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zbrarian's review
4.0
I received an Arc from Edelweiss of this book. As usual, loved seeing most of the Brothers. Just felt that there were too many stories within the main story. It got confusing at times. Interested how this next story on the series will play out due to the different story lines within the book. I had to look back at previous books to refresh the memory of Murhder and Nate. Did not like the character of Devina. I know that coming up with new storylines may be difficult working the Lessening Society. Looking forward to see where this new line takes us!!
joyousreads132's review
3.0
I'm at the point of this series where I don't know who the players are anymore.
feliciaslibrary's review
5.0
5 stars ⭐️
Oh my god, what another excellent sequel in The Black Dagger Brotherhood series.
This was definitely one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. And it did not disappoint me, at all.
This book felt like one of the OG BDB books back in the days, in my opinion. And that is probably the reason why I loved it so much.
Before I went into this book, I heard alot of negativity about the main love interest, Mae. And I was so scared that would be ruining my reading experience. (Spoiler: It didn’t)
”They were oil and water together.”
I really loved the main couple in this book, Mae and Sahvage, and how their relationship was slow-burnt, which I really loved and totally didn’t expect from J.R Ward herself. They were so cute and I really want to see more of this couple.
While I do love Mae, I wished more from her as a character. I wanted to learn more about her (like we do with Sahvage), and some kind of character development.
I loved all the POV’s in this book and thought it blended out really well and nice in the end. The plot itself wasamazinggggg.
Overall, I loved this book so much and can’t wait for Lover Arisen #20.
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
You have been warned.
”You’re my only hope,” she begged.
After a moment, he shook his head.
”That’s a line from Star Wars, female. It’s got nothing to do with me.”
Man, I loved seeing (and read about) Rehvenge. I totally forgot and missed how much I adore him. And his humor, of course.
I loved seeing Balthazar, and his potential love-interest, Erika Saunders. They’re probably gonna be in Lover Arisen.
She extended an elegant hand and pointed her blood red forefingers at the center of his chest. ”Does she have this? What beats in there…has she taken your heart?” There was a pause. ”Already…wow.”
As I said before, I absolutely loved and adored Mae and Sahvage’s relationship so much. So, so much. Wow. I really don’t know what to say other than that they’re a new fave for me.
It was so nice to see Nate with Murhder and Sarah, his now adoptive parents. When ever they had a scene together, my heart melted and a smile was put on my lips.
And I was kind of confused though because I thought Nate and Elyn/Rahvyn was going to be a couple (with a potential future book), but it seems that Lassiter already has his eyes on her. Are we gonna get a love triangle maybe?
While speaking about Elyn/Rahvyn, I really think her character sounds interesting and I really wanna see more of her. What more can she do with her powers? Will she resurrect someone?
And of course, I loved that we got some of the OG brothers in this book. Like V, Butch, Tohrment, Phury and Rhage. Was so nice to see them all together again.
”You know, I always wanted to have my Oprah moment. Here it is! You have a flame…and you have a flame…and you have a flame.”
And can we just take a moment and praise J.R FKN Ward for making such an amazing villain??!! Because I fkn love Devina (and also hate her *cough* of course *cough*). But she is so well done, funny, amazing, terrifying and— Okay, you get the point. Wow, I’m so freaking excited to see more of her. Maybe she and Lash are gonna team up??
Ahh, I so excited for Lover Arisen #20!! Can it be 2022 already??
Oh my god, what another excellent sequel in The Black Dagger Brotherhood series.
This was definitely one of my most anticipated reads of 2021. And it did not disappoint me, at all.
This book felt like one of the OG BDB books back in the days, in my opinion. And that is probably the reason why I loved it so much.
Before I went into this book, I heard alot of negativity about the main love interest, Mae. And I was so scared that would be ruining my reading experience. (Spoiler: It didn’t)
”They were oil and water together.”
I really loved the main couple in this book, Mae and Sahvage, and how their relationship was slow-burnt, which I really loved and totally didn’t expect from J.R Ward herself. They were so cute and I really want to see more of this couple.
While I do love Mae, I wished more from her as a character. I wanted to learn more about her (like we do with Sahvage), and some kind of character development.
I loved all the POV’s in this book and thought it blended out really well and nice in the end. The plot itself was
Overall, I loved this book so much and can’t wait for Lover Arisen #20.
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
SPOILER WARNING
You have been warned.
After a moment, he shook his head.
”That’s a line from Star Wars, female. It’s got nothing to do with me.”
Man, I loved seeing (and read about) Rehvenge. I totally forgot and missed how much I adore him. And his humor, of course.
I loved seeing Balthazar, and his potential love-interest, Erika Saunders. They’re probably gonna be in Lover Arisen.
She extended an elegant hand and pointed her blood red forefingers at the center of his chest. ”Does she have this? What beats in there…has she taken your heart?” There was a pause. ”Already…wow.”
As I said before, I absolutely loved and adored Mae and Sahvage’s relationship so much. So, so much. Wow. I really don’t know what to say other than that they’re a new fave for me.
It was so nice to see Nate with Murhder and Sarah, his now adoptive parents. When ever they had a scene together, my heart melted and a smile was put on my lips.
And I was kind of confused though because I thought Nate and Elyn/Rahvyn was going to be a couple (with a potential future book), but it seems that Lassiter already has his eyes on her. Are we gonna get a love triangle maybe?
While speaking about Elyn/Rahvyn, I really think her character sounds interesting and I really wanna see more of her. What more can she do with her powers? Will she resurrect someone?
And of course, I loved that we got some of the OG brothers in this book. Like V, Butch, Tohrment, Phury and Rhage. Was so nice to see them all together again.
”You know, I always wanted to have my Oprah moment. Here it is! You have a flame…and you have a flame…and you have a flame.”
And can we just take a moment and praise J.R FKN Ward for making such an amazing villain??!! Because I fkn love Devina (and also hate her *cough* of course *cough*). But she is so well done, funny, amazing, terrifying and— Okay, you get the point. Wow, I’m so freaking excited to see more of her. Maybe she and Lash are gonna team up??
Ahh, I so excited for Lover Arisen #20!! Can it be 2022 already??
jazzrizz's review
5.0
This one took a bit to get into. With the POV flipping every chapter, it's easy to get distracted/lost when listening to the audible version.
I was a huge fan of Sahvage, but Mae is definitely not my favorite Female. For me, their story of coming together was just filler for the driving force this book is for setting up the next Big Bad Battle on the horizon. Rev is at the forefront of this book, and it was so nice seeing him and Ehlena again.
Balthazar ... man, I'm REALLY looking forward to his book!
Nate is working construction, and is enamored with a mysterious Female who appears from a ball of light. Devina is stepping up her game, bigtime. She's ultimate evil, who just can't understand why she can't find someone to love and support her. You know Eddie & Adrian are going to show up soon.
The last 3rd of the book is completely KICK ASS. Coffins ... yep, we finally get to find out what the heck they are. Sahvage steps up in a big way. We find out who the mysterious Female is, and who she's connected to.
Lassiter is SHOOK at the end, and V is ever so helpful to the angel :)
I was a huge fan of Sahvage, but Mae is definitely not my favorite Female. For me, their story of coming together was just filler for the driving force this book is for setting up the next Big Bad Battle on the horizon. Rev is at the forefront of this book, and it was so nice seeing him and Ehlena again.
Balthazar ... man, I'm REALLY looking forward to his book!
Nate is working construction, and is enamored with a mysterious Female who appears from a ball of light. Devina is stepping up her game, bigtime. She's ultimate evil, who just can't understand why she can't find someone to love and support her. You know Eddie & Adrian are going to show up soon.
The last 3rd of the book is completely KICK ASS. Coffins ... yep, we finally get to find out what the heck they are. Sahvage steps up in a big way. We find out who the mysterious Female is, and who she's connected to.
Lassiter is SHOOK at the end, and V is ever so helpful to the angel :)
elliania's review
3.0
I think it's been the first time in ages that it took me so long to read a new BDB book. I'd started it back in April, then gave it up out of boredom at like 30% - at the first scene of det. Erika Sounders, because 'oh my god another human spare me'.
But generally speaking, all the first third of the book was a slow descent into boredom.
I can say it gets better during the second half; it's in fact a transition book, as 'The King' has been, in which Ward sets the scenery up for at least two or three future books.
The one thing that surely made me stick so long with this series is that the plot always advances, and I really liked all the scenes in which the Brotherhood was involved, and thanks a lot for them, because Sahvage and Mae... I had huge war flashbacks from V's book. I really liked him, and honestly I also didn't understand why everyone seemed to dislike Mae that much until the final parts of the book. But the main problem wasn't them, was the absolutely zero chemistry they had, I wouldn't be able to tell when they started to be attracted to each other, and if external characters hadn't point it out loud, I wouldn't have known it at all. Zero. Chemistry. V and Jane.
This would give it two stars to be honest.
Zero stars for the couple, two stars for the plot. The third one is because of the scenes with V, thank you so much.
But generally speaking, all the first third of the book was a slow descent into boredom.
I can say it gets better during the second half; it's in fact a transition book, as 'The King' has been, in which Ward sets the scenery up for at least two or three future books.
The one thing that surely made me stick so long with this series is that the plot always advances, and I really liked all the scenes in which the Brotherhood was involved, and thanks a lot for them, because Sahvage and Mae... I had huge war flashbacks from V's book. I really liked him, and honestly I also didn't understand why everyone seemed to dislike Mae that much until the final parts of the book. But the main problem wasn't them, was the absolutely zero chemistry they had, I wouldn't be able to tell when they started to be attracted to each other, and if external characters hadn't point it out loud, I wouldn't have known it at all. Zero. Chemistry. V and Jane.
This would give it two stars to be honest.
Zero stars for the couple, two stars for the plot. The third one is because of the scenes with V, thank you so much.
klc9876's review
5.0
This one started a little slow but got better. I did skim over parts with the cop. I just don’t think they’re necessary. I get it sets up a future book but I just don’t need it.
scubacat's review
2.0
This wasn't a great book. There were things I liked, but a lot more things I didn't.
First, the good.
I enjoyed Mae and Sahvage's storyline. I actually liked them together. It wasn't this fairy tale, insta-love story. They irritated each other, were at odds in their goals, and seemed to always be on the verge of parting ways. I appreciated the slow build up of their relationship.
Ummm... that's it for the good. Now, the bad.
There were too many story lines going on at the same time. The POV flipped so often, I kept getting pulled out of each story. Some characters literally only appeared in a couple of pages, and really could have been cut completely (or at least not given their on POV chapters.)
Ward had this annoying habit of starting new chapters with brand new characters, even three quarters of the way through the book. We would get first and last names of people that were irrelevant, and have to spend time trying to figure out who they were in the story context, instead if starting with the main characters. This was yet another way I dropped out of the flow of the story.
There seems to be a drastic shift in the BDB world and the rules it lives by. This has been happening for a while, with the introduction of Lassiter (where does an Angel of God fall into a world that only has the Scribe Virgin and the Omega?) but it really ramps up in this installment. We merge Davina from the Fallen Angels series into this one now that we need a new big bad evil to fight, and now we have warlocks and magic. Is there still a Fade? How does that relate to Heaven? Lassiter is an angel, but seems to not having anything to do with God. What about the demon? Is there a hell now? It honestly doesn't make sense with the world we've read about for 18 years.
I've heard complaints that Ward doesn't actually write these herself anymore, or that they are just cash grabs by keeping the series going long past it's natural end. That seemed to be true for this volume. Since Lover Arisen is already out, I'm going to give it a shot, but that might be my last.
First, the good.
I enjoyed Mae and Sahvage's storyline. I actually liked them together. It wasn't this fairy tale, insta-love story. They irritated each other, were at odds in their goals, and seemed to always be on the verge of parting ways. I appreciated the slow build up of their relationship.
Ummm... that's it for the good. Now, the bad.
There were too many story lines going on at the same time. The POV flipped so often, I kept getting pulled out of each story. Some characters literally only appeared in a couple of pages, and really could have been cut completely (or at least not given their on POV chapters.)
Ward had this annoying habit of starting new chapters with brand new characters, even three quarters of the way through the book. We would get first and last names of people that were irrelevant, and have to spend time trying to figure out who they were in the story context, instead if starting with the main characters. This was yet another way I dropped out of the flow of the story.
There seems to be a drastic shift in the BDB world and the rules it lives by. This has been happening for a while, with the introduction of Lassiter (where does an Angel of God fall into a world that only has the Scribe Virgin and the Omega?) but it really ramps up in this installment. We merge Davina from the Fallen Angels series into this one now that we need a new big bad evil to fight, and now we have warlocks and magic. Is there still a Fade? How does that relate to Heaven? Lassiter is an angel, but seems to not having anything to do with God. What about the demon? Is there a hell now? It honestly doesn't make sense with the world we've read about for 18 years.
I've heard complaints that Ward doesn't actually write these herself anymore, or that they are just cash grabs by keeping the series going long past it's natural end. That seemed to be true for this volume. Since Lover Arisen is already out, I'm going to give it a shot, but that might be my last.
kimberly_b's review against another edition
3.0
I have thoroughly enjoyed the total escapism that the BDB series brings, but I fear Ward is starting to lose her touch. I would love to read another book like [b:The King|18108281|The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #12)|J.R. Ward|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1371919011l/18108281._SY75_.jpg|24749971]; there hasn't been a book of that caliber in this series for a while now.