This was only a sample, but I did pick the book up on kindle on sale to read the whole thing. This scratched the vampire itch I’ve had for a while now. It’s brutal and gritty and that’s the way vampire books should be.

Five star rating for this book!!

Synopsis~~~ 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 loved this book so much, it is dark and gritty and the writing flows so well! There are characters you love and characters you hate and the book transports you to a completely different world with its adventurous, entrancing plot.

4.5 star rating, definitely recommend!!

I could tell this was written by a man versus a woman. The profanity, the violence, everything. Not to say that that makes this a bad book, I will certainly continue reading but it felt extreme. I understand that fantasy is just that, fantasy. But I don’t think I’ve ever felt as a fronted with it as I have been with this sampler. I am invested enough to continue on, but will make a further evaluation once I finish the novel. Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for an ARC of the first 400 pages of this novel.

Jay Kristoff does it again!!! Think The Witcher and Interview with a Vampire had a baby and you get this magnificent piece of work. Blood, violence, sexiness, not for the faint of heart. If want old school vampire hunters, forbidden love, long ago supernatural bloodlines, then look no further!

Wonderful book with lots of action and vampires. Long but doesn't feel long. Pretty graphic though just fyi.

This book was....wild. From start to finish. I can see how Kristoff has so many loyal fans, but I definitely wouldn't recommend this to just anybody. It was a very unique story.

I haven't finished but thought this was so compelling, I decided to get it on audible. Talked my hubby into reading it with me and we both love it so far.

Thrilling, haunting, edge of your seat page turner. Jay Kristoff does it again. Thank you to NetGalley and this publisher for allowing me early reading access to this fantastic novel.

Didn't capture my attention and engagement. Interested in trying it again though and hopefully it will take.

Jay Kristoff is a mastermind and created a magnificent new world that had me begging for more! An awesome adventure filled with twists and turns that I never saw coming!

I mean - vampires vampires vampires. Am I right? So much world building with extensively thought out plots and characters. My only gripe was how the women were treated at times.

Well, it’s really good—don’t get me wrong—but ultimately incomplete. Obviously. Obviously as well, I have to read the rest of it now. Because it’s really, really good. Jumping back and forth between two pasts does kinda throw the whole flow off, but when your story has this much kick to it you can apparently get away with that.

Not much I can do but recommend the full version as this sample makes me NEED to read the rest of it.

Okay, so this book took me foreeeever. I started this behemoth September 20th. Didn’t finish until November freaking 22nd. TWO. MONTHS. To be fair, I was planning my wedding and was balls deep in wedding stuff (which was November 6th, and my glorious husband messaged Jay about it and he actually recorded a “happy marriage” video for me *insert squealing, puppy eyes, and tears*) so I didn’t have much time to read. Plus, this book is HEAVY. It probably took me twice as long to read each page as a normal book would take. I was only able to read a couple chapter a night at best, and the result was that I really got to savor this bad boy. Usually I gobble new Kristoff books up within 24 hours of release at the latest (usually months before release in ARC form, actually). It killed me that I didn’t even get to start it until a week after release! I did get the ARC from NetGalley a couple months in advance, but I was less jazzed to read it when I found out it was only a lengthy sampler – I didn’t want to get SUPER into it and then get cut off and be jonesing for the rest for weeks on end! I figured it was better to just wait until release. And it was 100% worth the wait!

That being said, this is the first of Jay’s books that I wasn’t absolutely gung-ho smitten with from the very beginning. It definitely feels like Adult High Fantasy because it started SLOW. Jay’s writing is phenomenal, as always, so I was never bored; but I wasn’t super into Gabe as a character until a good 1/3 of the way in. (As per usual, it’s all about the side characters for me though!) It took a while for me to get invested in this story.

This book is dark. And when I say dark, I mean: It’s the darkest book Jay has written, and his books are usually pretty dark anyway. Moreover, it’s extremely bleak, too. Gabe is very pessimistic and has basically lost all faith and all hope. And because he’s telling the story, that bleakness bleeds into the whole narrative and feel of the entire novel. The storytelling is super interesting because Gabe is telling his own story after it all happened. Which is a lot like Name of the Wind (which I hated), but it’s done in a way that I actually enjoyed. NotW didn’t work for me because it made me feel detached from the story knowing that everything had already happened. But, Jay is a MASTER at pulling shit off, and there’s just something in the way he does it that it worked for me.

I also want to say that I’m not usually a vampire fan, but I thoroughly enjoyed Jay’s take on them! It was a fresh perspective on vamp lore – maybe it’s been done before, but if it has I haven’t seen/read it, so it was new to me.

It’s not a Kristoff story without a few blow-your-face-off bombs being dropped. I looove that Jay always keeps me on my toes! I can usually see twists coming a mile away, but Jay always manages to surprise me. There were two twists in this one that had me positively gobsmacked.

[spoilers removed]

Side note: The horse deaths got me hard. I actually had to put the book down after that one scene. Whew.

As always, superb and flawless storytelling by Mister Kristoff! Can’t wait to get my hands on the second book!

(Original review posted at Novel Heartbeat)

I highly enjoyed this sampler of Empire of the Vampire! I want to read the full book as soon as possible now!

I really enjoyed this sample. I went out and bought the full book of course to finish the story!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the eGalley. All opinions are my own.

This is late, but you cannot go wrong with a Kristoff book. The world's and characters he builds are amazing. This was a winner from the start!

I really enjoyed this sampler and the tone that was set was phenomenal. I can’t wait to read the rest of this book! Dark and delicious

This was 4.5 ⭐️s for me! I started the book on audio, and the introduction to this new world was amazing but… oh so so long. Therefore minus half a star. I got a little bored with how long it felt on audio. I ended up getting the kindle book and the physical book and switched back and forth between all formats.

Now once this book got going, like really going, DAMN it was good. The story had violence, vampires, nuns, and a splash of romance. I loved the budding romance story between Gabriel and Astrid. And I loved the unique way the story was told.
⠀
If you haven’t read this book, do so right away.

Empire of the Vampire is a gripping and gritty vampire tale that had me hooked from the start. This terrifying story had me gripped from the start. Though it was long, it never fell flat for me. The atmosphere that this book created was incredibly captivating and I really enjoyed all of the characters (whether I loved them or hated them) that were introduced to me over the course of the book and the journey that everyone went through.

However, I was only given a sampler of the novel, not the full novel (Thank you so much to the publisher!), and I have since not finished the full book, only the sampler, so my opinion is based off of that.

The atmosphere really makes the book. The descriptions and paths in this book really add to the fantasy vibes and the gritty aeshetic. I really loved the way that this book was paced, though I only read half of the book as it was the sampler. When people say that this book is terrifying, they mean it. There is a lot of violence, terror, profanity, and while it’s a lot, it also adds to the environment and the aesthetic that the book is trying to create.

I would recommend this book to any fantasy lovers (especially vampire lovers). If you’re tempted to pick this book up or add it to your TBR, definitely give this book a chance!

Thank you to St. Martin’s Press for sending me the first half of Empire of the Vampire.

It’s safe to say I DEVOURED this first section, and I’m definitely afraid to finish this book…but in the best possible way.