Hmm. I hadn’t thought about the comatose thing, but you’re right (though it bothers me less with Angels’ Blood since that was a new series and you get to pull a rabbit out of a hat at least once a series). I was definitely more hung up on the very convenient special powers. That, and how in so many of the books the women seem to be the ones required to give up major parts of themselves/risk scary injuries or death to be with the hero. There’s always a reason, it’s never out of the blue, yet it keeps happening. For me, that’s part of what made the Brenna/Judd book so compelling–for once, no one thought she was a sleeper agent, she didn’t have to even consider giving up her place in the pack, etc to be with Judd (and he was already out of the psynet, so no worries about him dropping out and dying). The conflict was more internal and for me, more compelling.

BIG SPOILERS for Singh’s last three books
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

… that the last three Nalini Singh books I have read — Angels’ Blood, Branded by Fire and Blaze of Memory, all ended with the heroine awakening from a comatose state. That is getting a bit repetitive, so I hope to see different endings to Archangel’s Kiss and Bonds of Justice.

with the magical sparkly healing was too magically sparkly. I don’t like it when we keep getting new special powers (even when there’s a backdoor left for why there are new powers) that conveniently do exactly what needs to be done. Too deus ex machina.

I have to admit that this is the first Singh book that left me more or less unengaged. They’re starting to feel too repetitive. I liked Mercy and Riley’s book (though again, there was a bit of deus ex machina at the end), and I’m really looking forward to Hawke’s book, but too many of the couples’ stories feel the same. Don’t go down that path, Nalini!

This actually is one of the situations in which I read a lot of reviews, because often a reviewer formulates clearly what has only been a gut feeling for me. I do like it when all falls into place, and my thoughts about a book align with my feelings :-) And I think you do have a point concerning the “mistrust circles”. So thank you very much for this review!

As to Dev being colder, I’m not so sure (compared to Dorian and Clay in the beginnings of their respective book?), what irked me here was that the metaphors/the descriptions read “purely cat changeling” to me, while the – quite interesting – metal aspect of his personality/Psy ability was more told than shown.

Anyhow, it just may be a case of high expectations not completely met. Nalini Singh still stays on my auto-buy list…

Something that struck me, too, is that in the beginning of the series, things were quite black and white for the reader with regards to Silence. It was bad and that was that. In every book since then, the author has expanded the issue and revealed its complexity. I love how skillfully Nalini is fully exploring the reasons for Silence, not just telling us about it, and why it will soon crumble (because that has to be the peak of the story arc she’s on). I feel that the letters contributed to this greatly.

As for the romance in this book, initially I wasn’t as invested in Dev and Katya’s HEA as I wanted to be and, like Janine, I notably missed previous characters. However, the last half of the book swept me up, as well, and I do appreciate Nalini not pulling in previous characters merely to satisfy readers. Each time we see a hero or heroine from a previous book, it’s for a reason relevent to the present action and often their growth from that book plays a part, too. I think I fell in love with Judd even more in this book. :)

The ending, though it did have similarities to previous endings, struck me because, while not completely expected, managed not to come out of left field. I like Nalini’s endings because they build on established facts or reasons that make sense, not deus ex machina. She has brilliant consistency in her writing and doesn’t rely on crutches or shortcuts. I’d read a grocery list if Nalini Singh wrote it. :)

For me in the series, this book ranks above Slave to Sensation and Hostage to Pleasure, but not as high as Caressed by Ice, Mine to Possess or Branded by Fire. About on par with Visions of Heat, I would say. But I get that for you it was the weakest, and I’m sorry that my recommendation didn’t work out for you.

The thing is, I can’t really pin down, why the h/h left me this uninterested and detached. One point may be that Dev is described and acts like a Changeling cat, but isn’t one (which just sounds weird to me and doesn’t make him unique), another that the bonding is very similar to a mating with changelings involved. With these aspects Nalini Singh, IMO, passes up the opportunity to explore the development of the relationship of this pairing of a Psy and a member of the Forgotten and goes in a formulaic direction with the romance part of the story. A second point may be the repetitiveness in the relationship you mentioned.

BTW, my favourites in the series, and re-read innumerable times, also are Branded By Fire and Caressed by Ice.

But I agree that Singh is a very strong writer. I love the way her books grab a hold of me.

For me, Nalini Singh could write the phone book and I would read it to see how she makes the ending happy. Her books always affect me and I find myself rereading them often.

See now, I loved those letters, and I've read the whole series through this one. Normally I loath chapter-starters like those letters, but these I found to be the perfect way to get a feel not only for the Forgotten, but the pre-Silence Psy as well, as well as the reasons for implementing Silence. I felt this book did that the best, despite anything we've gotten about the Psy previously.

I agree that the letters to Matthew gave us a better feel for all the things you mentioned than the earlier books did. But I still had a strong enough feel for these things before reading the letters that when I read them I felt some “but I already know this” impatience.

The romance felt out-of-the-blue at first, but then settles into a nicely developing pace. This one isn't my favorite either (Mercy and Riley -rowwwrrrr), but definitely felt it advanced the series in a good way.

I liked this book quite well overall too. What did you think about the ending?

SPOILER
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

A bit similar to the endings of Branded by Fire and Angels’ Blood in terms of what happens to the heroine there, but it still affected me deeply.

See now, I loved those letters, and I’ve read the whole series through this one. Normally I loath chapter-starters like those letters, but these I found to be the perfect way to get a feel not only for the Forgotten, but the pre-Silence Psy as well, as well as the reasons for implementing Silence. I felt this book did that the best, despite anything we’ve gotten about the Psy previously.

The romance felt out-of-the-blue at first, but then settles into a nicely developing pace. This one isn’t my favorite either (Mercy and Riley -rowwwrrrr), but definitely felt it advanced the series in a good way.