Review and Book Club: Lover Unbound by J. R. Ward

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Today I'm participating in Bookaholic Does Blogging's Black Dagger Brotherhood Book Club for her BDB Challenge. Every month, in addition to reading one of the series' books, I'll be participating in her book club posts, so we can all gab about BDB!


Book: Lover Unbound
Author: J. R. Ward
Publisher: Signet
Release date: September 25, 2007
Source: Bought for Kindle
Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood #5

Summary: (from Goodreads) Ruthless and brilliant, Vishous, son of the Bloodletter, possesses a destructive curse and a frightening ability to see the future. As a pretrans growing up in his father's war camp he was tormented and abused. As a member of the Brotherhood, he has no interest in love or emotion, only the battle with the Lessening Society. But when a mortal injury puts him in the care of human surgeon, Dr. Jane Whitcomb compels him to reveal his inner pain and taste true pleasure for the first time - until a destiny he didn't choose takes him into a future that cannot include her.

Questions:
1. On a scale from 1-5, what would you rate this book? Briefly tell us why.


Snooze alert! I gave this one 2 stars because it was so boring I almost couldn't finish it. I did enjoy getting V's back story, and I loved seeing John Matthew through his transition, but I found Jane to be completely unsexy and uninteresting. That made it difficult to sustain my interest in V's love story, and I do kind of wish they'd just made him gay instead of giving him a boyish woman to love. Major bummer.

2. There were a lot of revelations in this book. What did you think of the Scribe Virgin being V's mom?

I thought it was interesting, but the formula of having the Scribe Virgin solve all of their love problems is getting old. I felt this revelation didn't add much to V's story. I don't know if it just didn't have enough impact or if I'm not up on the significance, but I found the whole scenario very underwhelming.

3. Sticking to that theme, what did you think of the Scribe Virgin's request that Vishous become the Primale?

Well, I never believed he would actually become the Primale once Jane came into the picture. That's not how Ward rolls. If there's a love interest, then the Brother winds up with her somehow, so I didn't find much tension in the request to be the Primale. I did like seeing more of the Chosen and their culture, though.

4. Phury stepping up to the plate is nothing new -- what did you think of him taking V's place as the Primale?

I have mixed feelings. It was very noble of him, but it seems more like an escape and an excuse to martyr himself yet again. He felt he was the last, obvious choice, so made the most of it. I can't fault him for wanting to step up, but I feel bad for him more than anything that he can't ever really do anything for himself. He's such a pushover! Will he find true happiness ever? Guess the next book will tell us.

5. Back to the Scribe Virgin -- we learned that V has a sister she's been "hiding" for 303 years. What do you think will become of her? Do you think the Scribe Virgin will -- for lack of better terms -- let her live again?

I thought that was kind of weird and out of nowhere. I want to know more about the force that told the Scribe Virgin to have a baby, and only one. Why did she go against that? Is that God? Why have two babies and hide one? Hopefully I don't have to wait for Payne's book to find out!

6. What happened to Jane was a tragedy. What did you think of the Scribe Virgin bringing her back for V at the cost of her own happiness?

It was a nice effort, but I'm not clear on the rules. She's a ghost, but she's corporeal? It seemed like she was able to continue working and carrying on like normal, so it doesn't seem like much of a tragedy to me.

7. What did you think of Butch's theory that V thought himself to be in love with Butch because he was the first person V really cared about (until Jane)?

I think there is some truth to that. I also think that's kind of the definition of love. V obviously loves Butch, and because of that, he's attracted to Butch. Nothing wrong with that - they just have a different dynamic than that of the other brothers. I liked that Butch was cool with it, but wish he wouldn't have brushed it off as something other than truly being in love.

Rating: 2/5 stars

Click the stars for a description of my rating system



Amazingly beautiful and painstakingly crafted signature courtesy of Small Review

2 comments:

Rubita said...

Oh, god. I am never reading this book. YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!

I'd completely forgotten about the whole "Primale" thing. It reminds me of Primates, which reminds me of Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Not sexy.

Jess (Gone with the Words) said...

Look..I know it's not perfect...but I liked it way more than 2 stars!! *weeps* (<-- as if I wrote it, pft! lol) It's ok, really. I get it. You get better story for V in Lover Unleashed. Just get past the next one and it will get better! (I was going to add "promise" in there but I'd better not, lol)

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