Book Review: Lover Unbound

Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood #5)

J.R. Ward

Release Date: September 25, 2007

Book Description:

"The ruthless and brilliant brother Vishous possesses a destructive curse and a frightening ability to see the future. As a member of the Brotherhood, he has no interest in love or emotion, only the battle with the Lessening Society. But when a mortal injury puts him in the care of a human surgeon, Dr. Jane Whitcomb compels him to reveal his inner pain and taste true pleasure for the first time-until a destiny he didn't choose takes him into a future that does not include her..."

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Review:

Spoilers ahead!

“Now run along and kill something.” Lover Unbound (Kindle Location 6880).

I am so vexed about this book that I don’t even know where to begin. In fact, I finished the fifth book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series late last night and been dying to get a spare hour to have a chance to vent about it. So brace yourselves, this is going to be a bumpy ride…

Book five is V’s novel. Vishous is a mysterious brother who is brilliant yet frightening. He has an ability to see into the future, which apparently is almost always grim, and thus his only interests lie in fighting against the Lessening Society. We’ve got glimpses of V previously, especially since his story so closely intertwined with Butch’s in the last book. In fact, his connection with Butch grew so close, that by the end of last novel it was quite apparent that V has developed deeper feelings for his newest brother. I found their scenes together a bit uncomfortable this time around, whereas their connection seemed more genuine in the last book, here it felt cheapened by the turn of events and a major case of insta-love (on that later).

V is, in fact, a very tortured hero. His upbringing from pretrans to vampire and thereafter is almost as grim and traumatic as Z’s. However, I found the bits of V’s history almost as unbearable of a read, as those about the lessers. And what makes this story even worse is the fact that there seems no redemption for this brother, as the only person he seemed to have cared for in a long time is now happily mated. His mother, as he discovers on the brim of his 303-birthday is the Scribe Virgin herself, and now she wants him to serve a purpose he was bred for. He is to be a Primale, essentially a sperm donor, with a harem made up of the Chosen who are there to breed his young and ensure continuation of the warrior lines. (Here, I am starting to get a sense that we begin to digress into an almost dystopian fiction territory where the government, or Scribe Virgin as it might be here, is to dictate all the actions of its people, while no questions is to be asked of the government/her.)

Alas, fate has different plans for V and apparently they include Dr. Jane Whitcomb, who is destined to marry him. Jane is a human doctor who saves his live as he accidently ends up on her operating table. A whirlwind of events takes place thereafter, as Jane is kidnapped and taken to the brotherhood, the two are instantly attracted and fall in love with each other, and the sex is of course out of this world, BDSM and all; but there is always a “but”, and nothing is smooth sailing in V’s life. (At this point in the book, all I really cared about is to learn how V gets his HEA with Jane, and I almost wish they didn’t get it at all. As I read on, craving to finally understand what other nonsensical way Ward will find to give the hero a life-time mate I did not expect this outcome, and it has to be the most infuriating one because Jane essentially becomes a ghost. – Casper is in the house!)

The end…

I don’t even want to talk about the self-loathing storyline about Phury, or John Matthews’ transition (finally!) and his connection to Darius. I was simply mad about this book, I wanted to like it, and there were great moments in it, but they were short-lived. At this point, the only good thing this book got is the amount of time and space devoted to lessers, which was minimal. Perhaps, I’m starting to grow tired of the brotherhood, as it is now apparent that all of the brothers have tortured pasts and other numerous issues, not including their bad habits. After hundreds of years of leading very single lives, they suddenly have to act as a pack and mate their females within month of each other. And in addition, with each following “MINE” moment, the brothers start to become vaguely reminiscent of the Gollum (of the Lord of the Rings) and his “precious”.

At this point, I will still continue my perusal of the BDB world. I’m not looking forward to reading Phury’s book though, which is the sixth in the series, but I am a strict believer in following the sequence and I am curious to have a glimpse at Zsadist and Bella’s novella.