The Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels 5-8 (2000) - Plot & Excerpts
Wards stories are incredible! I enjoyed the first four novels immensely. Novels 5 through 8 leaned a little towards long-winded, but enjoyable stories as well. That being said, I find the fact checking of both her characters and her timelines to be in serious disrepair. Also, her habit of shortening words to single syllables very annoying to the point where it interrupts the flow. The only time I want to lift my eyes from the page is to 'oh and ah', not to try to figure out what a 3 or 4 letter term is or to wonder to whom the hell the modern, out-of-story celeb she is referring. After reading some of the reviews by other Good Reads readers, the term commonly used is referred to as Wardism's. The first few novels have a sprinkling of Wardisms that enhance her writing style and make them unique; as the novels continue, they are inundated by them (which, IMHO, detracts from the story and the flow of the read).The last bone I have to pick is distinguishing between the characters by who is speaking. Again, in the first few novels, the characters personalities are unique to themselves enough to be distinguished by what and how things are said by him/her. These distinctions blur in later novels to the point the reader feels the loss of the personality/individual identity of that character. BUY STOCK IN KLEENEX!: The Black Dagger Brotherhood #8, Lover MineIt’s finally my last review in this set of four series I downloaded—from now on it’s one at a time! J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood: Lover Mine was so emo I found myself mopping my face through a great deal of it! Oh, my John Matthew! Again with the warning—start this series at the beginning so you get the full effect!Flashbacks abound again this go-round, mostly to Darius’ past when he first became a Brother, but his story entertwines and converges with Lover Mine’s in very surprising ways [personal opinion, I’ve thought John Matthew was Darius reincarnated from the GET GO!]. You won’t get it all until the very end! The book then shoots off right after Lover Avenged finished, with Xhex trapped by a spell in the hands of the evil Lash, Omega wannabe. It takes NO imagination to let your head cinema run rampant on his depraved torture-turned-lust captivity scenario! BUT! The readers get a WELL DESERVED dose of Payback’s A Bitch with Lash in this one.There’s also a huge dose of the Blay/Qhuinn bromance in all its enticing entanglements. Will they or won’t they? There’s always a ménage a threesome, albeit with that third person being a revolving door, but this duo is just so FUN to read!John Matthew has grown up before our eyes (pun intended), and really comes to terms with everything this time around—his pre-trans past, his relationship with Tohr, his feelings of male inadequacy due to sexual abuse, his growing male bonding ego, and his strange choice of bedfelons! I don’t think some care much for Xhex, but dammit she’s a hot mess and John Matthew is bound and determined to rescue her and make her his. Their torrid on again, off again affair is thrilling and inspiring (even if it gets a little sappy at times).We also get what was, at first, was a really IRRITATING side story about a Ghostbusters faux TV show hunting down a lead to become the next America’s Most Wanted. Mostly because the story interrupted either hot romance or dire disaster sequences. The author had method to her madness (even though the main dude is a sleaze and the on-camera talent is a bimbo), because it DOES tie into the story nicely, although I worry about the final outcome for future tomes!Wrath also has to come to terms with his permanent blindness in this one, and his part of this tale really introduces us to the main character (I think) of the next book, Vishous’ twin sister Payne, and what a PAIN in the ass she is! You’ll like the way things turn out by the end of this one, promise!Even with Xhex playing a huge role in this one, I still don’t ‘get’ the sympaths much better than I did. You find out how she and Rehv got to where they are now, but not where did the damn sympath species come from in the first place—this is driving me insane!Overall, Lover Mine blew me away and keeps me guessing where J.R. Ward is gonna go next—I’ll let ya know! lol***Okay, number 7 in the series, only one more book in this set to go then I'm reviewing individually!LOVERS WITH A VENGEANCE!: The Black Dagger Brotherhood #7, Lover AvengedAs the 7th book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Lover Avenged took me a while to get into. But I’m invested in the series, so I stuck with it, and it did pick up and become a page-flipper about half-way through. If you haven’t read the series up to this point, this review will be, well, POINTLESS! There’s more multiple plotlines, and not nearly as much hot action (read: SEX) in this one, with no room for Hallmark moments! This one’s centered on Rehvenge, i.e., The Rehv, Bella’s brother who’s only half-vampire. The other half is sympath, which irritatingly enough, we STILL have not much clue where sympath’s come from even after this installment. But they’re WAY creepy! I am infuriated! I wanna know more of this backstory! Rehv’s not a Brother, but they have mutual secrets, and he’s related by marriage since his sister Bella’s married to Zhadist. He’s the Mohawk wearin, snappy dressing drug-lord pimp kingpin of Caldwell NJ, keeping a deep dark secret for a whole lotta years. I had no sympathy for the half-sympath until this book, but you WILL feel for him in the end. And hate creepy-crawlies. But no spoiling!Rehv’s dark secret? He’s being blackmailed by his sympath half-sister, to the tune of a shitload of rubies and sex including pissed off scorpions and crushed pepper body powder. Ugh. It’s the only time he doesn’t mainline away his sympath viciousness just so he can defend himself. And not giving two shitkickers for his life, he overmedicates and uses dirty needles, causing infection. Enter treatment for injuries and more drug supplies from the not-so-friendly supernatural Haver’s Clinic, and a nurse who peaks more than Rehv’s interest. Nurse Ehlena is an outcast from the glymera, working to take care of her schizophrenic aging father and barely making ends meet.On the ‘sauce’ Rehv’s impotent, bit still gets the ‘hots’ for Ehlena. Ehlena has the ‘colds’ for Rehv—on the outside. This is where their romance takes off, both hiding their familial status from the other until it’s too late. Dun-dun-dun. Hooked (shall we say, ‘barbed’)?Meanwhile, back at the (ranch) Brotherhood, King Wrath’s dealing with a sudden personal problem of his own that will have you screaming for the Scribe Virgin to DO SOMETHING! John Matthew’s sex drive finally catches up with his body, but when he sets his sights on Rehv’s right hand she-man, Xhex, well let’s just say, it’s fireworks. Just in case three major storylines weren’t enough, add in a dash of Tohr coming to grips with life without Wellsie, with him stuck in the here and now and her in The Fade. The fallen angel Lassiter (guess we’ll find out more in later installments) helps him out of the hole he’s dug for himself and start on the road to …!The earlier books in this series had panty-dropping romance, but progress more towards thrilling fantasy, intricate drama, and sneaky protagonists. Lover Avenged exposes Rehv’s dark underbelly and the reasons why he’s come off as such a nasty brute up to this point. And who and what it takes to soften that brute right up. The rest of our characters in the Brotherhood are still living life, creating and solving problems, and injecting some great dialogue and scenes you won’t soon forget.Lover Avenged (eventually) turns into a gripping read. Really, what more do you want?***There's gotta be a better way to review multiple book series when you download 4 together, but I haven't figured it out yet. This review is being added to as I finish each novel, so bear with me! Here's the NEXT book in my download!Phury‘s Phractured Phairy Tale! Black Dagger Brotherhood Novel #6, Lover EnshrinedIf you haven’t read any of the previous BDB books, this one is NOT the place to start! The plot definitely thickens with traditions, heritages, relations (in more ways than one *wink wink*)--I almost had to read this one a second time before writing a review the plot got so complicated!When we last left Phury, he had ‘volunteered’ to take Vishous’ place as The Primale--charged with repopulating the dwindling vampire species with 40 (yep, 40!) of The Chosen females, kept ‘enshrined’ throughout their lives with The Scribe Virgin, and prepped for only one thing. Procreation. And given Phury’s prior vow of celibacy in order to save twin bro Zsadist‘s life, well, it made Phury a REALLY unlikely candidate to fill The Primale’s shit kickers! Virgin Vampire Stud, anyone?The book opens with a flashback (again), and the warped way The Omega found a loophole in the Destroyer Prophecy to ensure he wasn’t wiped out. No spoilers, but seems like everybody finds a way to procreate and plant double agents, if you will, while trying to kill each other off! The characters that are actually related to each other by birth really get to messing with your head in this series. Needless to say, The Omega found a way to infiltrate the vampires, and indeed The Brotherhood, by way of abandoned child adoption. Evil child. What did this mean to our present day anti-heroes? You’ll figure it out through this novel, and how that offspring creeps into the storyline.You also get a LOT more info on Phury’s ‘Dark Passenger’ (sorry, Dexter fans), the voice he’s carried in his head that tells him he’s the root of all evil, the evil twin, the cause of his parent’s anguish after Zsadist’s abduction as a child, the reason for all that’s wrong in every world. The voice that started and keeps Phury addicted to vampire weed (read, red smoke) and tempts him to harder drugs and alcohol to keep from eating a Glock. Some of these characters have REAL suicidal tendencies!Phury is artistically contrary to his warrior roots--he loves opera, obsessively draws pictures (well, I might add), destroys his own work (ivy becomes a metaphor creeping around in this tale), and belittles himself to the point of exasperation by the reader. He’s still fixated on his pregnant sister-in-law Bella, and convinced that neither she nor the child will survive the birth--which of course will be his fault (you do get the outcome in this book). All this self-loathing and savior complex Phury harbors inside made Cormia the perfect candidate as his love interest (FINALLY!). As The Chosen First Mate (Gilligan, anybody?), she was the one that didn’t fit in to her Society, either, silently questioning all the ritual and heritage, and beating herself up constantly about it. She was supposed to be The First Lay, but when Phury attempted to do the deed, he couldn’t bring himself (or his body parts) to go along with violating Cormia cowering (can you cower when your spread-eagle bound and gagged on a marble slab, with your eyes covered?), so he had brought her back with him to The Brotherhood’s headquarters and refused to answer the Directrix of the Chosen’s pages as to what the hell was going on?As Cormia and Phury VERY AWKWARDLY began relating to each other, he kept throwing obstacles in their path….the jerk! Her inquisitive nature about the ways of the real *cough* world, along with Phury trying to match her up with John Matthew, could damn near drive you to distraction! She wanted to learn and know more, and Phury wanted to give it to her, but with someone else! It was entertaining to read about Cormia discovering everything from the television and playing pool to colored food (yeah, VERY sheltered in The Other World), to the fact that sex wasn’t all about the pain as she was taught, and that love was possible. And can I just say Fritz the Butler (doggen, in BDB terms) can give everybody a serious case of blueballs! Cormia only has eyes for Phury, even though she was selected for him, she sees behind the façade and develops her own savior complex when it comes to him. Oh no she DIDN’T volunteer to give up, encourage Phury to choose another First Mate, and get exiled to the position of enshrined history writer of the race, secluded and never to be seen again!And speaking of John Matthew, we finally get through all the ‘younger’ generation’s transformations, and the complications that arise and boil completely over when The Omega’s true plan to save himself gets involved. Oh, and might I add, Johnny boy, though scared to death of sex because of the assault perpetrated on him as a child, has kinky tastes in the female he DOES finally become attracted to!The war between the races really heats up in this installment, getting all the families of the aristocracy involved (acting fools, as usual), murder sprees, deadly injuries, and Kingly edicts (and rule-bending). Lots of everything gets destroyed in this one, and the former rules of engagement get thrown right out the window. It’s a Phairy Tale of revolution over evolution, self-sacrifice for the Greater Good, and The Old Ways ain’t necessarily the best ways!Phury turns the Vampire species on it’s ear, and even though he gets what he needs in the end, there’s trouble in them there hills! And tiny spoiler--do parents, faux or otherwise, return from those hills?***Vishous’ Virginal Visions ReVealed! Black Dagger Brotherhood Novel #5, Lover UnboundWhile reading, my head audio kept playing Bon Jovi singing, “Shot through the heart, and you’re to blame, you give love a bad name”! If you’ve gotten this far in the series to read a Book 5 review, you’re already a fully transitioned member of The Brotherhood! The next exciting installment of The Black Dagger Brotherhood, Lover Unbound, belongs front and center to Vishous, the “intelligent” Brother with several dark secrets in his past (and his present)! From the mysterious tats on his face (and other assorted *ahem* parts of his anatomy), to the glowing gloved hand, (both courtesy of an abusive warrior father and a surprise virginal mother); from the death visions of His Brothers that abruptly ceased, to his dark and sadistic sexual tendencies, V’s a teddy bear, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. This book gives us the key, frequently told in flashback, as to just how V became the Big Bad Silent One, and who helps him unlock ALL the secrets. His conflicted attachment to Butch (ah, Dehstroyer, but he’ll always be Butch) takes an abrupt turn when V gets blasted in the chest during an off-chance lone Lesser hunting mission gone bad. With no back-up this lands him smack in a HUMAN hospital! Ruh-roh! Was THIS the recurring freakish nightmare that has plagued him into sleeplessness? Maybe. Haha! Six-chambered heart? Check. Immediate need for open-heart repair by a brilliant and successful female trauma surgeon? Double check. Dr. Jane Whitcomb literally takes V’s heart in her hands, in every way. When the Brotherhood finds out V’s dire condition, they spring into action to get him back into the fold, but guess what? Even in his weakened condition, V won’t leave the hospital without ‘his’ doc! Is V’s loveless and violent sex life about to change? You know what that means--another over exposed human, one with real brains and an extremely curious nature. Bingo! This is one close-quarters housecall! Love at last for V does not come without a price, especially since he finds out what his True destiny (and who his mother) is. Said Destiny is actually linked to the REAL reason V got the lead chest-piercing to begin with--it was NOT an unlucky shooting by any means. Jane helps him unbind his troubled past, sort out his feelings for Butch, and finds her own thrills in V’s Black Playroom. Yes, that’s EXACTLY what I’m talkin about. When V can’t stand to let her go back to her human life, all of V’s painful past and degrading destiny collide in majorly tear-jerking form. You may not like the ‘form’ it takes, but the outcome of V’s story is one you won’t be able to put down! There are secondary stories intertwined, as always, featuring a sacrifice by Phury to escape the pain of watching his twin Zsadist and his not-so-secret beloved Bella start a loving family that Phury thinks he will never have. There’s also a big slice of a character we’ve met before, the pre-transition John Matthew, born mute in a bus station, dumped into and abandoned by foster care, sexually assaulted by a male stranger, and terrified of everything. John became Mary’s neighbor and friend before she hooked up with Rhage, and wears a bracelet with Old Language inscriptions indicating he’s ‘of the blood’. Specifically, Darius’ son and Tohrment’s nephew. Since being taken in by The Brotherhood (they DO have a tendency to take in strays, lol), he’s been suffering through his pre-transition much as an adolescent, complete with bullying warrior classmates and the loss of his new substitute parents, Tohr and Wellsie. Since you’ve been reading, you know pregnant Wellsie was brutally assassinated and Tohr vanished in an anguished loss of mate and sanity, to parts unknown. John has slunk around in the outskirts of the story thus far, but begins to come to terms with his transition and his physical and emotional afflictions, with help from some unlikely sources! All hail The Brotherhood!
What do You think about The Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels 5-8 (2000)?
The entire series is great. J R Ward never disappoints!
—spindelilah
Couldn't put the book down...cannot wait for the next
—LML1216
