The Greyfriar by Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith

Title: The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire #1)

Author: Clay Griffith & Susan Griffith

Publisher: PYR Books

Release Date: November 18, 2010

Source: From Publisher

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository

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 with 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.

The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith is one of those books I've heard about a few times but never really bothered looking into. But then I found out more and my curiosity was piqued. And by the end of the book I was hooked and wanted to pick up the sequel immediately.

Her whole life, Princess Adele has known that as the heir to the Equatorian Empire she would be the one to lead the war against the vampire clans of the north. And her impending political marriage only solidified Adele's future. But that future takes a wrong turn when Adele is taken prisoner by Europe's most vicious vampire clan. Now the only person who can help Adele is the mysterious and elusive Greyfriar. But Adele can't seem to figure out the Greyfriar and soon their relationship could change everything. Especially with a deadly war between humans and vampires looming.

I didn't really know what to expect when I started reading The Greyfriar, but I wasn't disappointed by the time I finished reading the book. The story here isn't YA but that didn't stop me from enjoying the story in the least. The story in The Greyfriar was a little slower than what I'm used to, but that allowed me to appreciate different aspects of the story that much more. The descriptions of vampire Europe were incredible and I could picture it all while reading. The world building in general pretty much blew me away and is a large part of what grabbed my attention while reading. And it was a story about vampires unlike any I've read before, and it made for some really interesting characters.

The characters in The Greyfriar were really interesting to read about. There was always more to them than met the eye and that's what I enjoyed the most about them. At first I didn't think much about Adele, she just seemed like a pretty typical rebellious princess. But as the story went on, I slowly discovered that there was a lot more to her than I originally thought. By the end of the book, Adele was someone I really admired and I liked seeing how she was able to become that person. The Greyfriar intrigued me. There was so much to him that I wanted to know that hopefully I'll get to find out in the future. But regardless, he was probably the most interesting character because there was so much to him, and like I've already said, I'm hoping to find out more about his motivations in the future.

The Greyfriar by Clay and Susan Griffith took me by surprise, despite having heard how great of a read it was. Despite not being what I would normally read, I found myself flipping the pages, eager to know what would happen next. And you can bet I will continue reading this series.