Lover Reborn (Black Dagger Brotherhood #10) - J.R. Ward

11:55 pm 6 May 2014

OK, lets just say it, shall we?

THIS BOOK WAS HORRIBLE!

Now that it's out of my system I can say one last thing before I explain myself and this one is going to be -

THOR IS A DOUCHE BAG AND DESERVED MUCH MORE PAIN THAN HE GOT!

Thor was never one of my favorites. He's too much "into" himself and the fact that he is the "level one" between the brothers. He was the only guy mated, the only guy who didn't have bad issues. Even though he doesn't have a "real" family (meaning mostly parents and/or siblings), he did have Darius who was like a father to him. So basically he was always considered the "good guy" but I felt nothing toward him. He doesn't have anything appealing about him, really.

Then his Welsie died and he became such a walking tragedy. I get the grief, I do, I get why he walked out and wanted to die, I get it all, I don't get why with him it's all about HIM and never about anyone else including Welsie. He right about mistreated every person who was somehow close to him and naturally also the ones that aren't close.. Lassiter tried also to be there for him, as the brothers did but he kept to himself, to his brooding and trying to kill himself without pulling a trigger.. (=letting himself somehow drift away..). There's this limit to how much you can listen to (read) till it just gets boring. The pain and pity you feel sort of evaporates. Exactly how it was with Phury. You just feel like his brooding is boring.

So while Phury's book was mostly boring because I couldn't be bothered with his shit, with Thor it was different since he did so many things WRONG that I was mostly enraged with the way he treated everyone, mostly No'One. He just keeps offending her or treating her badly. To emphasize what I mean I'll just drop something here - You get a full disclosure of how sorry he is (towards No'One) only - get this - 92% through the book. Which means he's being a total and absolute ass up until then. So on the remaining 8%? I forgive him nothing and I think he shouldn't have gotten No'One and she surly needed to get a better guy that can actually appreciate her and make up for what she has been though in her short miserable life (and then her long sort of life in the sanctuary).

Mainly the book is about Thor letting Welsie go so she can move on from the "In Between" into "The Fade" (that's Lassiter's mission actually - helping him do that). So being with No'One is mostly about that. She knows that and it's OK by her in a way but I'm sure you realize after a while she falls for him anyway.. and well the way he treats her doesn't really help Welsie because he doesn't really let her go. I look at it as another way Thor is selfish. He wants to keep Welsie with him, doesn't want to let her go and it's selfish. Also it's stupid... the way he's ignoring the fact that she is dead..

I usually hold a file where I write the name of the people that we get their POV and sometimes a few words so I'll remember exactly what I wanted to write in my review. On this one? I have a whole page with complaints.. :/

I'm not sure if I should write my complaints down since they are sort of a spoiler.. so I'm hiding it.. It's mostly the notion of what annoyed me not a whole scene.. so suit yourself if you want to read it or not.. :)

(show spoiler)

I have something to add before I continue with my review.. One of the main problem victims have, surely of the sexual kind is that the victim feels responsible somehow to what happened. It's a protective mechanism in a way since it helps the victim explain why it happened. Because if it was totally random it means you can't predict it or do something to ward yourself of it. So if the victim blames himself/herself then it lets the illusion that there is a way to control but also prevent further hurt. So I find it totally understandable that No'One somehow faults herself for everything that happened to her, the way she lives her life now, as a servant and not the high born she was. Unlike Thor, she didn't have anyone to really talk to about what happened, how she could heal herself. She was alone though she was surrounded by the Chosen in the sanctuary. With Thor it's different EVERYONE tries to help him deal with Welsie's death. So while accusing No'One with not being able to deal with what happened to her, he just shows how insensitive he really is! He is NO different from her, and unlike her he had so many people willing to help him, yet he neither appreciate them nor realizes that every word he uses against her is more than suitable for himself. As they say, when you point an accusing finger toward someone remember there are three fingers pointing back at you!

Maybe that's the place to write about No'One in general. On the other hand I really liked her, I "believed her", I mean I got why she wanted to be there for Thor, how she wanted to be there for Xhex but in the beginning she was just so freaking scared for so many reasons. I loved how she comes to terms with what she want, what she can have. She knows that she is helping Thor even though it won't really be something he returns back. I guess she wanted to repay him for how he and Darius took care of her back then and she "accidentally" fell in love with him now. I felt it was closing a circle. I didn't think it was about her hurting herself, or making herself be with someone that doesn't want her, it was about her trying to make Thor better and having for the first time a close connection with someone that just overwhelmed her because she never thought it was possible.

Not to spoiler more than I did, I'll just say that I really wished that the book ended earlier than it did. Right about Chapter 72 would have been the right thing in my opinion. I know that most people won't agree with me, but well, that's me, that's how I feel.

I know I wrote too damn much so there isn't a lot more room for all the other POVs so I'll just have a few words about each -

Lassiter - what a sweetheart!!!! I loved his character even if at first I really didn't get him, maybe that's part of it. That he grows on you as he grows more "human" or you understand what he is doing, why, and how much he is willing to do without asking for anything in return.

Assail - There's a new player in town! I love him! He's a really interesting character and I can't wait to get more of him!

BOB - Xcor is "getting better", less like the Bloodletter and more an independent person I guess. Though I still don't consider him a smart person (mostly a brute..) at least I don't detest him as I did in the previous book or up until he sort of redeemed himself in this book. Zypher is also someone I think was a little misjudged before. We got only his bad side like with Z in the first 2 books then we got to see a real person. I think I'm going to like him! Throe isn't my cup of tea, I don't get him but I do think that without HIM there was no Band of Bastards.. Xcor might be the leader but he and the other guys wouldn't have been able to live more than a month without all the managing he does for them..

JM / Xhex - Like in the previous book where we had "troubles in paradise" for V and Jane, this one has John and Xhex first significant fight. I thought it was "well played". It really made sense, I don't know why I didn't think about it before I read it but it was just what you'd think they'll fight about and I loved how it was solved and the fact that even when they were at odds it was hard for the both of them to be apart but without resolving it they just couldn't be together.

I should say that there are a few mother/daughter and father/son scenes, You probably guess I'm not into the father/son (Thor/JM) because of Thor but I LOVED the mother/daughter scenes of Xhex and No'One. I loved how they were built as well, it took them time but when they were both ready for it - it was just beautiful! also heart breaking..

Quinn - Oh boy, how much he goes through in this book! I think we really get how sensitive and alone he really is. I love this guy so much! and can't wait for the next one of him and Blay. I do think that what happened in this book between the both of them, with Layla and their friendship, how much he changed - all of it - needed to happen before they got together, before Quinn is really ready to be with Blay with all that it entails.

Two of my Reading Updates of this one - One / Two

As I've wrote in the last three reviews, the narrator of this audio book version grew on me, I kinda like him now :) that I still wish he would have done the women and men in a different voice..

There are a few things that happen in this book (mainly concerning the BOB and Assail) that you need to read/know for the next ones and there is what happened with Quinn and Layla that makes sense as a prelude to the next book, but besides that, this book is totally pointless and unnecessary.

I could have enjoyed reading everything that happened to Quinn in the next book and didn't have to get JM and Xhex's fight (though it REALLY helped me deal with the rest of this book!) but to sum it up - I don't recommend this book, not at all. Though it is a Paranormal book, it has nothing to do with Romance. Thor is the worst hero EVER, I don't think I ever read a romance book in which I hated the hero so much I wanted him to wallow in his sorrow FOREVER (dying is too good for him, really).

Only one more before The King!

Other books in the series -

#01 Dark Lover - Wrath & Beth

#02 Lover Eternal - Rhage & Mary

#03 Lover Awakened - Zsadist & Bella

#04 Lover Revealed - Butch & Marissa

#05 Lover Unbound - Vishous & Jane

#06 Lover Enshrined - Phury & Cormia

#06.5 Father Mine - Zsadist & Bella & Nalla

#07 Lover Avenged - Rehvenge & Ehlena

#08 Lover Mine - John Matthew & Xhexania (Xhex)

#09 Lover Unleashed - Payne & Dr. Manuel Manello (Manny)