The Beast (Black Dagger Brotherhood #14)

Ahhhh how I missed Rhage and his humor. Leave it to J.R. Ward to bring it out full force as he struggles with his beast in this somewhat self-titled fourteenth edition of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, ‘The Beast’.

For any fans of this Brother, the beginning will put fear into your veins as to where this book might take our beloved Hollywood. But Rhages book is all about the existential crisis hes embarking on. Which boils down to him realizing the fact that Mary can not sire, and carry on the race, is subconsciously bothering him. So much so that hes willing to run to his death

Like any couple, when the honeymoon is over, the distance of real life begins to set in. But its how strong you are together and apart, and how willing you are to communicate, that make all the difference. For Mary and Rhage it is no different, and this connection takes them to a wonderful new place in Part I of Rhage & Mary & Bitty.

Thats not all. Like any other BDB book so much more is going on, which make this review hard to write without giving too much away. Xcor is about to become a whole new player, but do we know if he will remain evil or change for good? What happens with Layla and the babies is agonizing and yet hopeful. Assail has decided to aid the Brotherhood and, in so doing, an act of heroism may just help him find the courage to turn a new leaf. Plus, with all the females in the house now its becoming a network of gossip (not that the Brothers dont have their own loose lips).

As a reader I love how Ward always has a way of bringing everyones histories and abilities back into the fold to remind us of their purpose and the progression of the world, as well as the series arc. However, having enjoyed this collection of books for so long, I will say you must be able to keep up by now as ‘The Beast’s story line progresses from several old and new key players points of view. From the Brothers themselves, to their shellans, other fighters, enemies and even civilians. Lets just say, after so many years, I keep a four-page document of whos who and whats what.

My only drawback with this edition is that there are numerous editing, grammar and content errors that kept pulling me out of my read. Missing words, words that didnt apply, double words, capitalization in odd places, and even sentences that didnt appear to be accurate, that in turn caused a need to re-read. Reaching beyond this, the Brothers, their mates and their ever-changing world still intrigue me. Speaking of whats up with the Virgin Scribe? That was so unexpected!

With every testosterone fueled scene, brotherly spat, snarky comeback, spark of mated protection, and heartfelt moment, it makes me wonder why I wait so long between each scintillating and enticing read. My takeaway from ‘The Beast’ is that these men, all the Brothers, have changed, matured so darn much. Yet theyve kept their lightheartedness and vulnerability that made us fall in love with them in the first place.

I love coming back to the Black Dagger Brotherhood after a while and being able to jump right back into the lives of the Brothers and their mates, families and associates without missing a beat. Its like catching up with old friends and finding out whats going on again. For a while their I had been reading book after book in a row, but they are fairly long books at 500-600 pages each, so I sort of went into BDB overload. Now I just read one or two every few months and I hope to finish this year.

I really liked this installment because Mary wasnt as frail as she was in her first book when she was dying of Cancer, though she will always seem a bit frail next to Rhage since he every description of him is about how huge he is and how much he eats, and how small Mary is compared to him. But despite that, the fit together so well. Mary is the perfect foil to Hollywood. She is quite an gentle whilst he is loud and boisterous. He has the curse of the beast on his back and she is the only one that is able to calm the beast. Mary can even talk to the beast whether the beast is out or just on Rhages skin as a tattoo and inside him.

This book began with Hollywood knowing something was wrong in his marriage but not what that something was. He figures it out one day when Beth asks him to watch LW (Little Wrath). Rhage gets emotional and figures out hid issue is that many of his Brothers are starting families while he knows he and Mary will never be able to have a child together.

The funny thing about the vampires in Black Dagger Brotherhood is that despite the fact that they do live very long lives, it seems that they are not really that hard to kill. I mean a good shot to the head or the heart will kill them, even a few shots in other places if they star losing more blood than their healing can handle and if they dont get to a clinic. Also the women often die during pregnancies, and those last eighteen months so that is a long time to wait to find out if you will survive the birth or not.

Anyway, I also have been waiting to hear more on the story about XCor and Layla and that was furthered in this book. While Layla was on bed rest with twins in the clinic below the BDB Mansion, she sensed that XCor was near because she had fed him with her blood. She found out he had been captured and was worried that the Brothers would kill him. Which is in fact what they planned to do after interrogating him.

What I really loved about this book was the focus on the Brotherhood as a family. From Layla, Qhuinn Blaylock and her babies to Rhage and Mary and this little girl at the Safe place where Mary and Marissa work. The little girl had been abused by her father and her Mother finally left him only to have lost her baby boy and now after a long battle the mother died and the little girl Named Bitty was all alone in the world.

Mary had been doing her best with Bitty but not quite able to connect with her until she started bringing Rhage along on some outings and the girl has taken to both Rhage and Mary and started to open up more. This book has turned into one of my very favorites and Rhage is now one of my favorite characters.

This was classic J.R. Ward at her finest. Wow! Talk about book hangover. I didnt want to finish it. I wanted this book to go on forever. The Beast reminded me more of the original stories than any other recent book in the series, even The King.

Rhage and Marys relationship is the core story. We, and Rhage, find out what has been causing this melancholy hes been experiencing since the previous book. Early on in the story The Beast comes out in his full glory during a massive battle scene. Thank the Scribe Virgin that Rhage was blessed with this curse.

We see Mary Luce in her day-to-day job at Safe Place. She has become healthier mentally since becoming Rhages shellan in Lover Eternal”. Before having met Rhage she had lost her faith in miracles and in this book she found so many more. There are miracles in spades really.

Other stories highlighted in this book as well are Layla, Qhuinn, and Blays pregnancy; and Assail’s drug addiction. I was shocked at the death of one of the series’ biggest characters. Two new characters are introduced. We get a lot of Vishous POV of things as well.
All of the 40 plus characters of the series, from the king to the doggen, make an appearance in this book. I love grand finales. My only complaint: I’m very tired of the metaphorical adjectives. They impede the flow of my reading.

The world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood is the only book series that I have ever seriously craved to live in. I want more, NOW! This book made me laugh, made me, cry, made me sigh. For me those are the best kinds of stories.

The next book will be THE CHOSEN and will star Xcor and Layla.

I have been a fan of JR Ward’s BDB series since its inception, but I have to say this book was somewhat of a disappointment. I was quite bored by Rhage’s and Mary’s storyline this time. I found myself skim reading every time the story came back to them. I do not understand why the continuation of their story warranted a dedicated book. The other storylines in the book were far more interesting and I read these properly (no skim reading). Also, many other people have commented on the hefty price. I have to agree that these books are now overpriced and although I am not yet ready to give up on this series, I will not be paying the current advertised price for the next book, The chosen. I will wait for the price to go down significantly, especially as its all about Layla who is one of the most annoying uninteresting characters so far. I hope there will be many other storylines involved as a book purely about her and her ridiculousness would drive me mad. So 3 stars is slightly generous in my opinion for this book and it would have been 1 or 2 if JR Ward hadn’t thoroughly entertained me with the BDB series in the past.

This is one of those difficult to review books.

Firstly, it started with action from the outset; fab, exciting.

And I actually really liked seeing Rhage’s vulnerable side. Even big, tough Brothers can have mental health issues, as we’ve seen before. It’s something that makes this series intriguing.

However, it needed a bit of a polish. Some bits were rushed, and some spelling/grammar mistakes and inconsistencies crept in. Oops! That makes it 3.5* for me, really.

That being said, I still loved it!

Those who love Rhage’s inner beast i.e. the dragon, may well love him a little bit more by the end of this book.
And there’s still the intertwining of stories. What’s happening with the Scribe Virgin?? Assail is an interesting chap, and the company he keeps – curious! Where’s Xcor?

OK, so it’s not the best book in the series, but still good. I’m still addicted to the BDB!
I’ll be reading the next one as soon as my TBR allows.

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