Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changelings, Book 1)
by Nalini Singh
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Book Reviews of Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changelings, Book 1)
Book Review: absolutely fantastic!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Imagine a world in which all inhabitants are either shape shifters (known as changelings) or Psy. Psy have varying powers and are interconnected through the PsyNet but the Silence has bred all emotions out of them. However, there is one Psy who is different....
Sascha Duncan has always hidden her inner core as she knows she is a broken Psy and would be sent for rehabilitation if this were discovered. Treated as a cardinal due to her mother's high position on the Council, Sascha is placed in charge of a joint business venture between the Psy and the DarkRiver leopards- the first joint venture between the Psy and changelings.
Lucas Hunter is DarkRiver's Alpha and he has a secret agenda. A Psy serial killer is stalking changeling women and one of his pack lost his sister to this vicious killer. Lucas' plan is to infiltrate the PsyNet through Sascha to obtain the killer's identity but he never expects to find a Psy who feels emotions. War is about to break out between changeling and Psy as the changelings believe the Psy are protecting a killer. Sascha and Lucas will have to learn to work together quickly as one of the SnowDancer's women has been kidnapped by the psychopathic Psy and her time is running out.
Nalini Singh is a relative newcomer to the romance scene but her stunning paranormal, SLAVE TO SENSATION, is sure to garner her many new fans! The plotline is intriguing and provides a very refreshing approach to both the psychic and shape shifter themes. Keep a box of Kleenex handy, however, as you will be moved to tears as this story packs a very powerful punch!
SLAVE TO SENSATION is a superb story demonstrating the power of love and physical touch. The Psy have made every effort to create a world of logical and emotionless beings similar to Star Trek's Spock. Instead, beings with no moral conscience are being formed as exemplified by the serial killer preying on the changeling women. Love and physical touch can be very soothing and healing and Ms. Singh provides an exemplary story demonstrating this vividly to the reader.
Nalini Singh breathes life into her characters and even secondary characters, such as Tamsyn, have an unexpected depth to them. This story, although complete in and of itself, is wide open for sequels as the reader will want to know more about the fabulous cast of characters created by Ms. Singh. One can only hope that a sequel is in the works as SLAVE TO SENSATION is easily one of the best books published this year in the paranormal genre.
SLAVE TO SENSATION is highly recommended and this reviewer cannot rave enough about how wonderful this book truly is. Sascha is one of the strongest, most endearing characters to come along in quite awhile and her acceptance of herself and her relationship with Lucas provides the reader with numerous gut-wrenching and heart-warming moments. If you read only one book this year, SLAVE TO SENSATION quite simply must be that book!
COURTESY OF CK2S KWIPS AND KRITIQUES
Book Review: first of an amazing series
Summary: 5 Stars
Wow. Why have I not heard of Nalini Singh before? The cover of Slave to Sensation assures me she's a bestselling author. Somebody's been falling down on the job.
This is a science fiction romance, which accounts for some of my excitement. There are plenty of fantasy romances, but not so many science fiction ones. And the premise is not uncommon in science fiction books: a race of futuristic humans have suppressed emotions in an attempt to eliminate violence, but it goes awry.
But there's more to it than that, and it's all in the way it's written.
Sascha Duncan is a Psy--one of the race with psychic abilities that control this future world. In fact, she's a Cardinal Psy, meaning she has the potential for great power, but she's living far beneath her potential because she's "broken." All Psy have been trained since birth to suppress their emotions, but Sascha's been feeling emotions, and fears that her mind is on the verge of collapse. She's desperate to hide it as long as she can, because the alternative is a "rehabilitiation" that would wipe her mind, leaving no trace of her self.
Lucas Hunter is a Changeling, and leader of the DarkRiver pack of were-leopards. He's working with Sascha on a joint Psy-Changeling construction project, but has a hidden motive: finding a serial killer, a Psy who's been preying on young Changeling women.
Their story is emotionally intense. Sascha's thoughts and reactions are very realistic, as she's feeling emotions more and more, and trying to interpret them and what they mean. Both of them have things they have to hide from each other, and Sascha in addition has to hide her newfound emotional state from the other Psy, particularly from her mother.
The mystery is well done, as are the paths Sascha and Lucas take to unravel it. In the process, they both find out things about themselves and their pasts, and the politics of their world. Which is another reason I liked this story so much: the intrigue.
The future world of Slave to Sensation is a complete one, with a history and complex societies. I can see several directions open to the series, so I hope it goes on a long time.
My only, very minor niggle is the cover and title. My first impression, at a glance, was that it was a BDSM erotic romance. It's not. I wouldn't have minded if it were, but I do fear that some readers will be disappointed, and some readers who'd have liked the sf-romance blend might miss it. Of course, most people probably do read the back of the book before buying, so maybe it's not a problem.
I'll definitely be looking for Nalini Singh's backlist, and watching for her future books.
Book Review: An interesting new world and some appealing characters
Summary: 5 Stars
I enjoyed this book because, despite featuring werewolves and other shapeshifters, it was unlike any other shapeshifter book I have read. In `Slave To Sensation' Nalini Singh describes a world where there are three classes of people - the humans, the shapeshifters and the Psy. The Psy are those with psychic talents who, 100 years previously, made a pact to detach themselves from all emotions in order to become more perfect people. The Psy consider themselves above the humans and shapeshifters and keep themselves mostly separate from the others - it's like a sub-group of people like Mr Spock. Their culture is one of lack of emotion, no touch, no fear or pain and no crime.
Or is it? Sascha Duncan is a Cardinal Psy, theoretically one of the most powerful of the Psy group and visibly marked by her special eyes. Everyone can see that she is a Cardinal and yet she doesn't seem to have the requisite huge psychic power. She can feel that her life is coming apart, her barriers to emotion are crumbling and she knows that when her mother Nikita or anyone else on the Psy Council realise this they will give her, in effect, a lobotomy. She's desperately trying to hide her Psy problems from them for as long as possible.
Lucas Hunter is a shapeshifter Panther who finds himself in a business relationship with Sascha and her mother. He has an ulterior motive for the business link - he is trying to investigate a serial killer of shapeshifter women who is definitely one of the Psy; perhaps Sascha is his chance to learn more about the Psy and to find the killer through her.
However, pretty soon their close contact with each other starts to erode the barriers between them and their mutual suspicions. It seems that they must work together, and with the local werewolf clan, to try to find out who the killer is - but Sascha knows that it will cause her death and Lucas begins to think that's too big a sacrifice.
This book was a really good read - the gradual thawing of Sascha's Mr Spock personality was very touchingly written. Lucas is, of course, an Alpha male and fulfils all the required alpha male stereotypes in this genre of book but he also comes across as caring and intelligent. The hunt for the serial killer, although not an overwhelming part of the story (and the villain not particularly surprising), is well plotted. The descriptions of Sascha's travels in the Psy world are interesting and well thought through.
The final pages of the book are a preview to a new book, `Visions Of Heat' to be released in 2007 which evidently follows on from `Slave To Sensation' - and it's a book that I'll be buying.
Book Review: My Book of the Year so Far
Summary: 5 Stars
This story presents a complex but not complicated paranormal inhabited by strong personalities. The plot is fairly simple. Lucas Hunter, the alpha of the DarkRiver leopard pack, is searching for a Psy serial killer who is kidnapping, torturing and killing changeling women. In order to find out more about the mysterious Psy, he offers his business services as a consultant and agent for a construction project run by the Duncan family. This puts him in direct contact with Sascha Duncan, a cardinal Psy.
The Psy are a species who have been trained from birth to not feel emotion. The Silence was a program to stamp out emotion in order to rid itself of violence. But some Psy do feel and Sascha Duncan is one of them. The problem is that Sascha understands that to feel is weak and that the Psy do not allow for weakness within its group. The weak are culled from the herd and basically institutionalized.
The setup creates instant conflict. Sascha a Psy who must feel no emotion is thrown together with Lucas, a changeling whose entire existence is built upon feeling. Lucas feels every emotional range, from hate and vengeance, to caring and love. Importantly, however, is that the conflict in this story is external and does not rely on the Big Mis or hateful actions by the protagonists to drive the story forward.
As Sascha realizes that she is losing control over her ability to eliminate emotions, the worst thing that can happen to her no longer becomes having emotion but living without it. As Sascha becomes more important to Lucas, the worst thing changes for him as well. While there is not significant intricate layering in the story, the subject matter is provocative. The story impels us toward the maxim that feelings, no matter how gritty and painful, are more worthwhile that living without. There are extremely romantic moments and sentiments expressed by both characters.
The sexual tension is thick and the consumation scenes are intense. This book has it all: the paranormal aspect, the alpha hero, the strong heroine, the hot sexy romance, and external conflict. There was a plausible and believable ending which, if a little schmaltzy, suited me just fine. In fact, I could have even endured a few more epilogue pages to show Lucas and Sascha enjoying themselves together.
It's a book that fulfilled all my emotional needs as a romance reader, closing with a satisfactory HEA ending but still left me anxious for more. The setup for future books was excellent and not at all intrusive. I feel that this is the beginning of a great series. A for the book.
Book Review: Slave to Sensation
Summary: 5 Stars
Sascha Duncan has always known she was different from the other Psy. A race of "superior" humans that are conditioned from birth to feel nothing, the Psy have become the leaders and renowned for their icy disdain and lack of emotions. But Sascha is forced to guard her every word and thought to prevent others on the PsyNet from discovering she is flawed. If it was discovered that she could feel emotions, it would result in her being sent to "rehabilitation" and the total psychic erasure of everything she is.
Sascha has been assigned the task of working with the Changeling, Lucas Hunter, on a joint business project between the Psy and the Changelings. The Changelings are the opposite of the Psy and revel in their sensual nature and their enjoyment of life, emotions and physical desires.
But Lucas isn't just any Changeling, he's the Alpha ruler of the DarkRiver Leopard pack and he's determined to find out the truth behind the brutal murders of several Changeling women by a Psy. He sees this business partnership as a way to look into the secretive Psy society through their representative, Sascha.
But Sascha and Lucas both find the other is not what they expected and they are fascinated by each other. Will the secrets they discover mean their destruction and perhaps the destruction of their very societies?
I had already read some of Nalini's contemporary romances by the time I saw the announcement of this paranormal romance and I'll admit I was a little uncertain. You just never know what to expect when an author does a genre shift, but the premise and blurb was so interesting that I gave it a try and I am extremely glad that I did.
Slave to Sensation is a fascinating look at an alternative reality where society has taken their separation to extremes. I started to read this book late one evening and couldn't put it down until I had devoured itūthen I read it all again the next day. With hot sex and an all-consuming love, the characters totally enthralled me and especially Sascha's struggles to be what she was expected to be, then her desire to protect Lucas and the DarkRiver Leopards in the face of everything she's been raised to believe and her certainty that it will mean her own destruction.
I completely and joyfully recommend Slave to Sensation. With an incredibly rich world and societies, hot sex and enthralling emotions, I will undoubtedly read this book again and again. Now I can't wait for the next book in this series!
Maura
Reviewed for Joyfully Reviewed