Instead of the blood sucking, toe curling stories of vampires of the past, Jay introduces us to a new breed of vampire, a new concept, a new image and a new way to get lost in the tale of the other world.

Empire of the Vampire - Jay Kristoff

The cool thing about [the ‘vampire’ concept] is they’re a dozen different things to a dozen different people. Imprisoned by the very monsters he vowed to destroy, the last silversaint is forced to tell his story. But with a difference, as Kristoff introduces us to modern vampire-ology which he has taken to a whole new level. I prefer to think of those things as 'beloved, savory ingredients' in the fantasy feasts we all crave. Where every beat of said heart becomes dependent on the fate of the characters, the story being told, the words on the page.But it also revealed who he was, and so is claimed by the ‘Empire and San Michon’ where he becomes defender of the empire, and keeper of the holy faith… the empires sword, their shield and their hope’. From the cataclysmic event known as “daysdeath,” which literally darkens the sun to violent, to bloody battles between the living and the dead that lead to (multiple) heartbreaking deaths, this is not a story that’s here to coddle its readers or pull any punches, narratively or figuratively speaking. Nevernight earned Kristoff his second David Gemmell Awards nomination, and won the 2016 Aurealis Award for Best Fantasy Novel. I have not read many vampire stories to compare but I do know when I am hooked into an incredible and mind-blowing story that offers everything, an epic tale of forbidden love, a fantastic complex web that offers the thrill and dark menace of vampire-lore, superb world-building that lays the foundation for multi-layered plots that keep the twists, revelations and power struggles coming.

Empire of the Damned (Empire of the Vampire, Book 2)

What we have here in Empire of the Vampire is gratuitous hetero male fantasy posturing in the guise of fantasy literature.An element that often made me smirk is when the historian will tap his quill on his manuscript, a nonchalant reminder to Gabriel that the Queen of Vampires wishes for him to explain certain parts in-depth, as if to a child. The second of the past accounts finds a thirty-something, disgruntled, addict Gabriel, whose deeds are the tales of legends. A sequel, titled Aurora Burning, was published in May, 2020, And the final book Aurora End, Was published in November 2021. There is no easy way of saying this: I hate-read the majority of the first half of Empire of the Vampire. He is the winner of eight Aurealis Awards, an ABIA, has over two million books in print and is published in over thirty five countries, most of which he has never visited.

Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff | Waterstones

If it weren't because the beautiful interior artwork exist, and my buddy-read friends who convinced me to persevere, I would've given up. You start to realize that maybe Gabe hasn’t been entirely truthful, or maybe he’s just viewing the past and certain people through rose-colored glasses. I can rant as much as Gabe about this book, I will not hesitate to defend my opinion on this rather bad book, and now I'm off to read better things and count this as my farewell to Jay Kristoff's works. There are obviously exceptions to every rule, but on the whole women are brutalized more frequently and in greater detail through the entire book. The earliest references to blood-drinking creatures date back to ancient Mesopotamia, believe it or not.There was so much voyeuristic sexual content along with a problematic male gaze/view, homophobia and related slurs, misogyny not-so-stealthily hidden towards "strong women" characters, choppy writing, forced humor and way, way too much banter. Releasing the series as Jay intended to do in 2020 after reading his explanations just doesn’t seem feasible to me at least. But music, de León…” The vampire leaned forward, animated for perhaps the first time since their conversation began.