Karla’s Reviews > Empire of the Vampire > Status Update
Karla
is 69% done
Not much is happening in this book tbh. It is just "vampires are coming, lets fight!" There is very little of anything else. The characters are very lightly explored, their relationships are forming very slowly due to the dual narration and it is very much repetitive in its core. There is also very little worldbuilding besides the vampire related aspects. I do miss the complexity of Brandon Sanderson's books daily...
— Sep 17, 2026 01:40AM
Like flag
Karla’s Previous Updates
Karla
is 75% done
Why is this book so good and so bad at the same time ???
It does relationships in a way i do not like and I am not sure if I should think that Gabriel is cool or not but it has a potential with the world and the overall plot. I just think that there is this fantasy looming over it, that can appeal only to men lol. and that is why it makes me so uneasy
— Sep 18, 2026 10:02PM
It does relationships in a way i do not like and I am not sure if I should think that Gabriel is cool or not but it has a potential with the world and the overall plot. I just think that there is this fantasy looming over it, that can appeal only to men lol. and that is why it makes me so uneasy
Karla
is 74% done
Hey this is smut and I am not liking it. It is so male gaze-ish.
Gabriel and Astrid are so cringe also, I cannot take them seriously, this is so....nah nah nah
— Sep 18, 2026 09:58PM
Gabriel and Astrid are so cringe also, I cannot take them seriously, this is so....nah nah nah
Karla
is 72% done
I do not feel the friendships and love between these characters at all.
— Sep 17, 2026 02:09AM
Karla
is 70% done
Also the overuse of the descriptions of women and female vampires as "bitches" is not sitting well with me. It has a bitter taste, especially when there is not such an overused term used for descriptions of men.
This also connects to - I do not like the handling of Astrid, she is a very male gaze in an annoying way and the whole book is very cringey in its depiction of Gabriel as i buff, strong, sassy, straight man.
— Sep 17, 2026 01:48AM
This also connects to - I do not like the handling of Astrid, she is a very male gaze in an annoying way and the whole book is very cringey in its depiction of Gabriel as i buff, strong, sassy, straight man.
Karla
is 67% done
Gabriel is too straight for me. If your reaction at gay love is, "I could not care less you know, who am I to judge, i do not like to see it but i'll accept it", he is too close to choosing homophobia for me. And I do not care that there are some rules of the society there, he is a flawed character enough without this. The choice to do this in your book in this time and age, when we are fighting for our rights again?
— Sep 15, 2026 03:03AM
Karla
is 56% done
Bruh, they are just fighting all the time. Give me something new pls
— Sep 11, 2026 06:31AM
Karla
is 36% done
Gabriel is like the player you do not want at your DnD table
— Sep 09, 2026 03:37AM
Karla
is 34% done
Okay I see the problem here.
Man writing women.
I could ignore it enough when it comes to the whole sexualisation of vampires that is literally imbeaded in their existence in our mind since at least 18/19th century. There it makes sense for me.
But the weird descriptions of women who are always "sexy" in their behaviours are just male gaze. Astrid feels almost like a caricature, it is cringe (and harmful imo).
— Aug 24, 2026 03:11AM
Man writing women.
I could ignore it enough when it comes to the whole sexualisation of vampires that is literally imbeaded in their existence in our mind since at least 18/19th century. There it makes sense for me.
But the weird descriptions of women who are always "sexy" in their behaviours are just male gaze. Astrid feels almost like a caricature, it is cringe (and harmful imo).