This RITA® Reader Challenge 2017 review was written by Danica. This story was nominated for the RITA® in the Paranormal Romance category.
The summary:
Nothing is as it used to be for the Black Dagger Brotherhood. After avoiding war with the Shadows, alliances have shifted and lines have been drawn. The slayers of the Lessening Society are stronger than ever, preying on human weakness to acquire more money, more weapons, more power. But as the Brotherhood readies for an all-out attack on them, one of their own fights a battle within himself…
For Rhage, the Brother with the biggest appetites, but also the biggest heart, life was supposed to be perfect—or at the very least, perfectly enjoyable. Mary, his beloved shellan, is by his side and his King and his brothers are thriving. But Rhage can’t understand—or control—the panic and insecurity that plague him…
And that terrifies him—as well as distances him from his mate. After suffering mortal injury in battle, Rhage must reassess his priorities—and the answer, when it comes to him, rocks his world…and Mary’s. But Mary is on a journey of her own, one that will either bring them closer together or cause a split that neither will recover from…
Here is Danica's review:
Full disclosure: I like the Black Dagger Brotherhood (BDB) series. I rarely go for paranormals, but they’re the exception.
I’ve wanted to read The Beast for a while, so the RITA Challenge was the perfect reason to finally get to it.
Then I remembered that I’d taken a break from the series way back in book #5.
Did I mention The Beast is book #14 in the series?
That’s right – in a moment of questionable sanity, I decided to binge read the remaining nine books before taking on this review (I don’t recommend doing this – remember kids, everything in moderation).
Now onto what we’re here for – The Beast. This is the second book featuring Rhage and Mary; there seems to be a move to revisit earlier couples, both in the main BDB series and the spinoff, Black Dagger Legacy. Usually couples in a series are one and done, with small cameos later on, so I’m liking these glimpses of making the HFN a HEA.
So, Rhage and Mary have been together for a couple years at this point, and they’ve become distant outside of naked cuddle time. Mary’s become consumed by her work as a therapist at the vampire race’s women’s shelter while Rhage’s work with the Brotherhood has kept him busy, and he’s been feeling melancholy, which is totally out of character.
Rhage has a brush with death, but he’s not freaked because he and Mary have an agreement that when Rhage dies, Mary, an immortal human, will self-sacrifice to be with him in the afterlife and everything will be perfect. Mary, however, has become super attached to an orphaned girl, Bitty, and uses Rhage’s beast curse to save him so that she can stay with the girl.
Orphaned child + childless couple trying to reconnect…hmm, this isn’t predictable at all. Once you know the players, you can see the main story and its outcome from miles away. Meh. I hate when that happens – unless the journey’s good. This one isn’t great, but it’s good enough. I’m not interested in seeing more of it. I will say, however, that overall, this book has feelings. Lots of feelings. I laughed, I groaned, I was angry, I was sad, and at times I was bored. Why? Well, let me tell you.
Okay, what didn’t I like? Well, the silent ‘h’ thing is kind of annoying, but it’s a constant throughout the series, and I bharely notice it nowh. The vampires also refer to humans as “rats without tails” yet at this point the Brotherhood household includes five humans and/or human-vampire hybrids. Okay…
Speaking of mates, in 14 books there are three Brotherhood mates I can tolerate, and Mary isn’t one of them. There is nothing in this book to alter or even seriously influence my previous opinion of her. She’s infertile, which is integral to the story, but is it a flaw? I don’t think so. Otherwise, she is so close to perfect it’s nauseating. She’s super mega awesome at her job, everyone loves her, and she’s the only one to ever calm Rhage and his beast.
What I see as her flaw? She’s a therapist who won’t talk about her feelings. Rhage has to prompt and push her into it. Double standard much? And how did Mary respond the one time Rhage didn’t want to talk? She demanded answers from someone else!
The only real character growth in this book happens to Assail in one of the secondary storylines. The drug lord/arms dealer/who-is-he-why-is-he-here-and-who-cares seems to mature and choose a side in the vampire war. His story actually becomes the most interesting part of the book.
This book also has continuity errors, which drives me nuts. There’s apparently a time warp between the Brotherhood mansion and where Mary works, which is minor. As is someone having seen a car from an upstairs window when he was actually in the main floor foyer at the time. Others however…
One thing on Bitty. That girl goes through a lot, recovers scarily quick once Rhage is involved, and someday everything’s going to hit her and it won’t be pretty. I’d be worried.
I realize all of this seems like I don’t like the book, but I do. Rhage is my reason for even wanting to read this. He’s awesome, and I think he makes the main storyline interesting. He’s one of those “heart of gold inside a class clown” kind of guys, and in the words of Bitty, “He’s like…a big friendly dog.” He goes through some pretty heavy emotional upheaval and handles it in a mature way. He is an evolved alpha. I know, right?!
He’s still crazy protective of those he loves, but without being overbearing, he provides a lot of comic relief, is capable of deep thoughts, and uses words!
When you love someone and you’re leaving, you wait for your person to come-and it takes a lot of energy, a lot of focus. I’m telling you, Mary, I was waiting for you because I wanted to make my peace with you, but I couldn’t hold on for much longer-and although we lucked out and you saved my life, the reality was that I prolonged my suffering just to have that moment with you.
And this interaction with Bitty is gold:
“He says girls can do anything,” Bitty looked at Rhage. “He says girls are…powerful.”
“Yup.” Rhage nodded. “That’s why the fastest and the best cars-”
“-are always girls,” Bitty finished for him.
I like that the Brotherhood books are connected by a series-long plot arc with the vampire slayers. It feels like a continuing story, almost like a tv drama. Each book also has multiple secondary storylines, introducing the mains for upcoming books, so all of the stories are evolving together. Most of the secondary stories also carry through multiple books before becoming the focus, which would take approximately forever to cover here. There’s a lot going on in these books and they are long because of it. My honest opinion is that reading any part of this series out of order would be very confusing and I don’t recommend doing so.
This isn’t the best Black Dagger Brotherhood book, but it isn’t the worst either. Good but not great. I’d say it’s a solid B.
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Thanks!
Thanks for the review, Danica. I’m glad you found something to like in this one. Upfront, after Tohr’s book I swore not to invest another moment of my time on this series, but then The Beast came out… I found this rage without the h inducing.
Like you, I picked it up for more Rhage, because who wouldn’t want more Rhage? It very quickly became an exercise in drywall preservation. Between the continuity errors (which I think are completely disrespectful to fans) and the plot recycling, this put the final nail in my nhever aghain promise.
I’ve never gotten into these books but I must say that cover is giving me second thoughts. Any chance this book can be read as a stand alone? Would love to have that cover, lol.
@Carolyn, no, not by any stretch. It does bring up an interesting question. Is there someone sellibg cover art? There some pretty amazing covers out there.
I guess I’m willing to give a few passes on continuity screw-ups in highly complicated series like BDB (see: George R. R. Martin apparently uses fan wiki sites to remind himself about various characters/plot lines).
I actually really liked The Beast. Mostly because of Rhage. And it being one of the first times I found Mary interesting.
I also reread pretty close to the whole series (or listen on Audible during my commute) maybe every year and a half. I’m an English BA/MA and a Lit teacher, so I tend to reread and re-analyze things that are complicated enough to engage me.
I like BDB because of the complexity of characters’ ongoing journeys. i will say that there are a few couples I hope she doesn’t deliberately stir up again (see: JM/Xhex).
In line with that: SPOILER ALERT for The Chosen and possibly the third Legacy book to follow:
I have to say that I’m less than thrilled that V and Jane seem to be going into another bout of ridiculousness. Their upcoming snafu seems to be a bit of deliberate plot stirring rather than something organic. Gah.
I have never read any of the books in this series, but reading the name “Rhage” in this review is giving me rage. The silent H seems really pretentious, or something, and is actually the type of thing that throws me out of a story.
@DonnaMarie I’m with you about Tohr’s book – it made me so mad! Like angry shakes mad. Still does. I only finished it to continue the series.
@MegS I’m glad somebody really liked this book. I don’t Hate it, but I think it could’ve been so much better. And continuing the storyline in the second Legacy book? Gag me with a spoon! I too like the ongoing stories and that none of them are cut and dry. Ditto on the can-we-not re: JM/Xhex, and I’d add Tohr/Autumn (unless each breaks for good). FYI, my fave book/couple is Qhuinn/Blay.
I just finished The Chosen, and thank the former Scribe Virgin we’re done with Layla! I didn’t think it was possible to be worse than TSTL until she came along.
SPOILER for The Chosen: I’m torn on the next V/Jane installment, but I’ve always kinda liked V and never liked Jane, so there’s that. I think V’s changing, growing feelings. If done right, this might be okay.
This has been sitting on my shelf for a while…the Rhage/Mary storyline was never my favorite, mainly because Mary is rage-inducing in her “perfection.” BUT gotta read those BDB books in order and I’m looking forward to “The Chosen”!!!
Thanks for the review!
Also, the spin-off series is pretty fun…can’t wait for the next pairing in book 3.
I can only speak for myself, but I got actively ANGRY at this book, because the whole Rhage/Mary/Bitty plot was pouring on the drama and hammering home the theme that “Married couples NEED children, they will have bottomless pits in their innermost beings that can only be cured by parenthood”. Seriously, Rhage is having sublimated suicidal urges because he knows Mary’s infertile, and Mary’s feeling *guilty* because she consciously picked an immortal life with her sexy vampire soulmate with the side effect of making her infertile. How fortunate that there’s a sad-eyed orphan waiting in the wings! How lucky that Rhage works for the Vampire King, who can facilitate adoption processes! How heartwarming that having a child to care for makes all their emotional issues go away!
I was reading this book while processing the near-certainty that my husband and I will not have children, and I almost threw it across the room twice. And when I picked up the next book (Blood Vow) and found out that fully half the plot was yet *more* Rhage/Mary/Bitty angst (oh noooooo, the child you already call “yours” has a living family member who’s a good person and wants to take care of her, that’s the wooooorst), it turned me off the series for good.
This series is not my jam, but I absolutely LOATHE the infertility being used to keep couples apart trope in romance novels. No thank you, authors, no thank you.
I have to admit that the BdB series is crack to me. I know it’s silly, the grammar policewoman in me cringes at the names, but it’s super bonkers fun. I do love Rhage, and enjoyed “The Beast”.Mary can be a bit annoyingly perfect, but I like that she’s not super beautiful and actually has a life aside from being mated to a brother (she’s a lot less annoying than Cormia who is just sort of occasionally “there”). I really would recommend reading the series in order though, there is a lot going on throughout the books.
I stopped reading these years ago- I just couldn’t anymore with the stupid names.
My question though, is whether I should bother to read Qhuinn & Blay’s book. I stopped the series while Quinn was still angsting over his love and having difficulty feeding (?) because of it. Like I said, it’s been years.
I don’t know, maybe, maybe not. Still undecided because that silent H drove me bonkers. No, actually that was the entire series…
Never mind
Stopped reading this series a while ago because its just daytime re-runs of Dallas TV in a different suit! Loved the first six, that was the magic formula, but since then, its not about the brotherhood, but their HouseGuests!
The question has been raised – does JR (note the Dallas link) is using a ghostwriter! It fits when she forgets her own plots!
Great review.
I’m still reading (sort of – Blood Vow has been sitting in my house for 2 weeks now) but the BDB has gone from autobuy to “get them from the library eventually” for me. At this point, I am only reading to see how the over-all story resolves itself. I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t even remotely care about the romances at anymore because they feel so forced to me. On the other hand, it is possible to read the latest books and just pretend Tohr and Autumn never, ever, EVER happened.
That said, it was nice to hang out with Rhage again. Because, Rhage.
I think it’s interesting that people either really like the series or they really hate it, and the series gets DNF’ed around the same place. There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground.
@Meg: the ghost writer theory could work. Plot errors, rehashed and rushed storylines, and little character growth all make sense for someone working off of Ward’s original concept. True or not, is it possible that JR Ward is bored of her own work and is just cranking out Brotherhood books for the paycheque/contract fulfillment?
@genie: High five for the Autumn dig! (I have to remind myself it isn’t Tohr’s fault, she was basically forced on him – let him grieve!) I love most of the Brothers (begone, Phury), but the romances don’t seem as important as they used to, and the secondary stories in each book become a bigger deal than the main one.
I’m a fan of the BDB and have read all the books and spin offs. But what I really love is listening to Jim Frangione on Audible read the series. Bonus, you don’t notice the silent h’s. His voice may have more influence on continuing the series then J R Wards writing.