Ya know, this should be the final book in this series. Feeling that way I skimmed all of trez and iam and assail's mess and focused on beth and wrath. Totally worth it. So I'm done with BDB. Good series. Glad its ending for me. ( )

Best so far...want more. ( )

I cried. A lot. And the side stories were pretty good too. However there was a point that I wish I could have punched paradise's father. ( )

[b:The King|18108281|The King (Black Dagger Brotherhood, #12)|J.R. Ward|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1371919011s/18108281.jpg|24749971] by [a:J.R. Ward|20248|J.R. Ward|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1437768069p2/20248.jpg]
Genres: Adult, Paranormal, Romance, Suspense
5 Stars

I don't know how she does it, but every book in this series is amazing. I have truly enjoyed every one of them.

That said, this one.....
Is a 'Masterpiece' in storytelling.
Wrath the King and Beth the Queen.
I just can't put into words how much this story affected me.
Emotional. Passionate.

The twist & turns.
The emotions she pulls out of you.
The suspense of never really knowing where the story will lead.

Everything about this one just made me 'Feel'!
I more than loved it.

I highly recommend it to all 'Lovers of Paranormal Romance & Suspense' ( )

Ok, listen, I've been with this a dozen books now, some sorta fun, some horrifically stupid. It's too late for me to go back.

On the whole I kind of liked this book, although not at all for the reasons I may have expected. As the book begins, despite his Forever True Love, Wrath is still a petulant, childish motherfucker for being 400 or whatever. But--this is key--he actually grew up in this book.

I think we could go on about gender politics a lot--if you can distinguish, say, Selina from Cormia please let me know, let alone the number of disposable human prostitutes all these guys use and detest--but it's worth nothing that Beth does right by herself here. Also, the rarely-seen Marissa, who has descended to whatever storage closet Previous Heroines get put in, gets a pretty good "Those sons of bitches."

So we remembered that Beth and John are siblings? Maybe when John was melting down in book 8 they could have remembered that too. I don't remember Beth doing anything.

Anyway, Wrath is a dumbass, but he sort of gets it together, and this is a nice full-circle for the Wrath story in the last 11 books. People have complained a lot about too many side stories:
--Assail and Sola: Somehow I feel genuinely sympathetic toward a murderous, coke-addled millioniare drug dealer. I looked forward to their scenes.
--Trez/Selena, iAm, etc.: Why on earth do we have a character named s'Ex in the same series we have a Xhex? Anyway, Trez's issues are stupid and misogynistic and S really stands up for herself when the time comes. If the next book is about the shadows, better be a lot of iAm--he's the more interesting of the pair for sure. Oh, side note, so we SORT OF have two warriors who are POCs. Any chance of female POCs? I guess Sola sort of counts, but say, Trez is getting with the whitest of the white chosen, etc.
-Layla/Xcor: People hating on Layla, shut up. Layla is great. Xcor is terrible but I think I accidentally started loving him when he went shopping for an outfit to meet Layla. The ultimate Woobie. Hey, dude? You don't have a lot to do all day. Go to the public library and learn to read.
-The glymera are the most mustache-twirlingly stupid/evil Generic Aristocrats ever but on the other hand Wrath just sits in his palace of gold and never talks to anyone or does anything. (This changes. Slowly.)
--It is still pretty cool that the main hero of the book is blind. And there's no chance of him getting his sight back. That said, some of his MY FEMALE, RAAAAAGE actions are stupid to downright fucking psychotic. Seriously, dude.

So many dumb things. Couldn't put it down. Secret shame: I was really hoping Layla/Xcor would come next. Xcor is just a terrible illiterate disfigured murderer who needs love :( ( )