Great sampler. I’m intrigued to see where it goes. It’s such a big sampler (thank you) but there’s so much more book to go!!!

Really looking forward to reading the full EOTV. This sampler is definitely enough to make me want to read more so release day cannot come soon enough. Can’t 5 star a sampler though so going midway with a 3!

Thank you for the sample of this #netgalley. It is written as well as I would expect from the amazing Jay Kristoff, hooking you in from the first page.
I love the premise of an empire that is ruled by vampires with laws to protect them. I can’t wait to read the entire book!

It’s difficult to review based on just 300 pages out of 800, but I can say that it was not what I expected. I never read the author’s book before. But I got interested in this book because I like vampires. But the vampire I had in my mind was sexy one. Maybe because one reviewer compared this to the Tom Cruise’s movie Interview With Vampire. The setting is similar, but I didn’t find this story sexy, so it was a bit disappointing. This book is for gothic / hardcore fantasy fans, or for people who liked the author’s books before. It was not for me!

Kristoff doing what Kristoff does best - making you desperate for more every time.

over 300 pages for a sampler is incredibly generous, and yet I still found myself desperate for more when it came to an end! September cannot come quickly enough - I need this book in my hands so badly (and I might have preordered 3 copies....whoops.)

Great start to a book but incredibly hard to review just the first part of a book, I'm super excited to carry on with this as soon as possible.

EPIC!!! ROLL ON SEPTEMBER. I JUST CAN NOT WAIT!!

Seriously Jay Kristoff keeps knocking them out of the park and I do not foresee this being any different!

Goddammit! I knew it was a sampler going in, but I still was left howling at the end of it! Getting SO CLOSE to a resolution but having to wait til Sept is torture.
Jay Kristoff has done it again. I would recommend any fantasy fan to just auto buy his works - each series is a delightful flavour of a particular time and space, and one falls headfirst into the lush descriptors and beautiful world building.
To not give any spoilers, think of this as a grimdark style Vampire Lestat... Except the vamps are not good guys.
Go and pre order it, now!

Ok, now I am properly excited for a full copy. This had an epic expansive world with lots of lore and a dark bloody atmosphere.

"What a world this would be, were it not held wholly and solely in the grip of stubborn old men."

It follows Gabriel de León (our cynical vampire hunter protag) across three timelines; one in which he is imprisoned by vampires and two detailing his past - All equally as entertaining!

Now when I say this is about vampires I don't mean sparkly, sexy men - I mean brutal, vicious bloodthirsty animals that made for some badass fight scenes. Gruesome, cinematic and badass I can't wait to get my hands on a full illustrated copy.

*Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for a >300p sampler.*

I was ready to devour this book, hook line and sinker, and yet I have finished the sampler on somewhat of a meh note. I don’t know if it suffered because I knew I was reading a sampler so wouldn’t get answers to my questions yet or what but I am left looking longingly at the calendar for September to come.

That being said, I really enjoyed the world building and I thought there was a lot of depth to it. The characters were interesting and varied. Whilst I love a good swear it did seem a tad excessive/unnecessary at times.

There are 3 timelines going on in the book but it is not too disorienting as you are led through each change.

Overall, I will keep my pre-order in place because I want to know what and roll on September!

This is already a super hyped book and I keep seeing it on everyone’s to read lists so I was excited when I saw the sampler as then I could try it and see if it was for me. I have tried the authors books in the past and unfortunately I felt a little meh towards them. It was the same with this sampler,
The writing style just didn’t work for me, it felt like it took me awhile to get into the book. The pacing was a little off for my tastes and I feel that the sampler could have been shortened a little so I would probably think the same about the finished book.
I did enjoy the world building and it is immersive. There is quite a lot to the worldbuilding and I enjoyed the world it is set, I also liked the characters and how flawed they were. The vampires are pretty much irredeemable which was a new thing to see. The romance was okay, I wasn’t much of a fan but that is common for me.
There’s gore, death, swear words and sex which I expected from a Kristoff book about vampires. I thought it matched well with the world and I don’t have any strong feelings on it.
Overall I know people will love the absolute hell out of this book but it was just okay for me. I’m still unsure about picking up the actual book when it’s released as it will be a big book and big books sort of intimidate me. At the same time I would like to see how it ends .
I’ll rate this sampler 3 stars but the full book May rate differently depending on how it ends.

Epic!! This lives up to the hype and so much more! The world building g is immers9ve and the writing cinematic. I can't wait to read the conclusion

From the sharp wit and complete disregard for all sense of propriety from Gabriel to the richly built world and gruesome vampiric inhabits, Empire of the Vampire is an amazing read!
While this was a sampler so of course, there is so much more to get stuck into, the style of Kristoff is evident throughout and I'm eager to delve further into his brilliant though entertainingly corrupt mind!
I love the presence of strong women like Astrid and Chloe as well as the range of characters in the initial band of merry men as it were.
There are endless quote worthy sentences that will probably be tattooed over people in the coming months but its all very much worth it.

My only concern was the similarity of plot to another well known book. While the introduction of vampires to the setting is a new take, the idea of what the Holy Grail is, isnt.

That being said, I am excited to finish it and see how two timeless plot themes will mesh together and create another epic series akin to Kristoff's previous work!

Absolutely magic as always, I can’t wait to read the full book , perfection as always (with action, cursing and style)

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free sampler for an honest opinion

Oh why do I torture myself!? I had definitely decided NOT to request the book sampler that would leave me hanging just under halfway (?) through this epic vampire saga. But alas, I couldn't resist and now I shall have to wait till September to find out what happens next...

I've only read one other Jay Kristoff book prior to starting Empire of the Vampire, and I admit I've pre-ordered a few editions based on the amount of hype it's been given. Thankfully, it lives up to it and I absolutely devoured this sampler. I can't wait to read the rest in September.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Voyager for the opportunity to read Empire of the Vampire.

This is so so so so so amazing!!! So sad I have to wait so long to finish the story, but I'm so excited to do so, and will be doing so the minute the book is in my hands

OMG Vampires are Back
I am in no way surprised that I loved this book. The hype has been huge and I cant wait to sell this later this year. The story is all that I hope for, hot, juicy, steamy, fast, bloody. and just so Jay Kristoff. This book will be huge.

This sampler was great. I love jay kristoffs writing style, it really works well with how I read.
This book is so far both witty and serious. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the name people are calling each other!
I can not wait to get my hands on a complete copy and with the illustrations I can see this being up there with my favourite reads of the year.

Whilst reading this book I remained impressed by its ingenuity and uniqueness, and yet also found it distinctly similar in tone to two other books - Interview with the Vampire and The Name of the Wind. Upon later reading the author's own review I found he also cited these two books as representative for the book's contents. I'm glad to have belatedly found he delivered on this claim.

I loved how this story was delivered. It opened with protagonist, Gabriel de León's, incarceration. He was at the mercy of the vampiric creatures he had spent most of his life hunting and felt his painful execution was soon to be delivered. However, he was, instead, prompted to deliver his life story, detailing all events that led to the present moment in time. This he did, in a more-or-less chronological fashion.

There was just something so mesmerising to be first introduced to the present Gabriel before then witnessing his younger, more naïve and fearful self. I was instantly eager to learn how the former was bred from the latter.

Gabriel's life-story also provided a political, cultural, and geographical understanding of the kingdom. This is before also chronicling how the vampires continued to rise and overpower their human foe, with only figures like Gabriel to stand and defend them. Both human and vampire had spent centuries at war and the mythical Holy Grail was humanity's final hope for salvation. The vampire that Gabriel is now tied to hopes that his history will point him in the direction for where it lays, and prompt its destruction before any have the chance to use its force against him.

This was a very dark tale and it delivered exactly the ominous atmosphere and sinister tone that I desired from it. I am so eager to see Gabriel's story through to completion, and hopefully also see the human race, and his soul in particular, saved as it continues.