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Stars: 3 / 5
Recommendation: The Black Dagger Brotherhood and the vampires certainly creates a universe that keeps you on the edge. Complex plot weaving and anticipation of future books keeps the reader immersed. It was a large book with so many plots and definitely kept the readers intrigued. The ending was a bit rushed, as we have the big features in most cases.
Lover Unleashed is the ninth book in the long running Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J. R. Ward. The series deals with Vampires and Humans, trying to co-exist and at the same time fight the evils in both species. This book was published in March of 2011.
Wrath is also the Blind King of the Vampire Species apart from being the leader of the Brotherhood and he is mated to Beth Randall. The remaining Brotherhood are – Rhage (shellan Mary Luce), Tohrment “Tohr” (Official leader of the Brotherhood since Wrath ascended the throne), Vishous “V” (shellan Dr. Jane Whitcomb), Phury (shellan Cormia), Zsadist (Phury’s twin, “Z”, shellan Bella) and Butch O’Neal (Dhestroyer, a human turned vampire and inducted into the Brotherhood as of Book #4, shellan Marissa). Rhev even though a sympath we see his story too (shellan Ehlena). Three boys that join them are John Matthew (shellan Xhex), Blaylock and Qhuinn who are not yet in the brotherhood. They work together to destroy the lessers (de-souled human whose sole purpose is to kill the Vampires as a member of Lessening Society) who have been slowly working to exterminate the vampires. So far J. R. Ward has written 23 books in this series before she did a spin-off called Black Dagger Legacy.
In #5, we see that the Scribe Virgin has a twin child (twin of V) and called as Payne. In #6, author showed as if Payne is Xhex. But we know there is a story for Payne in future books. So did the author make an error with that seen in #6.
During training the Blind King in the Other Side, Payne gets injured. As her mother doesn’t want her to go to the brotherhood, The King takes upon himself to get her to Far Side where Brotherhood lives. That’s when she comes to know her twin Vishous is alive, that he is also mated to Doc Jane, and that their mother had lied to him. The book happens a few hours after events in Lover Mine (#8), so we are still in April still.
We also see that No’One who is the mother of Xhex, changes to Far Side upon King’s permission and aid Payne as her personal maid. We also see that Manny, aka Dr. Manuel Manello, is brought into Brotherhood mansion by blessing from King, as he is the one who can help Payne. But will the human surgeon and the vampire form a bond? How will their love be strong despite their birthright?
In Lover Unbound (#5): V gets his visions back in this book. He gets a vision of Dr. Manny, Jane’s supervisor, that he is a brother. In this book, we realize that Manny is mate to Payne, even though he is still a human. And so V’s vision comes true.
The romances that J. R. Ward spins between the main characters of each book are very romantic and erotic, all spun into one tale. Yet, it bothered me that the characters get attracted to each -other just because they are mated to each other. There are other series’ by Christine Feehan (Dark Series, Leopard Series, Shadow Series, etc.) that follow similar plot. It bothered me there as well, but I read those series. Same goes with this series as well.
The author shows multiple plots within the story and also writes each plot in multiple POVs. This leads to new characters as John and Bella get added to the existing characters. Obviously we will see more future books centering on the new characters also. There is a glossary of all the Terms and Proper Nouns used in the series at the beginning of each book.
Again the Author packs a lot in this book as well. It did not bore me as before, but got me interested in what her future books would like. There is so much we can see and we believe we read Payne Story here.
This book was Goodreads Choice Award in Romance’s Readers Favorite in 2011. The two bigger story lines revolve around Payne & Manny and V, Jane & Butch. The three mini story lines are about Qhuinn & Blay, the Band of Bastards and Detective Jose de la Cruz gets his new partner. Vishious has a downward spiral he breaks it. John Matthew is missing, which I miss a lot. As for Payne holds her role as female warrior but she has probably has difficulty as The Chosen. There is a change in Layla, but Doc Jane is not showing the actual behavior. And last few chapters were rushed as always.
It’s a bit over the top, sometimes silly, riddled with continuity mistakes. But until now Ward managed to compensate all this with great story telling, excitement and entertainment. Hopefully future books show it better.
J.R. Ward thanks Sue Grafton, the author of the Alphabet series (A series I have to read from E yet.), as one of the Executive Committee member. She mentioned in her blog that Sue had mentored her. Sue passed away in 2017. There is a TV series based on these books in the BDB series by J.R. Ward since 2025 with mixed reviews. This can be watched on Passionflix and Amazon Video with subscription.
The Black Dagger Brotherhood and the vampires certainly creates a universe that keeps you on the edge. Complex plot weaving and anticipation of future books keeps the reader immersed. It was a large book with so many plots and definitely kept the readers intrigued. The ending was a bit rushed, as we have the big features in most cases.
Spoiler Alerts:
1. Grammatical / Character / Plot / Geographical / Historical / Mythological Errors: a. On Pg 4, Line 14 from bottom, shouldn’t it be "…diversion now…" b. Again author uses the word "fidiots" in this book. Is that a real word? I have to check dictionary. c. On Og. 137 author says that Butch had disappeared three years ago. But on Pg 139 author says it was two years ago. What is the correct one?2. Plot Reveals: a. Band Of Bastards, led by Xcor, the supposed son of Bloodletter (father of Vishous and Payne). It is formed of Throe, Zypher, three cousins and Xcor. b. Since Butch is a half-breed, he cannot dematerialize. He and Butch relates to each other due to their father; and they relate to Wrath eventually. V volunteers find by them but they decline. c. Homicide Detective Jose de la Cruz is the old partner of Butch. He is partnered with Thomas DelVeccho Jr. "Veck" after frequently changing his partners.3. Sub Plots: a. From Lover Revealed (#4): i. Butch is distant cousin to Wrath. Will we see more of it in future books? ii. The Omega and The Scribe Virgin as brother and sister, but both work in opposite directions - one kills the vampires, one makes the vampires. b. From Lover Enshrined (#6): i. The brotherhood find Tohrment, courtesy of the fallen angel Lassiter. Both Tohr and Lassiter stay at the brotherhood compound. Will we see Wellsie's journey to Fade (she gets killed in book #3)? ii. We might see a book for Lassiter as well as he stays with Tohr. c. From Lover Avenged (#7): i. The King also makes Rhev as the ruler of the Sympath colony, after he is rescued. We might see more changes in how the Sympath colony works now. ii. Tohr takes blood from The Chosen Selena. Will she be in his story? iii. Wrath truly become blind in this book as opposed to semi-blind he was before. He has a dog, George, assist him in his blindness. d. From Lover Mine (#8) i. We also see more of Layla, as though she support the Brotherhood in giving the blood, but she is disappointed that no one wants her sexually. Yes, Primale had changed the rules, but that is what she wants. ii. Blay after much rejection from Qhuinn forms a relationship with Saxton, Qhuinn's cousin. While Qhuinn starts a kind of relationship with the Chosen Layla, on the fear of glymera totally discounting him. He just want to be normal and not a gay. Both are going in separate ways. Hopefully they will come together. iii. There is a separate story about a haunted mansion who is haunted by a brotherhood. It turns out that he is Murhder. Xhex had dated him at one time and he becomes mad when he knows her truth. Hopefully we will see him in future books.
Galavant Reflections 