Gale Reads: The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series by JR Ward

Hi fellow bookworms! Here's another book series review for you all ^_^

I decided to jump the bandwagon of JR Ward's The Black Dagger Brotherhood because of all the great reviews it had on Goodreads and other bloggers. I thought to myself that since this series already have 10 books under its belt and is still selling great and still receiving good reviews, it is worth reading. This is also something different for me since this is not considered a Young Adult book but is under Paranormal Romances.

I have all 10 titles in e-book form and have only finished until the 6th book which is Lover Enshrined. So, I have read Dark Lover, Lover Eternal, Lover Awakened, Lover Revealed, Lover Unbound and Lover Enshrined.

GENRE: Paranormal, Romance, Vampires

COVER TALK: I am not fond of the covers. I think it looks a little cheap? It is also very redundant and very obvious. I'm giving this series 2/5 for the book covers.


SYNOPSIS:

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, there's a deadly turf war going on between vampires and their slayers. There also exists a secret band of brothers like no other - six vampire warriors, defenders of their race.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood:
Wrath: the last purebred vampire on the planet and the vampire race's king. Essentially blind, he is the leader who is not willing to lead until he is forced to care for a half-breed he falls in love with.
Rhage: the strongest of the brothers and the best fighter. Cursed by the Scribe Virgin, he is possessed by a dark side which is a danger to everyone. Ultimately, though, he is gentled by a very special human woman.
Zsadist: the most lethal of the brothers. A former blood slave who was mercilessly tortured during the first hundred years of his life, Z is the one who has fallen farthest from grace. But he is utterly worthy of redemption.
Phury: the loyal one, the one who sacrifices himself for others. Phury is Zsadist's twin brother and a celibate who cannot truly live because of everything his biological brother has lost. Used to giving rather than receiving, he needs love coming back at him to bring him alive.
Vishous: the most intelligent and the one who is specially gifted. His curse is his ability to prognosticate: he sees the future, though not the 'when' of events so he is tortured by his inability to save those he loves from danger. His love puts him at odds with a secret about himself he did not know and could never have guessed.
Tohrment: the steady one, the calm one. He is the one whose betrayal by fate will cut the deepest.
(source: jrward.com)



MY TWO-CENTS:

Okay, here's the deal. I do love romance novel. I enjoy reading passionate and romantic stories with strong warriors and spirited ladies. And I also love vampire novels so this series really pulled me. I really was very excited to read them all at once which I did. I think I've read one book every night.

I loved Dark Lover. It's very unique in my opinion. The idea of having a group of elite warriors with different black history and personality trying to keep their race alive is awesome. I also love each of the Black Dagger Brotherhoods. They are all so very male and strong.

After finishing book one and liking it, I continued to read the following titles. And then I experienced a drop of interest after the 6th book. Why? Because I noticed the style of writing of the author and I did not liked it. I thought at first it was great to see the story in the point of view of the two main characters and also the brothers but as the number of characters increased book after book, the point of view of the story also increased. And I had it with the script type dialogue style of writing when book 6 arrived.

I really wanted to read the story of Phury but the scenes where he is there where only 1/3! I can't believe JR Ward will do that, really. Why would she make Phury the main character of Lover Enshrined if his story will only appear 1/3 of the book and will consists of happenings about other characters that are not even related to Phury? Does that make sense to you? It doesn't for me.

I know it's just her writing style but I am not fond of script-type story telling. I want focus on the main characters' love story when I read. I want to know their thoughts. I don't want to know the thoughts of the people they are not directly involved with coz that makes the whole book so shallow in my opinion. It makes me feel like I am watching a TV series wherein there are so many stories within a show.

I think this series is meant to be read as a whole and not per character coz she made this series really connected as if this is just one book divided into 10 parts. She writes very well but since I don't like knowing what other character thoughts (especially the enemies), I just decided to stop with this series and move on.

OVER-ALL RATING: 2/5. I love the characters and story line but I hate the style of writing. I ended up skipping a lot of parts while reading especially when she puts so much time on the enemies' life.

WILL YOU RECOMMEND THIS? I will recommend this to people who love vampires, romance and paranormal love story. To each his own so I know there are people who like her kind of writing. SO read it first and decide if you like it or not. I am different so yeah hehe ^_^

Thank you for dropping by ^_^