Two Mini-Confessions: Vampires and Fae Galore!

I will try to make these two shorter than my last ones. If you need the GoodReads summary or link, just click on the title of the books.

Empire of the Vampire by Jay Kristoff

Publication Date: September 14, 2021

Confession:

So many thoughts on this. This was one of my most anticipated reads for 2021 and I was so ready to love this book, but even though there were things I really liked, there were a lot of things that I didn’t like and that unfortunately took away from my enjoyment.

I really liked the main character Gabriel and the idea of the silversaints. I thought that whole story was brilliant and the religious aspects were interesting. I enjoyed the themes of forbidden loves and losing your beliefs in yourself and your god and trying to find redemption as well as revenge against those who wronged you. It was this part of the story that kept me reading all the way to the end.

I also liked the interview style of the story, and the back and forth in the timeline. I appreciated that the vampires were nasty, but also appeared almost human in that they just want to survive too. Finally I really liked the illustrations and thought they added to the overall story.

What I really didn’t like was all of the vulgar and coarse language that was just constant. I don’t mind foul language, but this was just way to much and took away from the story. Also some of the violence was just a bit too much as was the constant bullying by some characters as well as Gabriel. There were alot of scenes that also seemed kind of unnecessary and repetitive which just added to the length.

I could say a lot more, but I am trying to be brief. If you are on the fence about reading this one you might want to read some other reviews before making your decision. If it wasn’t for the language, I think I would have loved this book and thought it the best of the year. I am hoping that some of that might be toned down in the next books, but I doubt it. Will I continue the series? Probably? But I’m on the fence about that as well.

The Righteous (The Beautiful #3) by Renee Ahdieh

Publication Date: December 7, 2021

Confession:

First off as I went into the book, I thought it was going to be the last one in the series, so I was a bit shocked that two side characters became the leads in this one. I was ok with that because I really enjoyed Arjun and Pippa in the first two books and wanted more of them, which I got and loved! The entire book takes place in the Vale as well so that was also a lot of fun.

Arjun and Pippa are just so fun together and I really liked their romance in this story. I won’t say how they get together because spoilers, but it was fun and enjoyable while at the same time a little bit terrifying.

Celine and Bastian don’t show up until about half way through the book, and they don’t get very much page time after that. The story also takes a big left turn about that time and goes off on a totally different storyline after that. So it almost ends up feeling like two separate books. Fair warning there is a huge cliffhanger at the end as well. Hopefully we won’t have to wait too long for the fourth and maybe final one.

This was a much lighter and fun story than I remember the first two being, but that was ok after finishing Empire I needed something a little bit lighter and fun. I do think I will reread the books before going into the last one though. I think it will make it more fun to read them all the way through. If you read and enjoyed the first two books then this one will be just as fun for you to read.