BOOK REVIEW: LOVER AWAKENED, Book 3 of the Black Dagger Brotherhood Series

Random Thoughts ltd. BOOK REVIEW

Book: Lover Eternal
Black Dagger Brotherhood Book Series
by J.R. Ward
Genre: Paranormal/ Fantasy/ Romance
Release: March '06

In the shadows of the night in Caldwell, New York, a deadly war rages between vampires and their slayers. There exists a secret band of brothers like no other—six vampire warriors, defenders of their race. Of these, Zsadist is the most terrifying member of the Black Dagger Brotherhood.

A former blood slave, the vampire Zsadist still bears the scars from a past filled with suffering and humiliation. Renowned for his unquenchable fury and sinister deeds, he is a savage feared by humans and vampires alike. Anger is his only companion and terror his only passion—until he rescues a beautiful female from the evil Lessening Society.

Bella is instantly entranced by the seething power Zsadist possesses. But even as their desire for each other begins to overtake them, Zsadist’s thirst for vengeance against Bella’s tormentors drives him to the brink of madness. Now Bella must help her lover overcome the wounds of his tortured past and find a future with her....

WORLD DISCRIPTION:

The Black Dagger Brotherhood series takes place in modern day New York in the city of Caldwell (which actually does not exist). Underneath the regular everyday human world there is a secret ancient society of Vampires and Lessers (hunters) whom have been battling each other for centuries, after taking in serious losses in the race the Vampire society decided to go underground, hiding themselves from all outer beings and civilizations. With the decreases in Vampires there has also been a decrease in Lessers (since they have nothing to hunt). But the fighting continues as the lessers determination to rid the world of Vampires completely increases.

Where as folk lore allows us to believe that vampires are mystical creatures that were humans turned into evil soulless beings, the world of BDB introduces a new way to look at this popular culture. In this universe Vampires are merely a seperate species created by a mystical being called the Scribe Virgin (thier Diety). They are born, they age (slowly) and they die (they are also able to mate with humans, although half breeds are rare). These Vampires do have some physical and mystical qualities to them. They are allergic to the sun (they turn to ash if exposed) so they roam through the night, they can dematerialize (they can vanish into thin air and appear elsewhere) as long as they are not trying to dematirialize in or out of an area incased with steel and they are not carrying something heavy. They do need to transfer blood for nourishment every couple of weeks (proper blood transfers are done through biting a member of the opposite sex of their species, they can get blood from humans as well, however human blood is much too weak to properly feed and neurish a Vampire, also they try very hard to limit contact with all humans for fear of exposure and further hunting). This race of Vampires are very peaceful and have a lot of complexities involving their biology mainly when it comes to multiplying (vampires cannot turn humans into other vampires) so due to this they are very few in numbers.


In many Vampire stories there are the evil vampire creatures and the human hunters. In this universe the creatures are the hunters known as the lessers. Lessers are humans turned and are primarly males. The Lessers were created by a mystical being called The Omega (their Diety) for the sole purpose of extinguising Vampires from the world once and for all (FYI: the Omega hates vamps and the Scribe Virgin for some reason we don't know yet). The Lessers have inhuman characteristics to them that makes them stand out. They are cold blooded because they have no heart (this is because on their initiation they give up their mortality and their souls to the Omega, their hearts are kept in a jar for safe keeping, this also causes their blood to run black). After being in the society for a while their skin, eyes and hair start to pale (older Lessers have white eyes, white skin and white hair) their skin also develops a distinguish smell of baby powder. Lessers cannot be killed easily, the only way to kill them is by sticking a knife or a dagger in their chest where their hearts are suppose to be until they POOF. Lessers are also impotent, angry and very muderist.

Summary and My take

OK... First off let me just say... "wow" seriously.
This book was so fucking awesome it is so hard to describe it and do it justice. This was just... wow. Currently my favorite book ever.
Sorry Salvatore, you'll gonna have to be a close second now.

So when we last left off we were in book two. Lover Eternal, Rhage's book. And if you read the book in it's entirety you know what happens in the end.

If you haven't, then don't continue reading this. Well... I guess you could keep reading, it aint that much of a spoiler.

As we all know love stories (which is what many of these books generally are) usually have happy endings. Or HEA (happily ever afters). So we figured that Rhage and Mary find a way to end up together at th end of Lover Eternal. So... YAY.

Random Ramble:
I was really pissed off when I was nearly done with the book and the Scribe Virgin said. "Nope you can't be together sorry." Jeez, that bitch. But... I was wrong, they found a way and hurray for Mary and Rhage... tear drop.

The whole cancer speech she had in the end was had me bawling. And even now after my umpteenth re read, I still cry like a little baby.

Anyway....

Lover Awakened is just wow. Seriously hard core stuff for anyone, so if you want to be moved by something, here it is.

The story picks up a few weeks after Lover Eternal and it focus's around Zsadist. Which is my FAVORITE character in the series. He is just so cute, in a vicious fearsome sort of way, but yet again I've always been drawn to guys with issues.

As you have all read so far in DL (Dark Lover) and LE (Lover Eternal), Zsadist is not the warmest or most comfortable guy to be around with, for anybody. But then theres Bella. Whom ran into Zsadist in the begining of LE and she was immediately entranced by him, mainly due to his raw power and strong sexuality.

more to come...

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You could check out Reviews other people have made about this book
Click HERE to read a review from Romance Reader
Click HERE to read from Don't Talk don't read
Click HERE to read from Paperback Reader
Click HERE to read from My shelf

HERES one of my favorite reviews

INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR:

Want to read from an interview with the author herself?
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HERE For My Shelf
and
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