Review: The Savior by J.R. Ward

Title: The Savior

Author: J.R. Ward

Series: Black Dagger Brotherhood #17

5 stars – I loved it!

In the Black Dagger Brotherhood history there has only been one male who has been expelled but Murhder actions gave them no choice. Years later he returns to Caldwell to ask for help. He has been searching for the female he could not save and knows the Brotherhood is the best option of finding her. This leads to the past being revealed, a pretran being saved, and love being found.

I loved this book!! It’s been awhile since I have 5 starred a BDB book (The Shadows). The last few books have made my enthusiasm for this series wane because of some major character actions (V). But this one brought all the feelings and excitement back. I adored Murhder and Sarah! Also we finally get more Xhex and John!

Murhder is one of my favorite brothers now. He is a protective alpha male who is also super kind and sweet. He instantly takes an orphaned pretran under his wing and acts like a father to him. While he is insane, his mind has healed over the years enough to where he can function. Sarah is the key to healing him completely. Sarah is a very smart and kind scientist. When she realizes that her company is experimenting on a kid she quickly sets out to rescue him. I love how determined she was to help. She knows her time is limited but she still helps as much as she can.

“Destiny is not a straightaway. It’s cluttered with corners and all of them are dark. We make the turns we do…and find ourselves where we are.” – Murhder

I adored watching Murhder and Sarah fall in love. While they were destined to be together their relationship was heartbreaking. The Brotherhood refuses to allow her to stay so they are racing against the clock until her memories are wiped. Of course it works out in the end for these two and they get to be together forever. I love that the first thing they did when they came back was adopt the pretran that they saved. He makes a perfect addition to their family.

John Matthew and Xhex are the other main couple in this book. Xhex and Murhder have a past history and that causes some problems between JM and Xhex at first. John quickly realizes that while Murhder does love Xhex it’s as a friend, not a lover anymore. Getting another glimpse at John and Xhex’s relationship was great. In previous books we know they had some issues at the beginning of their mating but no longer. They are a strong and secure couple now who lean on each other. I also really enjoyed the bonding moment between John and Murhder where they spent some time fighting lessers.

“Family doesn’t stop. There is no past tense to family, Murhder.” – Sarah

Now onto the brotherhood. I can understand why the brothers would be mad at Murhder and don’t trust him. But I was really annoyed by Tohr again. He is instantly aggressive and confrontational with Murhder, especially after he catches him fighting with John. But when he finds the truth he does a 180 and tries to be a friend. I just don’t really like Tohr anymore. It was heartbreaking watching Murhder find out about the deaths in the brotherhood because that was his family too.

While I loved this book I did have one issue with it. That issue was Murhder’s insanity. He never really came across as insane. He kept thinking he was but never actually acted insane. So I wish this had been portrayed a little better.

Overall, I really loved this book. It brought me back to the core of why I loved this series and makes me excited to continue.

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Previous books in the Black Dagger World: