Five stars for the use of the prison camp to expand the BDB world, though I wish we got more books on the trainees instead! Also for the two solid twists involving the characters.

Four stars for Rhage’s odd backstory, which gained a star purely for the sweetness of the reunion. Also for the romance which, while born from trauma, was still sweet.

Three stars for the dangling threads of Jabon and the stupid way The Jackal got chucked in prison for the rest of his life.

Two stars for never telling us why he was called The Jackal, especially if his job was architecture?!

One star for Posie’s ridiculousness and for the way Nyx struggled to take any direction or help when she was out of her depth. I loved that when she got all know it all about the path, Jack let her go and she promptly got lost and captured. I hate when strong women are conflated with stubborn and stupid instead of just headstrong or independent. Why does bravery always mean reckless???

Things moved kind of slow for a good portion of this, but I think the later chapters made up for it. I particularly enjoyed the flashback scenes with Rhage and Darius, when Darius was in the planning phase of the Brotherhood's mansion. It made me a little teary knowing that his wish to unite the Brotherhood in the home he created for them (the home he had envisioned would be filled with Brothers and their families), would finally come to pass, but he wouldn't be alive to see it.

Can't get enough

I really can't get enough of this series. Each spin off is just as good as the BDB series. Three different settings and storylines that combine all characters together, perfectly blended.

You can read this one as s standalone, as it is first in the spin Prison series. It does flash back to a time that shows us how some things With the BDB came to be.

Overall this book has all the trimmings of the BDB world, including our favorite brother Rhage. It has danger, violence, list and love. We learn some secrets should stay hidden and true love concurs all. A beautful story of love sent by the dearest Scribe Virgin.

Warning this book has some scenes that are very violent and dafk in nature. It is not for the faint.

Like most BDB books this is a good one. It starts a bit slowly and that was annoying but you see the purpose of it and then it all flows.

one word....wolven!!!!

Review can also be found on *Milky Way of Books*

I don't usually review J.R. Ward's books because they are amazing and she still is an auto-buy author for me. But this book was a new beginning in the universe of the BDB and I felt that I had to say some words.

Nyx travels into a secret prison searching for her last sister and there she meets the Jackal, another vampire who has suffered a lot and keeps his secrets close.

While this takes us a little away from the core group of the BDB members we do have the appearances of Rhage, whom I adore, Vishous and Wrath. The story mostly centers around Nyx and Jackal as they navigate the prison and try to find a way out.

But it is the new species that stands out. The wolven, which sounds like werewolves but I am not sure how they will tie up to the rest of the lore in the books. J. R. Ward over the years has created amazing mythology behind her worldbuilding with deities and demons angels and...well Devina but this species caught my attention. Also, I do hope that some of the secondary characters survived the ending of this book. I loved them immediately despite their craziness. And Apex? Oh boy, this guy will have a good friend in Zsadist if you get my meaning.

A great introduction into a new series that expands the universe even more.

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Method: audiobook

Rating: 3/5 stars

H rating: 3/5 - Jack

h rating: 3/5 - Nyx

Drama: 4/5

Thoughts: Not sure that I am a fan of this one mainly because I couldn't really connect with these characters.

I really liked that!

absolutely loved this book.

it took such a great direction and absolutely loved delving more into Darius and Rhage's past together. looking forward to the next one as always :)

OMG... BDB series is never disappoints and this book is a fabulous addition. I love how it gave life to Darius and showed the past very much alive that we only got glimpses of. The compound and training area was created and designed long before wrath fell in love with Beth and this book brings the past unknown to light ant gives voice to a brother we only seen in memories of others. Love it!!

JR Ward is about to lose me as a reader and here’s why...

I loved loved loved The Black Dagger Brother Hood series after the first six books which were so god damned redundant that I wanted to shoot myself in the face. Peak JR Ward starts around the 7th and 8th book when the plot finally heightened and reached its climax with John, Xhex, and Rehv. Following that, JR Ward created all these unnecessary spin-offs and new series that I feel like should have come AFTER she closed up some very prolonged and neglected plot points concerning Darius, John, Mary, etc etc. There are so many things have been left open for so god damned long that I feel like at this point we won’t get answers.

What pisses me off even more is that JR Ward used to have a talent for drawing you into her next book before it was even close to release date. She would give us such a good glimpse at the coming cast that I was thirsty for the next hardcover to be in my hands as fast as possible. Sadly with the her new books she doesn’t give us any kind of teaser or sample or even MENTION the characters who will be in her next book, automatically deeming them irrelevant for me. Rhage’s have brother who was NEVER mentioned? No. A spin-off in the same universe but ABOUT WOLVES? No.

I might sound like I’m just being super impatient and whiny, but listen, when you’ve been following this series for YEARS AND YEARS and you just want your god damned closure? YOU JUST WANT YOUR GODDAMNED CLOSURE.

Anyways, as you can tell I was quite biased about coming into this new installment. I didn’t give two craps about a never-mentioned half-brother named ‘nobody gives a shit’ and his love interest. Needless to say on top of them being irrelevant, they were just as plain as unsalted chicken. They were awful and recycled and I just didn’t see the point in reading this book.

The ONE redeemable thing was the treatment of the aristocrat towards the Jackal. Showing the corruption of the Glymera has always interested me and seeing more of that helped me want to read this book.

Otherwise....no. No I didn’t like this book very much at all