Empire of the Vampire by Jay KristoffMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
This is a 4-star review. Some would rate it higher for good reasons.
If you are new to genre-fiction, then please go read this book. It is a good ride with great characters. Don't read my spoiler section...go read the book. The experience is worth the price of admission. The author has a lot of talent that is evident.
SPOILER
Now that it's just us, part of the reason for not giving this a full-throated (heh) 5-star review is that I've read a lot of genre fiction. I've seen a lot of movies.
This book uses many plot devices that have already been used.
The first one is the transmutation of Jesus Christ into a fictional redeemer broken on a wheel rather than on a cross. My first encounter with that technique was in Devil's Night Dawning by Damien Black. Another example is when a priest lacks the faith to face a vampire without being able to bear a religious symbol as a metaphysical shield. I first encountered that in Stephen King's ’Salem’s Lot. There are other examples, but you should get the point.
There are plot holes and omitted details. For example, the palebloods that fight to destroy the vampires are created by vampire fathers impregnating human mothers. Given that the palebloods are a significant threat to the vampires, one has to wonder why they continue getting human women pregnant. Also, what is the motivation for vampires to have sex with human women in the first place? It remains unexplored.
Other elements of the story remain unresolved at the end. How did Gabriel get his sword? How did he kill the Forever King? Unexplored. Unresolved.
And last, this book is not a complete story. It ends leaving plot threads unresolved and clearly intends more in the series. While I enjoy many genre series, I'm always disappointed when an author transparently announces the next book in the series.
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