave off on a massive cliffhanger so if I finished it too quickly I would be left dying inside waiting for my finished copies to arrive. (And yes, I did say copies plural… but more on that later.)
From the moment I cracked open the sampler, I knew I was going to be in for the ride of my life. There was a huge sense of forboding but in the way that you know you’re reading a vampire novel if that makes any sense. The story starts out in Gabriel De Leon’s present and then proceeds to backtrack to how he came to be in his present circumstances as Jean-Francois of the Blood Chastain records Gabriel’s oral history via the written word and sketches. In that sense it had a similar setup to Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice. And yet, Gabriel is a captive which is likely the only reason he is being so forthcoming in telling the details of his life and how he became to be the Last Silversaint. The banter between Gabriel and Jean-Francois is absolutely hilarious which provides a nice bit of levity amongst the heaviness of Gabriel’s tales. Gabriel has lived a rather hard life which is evident from his stories so those brief moments of humor really help to break things up. There is even more humor added once Gabriel arrives at San Michon and the other silversaints are introduced… be prepared to write down some really fantastic insults!
Jay Kristoff’s writing really has a way of immersing the reader into the worlds he creates and it is no different with Empire of the Vampire. It was incredible to visualize certain scenes in my mind and have them match up very similarly with the illustrations. And let’s talk about the illustrations…. wow!!! Bon Orthwick (aka @monolimeart on Instagram) did a phenomenal job on the illustrations for this novel. Bon’s attention to detail in transforming Jay’s words into these stunning illustrations… just amazing.
Everything about this book so far has completely drawn me in! I love all of the different editions that are out there and had actually preordered 6 different editions for my collection! The book published in the UK last Tuesday so I actually received one of my UK editions yesterday and my first US edition is currently out for delivery! The Waterstones special edition is the one that arrived yesterday and it is bloody gorgeous! I can’t wait for my other editions to arrive and add them to my shelf. I have continued reading the rest of the book with the Waterstones edition.

4.25 Stars

I just wanted to start if off by saying that Empire of the Vampire is my most anticipated book of the year so I had crazy high expectations. I received a sampler that’s about 400 pages and I believe the final copy is around 750 pages. So with me having read a little over half of the book I can confidently say that this has the possibility of becoming a 5 star read once I finish the book.

This book has an interesting narrative. We have present day Gabriel, who is imprisoned, recounting his life to a vampire. He tells the story with 2 timelines. The first is him discovering he’s a half-vampire and following his journey as he joins the Silver Order in order to fight against the creatures of the night. The second timeline is him much older and known as a bit of a legend. He’s a broken man and stumbles upon an old friend who might have found the solution to the war against vampires, The Holy Grail.

At first, I struggled to connect with the story as Gabriel and the vampire he’s telling his story to would interrupt saying snarky/sassy remarks. This happened less frequently as the story went on and I actually started to look forward to these moments as they were really entertaining. As with most dual timeline stories, I did enjoy one slightly more that the other but I think the author did a really good job at making them both interesting.

I loved the characters in this. He did such a good job of balancing dark themes and humour but also making them unique. Even thought there was 2 timelines going on, I never mixed up different characters. I will say that Talon was probably my favourite. His insults were legendary.

It was really cool seeing illustrations throughout as well. I’m the worst for remembering character descriptions so having the awesome illustrations really helped me to visualize everything. Can’t wait to see the rest.

I think that most fans of his Nevernight series will really enjoy Empire of the Vampire as it has the same type of vibes and dark tone/humour as Nevernight.

I’m now impatiently waiting for one of my preorders of the final copy to arrive to finish.

Wow …my first impression was this is very long and then I realized that this is just a sampler and is only the first 400 pages. 😢😢😢
The thing that impresses me the most about Jay Kristoff is how good he is at world building. You get the sense of the world from the very first sentence of this book. It is epic and intense And I can’t wait to read the rest!
I will admit that I requested this completely on the strength of the author and I knew it wasn’t going to disappoint. This is a book that hits all the vampire marks yet still manages to surprise you. If you like Jay Kristoff, vampires, world buildng, witty violence then in this book is for you.

Now I have to sit here and wait patiently for the next 400 pages. 🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️🤦🏼‍♀️
#netgalley
#Empireofthevampireexclusivesampler

Thank you Netgalley and Publisher for a sample ARC.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would. It took me forever to get through the 300 or so pages in this sampler. The style was hard for me to read and the continuous vulgarity (more than normal in a Jay Kristoff Novel) was just too much for me. I am sorry to say that I don't see myself finishing the entire book.

I hate Jay Kristoff (read, I don't). He always knows how to catch a reader's interest, and after having to watch him write this book for a good long while, it was nice to get my hands on it... even if it wasn't the entire story. The lore is incredible, the writing is... well, it's Jay, so. Will definitely be picking this up so I can finish it.

With the million and a half special editions and months of hype leading up to its release, requesting an advanced copy of Empire of the Vampire was mainly fueled by my interest in whether the book would live up to all of the excitement. Especially considering I'd read a book by Kristoff before and didn't enjoy it, but I was still wanting to give one of his adult books a try. What I didn't expect was for this to end up being one of the best books I've read so far this year.

Although it's marketed as the book that’s bringing back vampires, there's a lot more to the story than that. Empire of the Vampire is one of those rare books that had me completely enraptured and glued to the pages as I followed the story of Gabriel de Léon, a legendary silversaint recanting his life to a vampire. What follows is a glorious tale of bloodshed, faith, despair, family, love, vengeance, and finding hope in the darkest of times.

I absolutely cannot wait to get a finished copy when the book comes out this Tuesday and devour the last 300 pages that weren’t included in the sampler. Prepare yourselves for this one guys, it’s bloody brilliant and you’re going to love it!

I struggled with reading this due to the kindle copy having formatting issues. Paragraphs were cut in in places, sometimes in mid sentences. It was hard to read. I can not read on a screen like my phone. So due to that I didn’t get as far into the book as I would have liked before the publishing date.

However, I what I did read I enjoyed enough to pre-order the book and will be looking forward to reading it when it arrives!