Lover Eternal - J. R. Ward

* Lover Eternal - J R Ward *

Book Two- Lover eternal is the second book of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and follows on from the first story Dark Lover. The story is set a few months after Dark lover finishes so it carry's straight on with everyone from the first book. After getting the first two books in a raffle when I finished the first book I immediately had to read this one. Each book is very addictive and I found I read ...
...a successful response from Dark Lover returns with the second book. For those who have not read the first book or my first review, the Black Dagger Brotherhood series is a vampire fiction story which is set around 6 Warrior vampires.


* Plot *

The second book Lover Eternal is based in the same location of Caldwell, NYC and is aimed around another member of the Brotherhood called Rhage. We have learnt abit about ... more

* Lover Eternal - J R Ward *

Book Two- Lover eternal is the second book of the Black Dagger Brotherhood series and follows on from the first story Dark Lover. The story is set a few months after Dark lover finishes so it carry's straight on with everyone from the first book. After getting the first two books in a raffle when I finished the first book I immediately had to read this one. Each book is very addictive and I found I read this book in 2 days as I couldn't put it down again.

J R Ward continues her series and after a successful response from Dark Lover returns with the second book. For those who have not read the first book or my first review, the Black Dagger Brotherhood series is a vampire fiction story which is set around 6 Warrior vampires.

* Plot *

The second book Lover Eternal is based in the same location of Caldwell, NYC and is aimed around another member of the Brotherhood called Rhage. We have learnt abit about him in the first book only to know he fights along side his brothers including Wrath his king which the first book was about. Rhage has Hollywood good looks, charm and we learn he makes his way through the lady's but has a terrible curse among him, bringing danger to everyone around him. Rhage is also the Brother with the most power and appetites. This all changes when he sets his eyes on Mary Luce a volunteer worker and a current suffer of Leukaemia who is thrown into the world of vampires and lessers and put under Rhages protection. Rhage becomes bewildered by her and changes his typical ways in order to have Mary as his female of worth.

The book also introduces a character called John Matthew a young boy who is mute and has a destiny within the vampire world but does not know of this yet. Mary takes care of John Matthew after finding him in her garden. We learn throughout the book at he is a future Warrior Fighter.

* Main Characters in Lover Eternal *

RHAGE- AKA 'Hollywood'. Rhage is the most powerful and dangerous of the Brothers. As well as being the best fighter of the group he is cursed by The Scribe Virgin and so is possessed by a beast which brings danger to everyone including his Brothers. Rhage finds he is gently calmed by a human named Mary who he becomes infatuated with.

MARY- Lives alone and works a lot to keep her mind off having Leukaemia. She is quiet and has never had a relationship with a man. As she is thrown into the Vampire world she becomes intrigued by Rhage who seems to have an attraction to her. She becomes an important part of controlling his curse and helping the Brotherhood.

JOHN MATTHEW- A young boy who is introduced by us at the start of Lover Eternal. He is a small, mute boy who comes across Mary while she is working in a call centre. He and Mary become friends as John uses sign language which Mary can understand. John Matthew says he needs to protect Mary and Mary's Friend Bella sees he is a future vampire. Bella introduces them to the Brotherhood as Martial Art teachers and John becomes aware of his abilities and his future.

MR X- After kidnapping Beth and escaping Wrath's clutches in the end of Dark Lover, Mr X continues his quest to train Lessers and hunt the Brotherhood. They become aware of Rhage's possession and plan to bring his beast to an end.

BUTCH O'NEIL- Butch continues to be a main character in this second book. We learn he has now moved in with the brothers and has become good friends with Vishous. He now leaving his cop ways behind him helps the brother's in fighting the Lessers and his on and off relationship with Marissa continues.

There are many other characters throughout the story including Wrath and Beth who continue their loving marriage and also the other brothers Tohr, Vishous, Phury and Zsadist. A new character Bella is introduced as Mary's friend and Tohr's sister.

* Opinion *

The second book is not as great as the first book Dark Lover but it is an extroaniary story. The story of Rhage is interesting and I love the way each book is about one of the brothers so you get to know more about each on. Just as the first book, Lover Eternal is extremely passionate and contains a lot of explicit sexual references. The book is also just as beautifully written and the adjectives used are amazing.
The atmosphere is tense and you get very involved in the action, unlike a film using music and camera angles J R Ward uses metaphoric language, amazing imagery and constant action. Each book is as addictive as the rest and I didn't put the book down for hours when first reading it. Doing this review I have now read all the books in the series a third time and I can read them over again and not get bored of the stories. I would say I am a fast and involved reader at times. I have to find a book I find interesting or I get bored of it easily but these books are remarkable in keeping you involved. J R Ward has kept the structure the same as well, the book flicks through the characters in each chapter from Rhage, Mary, The Brothers and Mr X.
Even though there is a lot of information in the story and terminology in the front of the book is a list of the words that you may not understand - which helps you with some of the vampire's lexis. I found this very helpful so you don't get confused.

The relationship between Rhage and Mary is very different from Wrath's and Beth's when they first met. Mary is quite stubborn and holds back a lot on Rhage as she cannot find an explanation for his love for her. Rhage is a beautiful man with the Hollywood looks hence his nick name from his Brothers and Mary describes herself as an average women who doesn't have a lot of confidence in herself. Mary does give Rhage a hard time and refuses him to get close to her she says a lot to herself- 'friends. . We are just friends', but knows he clearly wants her.

J R Ward shows a lot of creativity in this book and the others. As I explained in my Dark Lover review she has created a whole new insight to the vampire world. The vampire Warriors are not the normal stake through the heart vampires. Even though she has kept a few things similar such as- they cannot go into the sunlight and they have fangs, there are a lot of new ideas for the species. One evident in Lover Eternal is the bond between the Brothers. As Rhage gets involved with Mary and gets her in danger, he brings her their mansion which is forbidden as Mary is human.
We find out for this Rhage has to be punished for disobeying his Brothers and King. The punishment is pretty harsh, each Brother takes it in turn to choose a weapon and slash a mark on his body. Rhage accepts this as his respect for choosing Mary. They can also heal very fast from injury and can be killed normally but obvious takes a lot more than a human.

* Conclusion *

Lover eternal is an exciting and passionate story. I enjoyed the story and finding out more about the characters from the first book. I would definitely recommend this book and the rest in the series. There is a new book released in May 2009 which I will be getting as I think this is one of the best series of books I have read. The quality of her writing is extraordinary. And the story was a good length and written well.

Website- http://www.jrward.com/index-books.html

J.R Ward
Pages- 400
Published By Signet Eclipse
ISBN- 0451218043
Published- March 2006
Book Two

Thanks for reading *blackmagicstar4* Nov 08. 

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