Review

This is #3 of the Empire of the Vampire trilogy: see reviews for Empire of the Vampire (#1) and Empire of the Damned (#2). Brief mild spoilers for #1 & 2 (but not for this book) ahead, so only read on if you’ve read 1 & 2 or you don’t want to read 1 & 2!

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Gabriel de Leon, pale blood (half vampire) and ex-Silversaint (like a warrior monk) and his vampire sister Celene continue telling a vampire historian about their quest, with an ever expanding cast of characters, to end Daysdeath, the mysterious paling of the sun that has allowed vampires to proliferate and blight the land.

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As with previous books, you will find lots of cursing and fantasy battles, plus some humour mingled with tragedy. Unfortunately, it’s not as good as Empire of the Vampire, although the opening section, set in Leon, was great, as well as some of the later battle scenes. The verbal humour was also still on point, although I felt that Joaquin’s character was a bit forced. It’s also true that a number of characters have a similar filthily jokey voice, which might have been more effective character-wise if it had been saved exclusively for Gabriel.

I started listening to the audiobook, and I do love Damian Lynch’s narration: what a great performance. Sadly, Celene’s sections, narrated by Shakira Shute, were not enjoyable for me – weirdly whispery – to the point where I couldn’t continue, so switched between ebook & audiobook from then on.

Also – sorry, Celene – her whole big section (Book 2: The Nine Lives of Celene Castia) was boring as heck. I was 100% skim reading her unnecessarily long and not at all interesting back story. It took all the pace out of the story after a lively beginning. Really could have been cut.

I accidentally read a spoiler about the conclusion, so do not go near this on the internet if you don’t want this to happen to you! I have to say, though, it was not a total shock, given the hints. The conclusion has been divisive. I was fine with it, although the ending didn’t have a huge impact on me… perhaps because of the spoiler, though?

Empire of the Vampire was definitely the best book in this trilogy, but this one has its moments.

Adult fiction – not suitable for school library. 800 pp.

> Click here for content info – no real spoilers.

Lots of fantasy & medieval warfare-style violence, blood and gruesome deaths everywhere; some torture; a couple of sex scenes; grief; a lot of swearing, copious s-words, f-words & c-words. Relationships are mlw, wlw & mlm.

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Kristoff, J. (2025). Empire of the dawn. HarperVoyager.

Kristoff, J. (2025). Empire of the dawn (D. Lynch & S. Shute, Narr.) [Audiobook]. Harper Voyager.

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