Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff

Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff
Empire of the Vampire #2
Publication Date: March 12, 2024 by St. Martin’s Press
709 Pages

Goodreads Summary: From the New York Times bestselling author of the Nevernight Chronicle, Jay Kristoff, comes the much-anticipated sequel to the #1 international bestselling sensation EMPIRE OF THE VAMPIRE.

From holy cup comes holy light;
The faithful hands sets world aright.
And in the Seven Martyrs’ sight,
Mere man shall end this endless night.

Gabriel de León has saved the Holy Grail from death, but his chance to end the endless night is lost. Drawn into an uneasy alliance with the mysterious vampire Liathe, Gabriel must now deliver the Grail to ancients of the Blood Esani, and learn the truth of how Daysdeath might be finally undone.

But the Last Silversaint faces peril, within and without. Pursued by terrors of the Blood Voss, drawn into warfare between the Blood Dyvok and duskdancers of the frozen Highlands, and ravaged by his own rising bloodlust, Gabriel may not survive to see the Grail learn her truth.

And that truth may be too awful for any to imagine.

Review: Words cannot express how excited I was to receive an advance copy of Empire of the Damned! I’ve been a huge Jay Kristoff fan ever since I read an ARC of Nevernight and also have a massive fascination of vampires so to combine the two… perfection. Empire of the Vampire, book 1 of this epic trilogy, was one of my favorite books in 2021 so I had very high expectations for this book. Read my review here if you need any reminding on how awesome it was!
The book starts off with two maps by Virginia Allyn and then a reintroduction to the characters we met in Empire of the Vampire so you wouldn’t necessarily need to read EOTV again before kicking off Empire of the Damned. I LOVE when authors include these because as much as I would always love to be able to re-read a previous book in a series before continuing on, I don’t always have time to do so. Then the book opens on Jean-Francois reliving the memory of Gabriel attacking him in his cell. I really enjoyed seeing a little more of what goes on with Jean-Francois and more of who he is. When Jean-Francois goes back to Gabriel’s cell to continue recording his story… that’s when we are thrust back into the action immediately after Gabriel massacred his former brethren at San Michon as they had attempted to sacrifice Dior.
The relationship between Gabriel and Dior really develops in this novel. They bantered and bickered, but very obviously cared for each other a great deal. The more Gabriel is with Dior, the more he takes on a fatherly figure role with her, trying to protect her no matter the cost. Everything Dior says and does in this novel just makes me love her even more. She is just so adorable but also fierce, kickass, extremely brave and courageous. In addition to Gabe and Dior, we get a much better sense of Celine as the story goes on. I’m still not sure how I feel about her… is she good, is she bad?? I don’t really know and I think that is kind of the intent.
One thing that really fascinated me in this book was the addition of the duskdancers. I would happily read an entire book about their territory of Elidaen. They kind of add the element of the weres so you have the vampires vs weres going on here.
I ended up taking this book fairly slowly for two reasons. The first being that I wanted to savor this book, knowing that it would be awhile before book 3 would be publishing and I knew that Jay Kristoff was going to tear our hearts to shreds. The second being that there was just SO much going on in this book and so many jaw dropping moments that taking breaks was almost necessary for my heart! Everything just kept building and building with twists, turns, betrayal and heartache. Just when you think you know what’s going to happen BOOM!!!! Mind blown! That final sentence! My jaw was dropped and I just sat there staring at the book after I completed it. EPIC doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Obviously with this being a rave review, I HIGHLY recommend reading this book! And if you’ve gotten this far in the review and haven’t yet picked up book 1…. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!?!

5 Stars

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Links to Purchase:
Amazon
Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition
Amazon Kindle
Audible

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Published July 18, 2023 by Tor Nightfire

246 Pages

Goodreads Summary: A searing and earnest horror debut about the demons the queer community faces in America, the price of keeping secrets, and finding the courage to burn it all down.
They’ll scare you straight to hell.
Welcome to Neverton, Montana: home to a God-fearing community with a heart of gold.
Nestled high up in the mountains is Camp Damascus, the self-proclaimed “most effective” gay conversion camp in the country. Here, a life free from sin awaits. But the secret behind that success is anything but holy.

Review: When I first heard about this book I honestly thought it was going to be like a summer camp slasher style horror story. Boy was I wrong, and not in a bad way. The book is focused on the POV of a 20 year old named Rose. She is about to graduate from high school because in her community the church is a very important thing and they take 2 years off during school to focus their learning on church teachings. Their church is a Christian church however, it’s got a little bit more up it’s sleeve than your typical American Christian church, at least in my experience. I grew up in the Lutheran church but I am no longer religious today (more agnostic at this point). Anyways, back to the point. As you have read in the summary, this town is also home to Camp Damascus which is considered to be one of the most effective gay conversion camps in the US. Well there is definitely a reason for that as you come to read. At first Rose is very conservative in her thoughts and actions. Always putting God at the forefront of her mind. And because of my experiences with church, it was a little off putting for me personally but I wanted to hang in there to see what was going to happen and I’m really glad that I did. Not long into the book, Rose sees what she thinks is a woman with strange blank eyes in the forest while at the local swimming hole with her friends. But the woman disappears into the trees before she can ask if anyone else saw her. The next time Rose sees this woman, she sees that she is not actually a human being. I don’t want to give a lot of the plot away because I think going into this as blind as possible but things very quickly go downhill and get downright creepy. Despite my initial struggle in the first few pages, I ended up really enjoying this book. It is geared towards adults but at times it did feel a little more on the young adult side but overall I think any adult horror fan would enjoy this book if they gave it a chance.

4 Stars

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Not Your Crush’s Cauldron by April Asher

Not Your Crush’s Cauldron by April Asher

Supernatural Singles #3

Expected publication date February 13, 2024 by St. Martin’s Griffin

336 Pages

Goodreads Summary: Olive Maxwell much prefers teaching about the supernatural world to taking part in it and leaves the magical shenanigans to her two sisters―the Prima-Apparent and Bounty Hunter-In-Training. But after assigning her college students a project designed to nudge them outside their comfort zones, Olive realizes that she’s never once stepped a toe over her own…and it’s about time that changed. Her first
trip into the unknown? Moving in with her long-time crush―and friend…tattooed, motorcycle-riding, and pleasantly pierced, Baxter Donovan.

Bax Donovan, Guardian Angel not-so-extraordinaire, has acquired so many black marks on his record it looked like a scantron sheet. He’s given one last chance to keep his Guardian wings intact, a high-profile Assignment he knows all too well. Olive is usually as low-risk as it got. Hell, she wrote the safety manual. But something landed her on the Guardian Affairs radar and his guess was it had something to do with the heart-pounding stunts she’s determined to check off her Dare I Docket list.

Keeping Olive out of trouble is about to be his toughest assignment yet, and not because he’s forced to shake the dust off his feathers and embrace his inner aerialist. He’s at real risk of shattering the only Guardian Angel Code of Conduct Rule he’s yet to Don’t fall in love with your Assignment. And he isn’t so sure that’s a bad thing.

If love didn’t play by the rules, why should they?

Review: Please note that this is the 3rd book in a series so if you haven’t read the first two books there may be possible spoilers ahead.
In the first two books of this series, Olive is more of the nerdy of the Maxwell sisters. She works in the academic field and doesn’t do much in terms of taking risks. Bax is the bad boy of the group, covered nearly head to toe in tattoos and rides a motorcycle. Can you see where this is going? Opposites attract indeed! I do love a good opposites attract story. It’s just refreshing to experience two unlikely love interests falling head over heels for each other. I have really enjoyed reading this series but I think this one might just be my favorite so far. I could really relate to Olive as I am not really a risk taker either so it was really fun reading about her expanding her horizons and experiencing new things that she has always wanted to do but just too scared or cautious to try them. I think in that way Bax is her perfect partner. He helped her in any way he could… and sure part of that may have been about his assignment which Olive was not aware of but he was given that assignment well after he started falling for her so I will give him a pass on that.
Overall this was a cute and fun continuation of the Supernatural Singles series and I look forward to the next installment which I assume will be featuring Harper the Succubus as the female main character.

4 stars

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

Published August 15, 2023 by Atria Books

272 Pages

Goodreads Summary: One June day when Mia Jacob can no longer see a way to survive, the power of words saves her. The Scarlet Letter was written almost two hundred years earlier, but it seems to tell the story of Mia’s mother, Ivy, and their life inside the Community—an oppressive cult in western Massachusetts where contact with the outside world is forbidden. But how could this be? How could Nathaniel Hawthorne have so perfectly captured the pain and loss that Mia carries inside her?

Through a journey of heartbreak, love, and time, Mia must abandon the rules she was raised with at the Community. As she does, she realizes that reading can transport you to other worlds or bring them to you, and that readers and writers affect one another in mysterious ways. She learns that time is more fluid than she can imagine, and that love is stronger than any chains that bind you.

As a girl Mia fell in love with a book. Now as a young woman she falls in love with a brilliant writer as she makes her way back in time. But what if Nathaniel Hawthorne never wrote The Scarlet Letter ? And what if Mia Jacob never found it on the day she planned to die?

From “the reigning queen of magical realism” (Kristin Hannah, New York Times bestselling author), this is the story of one woman’s dream. For a little while it came true.

Review: Ever since reading the Practical Magic series I have been a huge Alice Hoffman fan so I was ecstatic to get a chance to read The Invisible Hour. In addition to being a fan of Alice Hoffman, I am also incredibly fascinated by cults so in this story to be able to combine the two I knew that I was going to enjoy this novel. I was immediately drawn to Mia with her being a fellow book lover and using novels as a way of escaping her reality. In the community she lives in she is the daughter of the wife of the leader, which you would think might give her some leeway but this cult is incredible oppressive. No reading is allowed at all but her mother grew up outside of the cult so secretly introduced her to the world behind a library’s doors. As a child I spent a lot of time at the library with my own mother so it felt as though we were kindred spirits in a way. These books gave Mia such strength which allowed her to realize there was more to life than what she was being offered by the community she lived in. I don’t want to say much more about the plot to give anything away but I will say that the way Alice Hoffman writes about Mia’s love for Nathaniel Hawthorne and the book The Scarlet Letter made me want to give that novel another chance. I had read it many years ago and was not a fan but because of this book, I want to try reading it again to see it from another perspective. I absolutely loved The Invisible Hour and continue to think about it nearly every day. To me that is the mark of a good book.

5 Stars

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

Looking Glass Sound by Catriona Ward

Published August 8, 2023 by Tor Nightfire

342 Pages

Goodreads Summary: Looking Glass Sound is the newest twisty psychological horror novel from Catriona Ward, the internationally bestselling author of The Last House on Needless Street and Sundial.

In a lonely cottage overlooking the windswept Maine coast, Wilder Harlow begins the last book he will ever write. It is the story of his childhood summer companions and the killer that stalked the small New England town. Of the body they found, and the horror of that discovery echoing down the decades. And of Sky, Wilder’s one-time best friend, who stole his unfinished memoir and turned it into a lurid bestselling novel, Looking Glass Sound.But as Wilder writes, the lines between memory and fiction blur. He fears he’s losing his grip on reality when he finds notes hidden around the cottage written in Sky’s signature green ink. Catriona Ward delivers another mind-bending and cleverly crafted tale about one man’s struggle to come to terms with the terrors of his past… before it’s too late.

Review: One thing I have come to learn with Catriona Ward novels is to go in blind. I sometimes even do not want to read the synopsis for fear of ruining any thing no matter how small. She always manages to shock and awe me with her words. So I went into this novel knowing as little as possible. The story is in a way like other novels she has written where you’re never really sure where they are going to end up or how they are going to get there. This one seemed especially twisty as Wilder goes back and forth on being so sure he knew what had happened in the past. The more you think you know, the less you come to find out that you do. I thought the writing was spectacularly woven to help deliver on those twists. There were some moments I could have lived without but overall it had exactly the kind of feeling I look for in thriller and horror novels. I think of all Catriona Ward’s novels that I have read this one will be ranked towards the top, just behind Little Eve.

4 Stars

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.