Oct 03 2007
Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward
Lover Unbound by J.R. Ward
Mass Market Paperback, 502 pages
ISBN: 0451222350
Available Now
Retail Price $7.99
Fifth in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series
I read this last week. It was, as BDB books always are, an engrossing, unputdownable read.
Here’s my problem with writing a “review” of the book I read: Lots of people were able to get hold of it a week before anyone would sell it to me and burned up the internets with their negative reactions to it, so I had those issues in mind when I read.
Did this poison my reaction to the book? No. What it did was pull me out of the story frequently with thoughts along the lines of “What the hell book did you people read?”
V’s thing with Butch was dismissed too easily? Half the damn book is about V struggling with it, talking about it with Butch, and Butch himself explained the source of it (the same way I always thought of it, incidentally). Some people just weren’t going to be happy unless they fucked, though.
Too much of the secondary characters? Without Phury, V would never have been free to be with Jane. Developing his reasoning for saving the day was oodles better than having him pop into Wrath’s office out of nowhere and offer to save the day.
All the secondary stuff? It’s called worldbuilding. You can’t clamor for it one minute and then bitch because there’s a world other than the H/H the next. Well, obviously you can, but it makes you look like an asshat.
Missing the lessers? (Too much secondary stuff, but missing the lessers? **headdesk**) Also explained. Laying low for a couple weeks while seeking to fill the vacant middle management position. They had no story to tell during the handful of days during which this story takes place.
The average romance novel is 300 to 350 pages in length. I haven’t counted and have no intention of doing so (though you’re welcome to take up the challenge), but I’m fairly confident V and Jane accounted for at least 300 pages. The extra 200 pages is bonus content, as far as I’m concerned.
Oh, the hue and cry over what happened to Jane! (And I am neither going to tell you flat out nor use a cutesie euphemism that is as subtle as telling you flat out. You can find that all over the place.) She was clumsy at first because she was adjusting to an altered state of being. She adjusted well enough that she proceeded with plans to be the Brotherhood’s live-in surgeon, and it never in any way affected V’s interaction with her, so what the hell is the problem? Together + Happy = HEA.
What I wrote was, I kid you not, a 10,000-word rebuttal of practically every negative comment I’d read in the past week (exceptions: Cormia actually is as much of a dishrag as Marissa, and while I have no problem with detailing John’s journey, I could have lived without watching him jerk off), complete with quotes and page numbers and foaming at the mouth with hostility.
(Oh, you think what we have here is hostile? Silly rabbit, this bitchfest is for kids.)
My reaction is not not because I’m a squeeing fangrrl and think J.R. Ward can do no wrong. (The spelling. My god, the spelling. It’s bad enough stumbling across a word in the text, but the glossary is downright painful to behold.) My reaction is the same as it always is when people disseminate misinformation to an unsuspecting public—pissed off.
I’m going to have to come back to this one when I cool off enough to actually write about the book, but it was important to me to show some support. It’s a good story about a damaged hero soothed by the love of a good woman and lots of sex that will make you wish a hot vampire would tie you up and spank you.
Hollywood’s still my favorite, but this one beat the crap out of Butch’s book.
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