Lover Avenged

Lover Avenged is the seventh book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series by J.R. Ward. It is probably her longest book in the series, too, and with good reason. This book was also a departure from the rest in that it covers more than one storyline. So far, each book in the series has focused on one vampire and his prospective “shellan,” or intended female mate.

There would be other brother vampires from the brotherhood introduced, with the flip story of what was happening in the world of the Omega and his lessers (his army of human-zombie assassins) interspersed in between the chapters dedicated to the vampire world. Instead, it crossed over into a more complex story form in which the basic story of five main characters is told.

I thought that with the title of “Lover Avenged” it would be about Tohr and his comeback to the vampire world and how he gets payback for the wrong done to him and his shellan. There would be some problems with the whole “bonding” thing in that Wellsie was his bonded mate, and though I would have loved to have seen him get a second chance at love, I guess that isn’t really possible. So is he destined to remain alone forever? Will he be the new celibate of the BDB to replace Phury since he is now the Primale (as explained in Book#6 “Lover Enshrined”)?

What did surprise me was that it was mostly about the half-breed vampire symphath Rehvenge. The Rev, as he was more formally known to everyone else, is an enigmatic character in that he is living a double life, fully integrated into the underbelly and hierarchy of the Vampire World at the same time. He is a member of the vampire aristocracy, the “glymera”, but he is also the biggest drug lord in town. He is sophisticated and honorable, but he is also driven by guilt and shame to mistreat his body and drug himself to suppress his dangerous alter ego.

Yet it was also about the vampire king Wrath, who is coming to terms with his station in life, the ancestral obligations that he has to rule as the vampire king, being the last in the long line of vampire royalty.  Wrath also has to deal with the number of the brotherhood, as they continue to dwindle, but the war between the lessening society and the vampires continues to escalate. His struggle is increased as his identity as King vs. Warrior comes to an impasse. However, his relationship with his woman (Beth) and sexiness have always been top-notch, and there is plenty of his action in this book. Thank you very much…

Though I think it is great that the vampire John is also followed in this book as he goes through some transformations of his own, I think he deserves to have his own book. I would have preferred that the highly complex relationship between John and Xhex (who consequently is also part symphath) had been explored exclusively on its own. However, given the storyline and circumstances, it would have been wholly impossible unless the storyline took an entirely different turn, which it did not. I am glad, however, that it is not all been told and I am not giving anything away (maybe just a tiny spoiler) to say that it is left on a complete cliffhanger regarding their relationship. I know where it is intended to go, but I am not sure how it is going to get there.

Another delicious development regarding John is that he has finally broken out of the victim mode that has gripped his manhood since before his transition into full blooded Vampire male. I am sympathetic to the situation that traumatized him, but it was painful to read that he couldn’t perform sexually because of something that was purely psychological. So… though it was harsh how he had to break out of the victim role, I am SO glad he finally did. He is giving his good buddy Quinn a run for his money! Hot, Hot, Hot! Can’t wait to see more of his action in the latter books to come, I hope.

Tohr gets some coverage in this book. Although it is sparse and picks up more in the end, he seems to have gone through a rough patch much in the same vein (pun intended) as Zsadist. He has driven his body to emaciation through deprivation and starvation. But such punishment ends up hurting him big time because when he finally reaches the point of his epiphany, he has a harder climb ahead as he has to regain his muscular strength and endurance in order to be of real benefit to the brotherhood. But it is good to see him make a comeback.

The strain between John and Tohr reaches a breaking point, unfortunately, and their relationship will never be the same. Tohr realizes too late what was at stake and just who was paying the ultimate price for his self-indulgent pity party, and by the time he snaps out of it, John has written him off and sold him down the river, so to speak. Too bad, so sad.

The surprise twist to this book was the vampire-anti-Christ Lash, who was resurrected by the Omega as his only begotten son in the previous book “Lover Enshrined”. I have to go back and reread that one because, though Ward did a spectacular job of explaining things without sounding repetitious, I realize that I did not pay much attention when I read that book the first time. (That is a story for another blog post…) Lash is coming into his own in this one, and it made reading the lesser saga that goes on in the book less of a chore. It lent that storyline an element of unpredictability that kept me concerned and worried for the future of the BDB, and so I read on to find out exactly what nefarious plans Lash had in store for his army of zombie assassins and his plans to exact revenge on the vampires who brought about his demise the first time around. Fortunately, Ward only touches on the tip of that iceberg. I am sure he will also be fleshed out more in the next book.

Finally, back to the Rehvenge storyline, I found him to be a highly sympathetic character (no pun intended). Probably because in this book we finally see him in places other than his den of iniquity, “ZeroSum”. See him fully, and not just on the surface, in his alter ego of “The Rev”. The attraction between Ehlena, the nurse with a past, and Rehvenge is multi-faceted. She is mesmerized by him, the image of strength and power, and his inherent debilitation (all of it a side effect of his self-medicated state), and it plays into her need to save someone, since it seems she is unable to really save herself from her current social and familial decline.

Rev is attracted to her because she represents all that he thinks he is not, and she makes him want to be a better version of himself. Love is threatened by his dark past and the skeletons in his closet. His existence threatened so many, the symphaths because they despise and kill half-breeds, and the vampire world because harboring knowledge of a symphath (most are ostracized to life in a separate colony) is a crime and punishable by the king…so it is gratifying to see love succeed.

At first, I thought that all the storylines were too distracting, and I didn’t want to finish it the first time I started the book. On my second attempt to read the book, once I got my mind past the predisposition to want this book to read like the last six, I was sucked in and totally couldn’t put the book down.  I am a bit befuddled by this release straight to hardback, unlike the previous novels, so I didn’t purchase the hardcover. I just borrowed it from the library. I will wait to purchase until it comes out on paperback (it will probably be huge) so it can match the rest of the collection that I own.