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Review
3 stars
We’re 22 books into the Black Dagger Brotherhood series, and it’s time for the second gen! The surprising and devastating events that ended the last book of the series saw us jump 30+ years into the future, and now we have the story of Nala, daughter of original Brother Zsadist and, like her mother before her, she falls for a tortured and misunderstood hero in Nate.
Nate was rescued from a laboratory where he was tortured for years. He then saw the woman he thought he loved reject him for somebody else, and a brutal attack has left him supernaturally changed and facing a depressing immortality. He’s spiralling out of control. Nala is dealing with her own dramas –a weird dynamic with her parents, fighting with her best friend Bitty, not quite fitting in with the second-gen cool crowd, and chaffing under the near crippling overprotectiveness of her father. They’re both struggling but find their redemption in each other.
It’s a great set-up, and I did love these two together, but the love story happens really fast. There’s not a lot of build up and things progress really quickly, and while I’m a big fan of the supernatural soulmate instalove, I feel like the romance was sacrificed at the expense of fitting in all of the other storylines in the book (which is sadly fairly common for the later BDB books). I would have loved to watch these two fall in love with the level of detail that the earlier books in the series had.
I was also hoping we would see more of Zsadist and Bella as they navigate their daughter being all grown up, but nope. I was excited to see the notoriously broody and badass warrior as a big ball of mush for his beloved baby girl, but he was just more angry and standoffish than I was expecting. There are only a few scenes from Z’s POV, and that’s mostly while he’s out in the field, and the only time we see Bella is when she’s interacting with Nala. As one of the move beloved of the OG couples, I was looking forward to seeing more of them. Though I did enjoy the Nala/Bella dynamic, especially seeing their stories come full circle as Nala comes to understand her parents, and the unconditional love and acceptance between them.
As usual, there is a lot going on in BDB-world, and there are multiple storylines running through this book from multiple different perspectives.
Wrath – the king has returned and is finding his way back. There were some great moments here, but it could have been more epic than it was.
Bitty and LW – I am fully on board with this development and looking forward to seeing their story unfold. These two had more build-up and chemistry than Nate and Nalla!
Shuli and LW – unexpected, but a nice twist, and should be entertaining in future books.
Lessers – once again, I. Do. Not. Care.
What I did love was that badass finale! I could see it in my head, and I enjoyed seeing the boys in action again and the big moments to finish out the story.
While I wasn’t in love with this book, I did enjoy it more than the last one. I love this world and its characters, and look forward to continuing on.
3 stars.
Find the full Black Dagger Brotherhood series details and reading order here