Hello everyone!
Another book review this Thursday and once again I'm back with a J. R. Ward creation.
As opposed to the last one which I reviewed from this particular world, however, I actually liked this book.
If you recall, I have a very loving relationship with most of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books, mostly because I feel as if the guys are tough, but eventually unbend a little, and the girls can stand their ground (more or less) and soften towards the guys in the end.
Then there was the book which will not be named, and the highly successful as well as likeable Bourbon Kings series, and now we're back with the trainees!
The kids from the Black Dagger Legacy series have grown on me since before these books even began, but then again, when you also get the chance to catch up with the Brothers and their extended family, well, what's not to like?
So without further ado, allow me to present the third book in the BDL series, titled Blood Fury to continue with the bloody trend (pun intended).
As always, links to my previous Ward-related books (although only for the vampires as the list is getting long and distinguished) can be found at the bottom of this blog post.
Briefly, however: the Brothers (mostly the King, but the Brothers with him) decided to reopen the training center for fighters against the Lessening Society and the Omega, but this time they opened it for everyone, not just kids of the Brothers themselves. So in Blood Kiss, book uno, we got to see Craeg and Paradise's story and the beginning of the training where everyone is still in classrooms and Tohr gets super annoyed by keyboard tapping, followed by Blood Vow in which Axe and Elise hit it off right out of the park and end up getting together despite the fact that she's an aristocrat and he ... well, isn't really. We also get to see Rhage play daddy, among other things.
Not to mention the murder investigation of an aristocratic female who participated in - ahem - rather wild nights, and how to adopt a vampire when there's no precedent anywhere.
So this is where we're at by the time we get to Blood Fury: the trainees are now going into the field with the Brothers to hunt down the remaining Lessers (if you recall, in the book we will not name, the Brothers had a massive pow-wow with the Lessers and they think the war is winding down; me, I'm skeptical, but we'll see). Meanwhile, Peyton is still very much in love with Paradise (or he thinks he is) and she thinks he's still annoyed that she joined the program because she's an aristocrat and should be pretty and pop out babies.
Luckily this isn't Peyton and Paradise's story, it's Peyton and Novo's.
Novo is another of the trainees and she has a bit of a chequered past: she comes from a civilian family in which her younger sister has always tried and wanted to upstage her by basically becoming Barbie, not to mention she stole Oskar, the male Novo was in love with at the time. Background fact: Oskar is the grandson of a vampire we'll talk about in a little bit, but equally he was always in love with Novo and is being leashed to the other sister for Ken purposes.
Oh, and, also, the saddest part of this entire storyline: Novo went into her needing, Oskar serviced her, and she got pregnant, but unfortunately the stress of him leaving her for her own sister caused her to miscarry the young.
And did I mention the sister wants her to be part of the wedding ceremony?
Yeah, she's a piece of work, alright, but Novo's busy at the training centre anyway, hunting Lessers and giving Peyton the middle finger.
Peyton, meanwhile, would very much like to get into her pants, but even though he's an aristocrat he's not exactly squeaky clean either: his father is a douche canoe and wants him to mate this young female, basically selling his son like cattle, and Romina (the female) tells Peyton something else, something that apparently ruins her for anyone else and her parents want to get rid of her, so Peyton appeals directly to the king.
Side-note: I'm thinking she's probably either pregnant, or not a virgin anymore, but let's table that discussion for the mini explosion Wrath has when he hears about the situation. Because literally nothing is better than a pissed-off pure-bred vampire who'd love to grind you between his molars.
Also, note continued: there was a whole lot of 'tell me more about the Brotherhood, you have to know stuff since you're in the program' being tossed around in this book. I noticed it twice, one time from Romina's mother and the other time from Novo's sister herself (right before Peyton gave her a really elegant kick in the pink behind she has). I have a hunch this will lead up to something, but what it is, I'm not sure yet.
Obviously, the course of true love never did roon smoothly: before ANY of this whole mating thing can happen, Peyton thinks he's protecting Paradise (FYI she doesn't need protecting) but he gets Novo stabbed in the heart instead, and she almost doesn't make it. During her healing, the two of them bond (in all ways that count, duh) and we also get some comedic inserts by our favourite Manny Manello, surgeon extraordinaire, who I genuinely adore.
You'd think they could talk everything through, right? Peyton and Novo that is.
Nope. Once she gets wind Peyton's getting mated - from his daddy-o no less - Novo kicks him to the curb without a chance for him to acually explain. Peyton draws a line: it's not what she thinks but since she won't let him do anything he won't pay for another's mistakes. And he walks off.
Of course, Novo later goes to find him, in the process of moving out of his father's house since he's refused to be mated, and the two iron out their kinks and move in together. Yay!
While that love story was predictably enjoyable, I was more excited about the second half of Blood Fury.
This one was for Saxton and Ruhn.
Now, Saxton is the King's personal solicitor who used to date Blay, but Blay is with Qhuinn and he's happy so Saxton wants to head off into the unknown. This is where Ruhn comes in.
Ruhn is Bitty's blood uncle, Bitty being the little girl Mary and Rhage adopted, and he's not feeling comfortable in the big household because he's a civilian and from the working class, but equally he's got a horrific past and doesn't really know what to do with his attraction towards Saxton.
These two need to work a little on communication, too, since Ruhn thinks Saxton doesn't approve of him because he's working class, and Saxton thinks Ruhn doesn't approve of him because he's gay.
Turns out neither is the case, and the pair of them literally slam together with enough force to cause another Big Bang.
Meanwhile, I'm jumping for joy.
But of course this couldn't be easy, so they go to deal with a little something for the King: Blay's parents are concerned about one of their neighbours, Minnie (Oskar's grandmother, natch), who's being harassed by humans. Ruhn and Saxton take on the case, Saxton from a legal point of view and Ruhn from the physical one since the two vampires get accosted by the humans (who are true idiots but whadyagonnado) and Ruhn goes Hulk on their asses.
Then of course it's a question of whether or not Saxton even knows Ruhn and will he be able to live with that kind of violence ...
... which two seconds later he figures he probably SHOULD, since, you know, Blay is with the Brotherhood and fights every night and there was never an issue. But it's here that we learn about Ruhn's past: he was a conscripted fighter in a ring, meaning he was paying off a debt, and for ten years he did just that. He's been trying to keep his violent side hidden, afraid that he would be kicked out of the house because of it (me: dude, you're surrounded by violent fighters, never gonna happen; I mean they're babying Rhage's Godzilla, come on).
Reconciling their differences and supposedly managing to get Minnie's situation under control, things unfortunately spiral.
Saxton finds Ruhn with his throat cut at Minnie's farmhouse, and both Manny and Jane have to work their asses off to save the vampire. Meanwhile, the Brotherhood picks up on the fact that Saxton and Ruhn are, you know, a thing, and Hell hath no fury like a group of pissed-off vampires, lemme tell you.
If Wrath weren't the King he'd probably be the one leading the posse, but he's sidelined for some colourful cussing instead (never a dull moment with this guy!).
It's V, Qhuinn and Blay who head out to get the humans who did the deed, and it's Saxton who ritualistically cuts their throats as payback for what happened to Ruhn.
Luckily, no one's dying right now, and Ruhn and Saxton get their happily ever after, even attending the wedding of Novo's sister. Oh and also? Minnie's selling them her farmhouse, and isn't that just the sweetest thing EVER?
I was only bummed that this was basically just about 150 pages. I'd have LOVED for Saxton and Ruhn to have their own book in its entirety, but I can understand that Ward felt they'd work best in this setting. Still, they're quite probably one of my favourite couples outside the oldies, and I can't wait to see what else they get up to in the name of the King! Because you know Wrath's only got competent and useful people around him, DUH.
Meanwhile, the next book to come out is apparently a novella, Dearest Ivie, to tide us over before The Thief is released.
And man, as long as these books continue the way the series USED to be, I know I'm gonna love them!
xx
*image not mine
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