Empire of the Vampire

By: Jay Kristoff

Narrated by: Damian Lynch

Length: 27 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

"Narrator Damian Lynch’s depiction of the sword is especially creepy and compelling. Lynch has a great sense of dialogue and pitch overall, and keeps this dramatic tale moving." -Locus

From New York Times bestselling author Jay Kristoff comes Empire of the Vampire, the first volume of an astonishing new dark fantasy saga.

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.

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin's Press.

©2021 Jay Kristoff (P)2021 Macmillan Audio

Outstanding :)

Most brilliant masterpiece of the year. Best thing since Interview with the Vampire. Will be an instant classic for most.

A fun vampire story

I really enjoyed both the performance and the story of this, I think Damian Lynch did a great job reading the story. Unfortunately there are some glitches in the audio that erase a word at the beginning of several sections or paragraphs, hopefully this can be fixed, but the book is well worth the listen!

so good

loved this so much, my therapist is reading it.
Mr Kristoff....you will ruin this world with how much love i have for this

Very needed fresh take on Vampires!

Finished in two days. Great adventure, well paced. Gritty, bold, unapologetic, and bloody. I can't wait for the next book.

Phenomenal

This is only my second review of a book and I’ve listened to hundreds. I can’t express adequately how much I love this book. It draws you in and makes you feel and ache, for and with, the characters. It’s action packed like the best fight scene of a movie. There were times I sat in my driveway listening for 20+ minutes instead of going in the house just because I didn’t want to stop listening. And if you can’t tell already, I highly recommend this book. Thank you Joseph Morgan for the “recommendation”! 😉

Something special

Hats off to Jay Kristoff. I'm a big fan of The Nevernight Chronicle, but Empire of the Vampire tops those books in my opinion.

Great:
Premise
Story
Narration
Plotting
Wordsmithing
Dialog
Characters
Suspense
Worldbuilding
Length of book

Bad: *minor spoiler*
My only minor quibble is the trope that's pretty played out of having a jerk with a heart of gold. That said, I still loved the main character.

Great story

I really enjoyed listening to this story. It was very interesting and surprised me. The narrator was AMAZING!!!

Probably my favorite book of 2021

Such a great read, with great characters and plot points that kept the story moving. I really enjoyed so much of this, that I'm gonna have to pick up a physical copy.

I am glad I kept with it!

I started the book very hesitant and worried it wasn't for me. The interview style was weird to me since I like when a story unfolds from a present context as it is happening so you are in the action, not from a past one that uses the language that it already has already happened and thus feels less engaging.

Thankfully once you get further in the book, the language changes and the interview parts get less frequent. And things begin to unfold in a present text as if you are in the story as the main character is experienceing what is happening which I appreciated.

Also I just want to say...
I read a lot of reviews before buying this book and I wish I hadn't, it feels like there are negative reviews on every good book, and all I have to say about it is that you can't let people who failed to fall in love with a wonderful story stop you from giving it a try. Haters are gonna hate, and all of the reviews that I read saying the story was slow or boring feel so false to me. This is a beautiful story, and fascinating world waiting for you to fall in love with. Books can't force you to fall in love with them, and its sad that some people fail to find the spark and just leave bad reviews to make others question if they can.

Don't let them get in your head. Don't let a dumb review stop you from taking the plunge into a mystical world like this one. I feel like that almost happened to me... im glad I decided trust my gut and didn't get caught up in the negativity.

I started with the Nevernight chronicles, and I can affirm that I love what this auther can do!

awesome

Fuck my face.......

This book is an absolute masterpiece. Damien Lynch did amazing bringing these characters to life. beautifully written. I need part two immediately.