See, I caved and bought the recently released J. R. Ward‘s Black Dagger Brotherhood Insider’s Guide. After going through the 467 pages, I spent some time doing the “head desk” dance.

I don’t know about anyone else, but for a US$15 sticker price, I really expected something more… different… new.

Live and learn, of course—fully 200 pages are either excerpts from the six books already out, or available through the online forums.

Out of the other 270 pages, only the first 80 are truly new reader content—a novella length add-on to Zsadist’s story. (And may I rant a bit about the lack of internal consistency in it? First we are told vampire pregnancy lasts eighteen months, then that Bella is on her ninth month, then that she has seven more months to go. Hello, math? We are told it’s been two months since the birth, then another character says it’s been three—in the same night. Huh? Yes, these things annoy me. Unreasonably so. And your point would be?)

Okay, there are also 25 pages of deleted scenes from several of the published books, ten pages of writerly advice, and (for some reason that escapes me) a copy of the original proposal for Dark Lover, first title in the series. (more…)