Empire of the Vampire book review

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff, Bon Orthwick
Series: Empire of the Vampire #1
on September 7, 2021
Pages: 739
Goodreads

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.
From author Jay Kristoff comes Empire of the Vampire, the first illustrated volume of an astonishing new dark fantasy saga.

I have so many thoughts about Empire of the Vampire that I’m not even sure where to begin. There was so much happening in this book and there was a lot of back and forth with characters who were just passing through. This book had me in a chokehold all the way through and part of me is glad I took so long to get to it because I already have the sequel on my shelf waiting to be read.

Plot of Empire of the Vampire

We are introduced to an infamous Silversaint Vampire Hunter who seems to have done the impossible and defeated the undefeatable Vampire King. He retells his life story under duress to his vampire captives. The way the story is told isn’t linear and tells not only his journey but the way everything ended up the way it did.

I loved the way that Empire of the Vampire framed the story, there was so much information that needed to be covered and the back and forth between time lines made it a little easier to digest. I do think there were moments where it became more info dumpy then I would have liked and others where I feel as though we were thrown in blind. Those moments however were few and far between and didn’t impact my overall enjoyment of the story and the characters. The world was so rich and so well thought out, I loved learning about different cultures and the way they deal with conflicts. There was such a great mythology and culture that permeates through not only Gabriel’s personal life but also the life of everyone he meets.

I think the religion in the story was well thought out and built upon classic theories surrounding the killing of vampires. It was an interesting twist on what we believe to be true. I loved seeing how faith impacted abilities and how easy it was to waiver or hold tight on what they believed. There were really two sides of the same coin and I loved watching how both them played out next to each other.

The only thing that stopped this book being a five star read was the ending. I found everything merged together and I’m not entirely sure what the hell happened. Hopefully the second book helps sort out what went on and I get to experience that in full.

Characters in Empire of the Vampire

The main character is Gabriel de Leon, a silversaint losing his battle of addiction to blood. Captured by his foes, he is forced to relive the worst moments of his life and this is where the real beauty of his personality shines through. The dry way he talks about the world around him and the people he meets added a whole new level to the story. I really enjoyed his interactions with the vampire writing down his biography. Also on another side note, the art in this book was phenomenal and actually made the vampire seem a little more human.

There are so many characters in this book and I don’t think there was anyone who needed any more development, they were all well written and rounded. I loved seeing Gabriel in his youth and meeting Astrid, and desperately trying to conform to a life with no grace and without slack. It was brilliantly thought out and the juxtaposition from the youthful, full of hope trainee to the bitter faithless mercenary that he became.

By the time he is reunited with the others from his childhood he is completely broken but seeing the interactions with Chloe and Dior really help reignite that fire he once had. He still doesn’t lose that dry cynical way of looking at the world and that’s the part I really loved about him.

Bad bits

• The ending needed a little clarity
• Sometimes a little info-dumpy

Good bits

• Fantastic world building
• Brilliant mythology and culture
• Dry and sarcastic main character
• Rich and well written story

Who would like Empire of the Vampire

To be honest if you’re a fan of gory vampire fiction then this is the book for you. One of the books I think holds a lot of similarities with this one is The Serpent and the Wings of Night, it has the same goriness and the more classical vampire lore that has been missing since the dawn of Twilight.

Have you read Empire of the Vampire? What were your thoughts? I cannot wait to get to the sequel hopefully very soon!