Book Review
Title: Empire of the Vampire (Empire of the Vampire Book 1) by Jay Kristoff
Genre: Dark, Fantasy
Rating: 4.5 Stars
I read Nevernight back in the day and loved it but Godsgrave was a disappointment for me and I still haven’t picked up Darkdawn yet but Jay Kristoff’s writing with vampires meant I couldn’t wait to read it. In a book this size we are obviously introduced to a lot of characters and information early on but I honestly loved it. We are introduced to our protagonist, Gabriel de Leon, the last Silversaint, a brother of the holy Silver Order who has been captured by vampires and they want him to tell his story as he is the last of the Brotherhood and he agrees. He is telling his story to Jean-Francois and he begins as a child when Daysdeath arrived, this was the day that the sky became shadow and no longer gave light or warmth allowing the creatures of the dark like vampires to roam freely. Gabriel has an encounter with vampires early on when his sister is turned and he himself learns when he bites his girlfriend, Ilsa that he is a half-vampire or paleblood. It is here that the Silver Order come for him consisting of Frere Greyhand and Aaron de Coste. We know from the present that Gabriel managed to kill Fabien Voss, the Forever King but his beginnings are humble as he is taken into the Order of San Michon which exists alongside the Silver Sorority. Here he meets Smith Baptiste who gives Gabriel is sword as it seems his arrival was fated and he names it Lionclaw, he is also given a horse by Abbot Khalid the leader of the Order but here he also meets Astrid who I think might be the woman Gabriel refers to as his love but we shall have to wait and see.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, we see Gabriel inducted into the Silver Order and gain his first tattoo but we also witness the death of Frere Yannick and his fate is the fate that awaits all palebloods including Gabriel it is just a question of time. Inside the Order Gabriel doesn’t really have any friend although I can imagine him becoming allies with people like Theo Petit. The very next day he receives his first trial conducted by Talon de Montfort, Seraph of the Hunt. His first trial is to determine which of the four vampire bloodlines he was born from by finding his bloodgift. The four bloodlines are Blood Voss known as the Ironheart and have skin like steel, Blood Chastain who have the power over animals, Blood Ilon who have power of the mind and finally Blood Dyvok who are stronger than all over vampires. His test find that Gabriel is a frailblood meaning he has no unique gift because his vampire father who either too young or too weak to pass it along which is disappointing for the Order but he is still determined to shine as he feels he was fated to be there. He is also introduced to sanctus which is a product made from vampire blood which sates their hunger but they don’t mention to Gabriel at the time it is a very addictive substance. At this point Gabriel remembers something to do with a woman that makes him reluctant to talk anymore about this part of his life so he jumps forward to when he finds the Grail of San Michon. This is only three years before where he is now and he ends up meeting Chloe of the Silver Sorority again but their relationship is very different now. Gabriel with Ashdrinker, a talking sword at his side is now known as the Black Lion and is seen as a hero when he is anything but. In this town some vampires turn out but these aren’t wretched, these are children of the Voss bloodline including the Beast of Vellene, Danton Voss, the son of the Forever King although in the present he has been replaced by Margot Chastain, the Undying Empress. Gabriel realises that Danton isn’t there for him but for the boy that was with Chloe, Dior and after dealing with them and driving Danton off he chases them down. When he reaches them and saves them from a hoard of the dead they finally introduce themselves to him properly. The group consists of Dior, Chloe, Saoirse, Bellamy and Pere Rafa and the Forever King is after them because Dior knows where the Grail is. Chloe asks Gabriel to go with them to San Michon in the heart of the dead’s territory and he can’t as he needs to return to Astrid, his wife and their daughter, Patience but he agrees to go part of the way with them. At this point Jean-Francois asks Gabriel to return to the later past and explain how he became Astrid’s husband and fill in the gaps which I was grateful for as I had so many questions.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Gabriel takes us back in time again to his time as San Michon. He isn’t even sixteen at the time when he is taken on his first Hunt to a town being plagued by a wasting sickness. Greyhand, De Coste and Gabriel figure out that it is vampires plaguing the town and begin tracking them down. When they reach the town crypt Greyhand goes below alone ordering the boys to keep watch and guard the entrances but when Gabriel thinks he hears Greyhand in distress he enters the crypt against orders to see what is happening. He is confronted by several highborn vampires and his foolish actions get himself and Aaron injured and allows one of the vampires to escape and obviously Greyhand isn’t happy with him. The next night he is left at the Lord’s manor to keep watch of the lady of the manor who has the sickness while Greyhand and Aaron track down the missing vampire. However, the local priest is a thrall and the vampire haunting the lady of house is her ten year old son who soon comes looking for his mother. Gabriel is now faced with two thralls and a Voss born vampire alone and unarmed since the priest tossed his sword out a window and he has also been drugged. Gabriel gives the fight of his life and seems to summon a gift in order to make the vampire’s blood boil in his veins before Greyhand and Aaron return. With the final two vampire captured they return to San Michon but Gabriel eavesdrops on Greyhand and learns they believe he has a gift for the fifth kith house, thought to be extinct called sanguimancy and he decides to break into the forbidden section of the library to find out what it is. When he does someone else is already there, Astrid, and she has Gabriel strike up a friendship where he learns she is the bastard child of the current Emperor and she begins helping him look for information on his father’s bloodline.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Gabriel continues his tale of San Michon with him trying to find out who he is with the help of Astrid who has brought in Chloe to help as long as Gabriel teaches her to use a sword and he agrees. He also makes contact with his family for the first time in order to ask his mother about his true father and any information she might know about him. However, he is making more enemies especially in Aaron who Gabriel believes set one of the highblood vampires loose to kill Gabriel but he managed to kill her and two wretched although a sisternovice, Aoife lost her life that night and he plans to prove it. They know the vampire that created them was an ancient from the Voss line and they plan to hunt her down so Greyhand, Aaron, Gabriel and Talon set off after it. However, before we get more Gabriel jumps forward again to helping Chloe and her rag-tag band to the River Volta and what occurred there with the Grail. They travel together witnessing the refugees fleeing and learn how far the dead has spread across the Northern lands and eventually do to the weather they take cover in an abandoned town. However, the town is soon set upon by at least 50 wretched and there are only 7 of them to fight. They do the best they can given the circumstances but I wasn’t surprised when Bellamy and Rafa are gravely injured and lie close to death. Before they can die, Dior cuts himself and lays his hand upon them and it heals them the same way and ancient’s blood might but he is human and alive. Gabriel also noticed when the wretched bit him they died and he demands answers from Chloe and Rafa. They explain that they learnt that San Michon wasn’t just the Redeemer follower but his lover, and she didn’t catch his blood in a chalice but his essence inside herself meaning she had his child. This line was all but wiped out and Dior is the last living scion of the Redeemer himself and his blood holds divine power. However, we know that Gabriel lost the Grail, meaning Dior, but does this mean he is lost and hidden or dead and that’s what I need to know now.
As we cross into the second half of the novel, the group continue travelling but after another run in with Danton who they now know wants Dior alive, they flee across the river. However, in their escape they lose most of their supplies and have no choice but to head to San Guillaume despite it adding weeks to their journey. Finally after two weeks of travelling through a cursed forest they reach it only to find the Inquisition beat them there and slaughtered everyone inside which is a hard blow to Rafa. However, they don’t have time to dwell on it as the unusual masked vampire returns and names herself Liathe, which holds some significance for the vampire taking Gabriel’s story and she warns them that Danton will be on them by nightfall and to give Dior to her as she can protect him. I believe Liathe is of the same bloodline that runs through Gabriel as she uses her blood as a weapon but through their small battle with her they realise that San Guillaume has lost his holy power and make preparation to face Danton although Gabriel knows it is likely they will all die. They come up with a plan but they aren’t prepared for Danton and he quickly cuts down Bellamy, Phoebe and Saoirse, in a last ditch attempt to escape Gabriel, Dior and Chloe head for the cliff but Danton has them in his grasp literally. With one hand holding Chloe and one holding Dior Gabriel can do nothing so Chloe sacrifices herself for Gabriel to tear the coat from Dior and plunge them into the river. While Gabriel calls for Chloe he has to focus on Dior who he soon learns is a girl and it seems it is just them now, but we are jumping back in time again to Gabriel’s time as San Michon and the final hunt he went on with Greyhand, Aaron and Talon. On this hunt they are tracking down an ancient named Marianne Luncoit and her vampire child, Adrien and they find them in Coste which is Aaron’s home. However, when Luncoit tries to leave with Aaron’s cousin, Gabriel steps in and prevents her despite orders against it which almost get him murdered at the hands of his master but she is more of a problem. All four begin chasing her and the boy down and they learn that her true name is Laure Voss, the youngest child of Fabien, the Forever King. The battle sees all of them injured with Greyhand and Talon being dangerous injured even for palebloods but they manage to kill the boy and deeply injure Laure before she flees. Archer also manages to kill one of her ravens carrying a message to Fabien which has details for an invasion plan so they know with more certainty where Fabien is going to strike when he does but we know from the future and present that this information doesn’t change much.
As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, Gabriel, Aaron, Talon and Greyhand all return to San Michon and they learn Greyhand can’t return to the duties he has had because of his injuries. Due to this Aaron is being inducted as a full Silversaint but not Gabriel because of his theme of disobeying orders despite Aaron sticking up for him but he is allowed to remain within the order. When he meets with Chloe and Astrid again they reveal a letter from his mother although it doesn’t bear the answers that Gabriel wants but they do have news on his bloodline with his Blood Esani, the Faithless which makes sense where Gabriel is in the present. After he spots Aaron sneaking around and follows him and he learns that Aaron and Baptiste are lovers which is against the order but Gabriel doesn’t see it as a sin because they are choosing to stay and fight even though discovery of their relationship could mean their deaths. This singular act creates a proper brotherhood bond between Aaron and Gabriel and they even become friendly with each other which was nice to see. Things being going downhill from here as Aaron and Baptiste are caught together and imprisoned for breaking their vows but this is the least of it as the Forever King prepares to invade. The Silversaints and initiates are divided up and set to the two most likely places of attack but Gabriel is left behind. However, in being left behind Gabriel discovers a secret message in Laure’s note to her father and realises they are going to invade through the mountain pass because no human can cross it in the middle of winter and he begins gathering forces. His force consists mainly of the Keepers, blacksmiths including Baptiste and one other Silversaint, Aaron but the Sisterhood is also riding with them. They send notes to the other two forces and hope that they will arrive in time but they have a few dozen faced down an army of ten thousand and it was immense. Seeing Aaron, Baptiste and Gabriel fighting back to back covered by Prioress Charlotte, Astrid and others was amazing but the Voss family including Fabien rides at the rear of the army and when Laure makes her move, Gabriel knows he has to protect the Sisters and Astrid from her. That battle was amazing as Gabriel finally seems to realise how to summon his bloodgift in order to take her down but earns the ire of the Forever King but they see off the army for the time being driving them back with a forced avalanche. However, the aftermath is even worse as Aaron and Baptiste won’t be welcomed back so they decide to head south but first they investigate Laure’s claim that she killed Gabriel’s family and it turns out to be true. Gabriel’s grief was heart-breaking and it almost made me cry watching him realise that his little sister had been burned alive and he missed out on so much with her. We learn about his relationship with Astrid and how they kept it a secret until she became pregnant so they both left the order like Aaron and Baptiste to start their own life but Gabriel at this point had many enemies and how Patience came to be born and how much Gabriel loves her. However, he decides not to talk more about his family and jumps forward again. He and Dior head for a place of safety from Danton but they end up meeting the Inquisition who takes Dior and Gabriel. Gabriel is in a sorry state at the moment and this might be where he loses Dior and given the cruelty the Inquisition is capable of I am starting to believe that Dior is dead too.
As we cross into the final section of the novel, while they manages to escape the Inquisition and continue on their journey to San Michon they realise that they need to rest and resupply so Gabriel steers them towards Chateau Avalene. Avalene is now the home of Baptiste and Aaron, it is also the place where Gabriel and Astrid wed and where their daughter was born so he finds help there but it isn’t long before Danton comes knocking on the door demanding they hand over Dior or he will slaughter everyone. I am absolutely sure now that Astrid is a vampire and something might have happened to Patience where she also changed or died is unknown but I can’t wait to see what happens since we know Gabriel kills the Forever King and in order to do that he must have killed Danton too and made it to San Michon but it doesn’t answer the question about what eventually happens to Dior. I am also getting the feeling that it might end on a cliff-hanger since there is less than 100 pages left and a lot of questions left to answer. There are a lot of reveals towards the end of the novel I am not going to talk about but I will say it was a little disappointing since we didn’t get to see a lot of the action packed things Gabriel discusses and it didn’t answer all the question I had but I am definitely looking forward to the sequel. However, one major issue I had was with the representation of LGBT relationship as they are described as a sin in the book and anyone who engages in these relationship either ends up dead or is outcast like Aaron and Baptiste and that didn’t sit well with me since most of the characters like Gabriel didn’t have an issue with. Jay Kristoff had an amazing opportunity to give us an amazing badass gay protagonist and gave us some piss poor representation, that aside the action, horror and world-building was divine as to be expected from Kristoff and I might go back and actually finish the Nevernight trilogy now.
Buy it here:
Paperback/Hardcover: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
Kindle Edition: amazon.co.uk amazon.com
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