Black Dagger Brotherhood (1) - Dark Lover by J.R. Ward
… I know. I'm such a hypocrite – here I tell you that I don't like THIS kind of books, and here I go and start reading the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. Riiiiiiiight. Okay, Dark Lover is the first part of 13 by J.R. Ward (in German either as 2-in-1 Black Dagger or as Nachtjagd & Blutopfer, in French L'Amant ténébreux) I read it in German in the 2-in-1-special which contains 570 pages. Originally published 2005. THIS IS EROTIC (why am I reading this again??) Women, (men).
The vampires are at the brink of dying out and not even the covenant for the protection of the vampire civilians, the Black Dagger, is invincible. When Darius is murdered, a chain reaction is set into motion. Not only does the born king and chosen warrior have to mourn for his best friend, no, Wrath has to fulfil Darius' last wish: He has to help his half-breed daughter through her transition – meaning her transformation into a vampire.
Beth herself has enough to do without the insanely big man in black leather who sweeps into her living room to do... well, a whole lot of not-talking. Who is this guy with the many weapons? Why does she trust him, after seeing what he does to the people around her?
Beth is about to have her world turned upside-down, while Wrath may find himself to choose between Beth's safety and life he never wanted to give up... and danger's closing in on her.
Oooooookay. So far, so good. The Black Dagger books are trashiest books I ever enjoyed – but I did enjoy them, seriously. Some scenes were like... uhm, okay, seriously? Doesn't that have to hurt? And I had a lot moments of TMI (and no, I'm not talking about The Mortal Instruments here) but... it's just so overdone it's kind of funny.
First of all, to the style: J.R. Ward uses very strong and colourful pictures in her books, but she doesn't connect them all too well. It's just that you have a picture and then the next – especially when Wrath gets angry – or in the scene where Beth takes care of Rhage: it's picture – picture – picture, sometimes even with another character basically freezing in time and only reaction to something when it's just convenient – see Wrath in the Beth & Rhage-scene. But it's actually not that bad, it gives the book a certain charme. Apart from that, the style's okay.
To the content: This was well done. Apart from the fact that Beth doesn't ask too many questions – like, have you killed these poor girls?, for starter, which is actually a little out of character – It's believable. … well, I guess certain reactions can be explained with the fact that they are vampires. It seems to fit in the society and the characteristics of the species.
But what I really like about this book are the characters. They rock!
Wrath likes to keep his distance and hates having to rely on people – especially due to his problems. He's honest with himself. Apart from that he's tough as nails and ready to work for what he wants –
Spoiler:
I mean, he gives up his life as a warrior for Beth!
Apropos Beth: Her sense for irony loosens the atmosphere, especially the way she looks at her new relationship. It weighs out the (a trifle) overdone parts of the book. When she takes care of Wrath after he saved her? Sooo funny! And so fitting! To most of the men, basically.
The other members of the Black Dagger are fascinating as well, especially Zsadist. Good God, that poor man! He's fascinating, because he is so twisted: He seems the incarnated evil at first glance, and he's definitely broken, but you see that he actually has a “good” or better, a caring side, after he finds out who Beth's father is. He's also very, very lonely – but mostly, I think, because he doesn't know how to have a relationship to anyone that's worth the effort. I'm also sorry for his twin, Phury. He suffers so much – because he sees what Zsadist has become and tries to keep him from harming others. What he has to do...
As for the others: Tohr and V seem like nice guys, but you don't get to know them very well. Rhage on the other hand... he's something as well. I really like him. He's just a very nice person, even though he has his problems as well.
Butch, the statutory human, is funny as well. He's kick-ass, lonely, desperate and kind of in a downward-spiral. Until he meets the vamps, assassins for a living – or something like that. He and Rhage, dream couple! And V! I love how they meet, it's such a funny scene! Sooo cool!
But I'm really sorry for both Harvers and Marissa. Especially for the latter. That poor girl, she tries and does everything – the thing is, she always tried to be the wife of the king, but Wrath doesn't need this: What he actually needs is someone he can respect and treat as an equal, he needs a queen – ne needs Beth. No wonder Harvers flips.
As for the Virgin of the Script (or something like that, don't know the translation, sorry) she seems like she has a handful with Wrath as well.
But the best characters in the series are and always will be Fritz and Boo. They rock!
In brief:
I give a star for characters and one for ideas – plus a half one for content minus hlaf a star for style. So, two stars it is.
Sequel: