Customer Reviews

Lover Revealed (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 4)

5 star:		(188)
4 star:		(63)
3 star:		(31)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I admit that when I read the first novel in this series a while back, I wasn't overly impressed. I thought it was just ok, and I didn't intend to read any more Black Dagger books. But then a lot of people recommended the later books to me and I found myself excited about giving this series another chance. And I'm so glad I did. Although I'm not super-devoted, ardent fan-- i.e. I don't think I'll be spending time on any message boards discussing the novels in depth-- I thought Lover Revealed was a very satisfying read with a compelling central romance and tons of intrigue, passion and great dialogue. In fact, I think that because my expectations weren't sky-high, I found this book even more enjoyable and worth the money/time than I anticipated.

The story has already been summarized by many other reviews, so I won't do so again here. But I found Marissa and Butch's coming together to be very sweet and sexy. Many have said they didn't necessarily feel their connection, but I certainly did. They had an intense, immediate attraction, first introduced in the initial book of the series, that developed into infatuation and then love. Marissa and Butch's mutual loneliness at the beginning of the novel had me rooting for them to finally find each other again and once they did it was sweet, but full of the kind of angst and conflict needed to give the story its momentum.

A few things I liked: first, how expertly J.R. Ward weaves in secondary characters and subplots. This book does an especially good job of developing V's character (his book is the next one and I can't wait for it), including his sexual issues and deep loneliness. There are some homoerotic moments, as other reviewers have mentioned, but they're pretty ambiguous, and overall the point of them seemed to be to show a) Butch and V's intense friendship (very moving) and b) to set the stage for V to realize that he wants and craves real love and intimacy from a woman.

Also, I loved how, at 400+ pages, this book kept me engaged and left me feeling completely satisfied. I truly appreciate that the author releases new titles so quickly and keeps them packed with great storytelling and interwoven narratives.

There's a lot of gritty suspense involving the Omega, Butch's true nature is revealed (hence the title) and we see Wrath, Beth, Zsadist and Bella again-- all of which kept me happily turning the pages.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves or simply likes this series. You can read it by itself, but it is better read as part of the series.

I was hooked from the first page and even though the darkness of these novels can sometimes feel a bit heavy, there are always sexy, romantic moments that balance them out. J.R. Ward is also an author you can trust to deliver plots and characters you can care about.

After every Black Dagger Brotherhood Novel I read, I find myself with a new favorite character. After Dark Lover (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 1) it was Wrath, after Lover Eternal (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 2) it was Rhage, and after Lover Awakened (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 3) it was Zsadist. So I suppose I really shouldn't have been surprised when upon finishing this novel I decided that Butch is my new favorite character.

"Lover Revealed" by J.R. Ward did not disappoint me in the least. Be warned that if you haven't read the previous three books in this series, that you will not understand a large portion of the story.

The story focuses on Butch, and his relationship with Marissa. We also learn quite a bit about his past. There were moments were I was a bit teary-eyed so be prepared. I also loved seeing the friendship that Butch has with the rest of the Brothers. And I was glad to see that young John was back in this book, even though he had not completely recovered after earlier events (who can blame him?).

I'm already looking forward to the next addition to the Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels. At the end of this story we get a small sneak peek of Lover Unbound (Black Dagger Brotherhood, Book 5). Keep up the good work J.R. Ward, I can't wait to read more!

You know, I've about had it with J.R. Ward's urban vampire series. The first one was great, but every book since them has been the same book, same formula, and same issues, just with a different main character. In Lover Awakened, JR Ward introduced us to the Black Dagger Brother, hardcore vampire warriors out to protect their race from the evil Lessening Society, their mortal enemies. The Brothers are really manly men. Tattooed, leather-wearing, trash-talking, rap music at the dinner table kind of guys with the occasional missing limb. Then there is Butch, the human side-kick.

Poor Butch. He had a awful childhood, used to have a coke addiction, currently is an alcoholic, got kicked off the police force, and being the Brotherhood's human mascot isn't helping his self-esteem any either. Things get even worse for him even the Lessers kidnap him, beat him up, and put a ball of pure evil in his stomach. His blood and other unmentionable fluids start turning black and he starts gaining weird powers. While recuperating he meets back up with Marissa, the beautiful vampire aristocrat that is the jilted ex-wife of Vampire King Wrath. Butch has been pining away for her for several novels, as an unfortunate misunderstanding instigated by Marissa's brother has him thinking she wants nothing to do with him.

The main problem with JR Ward's series is that these books at just bloated with repetition. The same series of events seem to play over and over again until the novel reaches a resolution. It goes something like this: Brothers fight the lessers. Cut to Brotherhood trainee John polishing his fighting skills. Cut to lesser boss Mr. X plotting evil. Butch and Marissa have a misunderstanding because the woman won't tell him anything. Back to Mr. X plotting Evil. Butch gets drunk and pines for Marissa. Back to Mr. X again. Brothers fight lessers again. Butch and Marissa have another misunderstanding which sends him back to the bottle again. Back to John. And it seems to go on like this for four hundred and fifty pages.

I am seriously starting to hate the lessers and how much time is spent on them. As villains they are totally ineffective. Compared to the Brothers, they are like the minions on a Saturday morning cartoon. They have superior numbers, but not the skills to back it up. The Brothers mow through them every time, and all Mr. X can do is shake his fist and say "Curses! I'll get you next time!"

Another fatal flaw of the series is that while Ward usually creates interesting heroes, her heroines are practically non-entities. Marissa might as well be a blow-up doll for all the impression she makes. Scratch that, she does make impression but it isn't a very good one. The woman has a talent for pushing Butch away, not explaining why, and them wailing to herself that no man wants her. A practical misunderstanding on legs is Marissa. I wanted to give this woman a big slice of clue cake the entire novel. Butch isn't that great of a leading man himself. It seemed like the entire novel he was either drunk, sick, or beaten black or blue. I couldn't help but think that Ward was more interested in Vishous, one of the other Brothers, than she was in Butch.

I wish Ward would ease up on the urban slang. This book practically needs you to be at UrbanDictionary.com to decipher it at some points. If there is a slang term for anything, Ward is going to use it place of the proper word. The made-up vampire language is also starting to grate on me. Ward takes English terms and starts adding random h's and z's and calls it a new language. Seclusion becomes sehclusion and fearsome becomes phearsome. I dohn't knohw zwhy buht it izs zstahrting to ahnnohy me. I think it's because in my head I always picture the Brothers saying those words like I imagine Goofy from Disney cartoons might.

I'm just burned out on the Brothers, I guess. I think I'm giving Ward one more chance to add some variety to the series or I'm writing it off.

Ward has officially boosted herself into my favorite author of all time status (coming from someone that knocks down 3-4 books a week--that's a pretty high honor). I thought Lover Revealed was fabulous, although, I think the last one with Zsadist is still my favorite so far. I can't believe Ward has managed to pull off this many books without loosing her touch, and I hope she continues on her streak.

In LR, the reader finally gets to see something good happen to poor Butch. Butch has been with us since book one and always seemed to be pushed to the sidelines, left behind, or passed over for something or someone better. Then he gets captured by Lessers and just before they nearly beat him to death, Mr. Evil himself, puts a piece of himself in Butch to contaminate him. They leave him broken and dying in the woods to be found by the Brotherhood. Of course, his best bud, V, finds him and brings him home. Of course, there is soooo much going on this book. Marissa and Butch make up, fight, make up, fight, make up (did I mention fight, yet? Yes, oh, okay). There there is the council, John (coming to terms with Tohr's disappearence and Tohr's wife's murder), V's struggle with loneliness, and much more.

If you have not read the previous books in this novel, (What do you mean you have not read the previous books? Get your buns moving and go get them! You don't know what your missing! Why are you still here? Get out of here;-), then you will not enjoy this one fully. I suggest you start at the beginning.

By the way, for those of you that didn't read the preview in the back of the book...its V's turn next go round! YEAH!

J R Ward's "Black Dagger Brotherhood" series is a fantastic read. Although the subject matter (vampires) is hardly original there's something about the earthiness of her writing style which is fresh and interesting in this often tired genre. The Black Dagger Brotherhood are vampires who protect the others of their race (civilians) against the 'lessers', ex-people without hearts who exist to kill vampires and are ruled by the Omega. The previous three stories have focused on members of the Brotherhood and their discovery of their mates, although with several other side-characters introduced.

"Lover Revealed" is different from the previous books. Not in terms of writing style (J R Ward's marvellous turn of phrase is still there, there's a huge amount of earthy Anglo-Saxon and fairly graphic descriptions - this is not a book to lend to your granny) but in terms of hero. This time we're following the trials and tribulations of Butch, the human ex-cop and roommate of Vishous, one of the Brotherhood. At the end of the last story Vishous tricked Butch into drinking a cup of his blood - Vishous didn't know why he had to do it, he just did, and it becomes clear in this story what that was about. Butch has always existed somewhat on the sidelines of the Brotherhood; not being a vampire they don't let him fight with them but he has some advantages in that he can go about in daytime. He's hardly a normal human, though, being very strong, rather self-destructive and with enough of a death wish that he was able to stand up to the vampires initially, thus to be accepted by their group. Right from the beginning Butch noticed Marissa but over several books their relationship has ground to a halt.

In "Lover Revealed" we learn much more about Marissa and her dissatisfaction with her life. Despite being the top of the aristrocracy she's an outcast and has no real role in life now that Wrath is mated to Beth. In this story she and Butch are thrown together again but any relationship between them is never going to be simple - and then when Butch is captured and tortured by the lesser it seems that any future for them is impossible.

This book definitely felt like a continuation of a series. A new reader, coming directly to this story, might struggle to work out what's going on. We also continue to learn more about John Matthew, the pre-transition vampire, and there are lots of references to events in previous books without them always being clearly explained. Rehvenge/The Reverend is becoming more clearly defined and it wouldn't surprise me if he features more significantly in future books. The list of characters grows longer and longer, too, which could be confusing. And my one real niggle with this whole series continues of course - and that's the cheesy names of the brothers. Zsadist, Vishous, Phury... doesn't really work for me, but as that's my only real complaint about these stories you can tell how much I like them!

The Scribe Virgin, the vampires' deity, makes appearances again in this book. Sometimes I wonder if she's a cheap plot trick, a Deus Ex Machina, especially at the end of Rhage and Mary's story, "Lover Eternal" - in the story to deal with a fundamental problem in the plot: oh no, there's something that's not optimal for our love story, but poof the Scribe Virgin fixes it. In this novel there's an even bigger example of that (although not entirely caused by the Scribe Virgin) which felt slightly like the author was cheating in the way that she got round a major stumbling point for the happy ever after, and yet it's obviously something that's been planned from the beginning as there are clues to it way back in book 1. In fact it becomes clear, reading these stories, that J R Ward has very strongly mapped out what's going to happen with whom as the series progresses and that conscientious attention to detail is very much appreciated by this reader.

In short, if you liked the other novels in this series you'll like this one. For me it didn't quite hit the heights of Zsadist's story ("Lover Awakened") because that was an amazing work of psychology and healing of someone's past wrapped up in a vampire love story. But there's a huge amount of interesting stuff in this book, particularly in the friendship between Butch and Vishous and in the way that Marissa is able to change her life and her submissive nature and to strike out on her own. Definitely one to read!

I waited for this release with bated breath because the other books in the series are so good. However, I really didn't think she could maintain the caliber of writing and Butch's story really wasn't the one I wanted. Was I wrong? Yes, this is a marvelous continuation of the best series out there. J.R. Ward is a very surpising author and so very talented.

Butch has been in love with Marissa since he met her. He finds no comfort in his new lifestyle even though he wears Armani and has everything a man could want. He doesn't have respect for himself, he wants to fight for the race he has adopted. He and the warriors of the Black Dagger Brotherhood have bonded especially he and Vishious. There is a true brotherly love between them. They share each others secrets and Vishious is not so alone anymore. Butch was a cop and his dedication to saving Beth, who became Wrath's Queen, led to his knowledge and presence in the Brotherhood. But Butch feels unworthy not only to love Marissa but because he is not allowed to fight the Lessers.

Marissa was Wrath's Shellan but Wrath never loved her and even after several hundred years she is still a virgin. Butch touches something deep inside her and only her feelings of unworthiness combined with her fear that if she feeds from Butch she will kill him, keep her from falling into the arms of the human who has touched her in these unknown ways. Her relationship with her brother has fallen apart because of her feelings for a human. Her brother is a doctor and has placed Marissa on a pedestal he in unable to forgive her when she falls in love with a human. They are considered little more than animals.

Butch runs into a situation where he chooses to save a pre-transition vampire from the lessers who are attacking him. He is captured and tortured by the Lessers. When the Omega finds out who Butch is he inserts an evil part of himself into Butch. Now only Marissa, the Brotherhood and the Scribe Virgin may be able to save him. But even with the changes in his body he is determined to fight and serve the ones he trusts and loves.

There is a prophecy that there will come one to face the Master of evil. The fore-lesser thinks he has found him and is determined that when he dies he will not join the rest of the lessers who make up the blood and energy that flow in the veins of the Omega. Taking this man under his wing he trains him to kill lessers and waits for the transformation to take place. Now he is only concerned with saving himself from the horror that awaits all lessers.

I found the book thrilling. The action is non stop, the revelations come fast and furious. I can't wait for the next episode in this wonderful drama. Do not miss this one and if you have not read the others be sure you get them and read them first. Everything makes so much more sense and the growth of the characters is absolutely phenomenal. Loved it!!!!!

Man, the strangest thing is that even though you know from, like, Book 1 that Butch and Marissa are going to be a canonical couple, it's still a little disappointing because the relationship between Butch and Vishous is just so freakin' deep. Those two are sweet and hot and sensual and so bloody in love, that when the moment comes to give up on the possibility of being more than friends you're startled by the sheer sadness of that inevitability. I think she's written a brilliant het man-love story that could have easily been a great romance novel in it's own right. And I think part of what weakens this book, ironically enough, is that the relationship between Marissa and Butch quite frankly pales in comparison. In fact, the hottest moments in the book revolve around either Butch or Vishous witnessing the other's sexual encounters. Marissa, poor girl, simply can't compete with the 'rightness' of Butch and Vishous.

I could hardly wait to get this book from Amazon. I just discovered the series in January 2007. Quickly read them all and was excited to learn that Butch's story would be out in March. I eagerly read all the reviews while waiting for my copy from Amazon. I have to say that I liked Marissa, I know that a lot of the early reviewers didn't, but I thought she showed growth as a character became more dimensional. I always liked Butch from the first book and was excited to learn more about his past. Ward does an excellent job fleshing out her characters. The great things about these books is that you can read them again and again and still come away with new things. The scenes are rich and you get the feeling that the Black Dagger Brotherhood is a real group of super sexy guys! (I wish!)
I can't wait to read Vischous story in October...I ordered it even before I got this one in the mail. Thank God that Ward seems to write quickly and is able to put out two books a year. Six months is long enough to wait...a year would be Hell!

Unbeknownst to the human population, a war is being waged that will determine the continuation of the vampire species. Only one thing stands between survival and extinction, The Black Dagger Brotherhood...

Butch continues to drown his sorrows in a scotch bottle as he pines for Marissa after their all too brief encounter. On one such night he encounters a group of Lessers as he is leaving the ZeroSum nightclub. Butch engages the Lessers to allow the civilian vampires to escape, only to find himself captured. Having undergone 24 hours of unspeakable torture at the hands of the Fore Lesser before being rescued, Butch takes comfort in the fact that he did not give up the secrets of the Brotherhood. But his encounter with the Lessers has left Butch with a seed of evil that is threatening to take hold. While at Haver's clinic, Marissa discoverers Butch's condition and will do whatever it takes to help in his recovery, even if that means opening up emotional wounds she has tried hard to heal.

Marissa is a heroine plagued with self doubt. Rejected as a mate by Wrath and shunned by the Glymera, she is struggling to find her place and purpose. Butch is carrying emotional baggage as well due to a horrific childhood and his years as a cop, and this all serves to work against them finding happiness or even a common ground. Meanwhile the pretrans vampire, John continues to deal with his loss and impending transition. The complex relationship between Vishous and Butch is explored as well. Add in the mix some political maneuverings involving the Glymera and you have an incredibly engaging read.

Ms. Ward does not disappointment with this emotional tale of everybody's favorite Red Sox fan, the cop Butch O'Neal. Though sometimes gruff, and a little rough around the edges, he wraps himself around your heart and readers will ride the rocky road to happiness along with Butch and Marissa. But as always, that happiness has a steep price. This darkly erotic and edgy series has captured my imagination, and it's easy to see why the Black Dagger Brotherhood has taken the paranormal genre by storm. The author pens a wicked tale. Stayed tuned for Vishous' story in Lover Unbound coming soon...I hope.

Dee Gentle
Paranormal Romance Reviews
[...]

"Lover Revealed" has so much going on that it is difficult to pinpoint a specific plot for a review. Basically, Butch has been the human friend of the Brotherhood for nearly a year. Then he falls into the hands of evil. Then things start getting complicated. It can be a bit difficult trying to keep everything straight.

Butch and Marissa is a very unique couple. Butch goes through hell in this book and what Marissa goes through adds great depth and, I think, helps her relationship grow with Butch. These two change a great deal in this book and yet hardly change at all. Character development can be difficult but Ward manages to give us a transition that flows. I do admit that I am going to really miss the old Butch, but this new version is going to be really fun to read about.

This book is also...different. Not in a bad way, though. It is just really really different. There are also a lot of weird things that is going to take some getting use to...especially with Vishous. His...ah, `unconventional interest' is a little lame and stereotypical for my taste but it's of no fault of the author or writing and it makes me wonder what will change for V in the future.

Vishous was in this book a great deal which helps build up his book without taking the spotlight away from Butch. The other brothers also share the stage but I was disappointed that Z and Phury were not as present as the others.

There were some things that were left unexplained. Things that I fear would spoil the book if I even tried to mention them. But the characters were just as confused and hinted that things would be explained later. After all, these books are not great stand-alones.

Lover Revealed, while covering a great deal, managed to display a wide range of emotions. Within a few pages, the reader is able to laugh at Butch's unique one-liners and then yell at him doing something stupid.

I really recommend this series. These characters aren't perfect and they don't disappear off the face of the earth after their respected book. They're also diverse. It's not hard picking out a brother to identify with.

Don't expect this book to top Zsadist's, but it's still worth checking out.