Can't Get Enough of J.R. Ward's Black Dagger Brotherhood

© Copyright 2011 Patrice Walker All rights reserved

An acquaintance of mine introduced me to the Black Dagger Brotherhood, a series of romance novels by author J.R. Ward, a couple of years ago. We were gathered for our weekly knit/crochet evening at a local café, discussing our favorite romance novels when the Black Dagger Brotherhood was mentioned.

The next time I was at my local bookstore, I checked out the first one in the series, Dark Lover. As soon as I opened the book and saw this big glossary at the front that defined all of these weird sounding terms, I was totally not interested and put the book back on the shelf.

About a year later I decided to give the book a second look and decided to buy it. And am I glad I did! I was captivated from the first page and couldn’t put it down. And when I finished it, I went out and bought all the ones in the series that had been published at that time (5 of them!) and read them one after the other.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood series tells the story of a race of vampires created by a deity known as the Scribe Virgin. While these vampires need blood to survive, human blood just doesn’t do it for them; they must have blood from a member of their race’s opposite sex to survive.

Genetically bred to serve as protectors of the race, the brothers are a group of massively built warriors whose mission is to destroy the Lessening Society, created by the Scribe Virgin’s opposite, the evil Omega. This cabal of “de-souled” humans is, of course, bent on destroying the vampire race.

What makes the Black Dagger Brotherhood so fascinating? Why, the brothers, of course. Each book in the series focuses primarily on one brother. They all have their unique personal demons to overcome, and with the help of their bonded mates, the females they are destined to be with, they succeed in doing just that.

Dark Angel

Dark Angel tells the story of the (almost) Blind King, Wrath, who would rather be out with his brothers whooping Lesser butt instead of assuming his duties as King of the race. He reluctantly takes on the task of helping his murdered brother, Darius’s half-breed daughter, Beth, embrace her vampire heritage … except, she doesn’t know she’s a vampire.

Lover Eternal

In Lover Eternal, we meet the brother, Rhage, who was cursed by the Scribe Virgin for an unforgiveable act centuries ago (oh, did I mention that vampires are immortal?). Now, he must live with an inner hungry beast that he finds just about impossible to control, especially when someone ticks him off really bad. But the lovely mortal, Mary, knows just what to do to soothe the savage beast within, and Rhage simply can’t resist her.

Lover Awakened

Zsadist is the brother we’re introduced to in Lover Awakened. Having spent a century as a blood slave to a really nasty female vampire, Zsadist has some serious self-esteem issues. But that doesn’t keep him from being one of the fiercest (and fiercest-looking) brothers of the group. So it’s not difficult to understand how shocked he is when the beautiful vampire, Bella, starts scoping him out because she likes what she sees.

Lover Revealed

Every once in a while, the brothers will allow humans to enter their inner circle which we see happen in Lover Revealed. A gritty, Boston homicide detective who has trouble staying on the right side of the law, Butch O’Neal meets the brothers early in the series as he tries to protect Beth, the “half-vampire who doesn’t know it” that we met in Dark Angel, from these scary guys. While Butch is trying to do this, he falls head over heels for the ethereally beautiful vampire aristocrat, Marissa. But the two of them hooking up seems hopeless as far as Butch is concerned because they come from such different worlds.

Lover Unbound

Kinky Vishous, son of the Bloodletter, is the subject of Lover Unbound. Here’s another brother who carries what he considers to be a curse from the Scribe Virgin (She’s really not as bad as She sounds) and does his best to conceal it with his “Michael Jackson” glove. He’s also the only “psychic” brother in the group. It takes the no-nonsense, tough-talking emergency room physician, Dr. Jane Whitcomb, to save his life, as well as his soul.

Lover Enshrined

Phury is the “sacrificial lamb” of the group, and we read his story in Lover Enshrined. He’s Zsadist’s twin brother and actually sacrificed a leg to free Z from slavery. Can’t get more giving than that! But despite his philanthropic nature, Phury has his own set of issues that puts him at dangerous odds with the Brotherhood. Can Cormia, a member of the Chosen, a group of females who serve the Scribe Virgin on “the other side,” teach him the true meaning of duty and love?

Lover Avenged

My favorite novel in the series, Lover Avenged, tells the story of Rehvenge (don’t you love these names!) who actually isn’t a Black Dagger brother. He’s a drug lord and owner of the night club, Zero Sum, where the brothers hang out. This magnificent male hides a secret that could get him kicked out of the vampire race and banished forever. But despite his illegal activities and secrets, Rehvenge is a true “male of worth.” What will Ehlena, a law-abiding vampire nurse who slowly falls in love with him, think when she discovers who Rehvenge really is?

Lover Mine

We learn about John Matthew, another human who doesn’t know he’s a vampire, in Lover Mine. A mute, puny, scared little boy in his mid-twenties who is introduced a couple of books back, John comes of age and makes his transition to full blooded, kick-ass vampire in Lover Mine. Even before his transition, John is attracted to Zero Sum’s head of security, “you don’t want to mess with her” Xhex (pronounced “Hex”). With her scull-trimmed hair and body of a weight lifter, John is determined to make Xhex see him for who he really is, a male worthy of being her mate.

Lover Unleashed

Lover Unleashed, the next novel in the series tells the story of Payne, Vishous’ twin sister, who has been held in captivity for centuries by the Scribe Virgin. The only way to get to the other side (our reality) is to have a serious accident (not on purpose, though) which requires the services of Dr. Manuel Manello, a brilliant orthopedic surgeon and former colleague of Doc Jane who we met in Vishous’ novel, Lover Unbound. I truly enjoyed reading how these two got it together against what appear to be seemingly insurmountable odds.

UPDATE 12-29-11: I was in the grocery store the other day, perusing the book offerings, when I saw Lover Unleashed on the bottom shelf. My eyes popped out of my head, and my heart started pounding. "A new Black Dagger Brotherhood novel by J.R. Ward!?!" I exclaimed to myself.

But when I picked it up and started reading the back cover, I realized that it was the paperback edition of the book I'd read when it was first published as a hardback. Then my daughter told me that a new Black Dagger Brotherhood novel is coming out soon (see description below). So I am re-reading Lover Unleashed to get ready for it.

Lover Reborn

Yes, diehard Black Dagger Brotherhood fans, there IS a 10th novel coming, scheduled for release on March 27, 2012. This one will feature brother Tohrment who suffered an almost insurmountable loss in Lover Awakened. Thankfully, J.R. Ward is giving this brother a second chance at happiness.

"Tohrment, the Brother who had it all, but lost everything to the enemy, is destined for a second chance at love and life. But will the past and his bitterness hold him back?"

There's a lot of speculation online about whether "reborn" is to be taken literally, the way John Matthew was reborn, or figuratively in the sense that Tohrment experiences an emotional rebirth in the arms of a new shellan. Guess we'll just have to wait for the book's release to find out.

There are other intriguing characters who don’t get a book to themselves (at least not yet, although one soon will) but have hefty sub plots devoted to them. For example,

• Blaylock and Quinn are John Matthew’s best buddies, one of whom has a juicy secret no one knows about.
• Sexy Saxton is a lawyer for the vampire race and Quinn’s cousin.
• Tohrment is a Black Dagger brother who took John Matthew in when he was discovered by the vampire race.
• Layla, a member of the Chosen, has only one desire - to perform the erotic duties she was bred to perform, except the brothers just don’t seem to want to cooperate.

And then there’s a whole cast of characters from the Lessening Society, including the Omega, that you’ll just have to read the books to find out about.

One final word – the love scenes in these books are pretty erotic, so if you have any qualms about reading fairly explicit sexual scenes, then these might not be your cup of tea. On the other hand, if you enjoy reading erotica, then you'll REALLY like them!.

Well, there you have it. If you enjoy romance novels that feature vampires, then this series will definitely keep you reading for a long time and waiting impatiently for the next book to come out. And I’ve read the entire series twice and enjoyed them the second time around as much as, if not more, than the first.