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ariaoffantasy 's review for:
The Black Dagger Brotherhood: An Insider's Guide
by J.R. Ward
Overall score 3/5
This was pretty hefty, longer than I expected. The content isn't exactly what I was expecting either. There were a lot of behind the scenes with the author type sections. I thought it would be mostly unmentioned facts about the Brothers, and small side stories. There were some things like that, but not nearly as much as I expected. It was heavily about the author herself, and that's not what I think of when I hear, "Insider's Guide," to a series. Most, if not all, of the, "Interview," sections are inserting herself into their world to speak with them, or the Brothers appearing in reality to speak with her. I like it as a style choice, but some of them can't even really be called interviews, since no interview actually happens. Anyway, due to the size, and how many sections this book has, I'm going to go through and review them individually and comment on each.
Father Mine - 4/5
Father mine is the novella at the beginning of the book. It's a continuation of Zsadist's story, and also connects to the epilogue of that same book. I think the epilogues actually overlap. Quick synopsis, Zsadist has slipped back into his old habits(starving and nightmares) after his daughter(Nalla) is born, which causes problems between him and Bella, and makes fatherhood a difficult concept for Z. I liked this story a lot. It felt the same as the full length novels, minus the perspectives of the Lessers. There were no villain perspectives in this novella. My only issue with the story is a detail that seems off. Lessers are always described as smelling like baby powder, but this novella has a line where it says, "cotton candy sweet." I don't know about everyone else, but I think baby powder and cotton candy are vastly different in odor and sweetness.
Brotherhood Dossiers - 3/5
This section had small bios with things such as height and weight, a questionnaire each Brother filled out, an interview section, and finished with how each book for each character was written. The physical descriptions of the characters were taken straight out of quotes from the novels. The questionnaires seemed like they were missing some of the more common questions, but since they were sort of filled out by the Brothers themselves, they were a little amusing. The interviews were a bit odd at first. J.R. Ward herself was the interviewer, and they were written in a way that inserted herself into their world, so it was like telling a story, instead of the generic interview format I'm used to seeing. The interview with Wrath was a little cringe at first. It was heavily implied she was crushing on her own character. I get that, but I think it's strange to voice it or let the reader know that kind of thing. I definitely was not expecting a break down of how each book was written for each individual character, but they were kind of interesting to read, and I could relate to some of it.
For Writers -3/5
This is another section I was not expecting. It's helpful information for writers with an interest in getting published.
Black Dagger Brotherhood Proposal -3/5
Another section I was not expecting. This section is the unedited proposal for Dark Lover, kind of a, "what I did, but don't do it like this," type thing. I found it interesting mostly to see the changes that were made. It felt a little like reading a parody.
Deleted Scenes -3/5
I thought more of the book would be this kind of thing, or pieces of story, like stuff that happened in the middle, that weren't in the book.
Kicks and Giggles -3/5
This section is full of passages from books 1-6 that made J.R. Ward laugh. I think it's essentially pointless for an Insider's Guide, but the quotes were kind of a nice refresher after my long break without touching the series.
Brothers on the Board -4/5
This is more the kind of thing I expected to see a lot of in this book. I'm under the impression these consolidated message board stories are cannon. It's been a good while since I read the last book, but I think I vaguely recall Lassiter saying something about repaying a debt. If that's the case, then yeah, these fit with the cannon. If there were a book that was just a compendium of all these stories, I would read it. The Insider's Guide says something about them still being available to read at a specific link provided, but when I tried to go there, it looked like a spam site. I wouldn't have read them there with all the, "Cellie," comments anyway, but I was curious. I'm kind of disappointed there doesn't seem to be an easy way to go back and read this stuff. If they are cannon, they should be easily available no matter how long the series has been out.
Slices of Life from the Board -3/5
These are some more middle stories and self insert stories. I like the middle stories, but the self insert stuff is kind of meh. These are also from the message boards, so not likely to be able to find more of them anywhere.
Q&A with J.R -3/5
Some interesting information here.
Timeline of the Brotherhood - 2/5
Handy, but not necessary. Looks like Phury and Cormia's mating is missing.
Table of Abbreviations - 2/5
Context usually makes most of these easy to figure out, but might be good to know for later.
Old Language - 4/5
I love seeing stuff like this, but I'm not sure why there are extra symbols on the alphabet paper.
Brothers Interview J.R - 2/5
Meh, nothing noteworthy here for me.
In Memoriam -4/5
I'm pretty sure, having spent a good few days reading this book, that this is the only interview with Tohr. It wasn't even an interview, really. It's another of those self insert interview things, but I love this family, so it gets a higher score.
Excerpt from Lover Avenged -no score
Skipped this, I never read previews. They make me want to read the next book right away. I already own this book, and I cycle through different series at a time, so I don't need the extra push to encourage me to read this one right this second.
This was pretty hefty, longer than I expected. The content isn't exactly what I was expecting either. There were a lot of behind the scenes with the author type sections. I thought it would be mostly unmentioned facts about the Brothers, and small side stories. There were some things like that, but not nearly as much as I expected. It was heavily about the author herself, and that's not what I think of when I hear, "Insider's Guide," to a series. Most, if not all, of the, "Interview," sections are inserting herself into their world to speak with them, or the Brothers appearing in reality to speak with her. I like it as a style choice, but some of them can't even really be called interviews, since no interview actually happens. Anyway, due to the size, and how many sections this book has, I'm going to go through and review them individually and comment on each.
Father Mine - 4/5
Father mine is the novella at the beginning of the book. It's a continuation of Zsadist's story, and also connects to the epilogue of that same book. I think the epilogues actually overlap. Quick synopsis, Zsadist has slipped back into his old habits(starving and nightmares) after his daughter(Nalla) is born, which causes problems between him and Bella, and makes fatherhood a difficult concept for Z. I liked this story a lot. It felt the same as the full length novels, minus the perspectives of the Lessers. There were no villain perspectives in this novella. My only issue with the story is a detail that seems off. Lessers are always described as smelling like baby powder, but this novella has a line where it says, "cotton candy sweet." I don't know about everyone else, but I think baby powder and cotton candy are vastly different in odor and sweetness.
Brotherhood Dossiers - 3/5
This section had small bios with things such as height and weight, a questionnaire each Brother filled out, an interview section, and finished with how each book for each character was written. The physical descriptions of the characters were taken straight out of quotes from the novels. The questionnaires seemed like they were missing some of the more common questions, but since they were sort of filled out by the Brothers themselves, they were a little amusing. The interviews were a bit odd at first. J.R. Ward herself was the interviewer, and they were written in a way that inserted herself into their world, so it was like telling a story, instead of the generic interview format I'm used to seeing. The interview with Wrath was a little cringe at first. It was heavily implied she was crushing on her own character. I get that, but I think it's strange to voice it or let the reader know that kind of thing. I definitely was not expecting a break down of how each book was written for each individual character, but they were kind of interesting to read, and I could relate to some of it.
For Writers -3/5
This is another section I was not expecting. It's helpful information for writers with an interest in getting published.
Black Dagger Brotherhood Proposal -3/5
Another section I was not expecting. This section is the unedited proposal for Dark Lover, kind of a, "what I did, but don't do it like this," type thing. I found it interesting mostly to see the changes that were made. It felt a little like reading a parody.
Deleted Scenes -3/5
I thought more of the book would be this kind of thing, or pieces of story, like stuff that happened in the middle, that weren't in the book.
Kicks and Giggles -3/5
This section is full of passages from books 1-6 that made J.R. Ward laugh. I think it's essentially pointless for an Insider's Guide, but the quotes were kind of a nice refresher after my long break without touching the series.
Brothers on the Board -4/5
This is more the kind of thing I expected to see a lot of in this book. I'm under the impression these consolidated message board stories are cannon. It's been a good while since I read the last book, but I think I vaguely recall Lassiter saying something about repaying a debt. If that's the case, then yeah, these fit with the cannon. If there were a book that was just a compendium of all these stories, I would read it. The Insider's Guide says something about them still being available to read at a specific link provided, but when I tried to go there, it looked like a spam site. I wouldn't have read them there with all the, "Cellie," comments anyway, but I was curious. I'm kind of disappointed there doesn't seem to be an easy way to go back and read this stuff. If they are cannon, they should be easily available no matter how long the series has been out.
Slices of Life from the Board -3/5
These are some more middle stories and self insert stories. I like the middle stories, but the self insert stuff is kind of meh. These are also from the message boards, so not likely to be able to find more of them anywhere.
Q&A with J.R -3/5
Some interesting information here.
Timeline of the Brotherhood - 2/5
Handy, but not necessary. Looks like Phury and Cormia's mating is missing.
Table of Abbreviations - 2/5
Context usually makes most of these easy to figure out, but might be good to know for later.
Old Language - 4/5
I love seeing stuff like this, but I'm not sure why there are extra symbols on the alphabet paper.
Brothers Interview J.R - 2/5
Meh, nothing noteworthy here for me.
In Memoriam -4/5
I'm pretty sure, having spent a good few days reading this book, that this is the only interview with Tohr. It wasn't even an interview, really. It's another of those self insert interview things, but I love this family, so it gets a higher score.
Excerpt from Lover Avenged -no score
Skipped this, I never read previews. They make me want to read the next book right away. I already own this book, and I cycle through different series at a time, so I don't need the extra push to encourage me to read this one right this second.