Such an awesome series, I think this one was the best one so far! Amazing characters, story lines and writing!

Oh, how I wish Ward would go back to the magic she had in the first few books. This book was down right terrible. I liked the relationship between Wrath and Beth but their story wasn't enough to keep the book interesting, nor was it enough to really write about. Clearly, Ward knew this because she also decided to tell the stories of Assail/Sola, Trez/Selena, Xcor/Layla, and Wrath's mom (who's name escapes me) and dad (also named Wrath). I could have cared less about three of these sub romances and the one I cared about (Assail/Sola) was only briefly discussed.

I'm not sure why Ward abandoned the format of one brother a book but telling multiple stories at once lost my interest very quickly and I skipped over large chunks of this book. I'm not even sure I want to read the next one.

Originally posted on Three Little Birds Book Blog

This is the first review I’ve written for a BDB book, so this is more a review of the series as a whole, as well as The King.

I fell in love with the BDB on a weekend a few years ago when I was bored and curious. I started and caught up with all the books in the series in one week (and that was after there’d already been 7 books released). ONE WEEK – that’s how addicting these books are. I was a fangirl from the first chapters, having already chosen my favorites (Rhage, Z, and JM are my boos!), daydreamed fan-fiction, and stalked J. R. Ward. But, as the series went on, the intimacy of the first books was lost as the world kept expanding to include more characters and storylines, and my attention waned with each new release. I just didn’t love the series as much as I used to.

So, you can imagine how excited I was when I found out that book 12 (damn, this series is long) was Wrath and Beth’s story. Where it all began. I was stoked. Unfortunately, things didn’t flow smoothly when I first tried to read this book. I just couldn’t connect (!!), and I was devastated. I tried to read this book multiple times, but struggled to get past the first couple of chapters. Then I tried again. Same result. I couldn’t deal. Was I going to have to give up on a series that I loved, a series that gave me so much joy? Unacceptable. I’m not usually one to hesitate about DNFing – I’ll quit the hell out of a book – but after 11 books, I wasn’t ready to give up on that relationship. So, I bought the audiobook, pressed play and started listening while I visited my mom over the weekend and drove her around on errands (I listen to audiobooks and zone her out all the time; she’s accepted the fact that I’m rude, so don’t worry).

What did I think of The King? I think this is a Black Dagger Brotherhood book that takes it back to the beginning, resets a series based on the best alpha males in the game and sets the stage for who knows what kind of excitement is to come. Now, it didn’t start out that way – I still struggled for a good 40+% to fully invest, but once everything started coalescing, it rolled smoothly and quickly. I even grew to love all the secondary characters that I wanted exorcised in the very beginning. Once all the storylines settled, and I had background for everyone, and when it became apparent that the political stuff was tied in with the romance, I fell hard again for this world that The Warden created. These truly are some of the most passionate and loving men in romance, and I loved being reminded of why I felt so much for them in the first place, and why they’re so hard to forget.

This is still a series that has a lot going on, with…what, 3 solid romantic relationships unresolved, and at least 2 potential ones yet to exist? All of which I'm excited about. I’m glad I didn’t give up on this series. The BDB are still the shit, and I won’t take as long to read The Shadows as I did The King. Seriously, I love this series, and I love that J. R. Ward still has so much to say regarding her brothers, because it doesn’t seem that I’ll ever get enough of them and their Shellans.

This was great! I love how this story weaved it's tale and left plenty of questions, even about Wrath & Beth. I am even more excited about the Shadow's being the next book. I am really curious about Trez and iAm and where they end up. But what really was a nice surprise was Sola & Assail's beginning or continuation of their story from the previous book. I am also kind of happy the Lesser story line is weakening, I am kind of over Mr. (X)s and their bull shit. But that's just me. Congrats JR Ward on another great book!

I gave this book two stars based only on the sections I actually read, which probably turned it more into a novella than a big ass novel. With Ward's book, I skim at LEAST half of the book since she insists on adding way too many second-rate characters. Most the time I think "how the hell is that?" and then I just keep skimming. I've said it a million times, and I'll say it some more, Ward needs to trim down the useless characters and actually get back to the ones that everyone liked in the first place. Not sure how many more of these books I'm going to bother to skim-read in the future.

Excellent! The last couple of BDB books have been OK, The King makes up for it. There still was a lot of jumping around between the Brothers, the Shadows, Assail and the Band of Bastards but I think the stories were evenly distributed.

I really enjoyed learning more about Wrath's parents and also the fact that we got to have another Beth & Wrath story. Looking forward to what's next!

(I still have no idea who the blond dude on the cover is supposed to be, unless I missed it?)

DNF

A little drawn out but still enjoyed it.

<--Review to come...

Maybe 4.5???

It really started kind of slow and I could have done without all the Miley Cyrus references...

BUT

It surely picked up and the ending (last quarter? maybe)was awesome.

There seemed to be A LOT of Assail but not enough to get the whole story.

Who is next? I think a combination of Assail, Trez & Xcor. I am really interested in more iAm.

___Not really a review I know, more like rambling thoughts.