Published: November 2025
Pages: 800
Series: Empire of the Vampire #3
Summary
Gabriel de León has lost his family, his faith, and the last hope of ending the endless night—his surrogate daughter, Dior. With no thought left but vengeance, he and a band of loyal brothers journey into the war-torn heart of Elidaen to claim the life of the Forever King.
Unbeknownst to the Last Silversaint, the Grail still lives—speeding towards the besieged capital of Augustin in the frail hope of ending Daysdeath. But deadly treachery awaits within the halls of power, and the Forever King’s legions march ever closer. Gabriel and Dior will be drawn into a final battle that will shape the very fate of the Empire, but as the sun sets for what may the last time, there will be no one left for them to trust.
Not even each other.
My thoughts
“It took a lot of love to hate her the way I do.”
This is going to be controversial because all I’ve seen are 5 star reviews.. but Empire of the Vampire was my top book of 2023. I loved it. I devoured it. There were not enough pages. I also incredibly enjoyed Empire of the Damned so colour me surprised when I finished this. The last book of the trilogy. The ultimate finale that we’ve been promised by the author for months.. and I am so disappointed.
I won’t go over old territory. I enjoy Kristoff’s writing style, I love the story telling and the weaving of different point of views and timelines. I am so sold on that. Yes, the dialogue can be quite cringe at time, this isn’t new to this series. I kindly refer to it as the Kristoff Kringe. Overly sarcastic dialogue that banters between characters. In small doses its fine and works well but too much and it gets overplayed quite easily. I love the wit, I really really love these characters. They have came to life for me and my levels of excitement going into this to find out what happens to everyone. I was equal parts excited and apprehensive of the heartbreak I had been sold to expect.
! This has potential spoilers !
My biggest issue is for a guy that has marketed himself as an author that does not believe in happy endings (this is literally in his author bio in each of his books) and who markets this series as brutal and really played with our emotions on Instagram telling us we were not prepared for the heartache… We got the happiest ending ever. I am still mad about it.
And I cannot believe that he pulled a Twilight Breaking Dawn on us. Sold us a load of fake killings just to have everyone alive and well at the end. I couldn’t believe what I was reading. I was enjoying the book so much and then it felt like the rug was pulled from me. What do you mean they’re all alive? It just wasn’t believable to have been through so many battles and for everyone else to die a part from this main cast. What happened to not believing in happy endings Mr. Kristoff? Is this the same brutal storyline I’ve been reading over the first two books? no!
My heart also aches for poor Dario right at the end. That boy went through so much, many of them are alive today because of him and we don’t even get a conclusion to him. I imagine that the dialogue allused to his death but we didn’t even get Dior’s reaction to that. All just brushed under the rug. Why didn’t we get more, he deserved it! He and Dior were so close it felt like an itch that I couldn’t quite reach.
I was also thinking back and does anyone else remember from book one where Gabriel would see Astrid come to him at night. I remember that story line continued into book two but it somehow got forgotten about? I thought that was going to play a part in the end. I could imagine having Gabriel fall to the hunger or sacrifice himself to save the day but ultimately, Astrid returns and this time he takes her hand and goes with her symbolising his death and moving on. But please explain to me how this man who worships and longs for his family is instead alive and well off with his new thing and they’re talking about marriage?? I understand character development but this just didn’t make sense or fit in. He LOVED his family to such an extent, we’ve been reading about it for over 1400+ pages. There is nothing wrong in moving on but this is not what Gabriel has been built towards. That felt strange and surprising but really underwhelming.
I don’t even know what is true or a lie which I suppose is fun to a certain degree but I became so invested in these characters. I’m just mad and disappointed. Not to mention so much of this book was them travelling from one place to another. It definitely did not need to be another 800 page chunk of a book.
Saying that I’m reflecting and when I say it is fun to a certain degree I think an unreliable narrator is enjoyable. The aspect of being the last Silversaint, something we’ve come to believe through this whole series. That was a very pleasant surprise. I’m not sure why but having Gabriel imprisoned I imagined this timeline to be years ahead of the previous events. To learn how it’s not quite past and present but leading from one thing to another, no large gap in between, I though that was quite good! I’m also left wondering, was Aaron even turned into a vampire?
“Sometimes life changes us for the better. Sometimes the worse. But everything under the sky is in the process of becoming something else. Something new. This is a world of butterflies.”
Would I recommend?
I still recommend it. It is a fantastic series. Book one is still one of my favourite reads. It is brutal, detailed, multiple timelines, so much mystery. It kept me hooked! Book two was great too and so was this one until it got to the end. I felt underwhelmed. There are many lovers of this series who loved the ending so who’s to say you won’t either. By the time you get to book three you’ll forget all about this review so give it a bash if you love vampires.