The Greyfriar is the first book in the Vampire Empire trilogy. We are introduced to Princess Adele, heir to the throne of the Equatorian Empire, one of the great powers of the human world. Sheis taken prisoner by the vampire clan of London, the strongest clan since the Great Killing. With the help of the mysterious Greyfriar, she must fight to return home alive before a great war erupts between the vampires and the humans.Although I found the story somewhat formulaic, something I did find unexpected was the survival of the self-centered Senator Clark...I was so hoping to read of his demise. The characters themselves Ifound to be quite enjoyable. Adele started out as a stereotypical princess, but she grew into her strength as she used her wits and training to survive each ordeal put before her. The Greyfriar, being the noble warrior, was at first very typical of the genre, but as the story progressed he became much more complex and endearing. Senator Clark, being a warrior of opportunity, had very fluid standards throughout the story that changed depending on his chance to become a legend. He was loud and crass and I really did love to hate him. Both fathers – the Vampire King and the Emperor, were feeble men whose time had passed leaving the story open for the next generation to find it's place. The cats, well they were just loveable, Pet in particular.Adele's capture and subsequent travels took her back and forth across Europe and I was quite surprised and pleased every time Malta was mentioned (family ties). I do hope it has more of a part in the upcoming books of the trilogy. The Maltese are a strong and fierce people and I would love to see them fighting off vampires.I also enjoyed the authors' take on vampire physiology. The medical and psychological explanations were very simple and plausible and the story left room for it to be expanded upon further into the trilogy, and thank goodness they didn't sparkle. As well, they introduced mysticism and magic as a possible weapon against the vampires, but room was left for this to grow into a greater part of thefuture storyline.I would definitely recommend this book, in particular to a young adult audience. I believemy girls will enjoy Adele's adventures very much. "The Greyfriar" not just a title but a singular character and the marriage of steampunk and vampire romance. So maybe I expected different and maybe I wanted for machines, the novel does not disappoint it just goes a different route than I expected. If you want adventures, a swashbuckling hero, a dame that can defend herself (making Leia proud to call her Princess), a fiendish evil vampire, a shit kicking american cowboy, a samurai spy, a storming wookie (no thats not in there checking if you were reading), and a fully haired Egyptian-British-German-Equatorean Emperor. As I said it lacks almost nothing. Good story but I wanted more Steampunk for that a 3.5 and again I wished Goodreads allowed for that. Maybe the romance was not what I expected at the moment but it works and you understand it was going to happen. As a Vampire story it lacked a little chill but it does provide you with good characters for upcoming books in the series.
What do You think about The Greyfriar (2010)?
my first foray into steam punk, and it worked. I really enjoyed this book.
—Jai
Predictable, but I liked it well enough to read the next one.
—Jade
The most awesome Vampire & Steampunk book I've read so far!
—ughokwhatever
Pretty good. The vampires in this are really scary.
—jeremy
