*Disclaimer* If the word that rhymes with duck and starts with a f, makes you uncomfortable, then this book and this review are not for you.
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This book promised to have action, adventure, blood smut, and overall, general fuckery. It did not disappoint. I really should have counted how many times I caught my self saying, what the fuck, or are you fucking kidding me. I even caught myself saying fucking bastard a few times.

This epic adventure jumps through three different timelines, current, past, and even farther back past. It's done really well and keeps you in suspense on how this story is going to play out. Warning: jumping through timelines is like getting to a cliff hanger every few hundred pages. It's going to drive you mad, but also fucking brilliant!

This book is everything I was anticipating and more. If you loved Nevernight, you will love this book!!

Thank you to NetGalley and St Martin’s Press for this sample

All I have to say is I don’t remember I read a book where the writing was as smooth as good whiskey and story just spoke for itself

This book is a baby of The Witcher and The Name of the winds and I cannot wait to see where Gabe takes us

Wow, I did not think that I would like this book this much! Gabriel de Leon, renowned Silversaint, talks to a vampire chronicler about his glory days. The book follows three different timelines, one where Gabriel is actually talking to the vampire, one where Gabriel is just becoming a Silversaint, and one where Gabriel finds the holy grail. I really enjoyed the humor in this book (the irony joke anyone?). The One Faith is very clearly a religion like Christianity, so I really enjoyed the discussions surrounding religion, faith, good and evil. This book is not for the faint of heart, there are many detailed fight scenes with lots of gore, but I did not find this distasteful. I cannot wait to read the rest of the book!
Thank you to Netgalley for providing me a sample ARC in exchange of an honest review.

Thank you so much, St. Martin's Press, for the chance to read and review this sampler in exchange of an honest review!

Empire of the vampire is one of my most anticipated reads in 2021 and I was so happy when I got the chance to devour this sampler!

In a world where the last sunrise was twenty-seven years ago and where vampires battle against humanity, creating their empire, Gabriel de León is the last silversaint, a member of a holy brotherhood dedicated to defend the world against the darkness. Now, imprisoned by vampires, Gabriel is forced to tell his story, talking about love and battles, vampires and other night creatures and the humanity's last hope, the legend: the Holy Grail.

I loved reading this wonderfully huge sampler (over 400 pages) and it left me even more curious about what would happen next! The worldbuilding is amazing and fascinating, set in a world without light, without any explanation of what happened and why and this world of darkness vampires and other night creatures start a war against humans. Silversaints are the last light against the darkness, but now only Gabriel remains. What happened? Is the humanity truly lost?
Forced to tell his story to Jean-Francois, a vampire historian, Gabriel swings between past and present, talking about his childhood and his peculiar powers, the brotherhood and his allies, his love and battles, what he lost and how. In a matrioska style, stories inside other stories, Gabriel narrates the sine die, the vampires, powers, losses.
In a very peculiar way, the reader and the historian are the same: both listening to Gabriel, following his story and asking questions and, through Jean-Francois that sketches the characters, the reader is also able to see them, thanks to the marvellous of @monolimeart. While Gabriel recounts his story, his ups and downs, the reader gets to know an interesting and complex main characters, weighed down by losses and rage, a bit cynical and lost.

This book is phenomenal and I definitely recommend this to everyone, but, please, check the trigger warnings first.

It’s hard to review a sampler- but I’m able to solidly say that I’m so incredibly excited for this book! Even in brief (although… it was still fairly long!), it’s evident this is going to be amazing.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thanks to NetGalley I was able to read an early sample (still 400 pages) and it has left me dying while waiting for the books I preordered to get here already! This has definitely been a blood 🩸 filled ride and I haven’t even finished yet! These vampires are truly diabolical and I’m here for it, pretty sure everyone who picks this book up will get what they are waiting for. Gabriel de Leon is truly such a nuanced character that has been through so much, but this harrowing journey has only highlighted how human he remains despite his best efforts to not care. 🥀
*Will update this review when I finish the book*

This is going straight into my top ten most favorite reads. My hope and expectation is that this is going to end up on all sorts of best of the year lists. This is such an original and fun engaging read. Great characters that will stay in your head for many lesser reads to come. Which is my biggest complaint with this book is that all the books that come after it are pale in comparison. There’s going to be a trilogy which is going to really f some faces.

This book will not be for everyone. It's a dark high fantasy meant for adults, and although the writing style is beautiful, it's very bloody and almost biblical in a sense. Kristoff has a particular way of writing, and EOTV is distinctly his. It's similar to Nevernight in the way it's set and told, but in terms of plot, it's a whole different beast. This is a book best read in chunks, rather than all in one go. It's not that it's hard to wrap your head around, it's just that as a book, it's pretty loaded in content. Overall, it was exactly as expected and I am in desperate need of the sequel. Thank you to Jay Kristoff and NetGalley for providing me with an E-ARC in exchange for an honest review. Empire of the Vampire releases September 7th, 2021, so be sure to check it out!

Dude!!! First, thank you Netgalley and Jay Kristoff for the arc. I'm dying to know what happens next. This was an insane read. Steady heartbeat of battle, becoming and gore. And the laugh out loud humor sprinkled in almost as often as the potatoes. Iykyk
This story was Greta. Incredibly well written,a new world written so impeccably well, I feel like I've been there. Love there. Writing so deep, flawless. Antihero you love to hate and hate to love but damn I wanna see him in all his silverclad glory.
Trigger warnings: loss, abuse, drug use.

Empire of the Vampire is a vampire masterpiece, revitalizing the vampire genre. The main character, Gabriel, is so perfectly moody. His world is tough, and his life has been harder. The story alternates between different times in the main characters life, leaving enough gaps in the story to be intriguing, leaving us wondering what happened in between to make the characters develop the way they did. This is the best vampire book I've ever read, I can't wait for more.

I received an advanced copy of this book for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I have been itching to read Jay Kristoff books (as I have all of them on my shelves lol) and getting this ARC was the push I needed.

Me being a vampire person (No, I never got over it), I was READY to dive into this new book.

What I was not ready for was the deep world that utterly consumed my life with the darkness, danger, and depth. Words can't even explain right now how I feel after finishing this MONSTER of a book...so I might have to come back to add to this review when I've had time to digest everything.


UM read this when is comes out.

Now I'm off to read Kristoff's other works.

Thank you to Jay Kristoff, the publishers, and NetGalley for this ARC

I had a really hard time sitting through this. For one, this may just be my own issues but the format in how the sample was provided made it really difficult to read. The layout and size of font was a struggle. I also really did not like the dialogue flow, it felt repetitive and hard to get past while understanding what information was just shared.

The storytelling is just not working for me. The timeline jumps all over the place and is rather hard to follow. You think it's going to be in a linear fashion, but then it jumps forward many years and I just feel lost and like I'm missing pertinent info. The main character is telling his story to another character and it's all in quotations and that makes it hard to tell who is actually talking as he's telling his story. I was excited for this and the premise seems interesting but I just can't handle this manner of storytelling. It's a chore to read and that's not enjoyable so I'm sticking a fork in this one. DNF at 33%

DNF at page 218

I was initially really excited to read this novel. I have been wanting to pick up Jay Kristoff for a while and a book about vampires seemed a good place to start. I just want to start by saying that I do not think the book was bad by any means, it was just not for me. Something was not clicking, but I can understand why people would like it.
My first issue was with the way it was being told. I prefer my stories told in a more linear fashion, with occasional flashbacks if need be and if relevant to the story. In Empire of the Vampire, our main character; Gabriel, is telling his story in the future to a vampire. It appears as if he is some great hero to the humans and he killed the Forever King. So he is telling us his story. Which I may not have minded if it was told more linear. I only read three parts, but already he had jumped ahead some years and then preceded to go back a few years again. I am not a fan of stories jumping around like that. If that does not irritate you, then this should not be a problem.
Secondly, I did not feel anything for the characters. I did not care for our main character, nor any of the side characters. At times I was forgetting who the names belonged to, as I did not feel any attachment to them, and thus took away from my enjoyment of the story.
Regardless, if you are a Jay Kristoff fan, you may still enjoy this novel or if my two points do not bother you, you may enjoy it more than I did. Like I said, it is not a "bad" book, we just did not click. The writing was not the issue.
And perhaps, if it was not told in the fashion of Gabriel telling his story, and was told in a more typical linear fashion starting from when he was young, I would have enjoyed this more.

I’m not sure what I was expecting for my first Kristoff read – but it delivered lol I received an arc for EOTV but it’s more of a sampler – that is freaking 400 + pages long I believe. It took me a while to get through it and I will still need to pick it back up to finish the last chunk. Here’s what I found while reading EOTV though:
• It is just a dark and atmospheric as one would expect (or should) for a vampire read
• I thought the idea of a dialogue between two characters speaking about the past would be boring. It wasn’t. It’s like an interview/recording of a biography, but the events that Gabriel (the mc) has to tell us are not boring in the slightest. Or at least not to me.
• There was not a lot of smut in this first half of the book. There are perhaps two scenes that were…interesting. There’s some very unique kissing going on. Make of that what you will lmao
• The found family trope is one of my favorites and I loved seeing it included in the story. My heart is broken because of the same trope as well.
• Gabriel De Leon is a hard man to pin down. He’s definitely a morally grey character – I just couldn’t really tell just how morally grey he truly is. His character is very unpredictable; he is careful about what he reveals and when and also what he does and why. There is one character that Gabriel speaks very vaguely about and we don’t really get much more information in the sampler about this person and the nature of the relationship between them. And I need to know about it!!!!
• The ending of the sampler ends with a few revelations and reveals that I didn’t see. Plot Twist actually worked on me.
I don’t think the conclusion of EOTV is going to disappoint with anything beyond making me highly upset at Mr. Kristoff for his actions. I’m lowkey already a little salty.

This book is great. I was able to read an extended sample thanks to NetGalley. Empire of the Vampire started out pretty slow. I almost felt lost in the beginning, but it started to pick up in the middle. This is my first novel by Jay Kristoff and I was not disappointed. The plot is great and it takes you on a wild ride.

Jay is a Bastard. This sample was just enough to wet our appetite, but leave us for dead. How dare you.

That being said; Bravo, Sir. Bravo.

I got about 25% in before I realised this was only an extended sampler and, because of that and personal reading preferences, I am going to hold off until I have a complete copy.

But what I did read. Oh my goodness. Release day can't come soon enough. The narrative reminded me of one of my all time favourite books, 'The Name of the Wind,' as the main character is recounting his past and everything that has lead him to the present moment. It's dark and gritty and takes vampires, as well as the tale of the Holy Grail, in a completely unique and bloody direction. It gives JK'S 'Nevernight' series a run for its money in terms of mature content.

To readers who thought they were over vampire stories, think again.

I wasn't aware that this was a sampler, but from what I have read I am very interested and can't wait to read the rest. A very interesting take on a vampire story.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press for this sampler of Empire of the Vampire in exchange for an honest review!

I'll be honest, here. While I love the premise and I'm all for dark fantasy and Jay's writing, I found this one to actually be rather disappointing. It's written in the same vein as Name of the Wind. He's telling his story, jumping back between the past and the present, but the transitions were so choppy for me, and I honestly hated that he literally writes the entire sections of the flash back in quotes. I dunno, he couldh ave broken it up or something, but the quotes were so very distracting while reading.

I also found the story a bit...bland? It's like it was trying to be Nevernight in dark vampire form with a male MC. But the humor wasn't there, and the character felt like a weaker version of Mia.

I am highly disappointed. I was really anticipating this one.