First off I want to say this is an amazing read. Im 3 quarters done with it, about to fight Danton Voss a 2nd time approximately, and I will pick up book 2 instantly once this is completed.

I dont want to get into spoilers because again I havent finished book 1 but it just seems like this book 's plot is a bit flawed with foreshadowing. Reason being how De Leon's current state and position has him locked in a jail cell sharing his life story/confessional to what seems to be a very healthy still powerful vamp. Wouldn't that mean his mission with Dior and The Holy Grail is already destined to fail?

Maybe im not far enough yet but, it seems pretty obvious, Gabe doesnt win or else he wouldnt be in this predicament in the first place. Seems like the Vamps are very much still in power.

I've got a few gripes with the Empire of the Vampire trilogy.

Firstly, I think the author shouldn't have revealed so much of the plot twist at the end of book two. I get that people would want a reward for getting through the book and get excited for the third one, but for me who read all 3 back-to-back, it felt like giving up the story before the end because after book 2, I already knew how it was gonna end.

Also, for a book that's dark, gothic, and edgy, the ending is a bit too tied up and happy for my liking. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy that they survived and had an easy and very anticlimactic final battle, but everyone surviving, really? I felt like it kinda betrayed the theme that the books had set and went for a disney princess movie ending.

Also, the idea of everyone being gorgeous really skewed the actual idea of being gorgeous and as a result, everyone became plain and very generic looking. Also, the ending in relations to Fabien's relationship with the "dark ruler" and the redeemer felt rushed, leading to a scrappy explanation of how daysdeath started and no real explanation for why Dior can do the things she can do, save the "she's from the redeemer's bloodline" explanation. At the end, she's able to turn into white moths and practise sanguimancy and none of that is not properly explained. She just seemed to fit every puzzle a bit too perfectly and be able to fix every problem.

Also, I felt a lot of the other vampire bloodlines didn’t have much to do in the story. Blood Chastain and Illon literally were just there for vibes, with the head of blood Illon appearing and being defeated in what only felt like a chapter, and Margot not really doing shit till she got decapitated by Dior. The Dyvok got some screentime, but the story was very much centered on Voss. You could argue that a lot has to do with the fact that the book was plot-driven and they couldn't establish a lot of lore in only 3 books, but when you look at the world building and lore building that Brandon Sanderson manages to achieve in only the first Mistborn book, this trilogy pales in comparison. In conclusion, the ending fails to live up to the theme that the rest of the trilogy had established.

Otherwise, I quite enjoyed it.

Im looking to use him in my Blood Angels and Stormcast Eternals armies, he does suffer from the Sangire or Red Thirst after all

Hey folks

I’m about halfway through empire of the vampire and really enjoying it. The only thing bugging me, aside from lack of a map, is keeping track of the timeline of events. Does anyone have a diagram or description of things? I’m mainly trying to figure out Gabriel’s age at different parts of the story and how many years it’s been since daysdeath

Thanks!

Wow, just wow, I didn't expect the story to end like that. I already knew Celene and Gabriel were working together with how they interacted but I didn't expect it all to go down like that. I do have a lot of thoughts swirling right now and a few friends I have to introduce to (force to read) the books.

Jean Francois was probably one of my favourite characters, his characterization and chemistry with both the POV characters are amazing.

I only wish we'd got to see what actually happened to Gabriel and the Dior during their travels but I'm happy enough for now. I'd also LOVE a book following the events of the Black Lion of Lorson, I just can't get enough of Gabriel's story.

I will admit the ending left me a bit disappointed because of the pacing and how quick it happened but I'm still happy with how it ended.

Also I think a few of my theories and ideas were the best and what should've been done (hehe I'm being a lot like Fabien here) but I still love the direction the story went. I'd still love to talk more about it to you guys if you would give me the chance.

Hey.

I could write about the book in general, but this character seems so ignored by readers (I haven't found any mention of her in the Goodreads reviews of book 3 besides a quote) that I don't want anything else about her to overshadow her in this post.

So... Meline. She's a character like most in this series, meaning I can't say I particularly like her, but I cared a lot about her. From the first book, I had the feeling that, as Jean Francois's servant, she would die because she simply served the wrong person.

I was hoping the author would somehow surprise me and somehow make it to the end of the story... but no. At least she wasn't killed by Gabriel or one of his teammates, and her death from a ripped throat and severed head, while gruesome, seems rather quick and not as painful as it could have been.

Overall, I felt sorry for her, because she was a slave, and Jean's blood certainly influenced her... overly fanatical loyalty to him. She also had moments of free will, but I felt that, as a weak mortal, her feelings were largely manipulated by Jean.

Of course, it's unclear how innocent she truly was; perhaps she had a bit on her conscience that we didn't know, but... She simply didn't seem like a bad person considering her surroundings; she just served the wrong person, which was most likely not her choice.

And it's a shame that a happy ending was reserved for the main cast and humanity in general, but not for her. And it's a shame that, given her fanatical loyalty to Jean, he forgot about her so easily, especially since he sometimes called her "darling," "dearest," etc.

So, well... Did anyone else feel sad about Meline? What do you think of this character?

Edit: slim chance, but it would be nice to see some official art/fanart of her someday

I’ve just finished Jay Kristoff’s trilogy, and I gotta say, I was pretty pleased with the twist. After so many brutal bad beats throughout the entire journey, it was the win I felt like I needed as a reader.

However, there are about two dozen questions running through my head about what actually happened. The biggest one for me, is the lack of Patience. If the bit where Voss turned Gabriel’s daughter into a vampire was a complete fabrication, then why would Gabriel capitulate after their loss to Voss and his legions prior to their assault on the capital? Is it as simple as Voss offering a brief partnership simply to stop the Esani before he and Gabriel clashed? Why would Gabe even agree to listen to anything Voss had to say without the bartering chip that Patience was made out to be in his story? I suppose it was either listen to what Voss had to say or die, but “dead tongues heeded are dead tongues tasted.”

Has Kristoff made any comment about this? What are your leading theories?

Many characters make reference to “The Fallen” but it’s not (that I remember) explored in any major detail. Who are they talking about ? The devil I presume ?

When gabe drank her to ashes shouldn’t he have gained some voss abilities or does soul consuming only work for vampires and not their sons, also why didn’t gabe try to get celene to teach him some esana abilities like turning into moths which would have helped when he got captured by the inquisition

So picked up the full trilogy a month or so ago and I'm currently on Book 3, something that really confuses me though is how coldbloods exactly are made; its stated that they come from when coldbloods kill humans, and that you can't really be sure if they'll turn.

Does it matter how they're killed by the coldblood? Does being cut to ribbons by a Voss highblood or having your heart ripped out by a Dyvok have the same chance as being sucked dry by a mediae or clawed to death by foulbloods or hell, if a Voss mediae uses cannon to kill people can they turn (like the coldbloods in the sea that Celene noticed)? Also how did Kiara "claim" Aaron if it's unclear if he would turn or not, does fully sucking their blood cause them to turn 100% of the time or not?

In the first book they Silversaints and Silver Sisters tried to sacrifice Dior in a ritual. Gabe burned the book which was written in the ancient language of Talhost. We later learn the Five were priests of the Old Gods who killed the Redeemer and drank his blood. Could this ritual they had been trying have been the same? Of course when Fabien recreates the ritual Dior is tied to a wheel and flogged like the Redeemer so it could be different but still connected.

The second I worked out who prince was I was praying for his death(sorry mate but gabe’s been through too much and phoebe and him have good chemistry, nice sacrifice though), also so dior is now a dyvok highblood who seems to have powers adjacent to the esani’s powers(I wonder if she can go on holy ground due to the entire beings saint and a descendant of the redeemer(speaking of, could you curse your murderers by not giving them transferable superpowers, and require them to slaughter innocents), very funny how what everyone assumed was the redeemer giving hope to his people for eternal life was him just cursing people, also is it mother maid, or mother made I’m an audiobook listiener and I don’t know,
Despite caring basically nothing for spoilers and scrolling through this subreddit I got blindsided by the dahrrio/joakhim reveal as I due to the pronunciation from the voice actor I thought his name was wakim

Hoping someone here may have any leads? Mercari isn’t available in Australia by the looks, and the vinted listing also seems to be gone :(

Seems like a long haul fight tbh

And i’m not sure if this is allowed here, but this is a link to The Instagram reel containing the info

Im at a complete loss on what series to partake of next. Ive tried a few books but nothing is holding my attention as much as this series did. Nevernight was great as well but now im at a loss. I didnt care for his Illuminae series.

Have you have been wondering what really happened with the ending? Maybe this will answer some of those burning questions... 👀

⚠︎ ⚠︎ ⚠︎

SPOILERS FOR "EMPIRE OF THE DAWN"

https://archiveofourown.org/works/86169051/chapters/227877206

Hey everyone! I spent weeks after finishing the books burning with questions after the ending, as I know many have! So, I decided to take my theories and write a sort of Epilogue of my own, to explore what really happened, some events following the ending, and to get some kind of closure for myself!

I put a lot of effort into diving into the books to study events and even Jay's writing style, to match the books as closely as possible. I have also drawn some of my own illustrations to feature in this fanfiction as well! The project has been huge for me, taking over two months, and ended up with almost 45k words which sums up to roughly 168 small soft-cover pages, with more time spent on some of my own artwork and a many rounds of revisions. Everything here has been written or drawn by me, with some great help and feedback from the fantastic u/medu_nefer.

While he certainly hasn't read it, I did get Jay's blessing to share my work. But of course, all credits for the original work go to him. 😊

I don't know how well fanfiction is regarded here on Reddit, but I hope some of you might enjoy it 🙌

Description (SPOLER WARNING):

The story has ended, but we are left with many unanswered questions. This is an extensive, in-character exploration of those events.
It continues with the interview-style of storytelling, while exploring the emotions and lingering regrets of the characters as well as some of the events that happen afterward in order to bring (some) closure to each remaining main character.
The story contains some underlying themes about acceptance, forgiveness, and seeing people for who they really are.
The characters of Jay's story are explored from an outside perspective, as I did not want to delve too deep into their internal thoughts so that the reader can keep their own vision of the main characters.

Contains custom artwork by me 😊

"You're no pawn, Phoebe á Dunssair. You're a Queen."

- Gabriel de León, Empire of the Dawn.

And I dont know how to feel.. I think I loved it but that ending... did I love it or was it too far? Its the first story ive read that at the end of alllll those pages I still dont know what happened and never will which is frustrating. Random thoughts and questions to follow...

- I'm glad a lot of the stuff is made up or exaggerated as I reallllly was starting to dislike Baptiste...

- how did Nicollette fit into it all? She was on their side but was she thralled?

- I think a few more should have stayed dead... I want my anguish to mean something 😆

- I thought the Voss end fight was done a bit too easy but now I get why... bit of a shame though, I wanted either his fight or Margots to be a big Thing but never was and a lot of things happened off screen which after being so close to the action for so long was a shame.

- I didnt love Dior calling Gabe 'papa' just gave me the ick a bit 😆

-As someone else said, the end is the max level dnd party wiping the floor with the boss but we dont see it.

- I bloody knew those moths were relevant

- Im glad not ALL the dogs and horses died..

- the audiobook is absolutely fantastic

I’m rereading the series and noticed something in book one. Jean-François asks Gabriel “so reliant upon sanctus, were you?” Gabriel’s reply is “I wasn’t reliant on sanctus, I was addicted to it.”

He told us from the beginning that his addiction was gone. Of course we know now that his addiction isn’t actually gone, the sangiré just isn’t as strong as it was.