“The 10th book in the Black Dagger Brotherhood series. This one follows Tohrment as he tries to move past the death of his shellan so that she and their unborn son can be released from the InBetween (their version of Purgatory but one where you can only stay for so long before losing yourself and staying forever) and into the Fade (their version of Heaven). The Lessers are barely any part of this story but instead the secondary storyline follows Xcor and his Band of Bastards who seek to dethrone Wrath.
I approve of the way the new romance was handled in being incredibly respectful of Tohrment's previous mate. It was about him not ceasing to love her but rather finally being able to know that he could love her but still move on with his life. It took time, heartbreak, anger, hurt, and everything else for him to do that and I appreciate that it wasn't just swept under the rug but rather made the central theme.
I liked seeing the conflict between Xhex and John. If that had turned out HEA I think it damages those characters. I'm not sure I like what is going on with the Qhuinn, Layla, Blay, Saxton, and possibly Xcor thing tho. Qhuinn and Layla trying to have a baby just seems icky especially since they are both in love with other people. I'd love to see Qhuinn and Blay get a story but unfortunately I don't see that ever happening. While Ms. Ward isn't afraid to have homosexual characters in her books which I'm happy to see, I doubt she will risk upsetting her target audience by doing a book solely about a M/M relationship and thus their relationship seems doomed to stay in the background, unfolding slowly over several books, but never getting the spotlight.
It's nice to have a new plot device coming but unfortunately, it looks like the main reason for it is because she needed more males to continue the series. She'd run out of her main male characters so she brought in a fresh infusion of character simply so she can continue the series. It's now a cashcow and has less to do with resolving anything or true world building and everything to do with continuing to find new characters to pair up.
Which leads to my main complaint with this one as with the previous ones. What do Autumn and Tohr actually have in common other than great sex and tortured pasts? Hobbies? Interests? It's frustrating that Ms. Ward can create such a rich world with wonderful backstory on everyone but yet the characters have no interests outside of killing lessers, sex, drinking, and watching tv. Really?! I think it's a shame that she has only once shown any part of a true relationship being built on anything other than mutual attraction or inner turmoil. The world is rich enough to keep me interested enough to read but while I buy tons of books each year, I check hers out of the library because I cant' bring myself to pay money for something that could so obviously be better and that the author is so clearly capable of making better but chooses not to.”
