Customer Reviews

The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1)

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Vampire Empire: The Greyfriar is the story of an alternate world history for humans here on Earth. Vampires roam freely, mercilessly killing, maiming, torturing, and taking hold of every inch of land available. Those few humans that did survive are either enslaved or have fled to the relative safety of the South. Now, in a world dominated by various cunning and intense Vampire Empires, the world conquests are fought between vampires, rather than men, and Adele, heir to Equatoria, is about to meet the mysterious and complex Greyfriar.

Wow! Ok, when I received The Greyfriar for review, I wasn't expecting too much because, frankly, I've never heard anything about it before, and vampires usually bore the crap heck out of me. Finally! It was so nice to read about non-glittering vampires who stay true to their nature! Using rich prose, an incredibly steampunk atmosphere and a blooming and contagious romance, husband and wife author duo, Susan and Clay Griffith have created an incredible masterpiece of a story that is intense, exhilarating, and completely delicious.

There are too many high points in The Greyfriar for me to name them all, so I'll be general. The characterization was enthralling. Adele and the Greyfriar were so clearly defined, their actions and motives so well-pronounced, that it is impossible not to fall in love with their story as their relationship blooms. The amazing mythology that creeps its way into every aspect of the story heightens the sinister nature of the vampires and makes the story all that more gripping and enticing. Honestly, I'm surprised this book was as slim as it was because the story was well-rounded and truly captivating to read.

I give The Greyfriar a 5 out of 5, hands down. In fact, I'd probably give it more if I could. I recommend that everyone buy this book as soon as it releases (I believe on November 18th) because it is a definite must-read. I would recommend this book to fans of YA and adult fiction, particularly those who enjoy steampunk, vampires, fantasy, and mythology. Due to the violence, I do think an upper YA audience is probably best.

(Summary from the back of the book)
In the year 1870, a horrible plague of vampires swept over the northern regions of the world. Millions of humans were killed outright. Millions more died of disease and famine due to the havoc that followed. Within two years, once-great cities were shrouded by the grey empire of the vampire clans. Human refugees fled south to the tropics because vampires could not tolerate the constant heat there. They brought technology and a feverish drive to reestablish their shattered societies of steam and iron amid the mosques of Alexandria, the torrid quietude of Panama, or the green temples of Malaya.
It is now 2020 and a bloody reckoning is coming.
Princess Adele is heir to the Empire Equatoria, a remnant of the old tropical British Empire. She is quick with her wit as well as with a sword or gun. She is eager for an adventure before she settles into a life of duty and political marriage to a man she does not know. But her quest turns black when she becomes the target of a merciless vampire clan. Her only protector is the Greyfriar, a mysterious hero who fights the vampires from deep within their territory. Their dangerous relationship plays out against an approaching war to the death between humankind and the vampire clans.

I received The Greyfriar for review awhile ago, and for some reason I kept putting off reading it. I finally decided to pick it up, and I'm so glad I did! This book exceeded any expectations I had of it.

When the novel started out, I was just sort of waiting for something to pull me in. I didn't feel the spark until The Greyfriar himself showed up, which was really early in the novel. From then on, I was hooked. I finished this novel in one day.
I just couldn't stop reading.

The plot was action-packed. I loved the scenes between Adele and Greyfriar, and Adele and Gareth. It was interesting to see the contrast between how she treated each man, and then eventually, the mergence of her actions for both. That part of the plot is a little complicated, and I can't explain it without giving something away, but if you read it, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.
My only issue plot-wise were... well, basically any of the scenes that didn't have Adele in them. I lost interest slightly when the perspective changed, even though I understood that the change served a purpose.

The romance in the story was... wow. I knew it was coming. I knew. But it's the kind of romance that just sneaks up on you, and then hits you like a ton of bricks at the end, even though you already saw the bricks hanging in a crumbling net over your head. It slowly built up and simmered, and that's what I loved. There were some tender moments that just made me smile.

All of the characters were so well-rounded and described. Each had a role to play, and each played it superbly. Despite the potential for cheesy-ness, the Griffith duo managed to pull everything off wonderfully, and most importantly, believably. My favorite character is a tie between Adele, the butt-kicking heroine, and Gareth, the eldest vampire prince with a kind heart.

I really do commend the Griffith duo for making up such an intricate world, with it's own history, while intertwining it with real history. And the vampires! A very new twist on an extremely overdone thing. The vampires in this novel, most certainly did not sparkle, but they DID kick some ass.

I guess my only major qualm with the book is the cover. It really does not appeal to me. I'll admit that it's a big reason why I didn't pick this book up sooner. It's so... gray. And I get that the artist did that to convey the destruction that was happening, but there are much better ways to portray that. Also, I don't like the model or drawing or whatever that is of Gareth. That's absolutely not how I picture him, and I actually covered up that part of the cover the entire time I was reading this so it wouldn't ruin my mental image of him.

Overall, I loved this novel. I really did, and I'm dying for a sequel. Let's hope it comes out soon!

Plot: 5/5
Characters: 6/5!
Writing: 5/5
Uniqueness\Creativity: 5/5
Cover: 1.5/5

I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. The authors have a true gift, sweeping the reader away into their world. This story is epic. There is everything here-love, loss, honor, the battle for all mankind, discovery and romance. The main characters, Adele and Garreth are richly drawn, and when I finished the book I found myself missing them. The secondary characters were well developed and their motivations were understandable. The descriptions of Flay were so vivid that I felt myself cringing whenever she was about. The battle scenes are appropriately gory, giving the reader a true appreciation for the strength and viciousness of the vampires, and the formidable obstacles the humans would have to defeat them. The contrasts were not so black and white, showing the ignorance and prejudice that the humans have with regard to their enemy. Amazingly, they were able to imbue each of the characters with so much dimension that it all became "real" when reading. I am anxiously awaiting the next installment!

Plot Summary: Following the Great Killing of the 1870s, vampires and humans have nearly divided the world in two. The cold-loving vampires have taken over the northern hemisphere, while the humans have fled and regrouped in the tropics. Nearly 150 years later, humans have developed steam and chemical based technologies that will allow them to start another war with the vampires, and genocide is their only goal. Princess Adele is the future Empress of the Equitorian Empire, and before her intended marriage to the American leader she is captured by the vampires during a tour of the border lands. Her only hope for escape is a renown vampire hunter known as The Greyfriar.

(Vampire Empire Series: Book One)

The Greyfriar is a fine, rip-roaring ride. It's what I call a popcorn muncher, because I could easily see this being translated to the big screen and debut as a summer blockbuster flick. It has adventure, horror, romance, and - be still my beating heart - sword-fighting with vampires! It reads like greased lightening, and I have no doubt that it will be perfectly entertaining to the great majority of fantasy junkies out there. The Greyfriar definitely pleased me, and it joins the rank of books that fit into several categories with its steampunk, romance, and post-apocalyptic mix.

Is it perfect? No. When I compared it to a summer blockbuster film I was paying it an enormous compliment and giving it a little poke as well. It's sort of a back-handed compliment, because the story is utterly formulaic. I knew what was coming with clockwork precision, and I get a little bummed when there aren't any surprises in the bag. This element of predictability extended to the characters as well, and whenever Adele "sneered" at something in the beginning, I knew she'd repent later on. None of the characters displayed any hidden depth, and it was blatantly obvious whether someone was a white hat or a black hat from the get go.

I'd like to see the series depart from the formula just enough to toss the reader a few surprises in the next book, but maybe I should just shut my trap because fans seem to adore this book just the way it is. The enormous entertainment value of the story and the solid world-building easily carry it into "brain candy" territory as far as I'm concerned, but I can't help hoping for some genuine twists in the second book of the Vampire Empire series.

top 6 reasons to read his book
1. great world building with alternate history. the setting is a contemporary vampire post apocalyptic earth.
2. lead female is a dynamic character who overcomes her prejudice when judging others. she accepts respect before love. that is refreshing.
3. the settings seem to come to life and i could visualize the action scenes very well.
4. this is a well written book with multiple storylines woven together with characters who have their own motives.
5. the main charaters were very likable.
6. some of the scenes were very dark intense ... i really felt distress and slightly disturbed which is hard to find these days in books.

top 6 reasons not to read this book.
1. was confused through most of the book as to the classification of this book. was it YA or adult. as soon as i think it is YA... something really dark and intense happens which i think is not YA. concluded the characters were YA in an adult setting.
2. the greyfriar seemed unrealistic to me. i couldnt reconcile his history with the man he is now.
3. the other storylines were weak compared o the main character. 1st person is superior in this genre. the person would switch from paragraph to paragraph sometimes which could confuse younger readers.
4. some parts of the plot were predictable. also i think the plot tried to reach to far in its cast.
5. alas... i was excited to see a husband and wife team like ilona andrews but i felt this fell short of the mark.
6. part of a trilogy... somewhat unsatisfactory ending because it is book 1 in a trilogy.

overall i liked the book and i thought about it inbetween readings but not sure if i will read book 2

I wanted to like this book, since the cover looked so steampunky and chapter one was so darned well written.

Then, I read chapter two. What happened to the strong action verbs, the detailed descriptions, the flowing easy-to-read sentences? Gone. All of them, leaving an overuse of weak verbs 'ing' me to death, weak descriptions and choppy, sloppy sentences. I forced myself to keep reading, hoping I'd just hit a rough patch, but the quality of the writing and storytelling never improved.

However, my biggest complaint was that the characters were less than one-dimensional. Not caring about them made me not care about following their story.

Again, I really wanted to like this book and I'm glad so many other readers have. I'm giving it two stars for action and for trying really hard.

This is an excellent story in almost every sense. The characters have depth to them, the romance builds naturally and slowly, the world is excellent and the story is top notch. The authors do a good job of slowly unveiling more of the world and the characters so that as the book continues your perception of the situation changes with the characters themselves. I am eagerly waiting the next book.

I didn't think too much of this book when I started reading it but by the end I was pretty hooked into the plot. The story takes place in an alternative historical setting where vampires have taken over most lands of the north...so Europe, the US, Japan, etc. The atmosphere is very steampunk with airships, guns, and swords. Late 1800s is the ballpark era.

On some levels it feels like a teen chick story because of the romance involved but then the fight scenes and drama are more graphic and mature so I'm not sure where it truly lies. All I know is that the story and characters are interesting enough and I'll probably continue one with the next book.

Princess Adele is the heir to the Equatorian Empire, a vestige of the British Empire which survives in the year 2020 after a century and a half of conflict between humans and vampires. Adele is travelling with a small fleet of gorgeous steampunk dirigible airships to visit some border states, when a group of flying vampires attacks her airship. When the ship crashes, she is rescued by Greyfriar, a mysterious vampire-fighting figure who is supposed to be a mere legend.

The language of this novel is just lovely. The words have a distinct uppercrust clip that makes me want to read the words aloud, complete with an English accent. And the actiony prose is good, too, like this descriptive passage when Adele's ship is under attack: "the rigging over her head was full of vampires, perhaps a hundred of them squirming and crawling, like a dead tree full of caterpillars" (pg 19). At first I thought it was strange that the narration sometimes referred to Adele by terms other than her name--things like "the girl ran" or "the princess saw"--but I began to see that this is kind of a tip of the hat to an older era of fiction. We're also treated to some neat technical jargon, as shown in this sentence full of nautical (aeronautical?) terms: "The last of the spritsails luffed, and the airship's prow turned to the tower" (pg 66). I likes it.

The vampire mythos is real-real good. They are actually monsters, not people who have been altered by blood ingestion, and they can do freaky things like fly and float by altering the density of their bodies. So cool. They have extremely limited use of their fine motor skills, so they have to live in houses made by humans and wear clothes stolen from humans, since they are incapable of construction or sewing. A very compelling chapter later in the novel deals with the disturbing fact that vampires have sharp intellects but seem incapable of creating anything at all--they don't even have a written language.

Adele is chipper and smart, and makes for a great heroine. She's not that grating brand of "spunky" heroine who simply keeps getting into trouble because she won't listen to good advice, and she's not a shrinking violet, either. I am immensely fond of her kindness and maturity--just in the first few pages, she looks after her hyper brother, speaks sweetly to a low-ranking officer, and demonstrates a good working knowledge of politics and social connections. She has moments of frustration, irritation, and anger, but overall she's incredibly brave and strong. Her conversations with Greyfriar toward the end of the book have to be read to be believed--I love their interaction.

Downsides: 1. I had troubled maintaining interest in the sections of the book that didn't involve Adele or Greyfriar. To me, they're the main characters and the people I truly want to see.

Since the first time I was really aware of the steampunk movement, I've been waiting for the one book that would make me fall in love with steampunk as a genre. The Greyfriar is that book. It has charming writing, riveting action, likable characters, and worldbuilding that's second to none. I must go read the sequel immediately, because the ending is pretty close to being a cliffhanger!

(Reviewed at Abnormally Paranormal Reviews blog...)

Age rating: 13+ (despite being adult fiction)

This was a story in which I was able to really come to love the characters. Despite all the political matters whirling around that made up the central plot, it still managed to be a character-driven story. Princess Adele and the Greyfriar were both given plenty of room to grow and develop into very realistic and charming characters.

I found myself being reminded of one of my favorite novel series, Trinity Blood, a Japanese light novel series in which the vampires have their own empire that goes up against the human nations. I love the set-up of that series and, although it was very different, The Greyfriar's premise was also fascinating. I won't write much about its steampunk elements, but they gave the story an old-fashioned atmosphere that was easy to envision, which was interesting given that the story was set in the year 2020.

Still, I couldn't help but have a problem with how the shifting 3rd-person POVs were handled. We'd be inside Adele's head one paragraph, and then, without warning, we'd be inside of Greyfriar's, or someone else's, in the next--all during the same scene. It was very confusing and this was a constant problem from beginning to end. Also, I didn't much care for the overuse of passive voice. I found myself rewording sentences in my head as I read them to get rid of the "to be" verb.

Despite these errors, I truly loved this story and its evolving characters, Adele and Greyfriar, as well as their relationship. Adele had to grow so much to overcome her extreme prejudices against vampires, even though they were warranted. But, her time spent with them taught her things she never knew about them, and therein, she grew in leaps and bounds. Prejudice is an ugly thing, and she was truly awful while displaying her bigotry, but when it started to crack and fade, it became a beautiful thing to witness.

The story was not particularly sensuously romantic, but the feelings were all there and I loved how it was handled. No need for groping and whispers of sweet-nothings. Adele and Greyfriar seemed to have something more substantial between the two of them, and I anxiously look forward to reading more about how they could possibly continue their sweet romance in the next volume. More, please!

P.S. The vampires in this series RULE! They can lower the density of their bodies to float in the air? How cool is that!?

My score: 4.5 out of 5 stars.