So, today I’m going to post two mini reviews.  Basically, the first book was an audio version that I bought myself and read fairly recently.  I’ve decided on a mini review in which I discuss my thoughts rather than a full blown description as there are already plenty of descriptions of the plot available.  The second mini review is for a sampler for Empire of the Damned and so is understandably short.

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff, audio version.

I must say that just recently I’ve felt the need to read vampire stories once again.  I think after certain books became very popular the market was flooded with vampire stories and tbh I simply had enough.  Anyway, I discovered that once again I wanted to pick up such tales and so I was super excited for Empire of the Vampire because, well, I ‘ve read this author before and liked his work.

EotV is told in a dual timeline, by the main character, who is relaying the events of his life to his captor.  I like this form of storytelling, it’s not particularly new or unique but it’s a style that I like and I feel it works.  Also, some of the writing is so good that it’s a pleasure to read (or listen to in this case).  But, to be clear, there is a heck of a lot of cursing in this book and that’s not something that as a rule bothers me but here, some of it did feel a bit juvenile and gratuitous.  Also, there was a constant (and reasonable) hatred/friction between the main character narrating his story and the chronicler but this seemed to resolve itself into some sort of false bravado or peeing competition.  So, the narrator has a mini rebellion, the chronicler says ‘you will tell us your story’ and then the narrator continues with a good deal of cursing but still – lets just get over that.  In fairness, I liked the writing, in fact, I loved the writing for the most part, but I became tired of certain parts.  Although I think the second half of the book definitely improved and in fact this is when I became invested in the story.

In terms of the story.  I liked the overall plot.  I have to applaud that we have real vampires in this story, they’re not humanised or made appealing.  They truly are the monsters of the piece. The stakes are high here, in fact it really does feel like there’s very little hope and in fact, unlike some vampire tales this truly is epic in scope.

In conclusion, I enjoyed the second half of the book a lot more than the first and so I’m really glad that I continued to read on.  

I bought a copy for audio.

My rating 3.5 of 5 stars

Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff kindle version

EofD picks up immediately after the conclusion of EotV.  I read only a sampler of this and I’m not sure what percentage of the story is involved.

I enjoyed the story to the point I left off and in fact can say that the promise of what comes next is very appealing – but I won’t give anything away here in that respect.

The writing is once again strong but what I really enjoyed in this was the way the character’s relationships are improved. On top of that there is once again a feeling of overwhelming doom.  The chances of humanity surviving feel slim indeed and some of the fight scenes are so crazily over the top that they make for very dramatic reading.

It’s difficult to say too much when I’m yet to complete the read.  What I can say is that I enjoyed this book more than the first.  The vampires are truly monstrous once again,but, the other characters have the opportunity to shine out more in this story and I look forward to picking up a copy on release to see how book 2 concludes.

I received a copy through Netgalley, courtesy of the publisher, for which my thanks.  The above is my own opinion.

My rating 4 stars (although this could change upon completion)