Lover Avenged: A Novel Of The Black Dagger Brotherhood

So after the last book in the series I was really nervous to start this one because I thought it wouldn't be good at all. I wasn't a big fan of Rhev throughout the series but this book definitely changed my mind about him. Ward is definitely straying a bit from the strict romance of the first few novels, but the story was so great it wasn't that big of a deal to me. What I particularly enjoyed was the way in this book you got a look into the life of all the brothers together, which was definitely fun to see. Absolute must read, don't be deterred because of the last book!

Yet another novel in the Brotherhood series which was okay. The characters have already been established thru earlier novels. The plot line is fair, nothing gripping because if it had been I would not have been able to put down the book. Ergo, I didn't rate it very high. The character of the main heroine seemed weak in comparison to all the other players in the novel, especially Xhex. Should be interesting to see if Wrath gets his eyesight back. Alas, after all this I will have read the last story to see if John gets his gal.

The seventh in the Black Dagger Brotherhood. To be honest I had to force myself to start this one, Rehvenge is not my favorite character, but once I started I couldn't put it down. This book wasn't just about him, it contained just about all of the brotherhood characters, and it is required reading in the series leading up to the next book of John Matthews story which I am eagerly awaiting. A very good book that by the end I did like Rehvenge. 88/1000

This is the seventh book in the very popular series known as the Black Dagger Brotherhood. Basically they are vampire warriors who are bred to defend the civilian population from the onslaught of their mortal enemies, The Lessers. Usually each book is about one of the members of The Brotherhood and focuses on how he attained true love...well... not this time. This book is completely different and has two major parts; one is about a character that has nothing to do with the Brothers themselves but is an important leader inside their world. He goes by the name of Rhevenge...of course with an H. Second part and my favourite I might add, is about The King of the vampires who was actually the lead vamp in the first book in the series. Of course I am talking about Big Daddy Wrath also known as the blind king.

Now almost every character makes some sort of appearance in this one but the major players are Rhevenge the half symphath half vhampire... oops sorry I meant vampire, who rules over his club or should I say his drug and prostitute business with a very bad attitude. So no, this is not your typical bad boy but a person who truly is half evil. As interesting a character he might be, I find it very hard to truly sympathise with him. Hey I just noticed character has an added H...blends in perfectly. The old I just give them what they want routine just doesn't cut it with me. So I won't rain on anyone's parade but he will never be in my top ten list of favourite characthers...no it's not a typo I just wanted to see what it looked like with still an added h. Next we have Ehlena... giggles... of course the H, who Rhev falls deeply in love with. And what's not to love, she is like the mamma Theresa of the vamp world BUT with a great attitude when needed. This character really grew on me throughout the book. As sweet as she can be, she can also stand up to the toughest of them. Next we Have Wrath and Beth, two of my favs since the beginning of the series. I am truly happy that we got the opportunity to read about these two again.

The basic story for this one is the fact that Rhev is being blackmailed and being used as a sexual toy by the symphath princess. Is this a spoiler? Well no! It's all in the other books that you are supposed to read before reading a review for a latter book... now where was I ...Oh yes...As sex toys goes ,well... Rhev is known to HOOK up with women easily. Now add to the blackmail the fact that he was given the task of eliminating the king and things get very complicated since he now has someone that he really cares for. He truly does love Ehlena and this is really good for him. He simply can't take the risk of exposing himself as half symphath since he would be deported and finally killed by the others of his kind. What side of himself will win on this one? The evil side that actually thinks about killing Wrath or the plain bad side that figures how he can profit from saving the king. Now for the interesting part to the book: We have Wrath who is tired of being left in the sidelines and decides to do some fighting on his own. Problem is, he tries to hide it from the Brothers and worst yet from Beth...ooohhh bad idea. Eventually the woman always finds out and payback is a ...well you get my meaning. Now add health problems and you have yourself a real life story. Reading about these two and you really think they actually do exist. Of course all the other subplots are still there just a bit more on the backburner.

Now both of these stories eventually do intermix and I really liked where it went from there. It's just I am simply not a big fan of Rhev but I do find that type of character is needed to spice up the series, not to actually write a whole story about. So what saved it for me was of course good old Wrath and even then there seemed to be something missing. Like some kind of key ingredient just was not there. It just felt colder than the others in the series. So...yes I did like it, but not as much as the others in the series. So... 3 stars to Tricky Dicky and 4 stars to Wrath. Combined, it gives 3.50001 stars so I will give it a 4 star rating but barely by the point of a barb.