Review

Gabriel de León, captured by his vampire foes, tells a vampire historian the story of his failure to hold onto the Holy Grail and thus save mankind. The last of the Silversaints — holy brothers and palebloods (half-vampires) who fight vampires and defend the true faith — he tells of his upbringing, his journey to San Michon to join the Ordo Argent (Silver Order), and his fruitless quest to find an end to Daysdeath: the paling of the sun that has allowed vampirism to spread almost unchecked throughout the land.

*

This is a rollicking tale in classic high fantasy mode, reminiscent of The Witcher (which I’ve never read but watched on Netflix). I listened to the audiobook (27 hours long! This is only Volume 1!) because I promised a student that I’d read it, and I figured that it would be easier to listen to, given that it’s the size of a housebrick: 736 pp. Fantasy, eh.

For the first hour or so, I was thinking Good God, what have I let myself in for. 26 hours to go. But then the magic of the story started kicking in, and, yes… I loved it. And there’s plenty more to be had! Volume 2 is 31 hours.

The world building is excellent, and the pace cracks along, alternating between Gabriel as a 16 year old and Gabriel as a 32 year old. In the earlier timeline, he’s an eager initiate, learning about his vampire heritage and the Silversaints, arriving at San Michon, training, meeting Astrid and Chloe, novice sisters of the Silver Order, and researching Daysdeath. In the later one, he’s a marvellously grumpy alcoholic, a reluctant protector of a motley band of travellers, on a quest to vanquish Daysdeath with the Holy Grail. His fame as the Black Lion still precedes him, but he no longer believes. He’s cynical, broken, and addicted to Sanctus, a distilled, smokable blood, used by silversaints to sate their bloodthirst and supercharge their fighting abilities.

The narrative voice and description are vivid, with much inventive (& non-inventive) cursing and a touch of romance. It’s a swashbuckling adventure, frequently witty and very entertaining, which it had want to be at that kind of page count. For your hardcore fantasy fans — no one else will pick it up due to size.

Year 10 & up (see content info) — not a YA novel.

> Click here for content info — spoilers, enter at own risk!

Lots of fantasy violence & death; a few sexual encounters – mostly brief, with one longer scene; frequent enthusiastic swearing, mostly f-words, s-words, & a few c-words; physical abuse; vaguely implied pedophilia (back story); hazing/bullying; several tattooing scenes (the Silversaints are a tattooed order — it’s complicated); loss of faith; fantasy drug addiction; alcoholism; two horses and some other animals die. Main relationship is mlw. Minor relationships are mlw, mlm and wlw.

*

Kristoff, J. (2021). Empire of the vampire (D. Lynch, Narr.) [Audiobook]. HarperCollins.

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