Hello everyone!
I am, apparently, on a vampire binge. I keep thinking I need to go back and rewatch the first three seasons of Vampire Diaries (which I absolutely adored, might I add, before Elena got turned into a vampire, because afterwards it became a trainwreck of epic proportions) yet haven't had the time to actually get down to business about it. I'll probably work it in at some point when the rest of the shows I watch wrap up for their current seasons!
But as I wrote last week, I was VERY happy about the release of J. R. Ward's latest Black Dagger Brotherhood book, 'The Beast', and I keep getting more and more stoked as she posts certain updates on her Facebook page which indicate A HUGE, HUGE SPOILER FOR THE NEXT BOOK!
I'm not going to write it down here. You'll see it on her page if you do check it out, although if you don't want to know I'd steer clear.
Apparently, however, the next book is titled 'The Chosen', which tells me that it's probably going to be about Layla and Xcor. I'm on the fence about it to be honest, but there'll be a lot of Qhuinn and Blay, so thank goodness for that!
As I'm on the binge though, I thought I'd do a review of another book in the series, number six: Lover Enshrined.
Thing is: when I heard that the fourteenth book was getting published, I hunkered down and went back to the beginning of the whole thing, since it's been a while and I've forgotten certain details.
Unfortunately, however, life - and getting distracted by other books, natch - got in the way and I've only just finished number six again, even with how fast I generally read. As I'm on this BDB binge however, I decided I could probably do a review of it and no one would feel cheated over the whole thing.
I was also pretty pissed at reviews about this one in general, so I figured I should get my own two cents out.
Now, number six is Phury's book - Phury, son of Ahgony, is the identical twin of Zsadist, whose story is told in the third book, Lover Awakened. He is, as generally said among the race, the 'evil twin', because they are so rare, and the birthing process isn't normally successul. And for all his life, because of what happened in his infancy (his twin being stolen and sold into slavery) he has never felt enough, always inadequate, and always the unsung hero for shooting his own leg off to save his brother.
By the time book six rolls around, things have progressed as a whole: the Brothers are now going through training with a new generation of young warriors, who go through the change one by one (enter troika number two, John, Blaylock and Qhuinn) and generally cause Wrath & Co grey hair, though it's lucky the vampires can't really get them until waaaay later. The Lessers are still a pain, especially since a new revelation comes forth about a supposed vampire, or half-vampire really, Lash, who turns out to be the son of the Omega (aka the resident bad guy), so basically, a son of the Devil if you get my meaning.
As there are a number of plotlines in this book, however, I'm going to go through them by plot, not in chronological order.
Starting with the trainees, we get more insight into John and what makes him tick - including that he was raped before his transition by a human male, and how he becomes best friends with Blay and Qhuinn. Things come to a head when Lash also learns about this and either tries to rape John, or just pretends he would, but Qhuinn slices his throat open, which results in Lash's return to the Omega, and Qhuinn becoming John's bodyguard to save him from certain death. It also marks the biggest hits on the vampire community from the Lessers, too.
On the other hand, we have Phury who is struggling with his role as Primale, which he had taken from Vishous in the previous book so V could be with Jane, and he now has to sleep with ... oh, forty females to make sure there's going to be enough warriors later on. Only, he has issues with that, he falls in love with Cormia, his designated First Mate, ends up replacing her with Layla, but then eventually things even out (after a whole lot of back-and-forth and virginity taking and arguments and denial) so that he decides to change the way their culture is set, giving the Chosen (nuns, basically) the chance to come out into the world and find themselves and what they like, with him and Cormia as their protectors.
However, the biggest issue of the whole book is Phury's addiction to red smoke - a low key drug for vampires - and just generally his self-pity which follows, including a Ringwraith like character inside his head who keeps telling him he's not worth it. This results in him getting kicked out of the Brotherhood and everyone washing their hands on him, pretty much.
As another side-plot, we get a better look at Rehvenge (I already reviewed his book, actually; link below) and his cohort at the nightclubs he runs, and Tohrment's return to the fold with Lassiter, the fallen angel, whom everyone loves to hate.
Whew.
As the books progress, so too do the number of subplots in them, but this one is probably the first with a whole lot of going on.
And then there are the reviews.
People hate Phury, for some reason I can't begin to imagine. Others find him dull.
I just want to hug him.
I'm not sure this was handled the right way in the book; by this, I mean addiction. Basically, the message goes as follows: you're addicted, so despite the fact that we're family, we're going to kick you to the curb and let you do your own thing because we can't be bothered to deal with it.
I really, truly wanted to wring a couple of necks for that. How was taking away Phury's one family, where he has always been accepted, going to help a hardcore addict? People were willing to cut Zsadist a lot of slack for his homicidal tendencies; V has his own addictions. No one ever talked about throwing THEM out. But Phury's arc somehow incorporated him getting booted, because that's what you do with addicts, apparently.
Obviously, the other characters have all tried to help him before, but we as readers don't see it, and only hear about it through he said-she said. Very little time was actually spent in deducing just how this was going to affect him as a person, or how it would help his addiction. Admittedly, after his last safety line was cut, Phury got even worse and almost killed himself.
And yet no one felt any remorse about it. They all basically looked away.
Talk about hypocricy at it's finest, especially at the end when Zsadist dares to say that Phury should come back (after, obviously, doing everything on his own without any help from the people he calls his brothers) because he's missed.
Well, newsflash ladies: it goes two ways, this communication thing. No one ever said you can't pick up the phone or come a-visiting.
I remember hoping, the first time around when I read it, that Phury would send them all to hell, but of course he's much too noble for that. And I get it, I do: ultimately, battling your addiction is something you have to do alone, but having your support system, the people you rely on, pull away like you're contanimated? How does that help, precisely?
Phury is one of my favourite brothers because of the way everyone treats him; he gets no thank you for what he went through as a child, unloved, lonely and afraid, or for saving his brother, and that ungratefulness is something I can never forgive. Yeah, Zsadist had it bad, arguably it was the worst experience anyone could go through. But Phury didn't have it any easier, and his life was NOT a walk in the park. The argument that he grew up with their parents? They never once looked at Phury as their son. Only as a reminder for the one they lost, as a person they couldn't love.
Phury is one of my favourites because he's understated, not loved enough, and someone who deserves a hug, and I'm happy he got Cormia as his mate because she's strong enough to support him when the people who're supposed to do it back off like the idiots they are.
And I think his book is a good lesson in how even the people closest to you can be real backstabbers sometimes.
xx
*image not mine
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