Tolkien and Sapkowski beware Kristoff is on fire

I purchased the e-book version of EoTV due to its 700 pages but was so disappointed by the teeny tiny artwork that I bought the hardcover and was greatly rewarded.

Kristoff's writing is extraordinary. The world and character building are on par with both Tolkien and
Sapkowski.

Kristoff transports the reader to what Tolkien called a “secondary world”, a world in which you can believe in as long as you’re within it.

The tome is divided into six books with an extensive table of contents. However, the pages quite literally fly by. I, for one, could not put it down.

If you are familiar with the vampire genre of modern times then sex, blood, gore, violence, and language most fowl will not deter you from reading this engrossing tale.

Yes, it is similar in format to Rice's “Interview with the Vampire” but it takes the story further by adding elegant artwork throughout and enthralling the reader with visual descriptors. The magic is built upon slowly, used discreetly, and is as much a part of the tale as are the characters.

EoTV completely envelopes you into a world so close to real that you cannot help but believe it.

Yes, I highly recommend this volume and look forward to his next as he continues to tell his tale.

Thank you, Mr. Kristoff, well done. ( )

Great concept. Horrible saccharine execution

This is a super-duper swashbuckling vampire book but holy cow is it long. I'm a really fast reader and it took me days. If you are an ordinary person with an ordinary life to live, you might keep reading for a year, and then there are two follow-on books that are about as long. Never mind, it's worth it.

When the sun's light is blocked out by some event, a volcanic explosion spreading ash perhaps, several things happen. The world grows colder. Without light, green plants stop growing but fungi thrive (although potatoes seem to get along ok). And the Dead rise as vampires, and assorted other wretched creatures. We are 27 years into the dark days.

The world building is superb. The mythology is internally consistent. The book is especially fun to read on a cold winter day. ( )

This book was quite an investment in time and I mostly enjoyed it. However, I am not sure I enjoyed it enough to read another book in the series. It had a lot of little annoying problems for me. One it could have been wait shorter. I felt like their was a bunch of padding in this story.m I was constantly waiting for it to go somewhere new. It suffered from stupid character syndrome. Places where characters would do something to move the plot but what they did was obviously the worst choice in the situation. The battle scenes started to feel very much like the last battle I read. Overall, the book was frustrating for me. I wanted to like it more than I ultimately did. ( )

The quality of the writing is strong, which is why I gave it 4 stars. ( )