Genre:
Paranormal Romance/ Urban Fantasy
Buy The Book:
B & N / BOOK DEPOSITORY / KOBO / AMAZON
Connect With The Author:
Synopsis On Goodreads:
J.R. Ward's # 1 New York Times bestselling Black Dagger Brotherhood continues as a royal bloodline is compromised by a grave threat to the throne.
Long live the King...
After turning his back on the throne for centuries, Wrath, son of Wrath, finally assumed his father’s mantle—with the help of his beloved mate. But the crown sets heavily on his head. As the war with the Lessening Society rages on, and the threat from the Band of Bastards truly hits home, he is forced to make choices that put everything—and everyone—at risk.
Beth Randall thought she knew what she was getting into when she mated the last pure blooded vampire on the planet: An easy ride was not it. But when she decides she wants a child, she’s unprepared for Wrath’s response—or the distance it creates between them.
The question is, will true love win out... or tortured legacy take over?
RATING: 2 disappointed stars
*** REVIEW ***
BDB series is or better say was one of my favorite paranormal romance series for many years with Wrath's, Zsadist's and John M.'s books being my fav books of the series and Blay and Qhuinn being my ultimate favorite BDB couple. Then, why did it take me more than a year to read this book? Well, mostly because I wasn't overly excited with author's plans to focus again on the old couples instead of the new ones, so I decided to wait until I was in the right mood for it again. Now that I've finally read it I don't regret it at all, because...
Lets start with the things that I actually liked about this book:
- the introduction of the new character s'Ex
- Wrath's and Beth's storyline (occasionally)
- iAm's pov
And that's it...
- the introduction of the new character s'Ex
- Wrath's and Beth's storyline (occasionally)
- iAm's pov
And that's it...
The things that I didn't like:
- Multiple povs
Multple povs in books were usually hit/miss in my reading history, but when it comes to this one it was definitely a miss. I can deal with it when the povs are focused on one story, but this book felt as if it could have been divided into at least 2-3 separate books.
We have Wrath's & Beth's storyline, then Trez's and Selena's, Xcor's and Layla's, Assail's and Marisol's, some characters individually and all that in one book. We even get povs from totally irrelevant, side characters. I mean, I said it already for the previous book, but Ward has truly taken the multiple pov exchange on a whole new level, and not in a good way in my opinion. To sum it up- the plot was all over the place.
The first 100 pages bored me so much that I put the book on hold for more than a month and then got back to it hoping that the story will get better, but that didn't happen. I wasn't impressed with the way the author developed the story, solved the supposed twists or with the immature and foolish behavior of the majority of the characters. The author's writing failed to make me care about the characters or their storyline for the most of the part and don't let me start on the cheesy content...The one question going through my head while reading was: Why was I a fan of this series, again???
- The overflow of pop-culture references
Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Jim Carrey, Taylor Swift, Man Of Steele and many more.
- The boring and repetitive sex scenes
To be honest, I was skimming a lot when it comes to those parts.
Multple povs in books were usually hit/miss in my reading history, but when it comes to this one it was definitely a miss. I can deal with it when the povs are focused on one story, but this book felt as if it could have been divided into at least 2-3 separate books.
We have Wrath's & Beth's storyline, then Trez's and Selena's, Xcor's and Layla's, Assail's and Marisol's, some characters individually and all that in one book. We even get povs from totally irrelevant, side characters. I mean, I said it already for the previous book, but Ward has truly taken the multiple pov exchange on a whole new level, and not in a good way in my opinion. To sum it up- the plot was all over the place.
The first 100 pages bored me so much that I put the book on hold for more than a month and then got back to it hoping that the story will get better, but that didn't happen. I wasn't impressed with the way the author developed the story, solved the supposed twists or with the immature and foolish behavior of the majority of the characters. The author's writing failed to make me care about the characters or their storyline for the most of the part and don't let me start on the cheesy content...The one question going through my head while reading was: Why was I a fan of this series, again???
- The overflow of pop-culture references
Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Jim Carrey, Taylor Swift, Man Of Steele and many more.
- The boring and repetitive sex scenes
To be honest, I was skimming a lot when it comes to those parts.
All in all, when I compare this book to the newest installments of my other favorite urban fantasy/ paranormal series, I truly don't think it deserves more than 2 stars. Sadly, I think the time has come for me and this series to part ways, because I'm not happy with the direction the author is taking the plot. I won't say it's for good, but with the way things are now- I'm too disappointed to even see myself getting the next book.
xoxo,
Purple
There are so many things going on and not one concrete direction. I did like this one a bit more than you did, but in the end, I feel like the books are losing their original lustre.
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way. The books seemed to have lost focus. There are so many different POVs and storylines that it makes the main storyline lack substance. I literally just finished The Shadows (as in like 30 minutes ago). I'm sorry to report, I felt the same way about it. Really liked parts of the story, but there is a huge lack of focus. Personally, I think it is time for the series to be wrapping up and coming to a graceful end. Sadly, I don't see that happening.
ReplyDeleteI think it's time she wraps it up too with the way things are now. Most of the reviews I read so far about The Shadows weren't positive, so I'm not surprised. I
DeleteAll my reading peeps seemed to be getting away from the series. I'm still enjoying it, but actually, it has a lot to do with the narrator, I still enjoy his interpretation of the books be, although I have to say I'm not as excited as I used to be with the new releases, but I'm feeling this way about PNR in general and that's really a bummer :(
ReplyDeleteGreat review, and I totally get why this didn't work for you.
Thanks, Loupe! :) I'm glad you're still enjoying it. I know many people still are. Agree about the paranormal genre.
DeleteThis used to be a favorite of mine as well. I was SOLID with them until 6. I quit with Tohrrment's book. I was so dang mad at that one. Bummer this one fell so short for you. A lot of those issues were ones I'd started to have with the series too :/
ReplyDeleteI'm starting to think that I was reading the last 5-6 book only to see my fav characters- Blay, Qhuinn and John M. getting their HEA and that's why probably it didn't bother me before, but now it seem that all these little "issues" started to escalate the more the story is going on. :/
DeleteAh yeah. I never really got into the younger group when they joined. I liked Blay but meh on the rest so lost interest once their books and storylines started to hit. Ah well.
Delete