Guest reviewer Shadow Elrondsel : Dark Lover

Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1) by J.R. Ward

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Signet (September 6, 2005)

Paperback Edition 416 pages

Purchased from: Flipkart

Book Synopsis- (Goodreads) 

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going war going on between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other-six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Yet none of them relishes killing their enemies more than Wrath, the leader of the Black Dagger Brotherhood...

The only purebred vampire left on the planet, Wrath has a score to settle with the slayers who murdered his parents centuries ago. But when one of his most trusted fighters is killed - orphaning a half-breed daughter unaware of her heritage or her fate - Wrath must usher the beautiful female into the world of the undead...

Racked by a restlessness in her body that wasn't there, Beth Randall is helpless against the dangerously sexy man who comes at night with shadows in his eyes. His tales of brotherhood and blood frighten her. But his touch ignites a dawning hunger that threatens to consume them both....

Favorite quote from Dark Lover

"Perfect date material, she thought. A vampire with the social equivalent of road rage. "-Beth.

 "Come on, man. What does it matter to me? You, Tohr. Britney Spears." -Zsadist.

"Welcome to the wonderful world of jealousy, he thought. For the price of admission, you get a splitting headache, a nearly irresistible urge to commit murder, and an inferiority complex. Yippee." -Wrath

My absolute favourite:

"The scarred one, the soulless one, had the voice of an angel."-About Zsadist.

Review by Shadow Elrondsel

Dark lover is an entertaining book that I would recommend to anyone who likes smut. For lovers of the vampire genre, it’s a deviation from the classic vampire who is old fashioned in taste. Only one vampire in the entire book can be described as old fashioned. The rest are rap loving gangsters who can be mistaken for drug dealers. For those who read for plot, I would not recommend the book. The smut is what saves it; otherwise it isn’t a great read.

Dark Lover is the first of a series of books about the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Each book focuses on one brother, and how he finds his mate. The Brotherhood is a group of male vampires who have dedicated their lives to protecting their species from Lessers. Lessers are humans who gave their souls, in exchange for immortality and powers like an enhanced sense of smell etc. These beings are the enemy of the Vampires, created by The Omega.  The Omega is the counterpart of the Scribe Virgin, who in the series created vampires and advises their king.

One of the downsides in the book was apparent to me when I read the first few pages, which gives the basic information about the universe. The vampire society is very sexist. However, I was happy to see that the female lead in the dark Lover series, Beth Randall is independent, strong, intelligent and far from a cowed female. The male, Wrath, who becomes her lover, shows that he is a product of the society he lives in, and yet he treats her well and does not try to break her spirit or force make her behave in a manner appropriate to the society. He does try in a manner, but Beth cuts him off and he reacts well. Coming from a male dominated society myself, I enjoyed this.

If you believe in love at first sight, then you would enjoy the whirlwind romance. If you don’t, I suggest you focus on the smutty bedroom scenes. That is all I will say on this topic.

The other characters in the books are interesting in their own way, except for Marissa. Marissa is the vampire selected for Wrath by his parents. She fails as a character for me as she is one dimensional. She is so consumed by the idea of being loved by a man, she seems to be unaware of anything else. Her innocence is ridiculous. I find it very odd that her brother is a doctor and yet she is so naïve. I hope that the character will be better written in later books.

I loved Zsadist. He is barely present in the book, but he intrigued me. The way he is treated by the brothers was strange in a fashion. They are supposed to trust each other to have their back in combat, so the subplot with Zsadist seemed off for me. I’m looking forward to reading the other books, especially the one that focuses on him.

Another character which caught my attention was the Scribe Virgin. She knew Wrath, what his personality was like. Yet, in the conversation with him, she seemed to willfully antagonize him. I expected her to be different. Especially was earlier on, she was compared to a god. This characterization gives the potential for a number of plots, so while I dislike her, I can appreciate the author for creating this.

On the whole, the book is worth reading. I’ve got the entire books series on my reading list and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes.

Shadow's rating for this book