This is a spoiler-free review! The version I am reading is an ARC -- any changes made for the final publication are not reflected in this review. Empire of the Vampire is now available to purchase.
I received an advanced copy of Empire of the Vampire so long ago - most likely in 2020 - and have finally gotten around to tackle this beast of a book. To be honest, I have tried to read it twice before, and I always found myself putting it down. I needed to be in the right mood, and after I finally tackled another monster of a book at the end of May, I knew I had to keep the ball rolling and lighten my TBR pile. This book is certainly intimidating and the size of the book had me putting it off for awhile - coming from someone who would finish A Song of Ice and Fire books in a couple of days, that says a lot.
I wanted to love this book, I really did. There was a good momentum going on for a while, and the world-building as it was recounted definitely held my attention - for a while. The concept of this book being told as a story was really intriguing, but I do wish it only took that format for the first half of the book instead of its entirety. While there were moments where we were taken back to present day, it still was short and sparse. Gabriel de León tells the tale as he is imprisoned by vampires, and I will say the banter when we are brought back to present day was a light compared to the constant agony the characters seemed to endure.
The misogyny in the book is actually insane - it felt as though every page turn was giving me a new reason to hate men. Sure, some may say it is for "accuracy" but this is a book about fictional vampires - it was not necessary for it to be so heavily present. It felt exhausting to read, and not complimentary to the quite exquisite writing Kristoff is able to put to the page. After reading A Day of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon only a few weeks before diving into Empire of the Vampire, it was a stark reminder why I am often disappointed by high fantasy written by men - we can never escape the misogyny. After hearing nothing but praises for this book, I was surprised at how much male characters were degrading women.
At the halfway mark I realized this book was losing me at a rapid pace, and if it did not turn itself around in the next one hundred pages, it was going to become a battle to finish this book. I read this book in two sittings, essentially tackling the first half in one continuous read and the second half with just one lunch break before diving back in to cross the finish line. The vampires seemed to love underage girls and there was nothing short of excessive mentioning on how they needed young girls as their little blood bags and sacrifices. It is such a shame because the world truly was intriguing, but I found myself exhausting by the torment specific characters underwent for the sake of either shock value or Kristoff attempting to add more brutalization to the plot.
Timelines were a little all over the place, and with us switching between Gabriel being a teenager to him being thirty-two, I personally felt the transitions were lacking in fluidity and were too harsh to keep the story moving at a smooth pace. You begin to forget about the other timeline entirely until suddenly you are thrown back into it and you sit there confused because you have not revisited it in many chapters. There were times where I nearly fell asleep reading this book, but I was determined to see it through.
The illustrations were stunning - with the copy I was reading there were a few missing since it was an advanced copy, but I can only imagine what the final product looked like and I would not be disappointed. High fantasy is often overwhelming to readers, and with illustrations as details as the ones included in this book, it truly elevated the story being told and immersed the reader.
At the end of the day, Empire of the Vampire attempts to bring to life a complex story while failing to deliver a character that you want to root for. With how much Gabriel began to annoy me, I was starting to root for the vampires. I would recommend finding a high fantasy series written by a female author if you want to avoid the blatant shock factor brutalization of women or ill-written humor at the sake of vulnerable characters.
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