A few months ago, I decided I wanted to try out a romance novel. Since then, I read Weddings Can Be Murder. I didn’t really like that too much, but it was good enough that I think there might be hope for me to find something in the genre I will like. So I will keep on trying occasionally.
My latest attempt is J. R. Ward’s Dark Lover, recommended by romance author Carolyn Jewel. If you read her post, she wasn’t sure a guy would like it, but I was willing to sacrifice myself in the interests of science. Ms. Jewel kindly sent along the first three books in the series.
The verdict? Meh. Not awful but not particularly inspiring either. Some of my problems are related to the paranormal part of the paranormal romance subgenre, and it being the first book in the series. Things I liked: the characters all participate in their own lives, the romance is attached to the plot (rather than the other way around). Things I didn’t like: changes to the vampire myths have to be explained, overly macho male characters, the pacing feels like a teenager’s first attempts at driving a stick shift, and the romance and sex are both too quickly consummated.
Beth Randall is the daughter of a vampire, but she doesn’t know it. Raised in an orphanage, she now works as a copy editor in the Caldwell, New York newspaper. Beth doesn’t really have any interest in men, instead throwing herself into her work. Her father Darius lives nearby, but doesn’t reveal himself to her. As a vampire prince, he’s a target of the vampires’ enemies, The Lessers (soulless converted humans), who murder him near the beginning of the novel. The vampire king Wrath fulfills his promise to Darius to help Beth through her transition (basically a quick but risky vampire puberty) should she need it, even though he doesn’t want to.
Wrath and Beth quickly fall in lust, have sex, and then each of them spends much time having second thoughts about the wisdom of the relationship. Meanwhile, the threat of the Lessors on the Black Dagger Brotherhood (the vampire race and Wrath’s personal Republican Guard), complicate matters.
Beth Randall is a pretty good character. Stands on her own feet. Smart. Works hard. Has her own opinions. The men, on the other hand, remind me of the drunken idiot rednecks I knew when I lived in Idaho, always challenging each other to fights, taking easy offense at slights, and pretending they are better than any woman ever lived.
One problem that might go away with later books in the series is the need to explain how Ward’s version of vampirism works. See, they don’t take wives. They’re shellans. And vampire women are only in hear every decade. And there’s a separation between vampire civilians
(weak) and the Black Dagger Brotherhood. They don’t bite people; they bite other vampires for sustenance. All well and good, and nothing I have a problem with. I do get bothered by the fact that the narrative has to stop to explain all these things periodically. Fight! Sex! Drinking! Fight! Fight! As you know Bob, vampires are subjects of the goddess the Scribe Virgin. […] Fight! Sex! I’d hope that the need for these explanatory interludes would lessen in later books, as the background has already been revealed. In addition to other quirks, this makes the pacing very uneven. The level of plot movement looks like the graph of my grandfather’s heart after he had a heart attack.
But all of that I think I would be just fine with if the romance and sex were romantic and hot. But not really. The sex is mostly of the the chemical attraction so must insert penis/mount penis as fast as possible variety. Once it’s of the Oh my god I love you so much I must be very romantic and gentle with you
variety. The romance problem is that most of the interaction is overwhelming lust (ZOMG! Your hair is so luscious!
) or navel-gazing worry about whether the character is doing the right thing. Very melodrama.
Since I have the next book in the series, I’ll probably read it to see if there’s an improvement because it did have some good points. But the bad and annoying definitely dominated.
Other blogged reviews:
Title: Dark Lover
Author: J. R. Ward (pseudonym for Jessica Bird)
Series: The Black Dagger Brotherhood; 1
Imprint / publisher: Signet Eclipse / Penguin
Format: Mass market paperback
Length: 393 p.
Publication date: September 2005
ISBN-13: 978-0-451-21695-3
Thank you very much for reading the book and providing your review! I very much appreciated reading this. The “chemical” nature of the love is one that has been much debated in the Romance community, as have several much more controversial aspects of this series.
I think I will send you some Meljean Book, if you don’t mind, as I adore Brook’s work.
You’re welcome to send it, though I’ve currently got her Demon Lover requested at the library. Unfortunately, the SPL only has one copy and I’m now at #8 in the list. Given normal reading speeds and library closures, I’ll probably get it in November.
sounds pretty blah to me. but you’ll have to keep us posted with respect to the subsequent volumes.
How funny — one of my good friends is actually named Beth Randall. I’ll have to tell her about this :-) .