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A review by elenap
Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff
medium-paced
4.5
Oh, how I dreaded to read this one! Mostly because I have seen completely polarizing reviews. Well, I’m glad I did because it was actually good. I’m not a huge vampire fiction fan, but this convinced me to give it another go. The novel follows Gabriel, the last silversaint (aka a vampire fighter) as he narrates his life to a historian vampire while he is imprisoned by the vampire queen. The setup with the sun being permanently covered which allows vampires to roam during the day was really cool.
The book is a combination of The Name of the Wind (as in it has captivating prose and the main character tells his life story to someone), Witcher (with all the little bombs, potions, and silver swords), The Lies of Locke Lamora (non-linear storytelling), and the gore and grittiness of Abercrombie and Martin.
It’s beautifully written which adds a not easily found richness to the story. As previously mentioned, the storytelling is non-linear and every time we switched, I wanted to go back to the previous story, which kept the good pacing. Wish we got more of the magical school shenanigans, but this is not that type of story.
I don’t know if it was intended, but the book held almost no surprises because almost all plot twists were very easy to guess (not the one we find out about 30 pages before the end, but that’s because it makes no sense yet) so it felt a little bit anticlimactic. I do love antiheroes, so the main character is pretty compelling to me, but most of the side characters didn’t hit at all, and it was hard to get invested.
Of course, there is no talking about this book without mentioning the amazing art work. This is, along with The Stormlight Archive, the best standard edition I have ever seen. You get around 30 illustrations to guide you while reading, and let me tell you, it really enhances the experience.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised, and I definitely took my time reading it, I don’t feel that it’s a book that can be rushed or glossed over, and it's very immersive.
The book is a combination of The Name of the Wind (as in it has captivating prose and the main character tells his life story to someone), Witcher (with all the little bombs, potions, and silver swords), The Lies of Locke Lamora (non-linear storytelling), and the gore and grittiness of Abercrombie and Martin.
It’s beautifully written which adds a not easily found richness to the story. As previously mentioned, the storytelling is non-linear and every time we switched, I wanted to go back to the previous story, which kept the good pacing. Wish we got more of the magical school shenanigans, but this is not that type of story.
I don’t know if it was intended, but the book held almost no surprises because almost all plot twists were very easy to guess (not the one we find out about 30 pages before the end, but that’s because it makes no sense yet) so it felt a little bit anticlimactic. I do love antiheroes, so the main character is pretty compelling to me, but most of the side characters didn’t hit at all, and it was hard to get invested.
Of course, there is no talking about this book without mentioning the amazing art work. This is, along with The Stormlight Archive, the best standard edition I have ever seen. You get around 30 illustrations to guide you while reading, and let me tell you, it really enhances the experience.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised, and I definitely took my time reading it, I don’t feel that it’s a book that can be rushed or glossed over, and it's very immersive.