"Lover Reborn" by J. R. Ward

April 12, 2012

Lover Reborn, by J. R. Ward, Black Dagger Brotherhood #11

 
 Synopsis:

"Ever since the death of his shellan, Tohrment is a heartbroken shadow of the vampire leader he once was. Brought back to the Brotherhood by a self-serving fallen angel, he fights again with ruthless vengeance- and is unprepared for a new tragedy. Seeing his beloved in dreams—trapped in a cold, desolate netherworld—he turns to the angel to save his former mate, only to despair at the path he himself must take to set her free. As war with the lessers rages, and a new clan of vampires vies for the Blind King’s throne, Tohr struggles between an unforgettable past, and a future that he doesn’t know he can live with… but can’t seem to turn away from." [Goodreads]



 My Review!

 
After waiting eons for some sort of resolution for Tohrment and our beloved Wellsie, I could finally rest my weary heart, knowing it worked out the way it needed to.

In build-up to this grand book release, many readers were upset at the idea of Tohr's HEA not being Wellsie, feeling that this was a betrayal of her.

My opinion?

That's a pretty darn cruel stipulation to put on him.

I won't be writing any spoilers, but I will say that J. R. Ward, the heralded author of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books, did an excellent job of appeasing both Pro-HEA and Anti-HEA camps.

Tohr's progression was believable and relatively enjoyable. Hard to say "enjoyable" when you spend a lot of the time grimacing. Which just shows how well the WARDen wrote her charactrer POVs.

The rest of the book was a VERY positive change for the series. The past few books have been getting a bit aggravating, as the over-arching plotline seemed to drag on. Additionally, while everyone loves a bit of angst, the stale-nature of the plot only caused greater attention to the individual angst of the characters, which tended to outshine their excellent qualities. This change means great things for us as the readers!

The "Band of Bastards" promises to provide excellent fodder for plot devices and future situations. I cannot wait! I see the BoB as the BDB through a Clown-House mirror: the same, but distorted and not quite successful at approaching the reality of the situation. Psychological conditions shall thrive and frolick through future pages. Yeeess!

In fact, J. R. Ward has already hinted at such issues with certain scenes involving Xcor (leader of the Bob) and his internal dichotomy. The juxtaposition of the honor code to which he binds himself, against the cruelty and heartlessness of trying to fill the Bloodletter's shoes, will assuredly carry through a few books before resolution and promises to give our beloved hotties a run for their money.

Oddly enough, the relationship most lauded through the book isn't Tohr's: it's everyone's favorite M/M couple: Blay and Qhuinn! Towards the end of Tohr's book, Qhuinn makes a few decisions that will have your heart a-thumping!!

J. R. Ward did an excellent job of keeping us hooked for her next book which will be (insert drum roll here!) Blay and Qhuinn! That's right! We get to see if they can finally work through Qhuinn's issues! (Yes, I meant that the way I wrote it, lol)

But Qhuinn has added yet another complexity to the plot. Can Blay work with this? Or has he had enough? 

On her Facebook page, J. R. Ward officially announced that 2013 will see the next couple to grace the cover of her BDB line and our two hunky heart-throbs are the shining stars!

As she so eloquently and aptly puts it:

"THEIR TIME HAS COME. 2013- NEXT BDB HARDCOVER.....BLAY & QHUINN!!!!" ~ J. R. Ward