Finished Dark Lover by J.R. Ward last night.

This is the first book in Ward’s wildly popular Black Dagger Brotherhood series. This one is about Wrath, the last pure-blooded vampire on the planet. Wrath is the leader of the brotherhood and an absent king to his people. But that all changes when an old friend asks him to look after his half-human daughter, Beth Randall. Beth is about to become a vampire — and she has no clue about it until Wrath shows up on her doorstep.

My first thought on reading this book? That Ward writes like a man. I don’t mean it as an insult, just a note on her style. Dark Lover is tough and gritty and, well, dark. More urban fantasy than paranormal romance. This could easily be a Reacher novel by Lee Child, if Reacher was a vampire instead of merely a mortal bad-ass. Or an Earl Swagger book by Stephen Hunter.

I’ve never been a big fan of the vampire romance, mainly because I don’t think sucking someone else’s blood is sexy. And I just never got the whole blood = sex = life mystique. Plus, the market has been flooded with vampire romances in recent years, and I’ve read some pretty bad ones.

But I really enjoyed Dark Lover. Ward has crafted an imaginative, interesting world that’s far more detailed than the usual we’re-vampires-we-suck-blood you get in so many books. The terms were a little confusing at first, but the glossary in the front helped. Ward introduced a pantheon of characters (all with pretty equal screen time), but wove all of them and the story threads together in some cool, unexpected ways. My only quibble? There’s a ceremonial scene in the last third of the book that really slooowed down the action. Other than that, big thumbs up.

And I have to admit that reading Dark Lover made me want to write some fanfic. About a girl who’s family is killed by the lessers (Ward’s bad guys) and who grows up to be a warrior herself — such a kick-ass one that she wants to join the brotherhood. But they don’t want to let a human join their ranks — especially a chick. Stuff blows up. People die. There’s lots of sex. The Virgin Scribe intervenes. The conclusion is stunning and heart-wrenching and beautiful … 

Well, you get the idea. I do this a lot. Put my own spin on other people’s books, worlds, TV shows, movies. Insert my own characters into the drama in my head, rewrite scenes, add new ones. Oh yeah, and totally disregard other people’s magic/caste systems. 😎

The girl-becomes-warrior story is actually one I’ve been toying with for a while now. I’ve written a couple of versions of it, but I finally think I know what I’m going to do with it — and make it totally my own. It’s on my to-write list, after I finish Bigtime 4 …

What about you? Do you like Ward’s tough style? Hate it? Do any authors make you want to write fanfic? Inquiring minds want to know …