For readers who prefer their vampires monstrous rather than romantic, Australian author Jay Kristoff has created a particularly unforgiving world. In his Empire of the Vampire trilogy, the sun has effectively disappeared, the undead have conquered much of civilization, and humanity’s survival rests in the hands of a disgraced vampire hunter named Gabriel de León.
Beginning with Empire of the Vampire in 2021, Kristoff built a sprawling Gothic fantasy that combines religious mythology, brutal supernatural warfare, forbidden love and the search for an artifact that might save the world. The series continued with Empire of the Damned in 2024 before reaching its conclusion in Empire of the Dawn in 2025.
“When I was a kid, vampires were the monsters under the bed,” he related to denofgeek. “They were the scary things that were trying to eat the good people. I grew up reading books like Salem’s Lot and watching films like The Lost Boys and Near Dark. Those were the vampires that I grew up with.”
“Over the course of the last 20, 30 years they have evolved into something very different. [And] there’s nothing wrong with exploring that kind of vampire. The cool thing about the vampire concept is they’re a dozen things to a dozen different people. You can have a dozen different vampire fans in the room, and they’ll all tell you a different reason why they like them, why they’re attracted to them.”
One of the trilogy’s most intriguing elements is its storytelling structure. Gabriel, a member of an ancient order of vampire hunters known as the silversaints, recounts his experiences while imprisoned by his enemies. His account moves between different periods of his life, gradually revealing how the world fell into darkness and what happened to those who attempted to resist.
For anyone interested in exploring Kristoff’s particular vision of vampire mythology, here’s a look at all three books in publication order.
The Books
1. Empire of the Vampire (2021)
Author: Jay Kristoff
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
What It’s About: Twenty-seven years have passed since the last sunrise, and vampires have seized control of much of the world. Gabriel de León, once a member of the holy brotherhood known as the Silver Order, is now imprisoned and forced to recount his life to a vampire historian. His story begins with his discovery of his unusual bloodline and his training as a silversaint, one of the few warriors capable of standing against the undead. As humanity’s situation becomes increasingly desperate, Gabriel finds himself involved in a quest for the Holy Grail, an artifact that may hold the key to ending the darkness.
Moving between Gabriel’s youth and his later adventures, the novel establishes a world in which faith, duty and personal sacrifice collide with the horrors of an expanding vampire empire.
Jay Kristoff says: “Gabriel is a halfbreed, born of a vampire father and mortal mother—what’s called a Paleblood in this world. He was inducted into a monastic sect known as the Silver Order at a young age, and trained to hunt the monsters of the night. He became something of a legendary figure in his time, but being one of my protagonists, he had some . . . troubles.
“The book is at heart three timelines—young Gabe, full of fire and faith, and older Gabe, who has become a bitter, faithless man—and an exploration of how one man became the other by an even older version of Gabe, waiting in a prison cell for his execution. I think Gabe wins the award for ‘Jay Kristoff Character Who Has Been Put Through The Most Hell By His Author.’ Poor, poor bastard.” (thenerddaily.com)
2. Empire of the Damned (2024)
Author: Jay Kristoff
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
What It’s About: Gabriel’s struggle against the vampire empire continues as his search for salvation takes him deeper into a world consumed by violence and religious conflict. The mysteries surrounding the Holy Grail become increasingly important, while the boundaries between humanity and monstrosity grow less certain.
The second novel expands the mythology introduced in Empire of the Vampire, exploring the competing vampire bloodlines and the forces struggling for control of the dying world. Gabriel’s relationships with his companions become more complicated as revelations about their pasts threaten to undermine their shared mission. Like its predecessor, the book uses Gabriel’s recollections to piece together a larger history, gradually bringing different narrative threads toward an increasingly dangerous confrontation.
Jay Kristoff says: “Just the nature of first person narrative immediately colors any kind of story that you’re telling. Putting two people who live the same experience telling different versions of the same story kind of sets the tone of the series as a whole. The point of this story at its heart was the relationship between Gabe and Dior. I knew they were going to end up at first relying on each other and then caring for each other.” (On Her Bookshelf Podcast)
3. Empire of the Dawn (2025)
Author: Jay Kristoff
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
What It’s About: The trilogy reaches its conclusion as Gabriel, having suffered devastating losses, prepares for a final reckoning with the powers responsible for humanity’s suffering. Convinced that the Forever King must be destroyed, he pursues a mission that could either end the vampire empire or seal humanity’s fate. Meanwhile, the surviving Grail travels toward the besieged imperial capital, where the last remnants of human resistance face overwhelming odds. The different storylines converge as Gabriel confronts the consequences of his choices and the truth behind the long struggle against the undead.
The concluding volume brings Kristoff’s sprawling mythology to its climax, resolving the central conflict over whether the world will remain trapped in eternal darkness.
Jay Kristoff says: ““I knew who was going to be on stage for the finale, but I didn’t quite know how the finale would play out. I honestly didn’t know what would happen after that. I kept that completely open-ended because I wanted the book to still be able to surprise me.”
As for the emotional consequences of the trilogy’s conclusion, Kristoff explains, “One of the fundamental axioms that I write under is that all victory needs to come at a cost. It’s not a question of whether they win or lose. It’s about the things they lose along the way to winning.”