Reading (mostly) romance books down under
The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here. LAST UPDATED: 24/3/2011 (shown in italics)
Tohrment spent time at the Bloodletter’s warrior camp until he attracted the Brotherhood’s attention. For his test, he was assigned to help Darius track down the leahdyre’s kidnapped daughter. His father neglected him, so Darius took him under his wing, stepping on Hharm’s toes in the process. Hharm disowned Tohr. Being now ruined in society, Tohr promised Darius he would be an asset, not a hindrance.
Having nowhere else to go, Tohr slept in the Brotherhood’s cave until Darius discovered him and took him back to Sampsone’s house for a meal. Tohr’s pride was dented, but Darius told him he would serve the most use by being strong and well-fed.
He spent the day at Darius’ modest house before tracking down the symphath, who used the female as a shield. Tohr took aim and killed the symphath with a single shot to the head. Darius assumed he’d missed, but Tohr told him he wouldn’t have taken the shot if he hadn’t been sure he’d hit his target.
The female lived with him and Darius until she delivered a healthy baby girl who bore no resemblance to her symphath ancestors. She took Tohr’s dagger and killed herself. Full of guilt and pain, Tohr took her outside despite the rain and buried her under their apple tree. He felt despair that the female had condemned herself to an afterlife outside of the Fade.
He and Darius took the young to a vampire family whose young died during birth.
Tohr is different from the other vampires in that he showed no signs no hint of a tortured past. He was promised to Wellesandra, blooded daughter of the Princeps Relix, and was fortunate enough to have bonded with her. Sheer luck that the one female he would want above all others happened to be the one he was honour-bound to mate.
Tohr showed his love by doing small, practical things to show he was thinking of his shellan, such as making sure her truck had snow chains. He was very respectful of her
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These cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here. LAST UPDATED: 24/3/2011 (shown in italics)
If the series can be said to have a central character, it would be Darius/John Matthew, as he has been instrumental in bringing together the Brotherhood and bringing their shellans into their world.
Several centuries ago, Darius was trained in the same warrior camp that V later grew up in, and by leaving behind his diary, he unknowingly eased V’s isolation and later
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The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here. LAST UPDATED: 24/3/2011 (shown in italics)
A lot of Rehvenge’s life is secret. Only a few people know that he is half symphath and that he is Bella’s half-brother—most believe that they share a father.
(Interestingly enough, in the mandatory sehclusion motion that Marissa quashed, Bella was identified as ‘blooded daughter of the Princeps Rempoon’, while the excerpt of Lover Avenged in the Insider’s Guide identifies Rehvenge as ‘son of Dragor’ in his medical file, but Ward insists that not even Bella knows they have different fathers.
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These cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here. LAST UPDATED: 24/3/2011 (shown in italics)
Vampires believe that the birth of a healthy son is a blessing. They also believe it’s possible to have too many blessings and that misfortune will follow to compensate for the extra prosperity. The warrior Ahgony’s household celebrated the birth of his son Zsadist, but were spooked when Phury was also born. Sure enough, the firstborn was stolen in the middle of the night by his nursemaid and the household never recovered.
Ahgony searched for his son and became depressed and turned to drink.
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The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here. LAST UPDATED: 23/11/2010 (shown in italics)
V. My personal fave. I could just rave about how beautiful he is, with his diamond hard heart, absolutely incredible intelligence (not to mention smart mouth), dominant sexuality and uncompromising masculinity, but that wouldn’t get us anywhere except teaching me yet again that my keyboard is not drool-proof (picture Homer Simpson around any non-vegetable based food). So to avoid another costly lesson, I’ll try to just stick to the facts.
Vishous is the direct, biological son of the Scribe Virgin, which has been
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The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here. LAST UPDATED: 23/3/2011 (shown in italics)
The defining moment of Butch’s life was the day he saw his 15-year old sister Janie get into a car with a group of boys and didn’t tell his parents she was breaking the rules. She was later found raped and murdered. Up to that point, Butch had been treated differently to the rest of the family and frequently beaten by his father, but since then he was blamed for what happened to Janie and virtually ostracised. He was twelve years old.
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The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here. LAST UPDATED: 23/3/2011 (shown in italics)
Zsadist, the firstborn son of Ahgony and the Chosen Naseen, was kidnapped by his nanny when he was seven months, and after the nanny’s death he was sold into slavery. After his transition changed him into a large, powerful looking male, his mistress kept him in a cell ready to be used for blood and sex and even shared him with other males.
It took his twin Phury a century to find and rescue him, but their escape via the ocean sealed a scar on Z’s face. He later added body piercings, possibly because he liked the pain
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The cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here. LAST UPDATED: 23/3/2011 (shown in italics)
In the years immediately following his transition, Rhage was extremely cocky and went wherever his mood took him. He got drunk, did drugs, fought a lot, and had a nasty habit of sleeping with other males’ shellans. He became interested in a female who didn’t want him until he joined the Brotherhood, so he showed off his weapons and his gun went off in her hand, killing a barn owl.
The Scribe Virgin considered this a special offence as she loves birds
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These cheat sheets sum up what we know so far about the world of the Black Dagger Brotherhood. For all BDB-related posts on Book Thingo, click here. LAST UPDATED: 23/3/2011 (shown in italics)
We’re not sure exactly who the Scribe Virgin is, other than the mother of the vampire race. Her father (don’t know who he is either) gifted her with a single act of creation, which she used to create a race of beings who:
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In anticipation of the next book in J. R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood series, Decadence has been hard at work updating the ever popular BDB cheat sheets. The cheat sheets summarise what we know so far about the Brothers and their world, based on the books already published.
We’ll be republishing the updated cheat sheets over the next two weeks, starting Monday. I’ve also created a page summarising all BDB-related posts on this blog.
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(The Drakos Baby, Book 2) Books like this are the reason I stopped reading category romance in my mid-20s. I hope I don’t come across too many more of them in the near future. DNF.
(Pregnant Brides, Book 2) There’s nothing earth-shattering about this story. I didn’t hate the hero or the heroine, but that might be damning with faint praise.
This book proves that finely tuned character development and emotional honesty can turn even the most maligned clichés in romance fiction not just into an enjoyable read, but a story worth savouring.
(Elder Races, Book 1) The Elder Races series has become my BDB replacement. It’s totally cracktastic.
A satisfying romantic suspense with a capable heroine. The romance lacks intensity, but a decent mystery plot keeps the pages turning.
(The Bennetts, Book 5) Sexy, angsty and deeply moving, this story is everything we love about category romance. Oh, and the heroine? She’s the tycoon. This one’s a keeper.
Mills & Boon conventions aside—yes, he’s a tycoon, she’s totally hot and they don’t use a condom—the heroine and hero of this book are rarely predictable. I only wish it could have been longer.
Twilight lends itself to the shoujo manga format much better than in prose or in film. Young Kim’s renditions of the characters are disarmingly gorgeous, but even they can’t redeem Stephenie Meyer’s story of destructive co-dependency. And then there’s the font.
(Scarabaeus, Book 2) Not quite as compelling as the first book and the romance is underdeveloped, but still a satisfying conclusion to the Scarabaeus duology.
(Iron Seas, Book 2) It’s rare in romance to find an uncompromisingly strong heroine and even rarer to find a hero who understands how to love such a woman. This book gets it just right.
Special thanks to BOOKSELLER+PUBLISHER for keeping us abreast of what's going on in the Australian book industry, and particularly to Tim Coronel, who patiently explains to us the intricacies of book publishing in plain Tweet-lish.
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