Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff – Review

Published: September 14, 2021

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Series: Empire of the Vampire #1

Genre: Fantasy

Pages: 739 (Hardcover)

My Rating: 4.5/5.0

Synopsis:
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.

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Empire of the Vampire is the vampire book I’ve been waiting my whole life for! It’s the perfect blend of horror, heroics, and gothic mood with more than a touch of edgelord thrown in for good measure. I even talked two of my coworkers into checking it out (we like to chat about the books we’ve read, though it’s nothing so formal as a book club) and they liked it too! 

Gabriel de Leon is the last Silversaint – a half vampire covered in silver tattoos and trained as to destroy the kin of his abominable sire as part of a religious edict. Since the unending night fell the vampires, or coldbloods as they call them, have strengthened their hold on the lands and have begun to challenge the human leaders for power. When we first meet Gabriel, he’s imprisoned by one of the most powerful vampires and is telling his story to a vampire scribe. The timeline of his story jumps around quite a bit, which can be a little confusing at first but I quickly adapted to it and didn’t mind much beyond the fact that I was ALWAYS disappointed to return to whichever timeline it had switched to! 

The timelines switch between Gabriel’s early years growing up, learning of his damning heritage, and joining the Silversaints while the other, later timeline shows him returning to the northern lands, running into Sister Chloe, and then beginning the hunt for the Holy Grail while also running from powerful vampires. The later timeline seems to take place not too long before Gabriel’s current imprisonment. The formatting of this actually works quite well because there are rather timely reveals of information, some of which are DEVASTATING. I mean geez, Jay Kristoff really knows how to emotionally gut-punch his readers! 

While Gabriel is most definitely a cocky little shit, it’s not without reason and he remains remarkably likable even in his worst states. Astrid, who starts as a Sister at the convent and then becomes Gabriel’s wife, is one of my favorite characters. She’s sure of herself (sometimes too much so), clever, and determined to find a way to end the endless night. Dior certainly took some time for me to like, but eventually I came around on that front as well. There are loads of great side characters too and the worldbuilding is fascinating too. I love that crops and dietary changes are mentioned since, you know, the fact that it’s endlessly night (sort of) really affects crop yields.

I loved this book – fantastic imagery, worldbuilding, characters – all of it! Some people might take issue with the profuse profanity, but I expect this with Jay Kristoff’s books and take it as a feature rather than a bug. I’d be sweary too if I were constantly fighting for my life and had to subsist on potatoes and mushrooms. This really could be the book to resurrect the vampire subgenre and I’m hoping to see more vampires decked out in glorious brocade coats lording over their human chattel in the future. Also, did I mention that I am REALLY excited for the sequel to this?