The Savior (BDB #17) – J.R. Ward

I actually finished this book before Heir to Chaos, but I had to really spend some time thinking about it before I could review it. Unlike The Thief, which I found to be formulaic and containing characters that didn’t peak my interest, The Savior was about a character I had forgotten but grew to love, Murhder.

Murhder, the only Brother ever expelled from the BDB, returns in this book after seeing an image of a woman that he feels compelled to help. This need leads him along familiar paths to places and relationships better forgotten from his past, and exposes cracks in the BDB that need attention. This book felt like a return to the old days – maybe just because Murhder is from that era of the BDB timeline – and I highly recommend it.

I’m trying to learn to avoid spoilers, but if you have read along with the BDB until this point, you know who Murhder is and why he is important. I think that this book really spoke to me, though, not because of the vampire character but because of Sarah, his love interest. She is brave, she is smart, and she breathes new life into the dark corners of the Mansion. She reminds us that the Brothers’ mates are forces of nature unto themselves, and she is a character that has stuck with me long after I finished the book. She is who we all need to be, putting the needs of the many ahead of her own. I was glad to see this return to strong characters and a brilliantly interwoven plot after being disappointed in The Thief.