Book 2 in J.R. Ward's Blackdagger Brotherhood series, Lover Eternal, tells the story of the warrior, Rhage. Though the most obviously good-looking of the brothers, (highlighted by his nickname, Hollywood, because of his movie-star good looks), he is also one of the most deadly. Rhage exhibits a playful exterior, known as the joker of the brothers and the most sexual, running through women like a human needs air to breath, but beneath that lies a dangerous predator. I mean this literally, not in the same way I described Wrath from book one.
Cursed with a beast, Rhage is walking pain, living in a constant state of control to the point where if he does not engage in brutal hand-to-hand combat with lessers, or bed multiple women at a time, his beast takes over his body. The process is both physically and emotionally painful for Rhage until he meets Mary Luce. She herself is cursed, but by illness, and I liked the way they could both identify with one another and yet not fully understand each other through this, all at the same time. This, for me, gave their relationship an interesting dynamic that went beyond lust and made me actually believe that they loved each other, because they grew into loving each other rather than merely hurtling blindly into it (as most vampire novels are guilty of).
Having to always maintain control is a struggle for Rhage, and adds another dynamic to his character and his relationship with Mary. The love scenes are a wonderful mixture of his struggle to control himself, and the effect this has on Mary, and then his relinquishing control later on, and the consequential effect this has on his relationship with Mary as a result. This is what sets apart Ward from any other writer of vampire fiction, the love scenes are not simply love scenes. Yes there is sex, yes there is heat, yes there are incredibly sexy male characters, but they are flawed. In this novel, Rhage is famous for being a sex-god, but there is a vulnerability in his love scenes with Mary that make him wonderfully endearing, rather than a just another man who only ever exists in novels.
In my opinion, this author has a gift with words, as seen through the, frankly, hilarious exchanges that take place throughout the entire series. It is not that Ward simply inserts such phrases into the novels just for comedic effect, but to show us more of what each character is like that differentiates each from the other. Mary's internal dialogue during one particular exchange with Rhage, where Rhage expresses his happiness that his body pleases her, in which she thinks, "fine, dandy, [...] Then lose the shirt, peel off those leather pants, and lie down on my tile. We'll take turns being on the bottom," had me laughing at the page because, I admit, those would have been my thoughts were I in Mary's position. (We would all think it reading this scene. None of us would be immune!)
Butch also makes a welcome return through the aftermath of the incident in the first novel concerning him and Marissa. Ward makes sure to keep all of the brothers included in each novel, enough to keep the dynamics of the Brotherhood as well as providing small clues as to what will happen in the next novel and between whom.
The novel also introduces the vampire, Bella, Mary's best friend and the potential relationship with the brother, Zsadist, and an added interesting dimension to their story through his twin and fellow warrior, Phury. The warrior, Tohrment, and his shellan (wife), Wellsie, also feature heavily in the novel through the introduction of the vampire (and suspected warrior) John Matthew (whose warrior name is Tehrror). John Matthew is instantly likeable. A mute, he develops a close friendship with Mary and then Tohrment and Wellsie also, who take him in and treat him as a son. John Matthew's character is not only defined by the fact that he is mute. (It would have been easy for Ward to simply fall in this to make this be John Matthew through and through). But he is also a young man who has had to deal with the repurcussions of being homeless, of being a victim, of not understanding the world as he sees it, of not ever feeling as though he ever truly belonged anywhere. John Matthew, in my opinion, is Ward's strongest evidence of her paying attention to her characterization.
An excellent read and one of the best of the entire series.
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