The boys are back in town. The boys in this case being the six-foot-six hulking vampire giants who make up the Black Dagger Brotherhood. The town being every shelf in every bookstore everywhere. The hype, excitement and anticipation being palpable.
The basic ingredients in the newest installment to this popular and provocative series remain the same. The over-the-top names have not changed. The family histories of the Brothers sound more horrifying with each telling. The Brothers continue to talk in a sort of shorthand street lingo. The females weave in and out of the story but never slip into a headline spot. The read is as fast and compelling, though imperfect, as the previous books in the series.
In other words, if you did not like the Brothers before, you will not like them any better this time around. Likewise, the rabid fangirls who refuse to entertain any talk of missteps in the series likely will hold on to that loving feeling no matter what occurs. Those who live to tear down someone as successful as J.R. Ward will do so whether or not they bother to actually read the book. That leaves everyone else to read through the 500+ pages of backstory, brotherhood, worldbuilding and romance and assess the finer points of Vishous' story. The end result being a weak romance set in a fascinating and ever-intriguing world of vampire family drama.
Vishous, like many of his brotherhood brethren, is a vampire warrior possessed of a past that left him warped, dysfunctional, and unable to feel love or warmth. When the world handed out bad parents, Vishous received a double whammy of maternal inaction and vicious paternal abuse. To survive, Vishous developed into a harsh creature, one born to fight and kill without remorse. His induction into the Brotherhood gave him a direction and, forgetting for a moment the vampire aspect, a sense of humanity. Vishous' new goal: to fight for the continued existence of his race. Despite his new sense of purpose, Vishous is mired in the mess of his past. It shapes him and his sexuality which consists of dominant impersonal matings that veer into what many people would term perversion territory. Into this nameless and dark inner world walked cop Butch, the man who would turn into a Brother and release in Vishous real feelings of love for the very first time. Previous books referenced but did not fully dissect or explore Vishous' erotic feelings for the now married Butch. Lover Unbound ventures deeper into those issues....and into almost every other issue.
Lover Unbound starts with several divergent plot fragments. The story of Phury (the Brother hero of the next installment) begins to unfold. John, the young pretrans who has not experienced the change which will turn him from scrawny boy to a massive sexual male, continues to yearn for the future. The Scribe Virgin (mysterious god-like figure to be revered and feared, and who frequently arrives to save the day...or make it worse) informs Vishous of his destiny which consists of replenishing the warrior race. And Vishous - the supposed star of this installment – suffers a significant injury from a fight gone wrong with a lesser (bad guy), all while trying to overcome his unrequited love for best friend Butch.
More happens but since the entire book reads like a spoiler to say anything else might be too much. The good news, however, is that all of the long passages in the minds of the enemy, the lessings, are gone as are the corresponding breaks in the greater story. Ward's choice is a smart one in that there is enough going on here – some might argue too much – without adding the lesser viewpoints into the mix. Oh, the lessers arrive and cause trouble, plenty of trouble, but they do so without chatting about it.
As to the main plot, Vishous is rushed to the hospital wounded and on the verge of death. Dr. Jane Whitcomb, a woman with a difficult past of her own, operates on Vishous. Since Vishous is a vampire, his biology differs from other males and his healing is accelerated. Jane being smart and savvy quickly realizes something is amiss. Her concerns are verified when the other Brothers arrive to rescue Vishous from the hospital and take him back to the Brotherhood mansion. Instead of erasing Jane's memory as would be the normal course, the Brothers take Jane with them as Vishous orders. While unhappy, Jane takes the kidnapping in stride. Her medical training and need to save take over. Being with a bunch of vampires and realizing this race does exist does not rock her world. If anything, the genetics geek in her is intrigued.
This starts the romance and, frankly, is where the book runs a bit off the rails. For those who enjoy watching a growing attraction and bond between two people develop into a romance and love, this one might be a disappointment. In the span of a few pages Vishous turns from pining for Butch to claiming Jane as his own. The attraction is physical but, and here's the problem, on the part of Vishous built mostly on an innate sensation. Just looking at Jane, the word "mine" flashes in Vishous' brain. From there, all thoughts of Butch as lover end. It is that simple and that fast. This change, while necessary for the heterosexual romance aspects of the book to work, does not satisfy unless you view the Brotherhood books less as romance novels and more as a sort of exploding family drama. In other words, the alpha male bond is what holds these books, and this book especially, together.
This also explains what many have complained of as the weak females in the series. Jane does not fall into this category. She is stronger, more self-assured, has a wider life experience and, like Vishous, is a member of the Child of Bad Parents Club. Despite the fact she is more vivid and action-oriented than the Brotherhood heroines of the past, once the romance begins, Jane fades and becomes one of the players but not a major player. The limelight remains fixed on the Brothers because, at heart, Lover Unbound is less about the love between Vishous and Jane than it is about setting the tone for the next book and providing glimpses of the Brothers' pasts and future paths. Yes, that's a controversial statement, but here the romance serves as an background piece to the overwhelming and interesting world Ward has created. Whether that is an intentional direction or not is the question. The surprising ending to the romance - and ending many readers will detest - and the uneasy but smart choices Ward has made for the Brothers and their lives in the past, suggest the greater world may be Ms. Ward's focus. The point is on the overall not the individual.
And that world is ever-changing. In particular, the Scribe Virgin's powers come into question here. For an all-powerful being, the manner in which the Scribe Virgin uses that power and the times in which she has chosen not to act cause concern. One could even say the Scribe Virgin's choices in Lover Unbound run counter to the world Ward has established. While Scribe Virgin's role remains murky and ever-changing, Ward's vision does not. She plants comments and clues to this ongoing world with a confidence that reassures the reader this journey has a plan.
Without giving away every detail of Lover Unbound, and there are details aplenty, several questions left unanswered previously are answered here. Vishous' bisexuality and feelings for Butch are brought out into the open in a way that no one can hide from the reality or depth of this bond. John's importance in this world becomes more pronounced to the point where his story no longer plays like bits and pieces. The existence of additional players is now obvious. In this seemingly boundless universe, Ward manages to weave and expound and explain in a way that many aspects of the overall story arc are more visible while others remain cloudy. This is Ward's strength. Her ability to create a larger-than-life story in an almost inexplicable world then hold it together, push it forward, and deliver it in a way that gives the reader no choice but to race through to the end. In essence, with all its imperfections, Ward writes the fictional equivalent of crack. A pure addiction. Once hooked, despite the downsides, you crave more.
To the extent Lover Unbound needs a scorecard, and at 500+ pages it might, the card would look like this:
-Ability to hook a reader: 10
-World creation: 10
-Family drama: 10
-Romance: 3
So, while the boys are back in town, and this is a very good thing, the women still lag behind. But, think more in terms of Brotherhood than romance and none of that will matter.
You can visit J.R. Ward here and buy this book here or here.
