Planet Killer (Star Kingdom #6)

This book not only answered many questions, but also brought closure to several outstanding situations. Murhder and the question of what truly happened to him and Xhex all those years ago finally gets answered. Over the years he’s been mentioned, but this was one loose end I felt was time to be tied up. I thing Ward handled his story beautifully. This is the first book in this long running series that really felt like some of the first books written. To me it focused mainly on one new couple, with John and Xhex being secondary. John’s medical condition tied in well with the scientist that becomes Murh’s love interest.
This book also introduced a new character in Nate, the young vampire ultimately rescued from the illegal lab. This resuce brings Murhder and Xhex closure, and allows them more healing. The biggest unanswered question is why did Throe’s book girlfriend metaphorically throw him under the bus? Will she present a new threat to the BDB, only time will tell.
Lastly, this book had the feel of finally getting all the answers. Tying up loose ends and maybe bringing a certain chapter in the series to a close. If that’s truly the case where does the series go from here. Honestly the possibilities are endless. I personally would like the read some other stories set in the BDB vampire world, but not directly involving the BDB. The previous book Prisoner of the Night got some bad reviews and the main complaint was “the Brothers” weren’t involved in it. My argument is this, Wrath and the brotherhood are the protectors of the race, but there’s an entire vampire world according to the series that would be great hearing about. Can’t wait to see where Ward takes us next in this great series!

If I was reviewing this book for plot and characters alone, it would be getting 3.5 to 4 stars. Its a good Ward novel, and better than The Beast, The Chosen or The Thief. Which is refreshing as Wards books of late have been a lot of misfires for me as a reader. It was more about John Matthew, who has always been a pivotal character. The romance was disappointing as it took a lot of the book for Murhder and Sarah to meet. Murhder despite being insane appeared to be pretty sane for most of the book. Plus according to The Thief, when he found his mate Sarah he should have been cured and lived for her, but that wasnt what cured him. Confusing?
Now to why this finished and published book that I paid $13.99 only gets ONE STAR. I can accept if a book has one or even two errors, as I guess Random House doesnt employ anyone to read and edit a book. This book unfortunately had so many sentences without the correct words in place, that I am stupefied that this is the finished product. I cant believe the editors didnt catch that words were missing from sentences. Making the sentence unintelligible. It even had characters names misspelled. I am stunned. Wards editors should have caught these errors. The author relies on the editorial staff of her publisher. Random House is making big money off Ms. Ward and for them to put out this book as a finished product is totally unbelievable. It is a shame that an author as big as JR Ward has to be represented by an ill edited book. I have dyslexia and I am extremely aware of word placement when I read. Its from years of private tutors, so when a word is missing its like a roadblock to my reading experience. My dyslexia is why I hired great editors for my thesis. I expect JR Wards publisher to have great editors, this sadly is not the case.

P.S. The print copy has errors also, I confirmed this with a hardcover owner.

I’ve read all of J.R. Ward and really like her series, with a few exceptions. For this one, The Savior, I was happy with the basic story and glad to finally find out what she told us of Murdher’s history and a resolution to his ongoing life. Murhder and Sarah will make a great pair and it’s exciting to see this new evil (I have an inkling of where this new entity has come from). However, I have to say I was, overall, disappointed. Harken back to, say the first 5 or 6 novels in this series. This one does not come close. Although we get the facts of Murhder’s history, we don’t get the FEELING. What she has left out (in haste? boredom?) is the depth of the story. Let me give an example. Remember Z’s story — the detail, the pages and chapters it took to get it out of him — it really took you with him on that journey. With Murhder we get a short synopsis of what the symphaths did to him, but no depth. I’m still not sure exactly what he went through and why it was so destructive to his very sanity. Another example — the end summed up too quickly — we had everybody happy without a whimper from anyone. Is everyone just getting so lovable and peaceable that there’s no controversy anymore? No one to convince? I just think so much dialogue, arguments, back stories, flashbacks, were left out. Not like the initial books I grew to love and have reread several times. I might reread this once just to give a second chance, but after that. hmmph.

I am so pleasantly surprised by this book. I have been waiting for Murhder’s book ever since his character was first mentioned and it has taken so long. When I finally heard the announcement for his book, it gave me the excitement for this series I haven’t had since The King was released.

What can I say about Murhder? He’s sooo lovable. I was not expecting his character to be so…tender. And I mean this is the most positive way – he is sensitive without being sappy. He can hold his own but he’s not afraid to let his guard down, like V, for example. He’ll let you into his head without making it a battle of wills because he’s comfortable admitting to his faults. I should mention I was expecting Murhder’s personality to be more sarcastic, for some reason, and perhaps even snarky and arrogant. But he’s far from it. He’s level-headed and calm, easy to like and a great change from the rest of the Brothers who can be a bit more overtly ‘macho’. Murdher is a loner and a bit of a martyr but I won’t spoil why that is. If his personality is similar to anyone else’s in the series, I would say a mixture of Phury and Xcor. He’s pretty introverted and he’s not as dominant or aggressive as Wrath or Z.

Dr. Sarah Watkins isn’t the most interesting female protagonist but she’s certainly a step up from Doc Jane, who is so, so dull. Sarah knows what she wants, she doesn’t have a chip on her shoulder and you want her to have a happy ending because the world is going to the dogs around her and none of it is her fault. She’s useful, she’s intelligent and she’s not overbearing with her academic knowledge. Since the BDB series has been so full of perfectly proportioned, amazingly beautiful, always polite, and frankly irritating ‘Chosen’ as of late, I was so happy to see another ‘regular’ woman join the cast. She’s similar to Mary in personality, but she’s got more to give in terms of dialogue and plot.

Overall, I felt from page one like Ward was back. The Ward I fell in love with from the first few instalments of BDB. She’s actually invested in Murhder’s tale and you can tell. I loved every minute of this book and it has made me excited for more. BDB is a series I truly never want to end because the characters are so lively. That being said, it would be nice to see some more female vampires instead of human females making up the majority of the cast because it’s disappointing to keep reading about couples who have to source their blood from elsewhere!

Also, I was starting to feel like the series was becoming a little too ‘baby-obsessed’ and it was distracting us from being able to focus on the couples. The initial reason BDB came to be as it is.

More things I liked: You get to see a more emotionally open side of Xhex for once. Rhage is still Rhage lol and Wrath is back to being his authoritative self – the way he should be, instead of the kind of male whose authority was being repeatedly flaunted and side-swept in The Chosen. Tohr is still a pretentious…male, but he’s getting more tolerable and quick to admit his faults and mistakes, which I like. Also, we got to see John’s personality starting to mature. He’s not just Tohr’s surrogate son, he’s a male who needs to take responsibility for his choices and thoughts.

Things I didn’t like as much: The whole lessers and antagonists side of the story is still pretty slow to develop but if you’ve made it this far through the series, you will know that already, and I hope, have accepted it. I read these books for the heroes, not the hero/antagonist conflicts, so do with that information what you will.

I was also a little perturbed by the way Murhder was treated by his fellow Brothers. I won’t spoil why but the wrap up felt a little…quick, considering they were almost repeatedly telling Murhder to be quiet and keep his thoughts to himself. So their reconciliation seemed very falsely quick.

And I got tired of hearing Ward tell us how ‘insane’ Murhder is after what happened to him. Let’s be real…he’s not insane. As a writer, if you can’t show that, you can only tell us, it’s not very effective. We never really see any evidence of Murhder being ‘out of control’ or unaware of what he is doing, which would be evidence of his insanity. The only times during the series I have felt characters are being clearly ‘crazy’ is Throe and his obsession with that cursed book he owns and Assail when he was dealing with the hallucinations from trying to combat his cocaine addiction. Murhder is a loner and a martyr, but the word ‘insane’ repeatedly jarred me every time I saw it come up. If his actions make him insane, so do the actions of Z, or Xhex or even Phury etc.

Despite those tiny nit-picks, I am excited to see what happens next. I hope that Ward continues to breathe life into the main cast. With her writing other stories and focusing on the trainees, I was starting to feel like those initial people we fell in love with were being forgotten but this book was fantastic from start to finish.

I have followed the BDB since the very beginning,Her latter 2 books I thought were not at all up to her standards,but this one definitely is.I loved it.But please take warnings publishers and Authors you are all overprising yourselves.With the economy the way it is I have dropped several authors I was with from the start.Especially when their books are not even up to 3 stars.Just one thing ,how can the scull used in the Brotherhood ceremony be the original founder of the species when the Scribe Virgin started the Brotherhood with the Bloodletter and V and Payne were born from it.Surely that would make the Bloodletter the original male Vampire ???

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