I have to say Lover Mine has to be the longest and most complicated book in the BDB series so far.
It is John Matthew's story which means it is also Darius's story and Xhex's story-and it is amazing how the three all wrap up and combine intersecting at different points in time.
Now for those of you who read the books you know that John Matthew is known as Darius's son. Darius was killed in the very first book after telling Wrath to go find his daughter Beth, who is now married to Wrath. But with Beth came John Matthew and Bella- pushing characters into the light for future stories.
Throughout the books John Matthew is a constant character and the shadows of Darius are always there but in this book a whole lot about Darius is revealed including how important he was to so many of the characters we have grown to know and love.
We also learn that John Matthew and Darius may be much closer than father and son (which has also been hinted at throughout with the flashbacks & with John knowing much more about Darius than he should know). Xhex describes it as John Matthew having a duality within him or around him, like two pieces of himself that are split.
I was hoping this would be made completely clear in this book where the lines cross but I am still a little confused. I guess we are left to draw the final conclusion in our minds by ourselves- is he or isn't he? And how could it be? The father is the son, the son is the father, the brother is the father and so on...
One thing that really surprised me was the connection between Darius and Xhex, that's one I never saw coming.
One thing that annoyed me was the sideline story about the ghost hunters and Eliahu (how the hell do you pronounce that anyway?) Rathboone. I had no clue why this was included in the book until the very end and I thought that it was a very long and drawn out way to give Xhex a little closure unless the Warden is planning on having Eliahu appear in a future book.
The Lash and the lessers story line also annoyed me, but the lessers in the book have always annoyed me, I would much rather just read about the Brothers.
I did appreciate that the stage has been set for Payne and Manny to appear in an upcoming book and possibly Layla and Qhuinn though I am not happy about the way the whole Qhuinn and Blay thing has played out.
In some of the books the featured Brother overcomes his past, works out his shit and gets the girl. In other books he sorts things out and gets the girl but the girl may not exactly be all that he wants since he may be jonesing for one of his Brothers (V and Butch anyone, V seriously got a raw deal with a ghost shellan and a connection with Butch that will never go further).
I find those plot lines odd- sure the whole romance thing here dictates boy gets girl- not boy gets boy. But come on? Boy gets girl but still wants boy...
All in this was a good book as I always love reading about the Brothers but I really wanted a more concrete explanation and closure on some things, especially the whole sitch with John and Darius. I feel I didn't get that.
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