I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait for the next one in this series. There were times where I was left confused about the setting/scene due to the heavy metaphor, but through discussions with other readers, I was able to fully comprehend the text. From what I can understand, this is simply Kristoff’s style of writing, and maybe I am just not as strong of a fantasy reader.

The battle scenes were epic, and I am really glad that I purchased a copy of the full text from my local bookstore. I would have been missing out if I stopped at the end of the sample.

Five Star Rating!

Free arc from NETGALLEY

This book was literally everything. I loved how it’s told from an interview perspective. The timeline jumping wasn’t confusing at all. The characters were fleshed out and had their own personalities. The book is quite long so be ready to commit but totally worth it. Ready for the second installment!

*will be published on August 5th

This book is huge--honestly, it was a little intimidating going into it, but it was so worth it! I loved the whole concept as well as the plot. The characters were interesting (particularly the main character). The writing so so well done and the ending just left me hungry for the next book!

First of all, I enjoyed the presentation of the story. In Empire of the Vampire, the story is told by the main character, Gabriel de Leon. Held against his will, Gabriel is forced to tell his life story--everything from his childhood to his training as a silversaint and his falling out with the brotherhood. It was a little confusing the first time he jumped forward in time to another point in the story, but once I realized there was a pattern of switching between his early years with the brotherhood and the ones after he left I was able to keep up better.
Despite the minor confusion initially, I enjoyed the way the story alternated between Gabriel's early life when he had faith and his later years when he was cynical and jaded. It worked really to pull me into the story. Immediately, I wanted to know how things had gotten so bad. What had shaken Gabriel's faith so hard to turn him into that bitter, cynical man who was narrating the story?

The different timelines both held my attention in different ways. When Gabriel talked about his time in the brotherhood I was fascinated with the whole culture and rigid discipline. I was invested in the search for the holy grail and an end to daysdeath. I loved seeing the blossoming romance as well. It didn't overshadow the main plot but was still enjoyable to see play out.

The pacing was pretty steady throughout and the story had a good deal of action. It was a pretty dark story too (you've been warned), but I honestly loved the tone. Empire of the Vampire is perfect for fans of vampires and dark fantasy. I'm definitely looking forward to continuing this series and will be reviewing it in the future!

I'm a fan of Jay Kristoff. I loved the series he did with Amie Kauffman (Aurora Cycle), so I was anxious to read something done solely by him. I was not disappointed. I liked the world building and characters so far. I'm excited to read the rest of this novel.

“Live as a monster, or die as a man.”

There was so much hype on this book and I did enjoy it for the most part. It seemed like this book was trying to be a lot of things for a lot of people and just feel a little short. World building was amazing though.

I really wanted to love this book, however, it was so depressing and I had to DNF. It may have been because of where I was at emotionally, however, a book without the hope of something positive was too difficult to finish.

I was shocked when I saw that this was a sampler, oh my goodness. A 400 pages sampler?! But when I say I flew through it, I really did. I am so excited for Empire of the Vampire and I cannot wait to read the rest of this book when it comes out!

I completely see the merit in this book, but it's definitely not for me and might be difficult to recommend! I would have to know the patron prior to suggesting this, for sure.

I am very glad that I had this excerpt on hand before I went ahead and purchased this book. After reading this excerpt I realized I just do not think this authors writing is for me. I felt as if there was not much plot for as long of an excerpt as this was and I never felt pulled into the story or compelled to keep going. I’m so glad so many people love this story, but unfortunately I just don’t think Kristoff is the author for me.

The epic tone is certainly there, but it didn't compell me to keep going and finish it this time around. The worldbuilding is really interesting, as it usually is with Jay Kristoff, but the characters felt so boring for some reason. I am willing to try this again at some point, maybe by the time the sequel comes out.

Thank you to netgalley for the ARC of the first part that convinced me to get my own copy once it came out. I love the worldbuilding, enjoyed so many of the characters (but I'm here for Astrid and Gabriel!) and the ending is cliffhanger that Kristoff is excellently skilled at doing, enough to leave us fans agonizing for his next book.

It is hard to give a star rating to an except but this was interesting. It feels like a mix of Nevernight meets An Interview with a Vampire! I will go with 3 stars as I do want to continue but don’t feel so intrigued that I need to right away.

I am so glad I was able to get this preview. It definitely drew me in. This book is amazing for sci-fi fans and fans of the Witcher. It is a long book so it felt like I got 2 books in 1. I think this is definitely one of my top reads and I have recommended it to everyone. Thank you NetGalley for this advance copy in exchange for my review.

After reading the small sample I had found online I became extremely interested. This book did not disappoint!

It’s a twisted tale filled with blood, enchanted sword, a world filled with grotesque yet beautiful monsters and magic… and did I mention the swears?! Totally creative and I loved every single word. The characters were so well written I expected them to jump off the page at any second, especially when I held the book so close to my face that the pages fluttered with my breath during more than a few parts!

I want to say thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for approving me for this sampler of Empire of the Vampire. This has to be the longest sampler I read and I loved it and can’t wait to read the rest of the book. The characters are well written I love the storyline of it all with how complicated the characters are. It’s very descriptive and I love the smart remarks Gabriel has with other characters. This was such a good read im definitely recommending this book to others.

I really liked this one. After reading about vampires in fantasy romance for so long, it was nice to have a more gritty vampire book. This book is long but the world building and descriptions are necessary to bring the reader into the story. I liked this one.

I received the sampler of this. While it was a little slow to start and initially hard to get the world building all sorted out, I can tell this book is going to be amazing, gritty, and a wild ride. I can't wait to read the rest of it!

This epic fantasy was awesome. It was just the book I was looking for. Dark, gritty, and great characters and world.

Definitely recommend for dark fantasy readers.

Wow this was definitely generous for a sampler! It was interested to read something of Kristoff's that wasn't part of the Nevernight series (those having been the only books of his that I've read before this). The sampler definitely left me eager to sit down with the physical book, ready to immerse myself in this dark, bloody world of vampires. We all definitely needed a break from vampires for a bit, but now I'm happy to see they're making such a comeback!

This review took a long time to write because I kept putting off this book even though I was wildly excited for it. As a writer, I knew that Jay was going to bring me into another world and I couldn't afford for that to happen while I was writing/publishing my own novel. But the wait was worth it. It killed me that this was only the first 400+pages but thankfully I had the book on my shelf and could keep right on reading. It's hard, gritty, brutal, and absolutely beautiful. As always, he manages to mix magic and undertones of religion and politics seamlessly. There is nothing his dark humor, snark, sex, and violence can't manage to enhance. Another absolute masterpiece.