The King

Sigh...This book has all the same objectionable characteristics that the latest few have. Big chunks of chapters about characters we don't care about (Assail and Sola)? Check. Big, tough vampires who scoff at "feelings" yet spend pages and pages working through their feelings? Check. Constant pop culture references which will cause the books to go "out of date" far more quickly than they would have? Check. Hardly anything in the story about the main point of conflict - the war between the vampires and the lessers? Check.
But...every time, I keep reading. There is something about this story (the BDB series, not this particular one) that keeps sucking me in. Even though, at this point, it feels like Ward is doing what Peter Jackson did show more with the Hobbit movies - adding a bunch of irrelevant stuff and drawing it out as long as possible to keep us coming back.
Sigh. show less

JR Ward is absolutely the master. No questions asked. This was hands down one of my favorites. She has always done a magnificent job of including characters with disabilities in her books. And she doesn't do it in the regular way that most do... these guys are not side characters or "the guy with the disability." JR Ward makes them badasses and every one of the brothers has something going on.

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But I just nearly cried in the moment the man tried to hand Wrath the piece of cloth and he asked what it was, and then told him, "I am blind." After three or four books where the Brotherhood had taken great pains to keep this fact from the world, it was just such a great, impromptu moment that was incredibly powerful, and that I never saw show more coming. Loved it.

Reread 2020: This is one of my favorite books in the series for the great storyline with Beth and Wrath. Beth is one of my favorite characters and I love seeing her back in the spotlight again, and her determination to have a child, and also help Wrath past his struggles with the glymera, fears for what his genetics and his family history could mean for his family’s future, and his blindness. The Beth/Layla scenes were also great. All the ice cream made me hungry, LOL.

This book is probably my favorite one for Sola/Assail. The kidnapping plot where Assail goes after her is Assail in protective mate mode—a way I’d much prefer to read him over murdering, drug dealing Assail (no thank you.)

I loved the medical stuff in this book. JR Ward always does a great job writing those scenes. Enjoyed the continued story line with John Matthew and his seizure episodes the Brothers do not link back to his past as Darius. Xhex trying to explain how JM looks to her through her sympath side. All the pregnancy stuff. Just a great book! show less

When the announcement came out last year (2013) that the next Black Dagger Brotherhood book was going to be about Wrath and Beth again, I saw many fans complaining, wondering why J. R. Ward would give them another book. Their argument was that this couple had already had their story told and didn't need another one, but I thoroughly disagreed with them. Dark Lover had been good and was, of course, the book that started me on this crazy journey with the Brotherhood and made me a fan of paranormal vampire romance. For that reason, it holds a special place in my heart, but I always felt like Wrath and Beth's story was a tad rushed. Theirs was the shortest book in the series, and with all the typical secondary POVs on the canvas, there show more wasn't quite enough time to really dig into their issues. From the moment I finished reading Dark Lover, I began hoping that there would be more story for this couple, but believed it was probably just wishful thinking on my part, or that I would simply have to settle for them being supporting players in other characters' stories. So for me personally, the announcement for The King was a very welcome one indeed, and this book definitely did not disappoint in any way, shape, or form. I loved every minute I spent reading it, even better than Dark Lover, and hated to see it come to an end.

Wrath is as sexy as ever, and it was so much fun to have him at the forefront as the main hero again. He's always had a hard time with being the king. It took him a couple of centuries to ascend to the throne, which he did at the end of Dark Lover with Beth's help and encouragement. Since then, he has been plagued with struggles: the desire to be back out in the field fighting with his Brothers, going completely blind, the seemingly endless piles of paperwork, and doubts about being able to live up to his father's legacy. There are days when Wrath really doesn't want to be King, and throughout these parts, I couldn't help thinking, “What better person to be in charge than someone who doesn't want to be?” I know this might sound strange, but it all goes to the idea that if someone isn't seeking power, wealth, or prestige, then they're likely less corruptible. I couldn't have been more right as this concept played out over the course of the story. Wrath finally comes into his own and begins building his own lasting legacy for future generations, and I couldn't have been more proud of that. While he's in the midst of coming to terms with all of this, the glymera and the Band of Bastards continue with their efforts to dethrone him, during which he has to muster all the mettle he can find to overcome their machinations. On top of all that, Beth desperately wants a young, but Wrath flatly refuses to do the baby thing. He's scared to death of possibly losing Beth if her pregnancy doesn't go well, which leads to a major argument for the couple. And whoo-wee! All I can say is that Wrath does not take Beth leaving him, even for one night, well at all. Not surprisingly though, he eventually comes to his senses, leading to a wonderful reconciliation.

For her part, Beth wants a baby so badly, she's been spending all her free time with Layla in an attempt to jump start her needing. She also still fears for her hellren's life after the attempted assassination in Lover Reborn. They begin to experience some typical marital issues that often come about when a couple has been in a long-term, committed relationship. Beth feels distant from Wrath because his overwhelming responsibilities as King keep him incredibly busy, not to mention they have a major disagreement about whether to have kids when Wrath finds out what Beth has been doing. Wrath is adamantly against it, so much so that he won't even talk about it, and Beth understandably has a hard time dealing with that. Once they both cool off, I loved how they came back together and had a great heart-to-heart conversation about everything. It just went to show that their relationship meant more to them than the things standing in their way. As she's always been, Beth was Wrath's rock and a freakin' genius to boot. She's the one who found a loophole in the glymera's evil plan, and she also helped Wrath come to terms with his monarchy, showing that she is indeed worthy of being queen.

As with all the BDB books, there are secondary plots and characters aplenty with lots of forward progression on all fronts. For starters, we have the Shadow brothers, Trez and iAm. Trez is a combination of Rhage, with his sexual addiction, and Rehvenge because he took over the other male's shady business enterprises. Of course, both of these things make Trez a very bad boy.;-) His sexual addiction has gotten to the point that he simply does it by rote. It's more of a compulsion that he doesn't really even enjoy anymore. In some ways, I think he's also doing it to thumb his nose at the s'Hisbe and the Shadow queen, who expect him to mate the queen's daughter and be the prize stud of his race. In the last book, Trez met Selena and realized she was the woman of his dreams. He didn't dare to hope that the Chosen returned his feelings, so he's extremely surprised when she makes it abundantly clear that she does. Selena has been attracted to Trez since the moment she first saw him. She now believes that she's contracted a mysterious disease that has killed some of her Chosen sisters in the past, making her want to live life to the fullest in the present. This makes her throw caution to the wind where Trez is concerned. He shrewdly comes up with a temporary fix to his problem with the Shadow queen, but essentially has to make a deal with the devil to do it. However, he still doesn't feel the least bit worthy of Selena. These two are going to have a lot of obstacles to overcome in their path to happiness, but I'll be rooting for them all the way. iAm is backing Trez up too. He constantly worries about his brother, which always sends him into a cooking frenzy. The scenes with him and Beth's cat, Boo, were hilarious, and I loved how he stepped up to the plate to look out for Beth when Wrath couldn't. iAm has always been the quiet one of the two brothers, but we learn a few very interesting tidbits about him in this book. His devotion to Trez is very touching and reminiscent of Phury with Zsadist. I can't wait to read more about these two brothers when they become co-heroes of the next book, The Shadows, which if the BDB books stay on their current release schedule, will be out next Spring (2015).

Next up is Assail and Sola. I hadn't fully warmed up to this couple in the last book of the series, but that all changed here. Their story had ended on something of a cliffhanger with Sola being kidnapped near the end of Lover at Last. From the moment they first appeared in this book, I was fully engaged. Sola kind of reminds me of Xhex. She's a tough cookie who isn't about to wait around hoping a man, namely Assail, will save her. She takes matters into her own hands the best she knows how and probably would have gotten away from her kidnappers even if Assail hadn't showed up in time. The way Assail sees it, drug wholesaler, Benloise, took his woman and he's not messing around when it comes to getting her back. He goes all Rambo on Benloise's men, which oddly enough is when I finally started warming up to him. What really cinched it, though, was Assail's intense focus on finding Sola, and most of all, his loving care of her grandmother until he does. This little old lady had me cracking up with the way she left Assail and his cousins speechless with her assertive, take-charge attitude. Assail's tenderness toward Sola when he finally finds her, especially after being so utterly ruthless with her kidnappers, was astounding and the thing that really made me start liking the guy. Sola is obviously his Achilles heel. I was glad to see that Sola trusted him in that situation too. After the rescue, things heat up for these two pretty quickly, but it's far from a happy ending for them. They're still pining for each other, though, so the potential for a long-term relationship is very much alive and well. I'm so looking forward to more character building for these two, especially Assail, but he's definitely going to have to clean up his act to be worthy of Sola.

The theme of this book's secondary romances seemed to be good (or mostly good) girls falling for very bad boys. The last of these couples is Xcor and Layla. Xcor still intrigues me a great deal. I know that he's done some terrible things, particularly toward Wrath, so he'll certainly have to pay in some way for that. IMHO though, Xcor is an empty shell of a male who needs something in his life to feel whole again. All along, he's believed that gaining the throne is the thing that will give him what he desires. However, he couldn't be more mistaken, and I think he's slowly coming to realize that. Poor Layla is going through the difficult throes of pregnancy, but she's still very happy about it and maintaining a cheerful attitude. She was very brave to approach Xcor about ending his mission to take Wrath out as King. His response in some ways surprised me, but in other ways, it didn't. I very much want Xcor to be redeemed and have a life with Layla, but I have a feeling it's going to be a long, hard road for them to get there. That road may be complicated by his relationship with Throe, which has hit a rocky patch, creating a lot of friction within their friendship as Xcor's priorities shift.

Poor Saxton isn't unlike Qhuinn in that his father (who happens to be one of the gymera members actively seeking to depose Wrath), hates him because he's gay. I'm so proud of Saxton being First Council to the King and wish he could wave that in his father's face, but to do so would have tipped off the baddies. I think Saxton is going to find–or perhaps has already has found–a new family with the Brotherhood in service to the King, and I hope he finds true love along the way too. Some new gymera members come to the forefront in this book. I can't recall if any of them were introduced in past books, but if they were, their parts were small. The most important of them is Abalone who is the only one of the gymera, other than those within the Brotherhood's fold, who supports Wrath, which definitely works in his favor. Last but not least, John Matthew's seizure episodes return, which cause him to begin experiencing unfamiliar feelings toward Beth, as well as some visions of Darius's life.

Throughout all the flashbacks to the Old Country, I enjoyed reading about Wrath's parents. Their romance was every bit as lovely as any of the main couples in the series, and it was wonderful to know that they were so much in love. All their scenes together added depth to their relationship, as well as the overall plot. Once again, the past was seamlessly woven into what was happening in the present, which made it all the more intriguing.

Overall, The King was yet another fabulous book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. I loved the double twist ending, and every single one of the storylines, from Wrath and Beth's, all the way through each of the secondary characters' was engaging and intriguing. I greatly enjoyed reading each and every one, and can't wait for some of these characters to get their own books. The hardest part of reading a great book like this is that, with all good things, it must eventually come to an end. This is one case where I'm glad these books are long, so that I can derive more hours of enjoyment from them before that happens. Of course, the other difficult thing is waiting another full year for the next one to be released, so I'll be on the edge of my seat, eagerly counting down the days until I get to read The Shadows and learn what's in store for Trez, Selena, and iAm. show less

This latest installment in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series is another winner. There are a lot of story lines going on at once, which is typical in this series. The main one is that Beth wants to have a baby but her mated King Wrath does not. That sounds like a minor issue but in this race of vampires carrying a baby to term and giving birth is very difficult. There is also the continuation of a number of threads from earlier books, however -- Sola and Assail, Xcor and Layla, Trez and Selena -- plus the challenge to the throne and John's unexplained seizures. Whew!! But in this 573 page book, almost NONE of it gets resolved!! Ah, but that is why I both love and hate Ward. She provides such rich tales that span many books before they show more are resolved so, even if there is one happily ever after, there are always some that leave you hanging and wanting more. Hence the love. The hate? I don't want to wait so long for the next book to find out what is going to happen!! I want to know how all of these arcs will be resolved and I just know that is not in the cards. It could be 5 more books before this all wraps up! And you know what? In the end that's fine by me. If she keeps writing, I'll keep reading. You'll want to start his series from the beginning if you haven't read any of the series yet to get the full effect. show less

The King by J.R. Ward
(Book #12: The Black Dagger Brotherhood Series)
Source: Purchase
Rating: 3/5 stars

**contains spoilers and a rant**

The day I have long feared has finally come to pass; today is the day I have to admit that I didn’t absolutely, head over heels love a Black Dagger Brotherhood novel. Yes, dear reader, this makes me one very, very sad panda 

I have long supported the BDB series and with the exception of Phury’s book (he’s a serious whiner!) I have loved each and every read. The characters are rich and full-bodied, the plot lines – both short- and long-term – have remained fresh and exciting and the dialogue and naughty bits have always kept me well entertained. So, why then, does The King, a book that should be show more phenomenal fall flat? Plainly put, the plot is seriously lacking.

This installment I found to be only marginally interesting at best. There is a lot of rehashing going on in this read and quite frankly, I am getting a bit tired of it. Yes, we know Wrath hates being King; yes, we know Trez and iAm are up to their butts in trouble with their people; yes, we know Beth wants a baby; yes, we know the Glymera hate Wrath and his kind and want them gone; yes, we know Assail has a serious crush on Sola and he is addicted to drugs and; yes, we know WHO John Matthew is so just spit it out already and stop dragging out the damn drama. I am not suggesting the entire read is a rehashing of old events but a large portion is and the rehashing isn’t balanced out by new material. Quite simply, I feel like I have already read a large portion of this book in previous installments. Continuing with this line of thought is my frustration over the lack of any long-term plot and/or character development. It’s more than time to move forward with some of the smaller plot lines so do it! Finally, I found the ending to be completely lame and a total waste. Are you kidding me? After decades (centuries!!) of hating Wrath and wanting to take his throne, Xcor just quits and with a bunch of falsely created documents and a single vote, centuries of vampiric traditions are gone, wiped away?? This ending felt like a cop out to me; as if, there were only X number of pages available for text and once Ward got near that limit she just threw together something quick and easy that is far, far, far from satisfying.

Now that I got that out of the way! There are some things about this read that I did truly enjoy. For example, Trez and Boo the cat are so endearing; Sola’s totally oblivious grandmother cooking and caring for two hardened and stone-cold killer vampires is pretty awesome; the story of Wrath’s parents is nice to FINALLY know and; Wrath stepping up and finally becoming a true and proper king to his people is heartwarming. Unfortunately, these things are such a small part of the read as to be almost insignificant and that is also extremely frustrating.

The Bottom Line: I am trying to figure out why it took a year to get this book completed and on the market. With the incredible amount of rehashing and small amount of evolution, this could have been done and ready for readers a lot sooner. Am I done with the BDB? No, not quite yet but the next book is the make it or break it read for me. Should the next installment in the series be as inadequate as The King then I will I have to say goodbye to a series that I have dearly loved for many, many years and that too makes me a very sad panda :( show less

Reviewed by: Rabid Reads

Before I start my (rant) review I’d like to put things into perspective; last year when LOVER AT LAST came out I called in sick, and finished it the same day. Now, I didn’t LOVE it, but it was still a 4 star read. For THE KING, I woke-up at 2:30 AM—patiently waited until it was actually available for download at 3 AM—and dove in. I’d anticipated a long day of uninterrupted reading, but after a couple of hours I could barely keep my eyes open, and gave-up. Ok, so if you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m a BDB fangirl. I’m also no virgin to all-nighters, so the fact that Ward put me to sleep after two hours was a very bad sign. THE KING felt like a short stories anthology with a Beth & Wrath novella show more at the end. I enjoyed the latter, but unfortunately I had to push through 400 pages of meh first.

The BLACK DAGGER BROTHERHOOD series is renowned for its gangsta slang and shameless product placements, and never have the two been as apparent as in THE KING. The author went a little overboard with these two elements in my opinion, and I found this book a more difficult read because of it. But, those weren’t the only reasons why I struggled to finish this twelfth installment; there were also too many side stories, not enough brother moments, and too much “filler”. It took me FIVE DAYS to finish this novel! Need I remind you that I devoured LOVER AT LAST in one, and it too was pushing 600 pages. Reading the first 3/4 of this novel was a chore, I was dangerously close to do-not-finishing it on several occasions. And, what exactly is Ward’s problem with Miley Cyrus!?

I found the multiple story lines very confusing because not only does the POV change from chapter-to-chapter, but there were subsections within each one with even more character perspectives, and none of them really went anywhere. I enjoyed the flashbacks to Wrath’s parents, and the way that the author connected them to the present king’s circumstances. iAm and Lassiter were a-m-a-z-i-n-g in this installment, and I liked Beth and Wrath’s story once I finally got to it. As for the rest—Trez and Selena, Xcor and Layla, Assail and Sola, and… s’Ex(!?!)—I couldn’t have cared less. There’s very little actual brother action in this book, in both the fighting and the cameo appearance departments, which I found hugely disappointing. I was so psyched when Blay and Quinn made their first post LOVER AT LAST debut—only to not see them again for the duration.

I haven’t DNF’d a book in years, I’m too type-A to be able to leave anything unfinished, but THE KING came dangerously close which pretty much says it all in my opinion. I still plan on reading the next installment, however it will not merit a sick day this time around. In fact, I might just wait until it’s available in paperback because this one definitely wasn’t worth the inflated price tag. show less

All is not well in the court of the Vampires, there is declension on the minds of the elite and forlornness in the ranks of the commoners. Not everyone is happy with the current reigning monarchs and the sh-t is about to hit the fan.
Wrath son of Wrath has had tons on his plate to deal with since taking the throne left empty since the brutal death of his parents 300 years ago when as a young pre-tran orphan he was adopted by the Black Dagger Brotherhood and raised to be one of them. But the last place he thought he’d ever have discord was from his beloved shellan, wife Beth. She wants a baby and he’s got to put his foot down with an unequivocal NO!

J.R. Ward’s BDB novels not only keep getting better, but they also more in-depth into show more the structure and foundation of her Vampire society adding more sub-races and more twists with each volume. In The King she’s outdone herself, her recognizable street-talk may be the same, the fighting’s just as brutal, the brothers just as big but it’s her attention for detail that will reign. And just like when she outted the Chosen and pretty much closed down the Scribe Virgin’s realm this novel is another game changer. So take a nitro tablet before you sit down to take in this nail-biting, edge of your seat page-turner, turn up the volume of the best Rap station and go! And when you finish you’ll just want to go back to page one and start all over again.
Long live the queen of paranormal romance! show less