Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood #5), J. R. Ward
502 pages
urban fantasy, paranormal romance
Started 7/3/12
Finished 7/6/12
4 STARS
I didn't think it would ever happen, but it did. A BDB book that I wasn't totally and completely in love with. I wasn't sure it was possible, but alas. Ms. Ward, you had me until the last 25 pages or so.
This is the story of the tortured brother, Vishous. He had a brutal, difficult childhood - even more so than the others in the brotherhood. He feels not only unworthy, but also incapable of love. Until a run-in with the lesser baddies goes wrong and Vishous is sent to a human hospital and meets the woman of his dreams. Of course, there are complications - besides the fact that she's a human, Vishous had just agreed to bed 40 vampire females in the hopes of furthering the brotherhood race. Talk about bad timing.
One thing I really liked about this book is the distinct lack of lesser backstory. To be honest, in all the previous books, I mostly skimmed those sections. My interest is in the brothers and their mates - not really in the details behind the bad guys. Don't get me wrong - I'm glad the bad guys are there. It wouldn't be much of a drama without them. But, I don't really find myself caring much about their inner workings and how these guys became lessers. So, I appreciated that there wasn't a lot of that here to bog down the story for me.
I also liked that there seemed to be a bit more of a focus on a few of the other brothers. In previous books, there was always a little side storytelling going on with some of the others - setting them up for their upcoming books. But, the side stories in this one seemed much more in depth. It was nice, since V's story was kind of intense.
I liked Jane and her no-nonsense attitude. I like that she wasn't afraid to handle V. Apparently, he liked that too. :) But, for the love of Pete - THE ENDING. I'm just not feeling it. I get that vampires getting together with humans is complicated. It was handled very well in Rhage's book, as well as Butch's. I don't know - maybe Ward thought she needed a new way to keep a human around forever. Whatever the reason, I wasn't thrilled with her solution to the problem. I hope this is the last vampire to hook up with a human in her stories, because Lord knows what kinda of weird plot device she'll cook up next to keep him or her around forever.
2 comments:
I've not quite caught on to the BDB to be honest. I've read the first one and liked it. I've read Butch's story and didn't care for it. And the latest book I've read was Lover Mine and the only thing that kept me interested was Blay and Qhuinn. Yeah, I know I've read them out of order. I do think that I will love Lover At Last since I really liked Qhuinn and Blay's story.
Book Sniffers Anonymous
Hi Kristin! I suffer from Must-Read-Series-In-Order-itis. :) I always have to go in order. So, I'm up to Lover Avenged (#7), and I must say, I think the first three were really the best of the series. I'm interested to read Lover At Last just because it's Qhuinn and Blay - something different, right? Sounds like Ward could do with something different to spice up her stories.
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