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yodamom's review
5.0
Thank you Griffiths for another excellent chapter, in the Adele/Gareth saga. I was lost on your words, traveling from Everest the the sewers of Paris with your characters. The Demon King was such an interesting complex character. I can't wait to see where they go from here.
sly99's review
5.0
I'm so happy that the authors decided to continue the series. There is so much yet to be revealed in this universe. I find it fascinating
hidingincorners's review
5.0
An immaculate continuation of Gareth and Adele's adventures. I cannot wait to read more!
reddyrat's review
5.0
The Vampire Empire series is my all time favorite set of vampire books. And that's pretty high praise from me. This is the fourth book in the series - essentially I think this is going to shape into two related trilogies. I was so happy to revisit Gareth and Adele. I always approach unexpected series continuation with some trepidation. Will it live up to the prior books? Yes, it absolutely does!
It took me quite awhile to get through this book. It wasn't the book's fault. I had some personal stuff going on that derailed all my reading. Plus at one point, I got so excited to revisit Gareth and Adele that I felt compelled to go back and re-read the first book in the series - which is my favorite one of all of them.
Here's a few of my favorite things about the book:
1. Adele - Adele continues to be the most powerful person in this story. Here, her geomancy powers are diminished since the Witchfinder is deploying it against her. This helps demonstrate that her inner strength does not rely upon supernatural powers. Adele is a passionate, headstrong person. She gets close to recklessness in her desire to find solutions to save her people.
2. Gareth - I always have a soft spot for vampires. And Gareth is one of my favorites. I think this series is going to involve a lot of emotional growth for him. Gareth has viewed all vampires, and by extension, himself with hatred for a very long time. Now he has to confront the idea that vampires are not the uniform creatures he thinks of them as. And this, I think, will change his view of himself.
3. Gareth and Adele - The chief plot of the first series was the burgeoning and maturing romance between Gareth and Adele (amongst lots of other things). Now we get to see how they function as a couple. There's still some romance but mostly it's wonderful to watch them as a pair of equals. They have so many different experiences in this book. In some, Gareth leads and in others, Adele leads. They are protective of each other, but also honor the other's experience and ability.
4. Expanding mythology - We meet a lot more people in this book, mostly vampires. We learn that vampires do not have uniform opinions on humans, on progress, or on violence. I love the richer world that's presented here. Having more shades of gray than black and white makes the book feel more realistic.
5. Fast moving plot - All of the Vampire Empire books are well written and quick reads. They're the kind of books you can get through quickly and then go back and read more thoroughly for extra detail. The chapters are short and viewpoints change quickly. This can be a bit jarring, but I ultimately think that the jumps make the book more exciting because you never know what's coming next
If you haven't read the Vampire Empire series, you should immediately pick up Greyfriar, the first book in the series. The Geomancy is a fabulous addition. It continues the world I love and starts a new plot that I'm excited to read more about. It is definitely more of a sequel than a companion novel. Even though it has a plot distinct from the first three books, it draws heavily upon the knowledge of the earlier story. All the more enticement to go back and get Greyfriar!
It took me quite awhile to get through this book. It wasn't the book's fault. I had some personal stuff going on that derailed all my reading. Plus at one point, I got so excited to revisit Gareth and Adele that I felt compelled to go back and re-read the first book in the series - which is my favorite one of all of them.
Here's a few of my favorite things about the book:
1. Adele - Adele continues to be the most powerful person in this story. Here, her geomancy powers are diminished since the Witchfinder is deploying it against her. This helps demonstrate that her inner strength does not rely upon supernatural powers. Adele is a passionate, headstrong person. She gets close to recklessness in her desire to find solutions to save her people.
2. Gareth - I always have a soft spot for vampires. And Gareth is one of my favorites. I think this series is going to involve a lot of emotional growth for him. Gareth has viewed all vampires, and by extension, himself with hatred for a very long time. Now he has to confront the idea that vampires are not the uniform creatures he thinks of them as. And this, I think, will change his view of himself.
3. Gareth and Adele - The chief plot of the first series was the burgeoning and maturing romance between Gareth and Adele (amongst lots of other things). Now we get to see how they function as a couple. There's still some romance but mostly it's wonderful to watch them as a pair of equals. They have so many different experiences in this book. In some, Gareth leads and in others, Adele leads. They are protective of each other, but also honor the other's experience and ability.
4. Expanding mythology - We meet a lot more people in this book, mostly vampires. We learn that vampires do not have uniform opinions on humans, on progress, or on violence. I love the richer world that's presented here. Having more shades of gray than black and white makes the book feel more realistic.
5. Fast moving plot - All of the Vampire Empire books are well written and quick reads. They're the kind of books you can get through quickly and then go back and read more thoroughly for extra detail. The chapters are short and viewpoints change quickly. This can be a bit jarring, but I ultimately think that the jumps make the book more exciting because you never know what's coming next
If you haven't read the Vampire Empire series, you should immediately pick up Greyfriar, the first book in the series. The Geomancy is a fabulous addition. It continues the world I love and starts a new plot that I'm excited to read more about. It is definitely more of a sequel than a companion novel. Even though it has a plot distinct from the first three books, it draws heavily upon the knowledge of the earlier story. All the more enticement to go back and get Greyfriar!
blodeuedd's review
3.0
So yes, a new book. I guess you could read it like this, but to get their story you MUST read the trilogy before. Not only cos it's awesome, but cos it's well book 1 was awesome and should not be missed. And without them you will not get to see their lovestory, and how everything came to be as it is now.
England is free of vampires. Right, to those who do not know this world. It is set now, but in the Victorian era vampires rose in the north and killed and ate. The humans left are part of herds. The ones that got away formed new societies. Adele is the Empress of Equatoria, with the capital in Alexandria. Cos vampires hate warmth and stays in the north. Everything stopped in a way and turned into a steampunk world with flying ships and so forth.
Right, so there is the world. A very cool world. And Adele is our heroine who can feel leylines and used them to kill vampires. And her true love Gareth, the vampire who thinks that the big killing was a bad idea. Cos those pesky humans are smart and he thinks vampires are doomed. Better stay with Adele.
I am still on the backstory! Yikes. Ok, so vampires are gone. Vampires are still plentiful in Europe. There is a new bad guy and they will go after him Phew, there, done.
There is action, and there is, well it made me think. Yes Gareth is nice, but what is the future for vampires really? Oh and will there be more books? The vampire future is still so uncertain, and I do like a few. While the rest should burn.
So yes read the trilogy first so you will not miss out.
England is free of vampires. Right, to those who do not know this world. It is set now, but in the Victorian era vampires rose in the north and killed and ate. The humans left are part of herds. The ones that got away formed new societies. Adele is the Empress of Equatoria, with the capital in Alexandria. Cos vampires hate warmth and stays in the north. Everything stopped in a way and turned into a steampunk world with flying ships and so forth.
Right, so there is the world. A very cool world. And Adele is our heroine who can feel leylines and used them to kill vampires. And her true love Gareth, the vampire who thinks that the big killing was a bad idea. Cos those pesky humans are smart and he thinks vampires are doomed. Better stay with Adele.
I am still on the backstory! Yikes. Ok, so vampires are gone. Vampires are still plentiful in Europe. There is a new bad guy and they will go after him Phew, there, done.
There is action, and there is, well it made me think. Yes Gareth is nice, but what is the future for vampires really? Oh and will there be more books? The vampire future is still so uncertain, and I do like a few. While the rest should burn.
So yes read the trilogy first so you will not miss out.
hlizmarie's review
3.0
The Geomancer is a continuation of the authors' Vampire Empire series featuring the Gareth, a vampire who acts like no other vampire, and Adele, Empress of Equatoria. It's an alternate history, steampunk adventure set in the late 1870s that's unlike anything I've read before. Although it's possible to read this book without reading the prior three, I wouldn't recommend it. There's a ton of history to all of the relationships, particularly to understanding Gareth and Adele, and action that led up to the start of this book. It's been a year since Adele used her geomancy to burn the vampires out of Britain and scorched the earth in the process. She and Gareth are trying to have a more normal life but they end up on the trail of a human who has the power to kill other humans via geomancy and of course he's working for the vampires. They chase all over the world in a quest to beat this man to a powerful geomancy tool and are outwitted at every turn. In the end, it's Adele, Gareth and some new allies against a massive vampire force led by a few familiar and nasty foes.
I read over my review for the last book in the Vampire Empire series and ended it with the thought that I wanted to see where Adele and Gareth went from there. It's strange to get my wish and not be as excited as I expected. The book was a solid read but I didn't find myself as engaged as I was with the previous three. Gareth drove me nuts. A large part of the plot here revolves around Adele and Gareth finding other groups of vampires that are more like him than he's ever encountered. One group reveres him and his way of life as if they're disciples and the other essentially consists of vampire monks who have a different life philosophy. Both are capable of some of Gareth's more "human" behaviors and his reaction is pretty harsh. In particular, I really enjoyed the time they spent with the vampires in the Himalayas and how it forced Gareth to reassess his view of other vampires. I'd love to see them resurface in a future book since I think they have a lot to offer Gareth. I continue to enjoy Adele and Gareth together as well as seeing the supporting characters from the prior three books. The action was rough and dirty at times which is fine by me. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what I didn't enjoy except it's possible I had mentally closed the door on this series and had trouble opening it back up. I didn't think I'd read another book in this world and I might have been okay with that.
I read over my review for the last book in the Vampire Empire series and ended it with the thought that I wanted to see where Adele and Gareth went from there. It's strange to get my wish and not be as excited as I expected. The book was a solid read but I didn't find myself as engaged as I was with the previous three. Gareth drove me nuts. A large part of the plot here revolves around Adele and Gareth finding other groups of vampires that are more like him than he's ever encountered. One group reveres him and his way of life as if they're disciples and the other essentially consists of vampire monks who have a different life philosophy. Both are capable of some of Gareth's more "human" behaviors and his reaction is pretty harsh. In particular, I really enjoyed the time they spent with the vampires in the Himalayas and how it forced Gareth to reassess his view of other vampires. I'd love to see them resurface in a future book since I think they have a lot to offer Gareth. I continue to enjoy Adele and Gareth together as well as seeing the supporting characters from the prior three books. The action was rough and dirty at times which is fine by me. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what I didn't enjoy except it's possible I had mentally closed the door on this series and had trouble opening it back up. I didn't think I'd read another book in this world and I might have been okay with that.
cindyc's review
4.0
This was the first book I’ve read in the Vampire Empire series and I have to say I’m completely sold. Of course I now already know all the twists and turns from the previous books but that won’t stop me buying and reading all the books in the series right away.
Clay and Susan Griffith have succeeded in taking a vampire story to the next level. It is quite atypical and refreshing.
Adele is a fantastic protagonist. She the Empress of Equatoria, she’s very wilful, a skilled fighter and she’s also a Geomancer. She can feel and walk the rifts of energy in the Earth and use them. Gareth is her perfect counterpart: vampire prince half of the time and vampire-slaying vigilante the other half. Together they make an interesting team. Not only because of their mind-set and abilities, but also because of the love they feel for each other.
The chemistry between Adele and Gareth feels wonderfully real. Their dynamic is something every person dreams of. The absolute highlight of this for me was the ice-skating scene. Though this is a novel about slaying vampires, distorted geomancy and brutal politics, this moment shone through everything. It’s one incredible moment of light where Adele and Gareth can just forget about everything and enjoy each other. It warmed my heart and made me a wee bit emotional.
Adele’s magic is not anything new, the energy of the Earth has been used on multiple occasion before in a plethora of books. Somehow though, it didn’t feel overused or overly familiar here. I loved the descriptions of her geomancy. The way she can taste and smell certain typical things depending on which particular place the rifts in the Earth go to or come from. I also really enjoyed reading how it could become corrupted by human actions and which effect this has on her. Especially at the end of the book, the geomancy plays such an important role and it was fantastic to read Adele experiencing it and really understanding it. With a magic as complex and tied to nature as this, it seems that most people who have the gift don’t fully understand what they are dealing with and how it works. It was wonderful to see this understanding dawn on Adele while she was in the middle of a precarious situation. It gave a lot of depth to her and her abilities.
This is the first time I read a book that’s written by two authors, so I was really curious to find out how the book would read. I was wondering if I would be able to tell, but there’s no sign at all of any disruption because of this, or any difference in style and narration. The book reads very smoothly and is incredibly fast-paced. They know exactly which parts are not worth including and would slow down the reading experience. It was kind of refreshing not to have to read long pages about travelling, but to just jump from starting point to destination. It made the story pick up speed, without leaving out any important information or events.
The traveling throughout the story made this an even more interesting book in my opinion. It gave us the opportunity to see more of the post-apocalyptic world, dominated by vampires, even though it’s a very desolate world most of the time. I was very delighted to read that the city I was born in, Bruges, was featured. It seemed fitting somehow for my beautiful medieval city to feature as a setting for this.
I’m a big, big fan of steampunk and the hint of steampunk in this book made me particularly happy, it really was the cherry on top for me.
I’m really glad I got the chance to read The Geomancer. I normally don’t start in a book that are a later part of a series, but I had read that this wouldn’t be a problem with The Geomancer. So I took a chance and I don’t regret it at all. Even if you don’t know anything about Vampire Empire or Adele and Gareth, previous events are clearly explained to the reader so no one gets lost. Having these bits of information like this instead of throughout several books might maybe take away some of the enjoyment of them, but it certainly didn’t diminish the enjoyment of reading this book. The Geomancer is a book full of fast-paced action, gore and fighting, but also love and hope. Hope for a better future, one where vampires and humans could live side by side.
The Geomancer was a wonderful read and if you haven’t tried any of the Vampire Empire books before, or if you are a fan of them, definitely read this one!
Clay and Susan Griffith have succeeded in taking a vampire story to the next level. It is quite atypical and refreshing.
Adele is a fantastic protagonist. She the Empress of Equatoria, she’s very wilful, a skilled fighter and she’s also a Geomancer. She can feel and walk the rifts of energy in the Earth and use them. Gareth is her perfect counterpart: vampire prince half of the time and vampire-slaying vigilante the other half. Together they make an interesting team. Not only because of their mind-set and abilities, but also because of the love they feel for each other.
The chemistry between Adele and Gareth feels wonderfully real. Their dynamic is something every person dreams of. The absolute highlight of this for me was the ice-skating scene. Though this is a novel about slaying vampires, distorted geomancy and brutal politics, this moment shone through everything. It’s one incredible moment of light where Adele and Gareth can just forget about everything and enjoy each other. It warmed my heart and made me a wee bit emotional.
Adele’s magic is not anything new, the energy of the Earth has been used on multiple occasion before in a plethora of books. Somehow though, it didn’t feel overused or overly familiar here. I loved the descriptions of her geomancy. The way she can taste and smell certain typical things depending on which particular place the rifts in the Earth go to or come from. I also really enjoyed reading how it could become corrupted by human actions and which effect this has on her. Especially at the end of the book, the geomancy plays such an important role and it was fantastic to read Adele experiencing it and really understanding it. With a magic as complex and tied to nature as this, it seems that most people who have the gift don’t fully understand what they are dealing with and how it works. It was wonderful to see this understanding dawn on Adele while she was in the middle of a precarious situation. It gave a lot of depth to her and her abilities.
This is the first time I read a book that’s written by two authors, so I was really curious to find out how the book would read. I was wondering if I would be able to tell, but there’s no sign at all of any disruption because of this, or any difference in style and narration. The book reads very smoothly and is incredibly fast-paced. They know exactly which parts are not worth including and would slow down the reading experience. It was kind of refreshing not to have to read long pages about travelling, but to just jump from starting point to destination. It made the story pick up speed, without leaving out any important information or events.
The traveling throughout the story made this an even more interesting book in my opinion. It gave us the opportunity to see more of the post-apocalyptic world, dominated by vampires, even though it’s a very desolate world most of the time. I was very delighted to read that the city I was born in, Bruges, was featured. It seemed fitting somehow for my beautiful medieval city to feature as a setting for this.
I’m a big, big fan of steampunk and the hint of steampunk in this book made me particularly happy, it really was the cherry on top for me.
I’m really glad I got the chance to read The Geomancer. I normally don’t start in a book that are a later part of a series, but I had read that this wouldn’t be a problem with The Geomancer. So I took a chance and I don’t regret it at all. Even if you don’t know anything about Vampire Empire or Adele and Gareth, previous events are clearly explained to the reader so no one gets lost. Having these bits of information like this instead of throughout several books might maybe take away some of the enjoyment of them, but it certainly didn’t diminish the enjoyment of reading this book. The Geomancer is a book full of fast-paced action, gore and fighting, but also love and hope. Hope for a better future, one where vampires and humans could live side by side.
The Geomancer was a wonderful read and if you haven’t tried any of the Vampire Empire books before, or if you are a fan of them, definitely read this one!
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