Empire of the Vampire

Empire of the Vampire

2020 • 400 pages

Ratings116

Average rating4.4

15

This felt like some sort of marathon. It was just so long - only Outlander and Harry Potter books I've read are longer - and I definitely felt like the editors could have chopped it up a bit more.

The vampire traits stick to the most common tropes (silver, sunlight, how to make more, etc.) but it's made unique with terminology, ancestry, and the half-blood (what become Silversaints) race. These are badass creatures.
I really liked Gabriel's snark and that he was a pretty multi-dimensional character, but that can't be said for the rest of this very swollen cast. You don't learn Gabe's real motivations for the latter events of the story until 700 pages in and then it becomes a bit of a sob fest with it ending abruptly when the sun comes up and a good chunk of the story left untold. There's some graphic sex but nothing I'd clutch pearls over but a lot of gore, swearing, and chockablock with religious idealization (it's technically a fictional religion but obviously Christianity of the most zealous kind).

While I did really enjoy this, I'm not sure if I'll continue or if I'll just let someone else read it and get the Cliffnotes version.

October 24, 2021