The Chosen
By J.R Ward
A Black Dagger Brotherhood Novel
Publisher: Ballantine
Release Date: April 4, 2017
Reviewed by Maria Lokken
Warning: This review contains spoilers.
At the start, we find our heroine, Layla,
the Brother Quinn, and his husband/soldier Blay happily ensconced in the
Brotherhood’s mansion living a seemingly happy domestic family life. All was well as I turned the pages, but this
is a J.R. Ward book so I didn’t get too comfortable because I knew this
familial tranquility couldn’t last. However, I did not expect things to blow up
with such ferocity, on so many levels, to so many characters, so quickly.
Xcor and his Band of Bastards are wanted
for high treason after their assassination attempt on the King. I wondered how Xcor was going to come back
from that and become the hero of this book, and in that respect, the author has
done an excellent job. As she has done
in her previous books, the flashbacks to a character’s history reveals their
emotional and troubled past giving us a better understanding of how they came
to be who they are. Xcor’s physical disfigurement gave him a world of hurt in a
mother who abused and then abandoned him and a father who had absolutely no use
for him. For centuries, his existence was shaped by men whose cruelty was
limitless.
The heroine, Layla is one of The Chosen
who has spent centuries in a gilded cage serving the Mother of her race - The
Scribe Virgin. That Layla and Xcor, two seemingly disparate characters, would
find each other and fall in love is the stuff of romance novels. Their love is forbidden. After all he did try
and kill the king. When Layla tells Quinn that she is in love with Xcor all
hell breaks loose and she is sent away. And so, the misery, uh, I mean story
begins.
After a protracted and angst filled
journey the Chosen, Layla and the head of the Band of Bastards, Xcor finally
have what I would call is an extremely happy ending. The kind of Hallmark happy
ending that makes you sigh, smile and dab a happy tear from your eye. However, I was pretty much exhausted by the
end of the book. My head was spinning
and I was left with a feeling of foreboding.
A feeling that the next few books were going to be an exercise in misery
for the BDB.
It’s the cliffhangers, ever changing
and evolving world, and new insights into established characters that keeps
readers coming back. Just when you
thought everything was settled, the author throws in a “what if” you could
never have imagined. In The Chosen,
the Brother Vishous, who has had two previous books dedicated to him and has
already had his happy ending, is once again questioning his relationship. And
not in a good way. To some readers this may be maddening. For me?
Not so much. I think Ms. Ward is brave to continually keep her world
alive and in fact a bit messy. So messy in fact (Spoiler Alert) the mother of
the race, The Scribe Virgin, is no more.
Oy! Didn’t see that one coming.
Now the new head of the race (you’ll have to read the book to find out who that
is) is feeling their way on how to fulfill the prophecies of the race.
In the end, The Chosen leaves us with a new villain, new heroes and a new
threat to the Vampire race. Never a dull
moment as the war between the Vampires and the Lessening Society continues to
wage. And seriously - I can’t wait to
find out what happens next.
What are some of your favorite long running series and why?
