JOINT REVIEW: Wolf Rain by Nalini Singh
Wolf Rain can be viewed as either the eighteenth book in Nalini Singh’s the Psy/Changeling series, or the third book in the Psy/Changeling Trinity series. Jennie and I have reviewed six Psy/Changeling books together, so when Wolf Rain came out, it was almost a forgone conclusion that we would keep the tradition alive. – Janine
Janine: Alexei, a lieutenant in the SnowDancer pack, is running in the rain when he’s bombarded with emotion—grief—from a psy he quickly realizes is a female empath. It doesn’t take him long to identify the source, an underground bunker, or the woman, a prisoner named Memory.
Memory is wary at first (she’s been held prisoner for years with only her now-deceased cat, Jitterbug, for company) but at the thought that her kidnapper, a teleporter, could materialize at any moment, she leaves with Alexei.
After contacting his alpha and sheltering from the rain in the pack’s power station, Alexei and Memory meet up with other wolves and their allies. Memory is identified as indeed an empath, but an unusual one, one whose powers are somehow darker.
Memory is afraid she’ll be rejected by her new allies as soon as she reveals the truth about her powers—that they can imbue psychopaths with temporary empathy. But this empathy doesn’t last long, and it makes the psychopaths better at manipulating normal people.
Jennie: I feel dumb, but that’s a good, succinct description of Memory’s power that somehow eluded me. I knew that she “helped” somehow, but the specifics were a little hazy to me. Either I just missed it or I wasn’t able to connect point A to point B.
Janine: It was more demonstrated (in a scene with Sascha, Ashaya and Amara) than explained. When Memory’s powers are revealed, she is nonetheless invited to join the empath collective and reap its benefits. These include admission to an empath training ground on land belonging to DarkRiver.
Alexei and Memory form an attraction shortly after they meet, but though Memory is open to a relationship, Alexei is more reticent. He’s aware that Memory needs space to be sure she’s not turning to him simply because he rescued her. More than that, an illness in his family leads him to fears he’ll go rogue and kill those he loves if he mates, as his older brother did. He is determined to protect Memory from himself.
Memory faces additional dangers as well. Her kidnapper seeks to recapture her, while an unknown psy with newfound, almost limitless power is experiencing blackouts and attacking the empaths.
Wolf Rain got off to a great start with Alexei and Memory’s first meeting, but their courtship development was pretty run of the mill. While her backstory and circumstances were different from Ivy’s, Memory was almost a dead ringer for her in character, a sunny-natured (no matter how much we were told she was dark because of her powers, what we were actually shown was a sunny personality) empath who recovered from her trauma with miraculous speed. Like Ivy, she even had a beloved pet with a quirky name who helped her endure hard times.
Jennie: I do agree that Memory became well-adjusted all too quickly given what she’d lived through.
Janine: Alexei read like Riley (controlled nature and grumpiness) with a little bit of Drew’s propensity for gift giving thrown in. Though his reasons for it were different, his conflict of digging in his heels and resisting the mating bond is something we’ve seen before in this series, too, with Nate, Hawke and Riaz. I appreciated, though, that Alexei wasn’t as bossy or arrogant as many of the changelings. He and Memory were well-matched.
Jennie: I wonder if your better memory of past books and characters is a detriment here – it’s not like Alexei’s characterization felt daisy-fresh to me, but I didn’t necessarily compare him to past heroes in the series.
Janine: I recently participated in a read-along and discussion of the series, and while I didn’t have time to read all the books, I reread the wolf books – Caressed by Ice (Judd/Brenna), Branded by Fire (Mercy/Riley), Play of Passion (Drew/Indigo), Kiss of Snow (Hawke/Sienna) and half of Tangle of Need (Riaz /Adria). So I was very fresh on Hawke and Riaz. I didn’t remember about Nate until his backstory with Tamsyn was brought up in Wolf Rain.
Jennie: Interesting. I really barely remember Riaz/Adria, to be honest. I know the names, but beyond that…
Janine: Riaz’s wolf found his mate, but she was already married, so he turned away from her. He resisted a relationship with Adria at first because of that.
Back to Wolf Rain. Because the main characters in Wolf Rain felt familiar, I wasn’t super interested in their romance. And it developed pretty much as I expected it to—with Memory kissing away Alexei’s scowls and Alexei chasing away Memory’s anxieties with little gifts. Those are nice touches that I enjoy in Singh’s books, but in the case of Wolf Rain, I wanted more novelty along with the familiar. How did you feel about the romance between Alexei and Memory, Jennie?
Jennie: I kind of liked it! For whatever reason, I was able to let go of preconceptions/past prejudices/whatever else and just start with a fresh slate here. Sometimes my senior memory does me favors, I guess?
Janine: They were cute together but I had difficulty staying engaged. I love the SnowDancers but I’m ready to move on. This world is big and has so much potential, so I’m frustrated that we’ve spent so much time in this one corner of it.
How about a story about Kit’s roaming journey (a road romance perhaps) or a story where he starts his own new, young leopard pack from scratch in another region of the world? A book with a falcon changeling from WindHaven would also be great. Let us get to know Selenka, the female alpha of BlackEdge, the Russian wolf pack. Show us Psy reclaiming children with dangerous abilities who were taken away from them under Silence. I’d also love to read further books about Miane, Malachi and other ocean changelings. Or a book about that grieving lieutenant of Bo’s in the Human Alliance. Or a Rip Van Winkle story for Alice Eldridge.
Jennie: I would love a book for Alice!
Janine: Since I wasn’t so into the romance, the second quarter of the book was pretty ho-hum. But the rest of the story was interesting and engaging. I wanted to know what Memory could do with her powers, see how the cat-and-mouse game between Memory and Renault would resolve itself and find out how the attacks on the empaths by our mystery individual would be foiled. There was some interesting stuff with Amara that kept me absorbed as well.
I noticed a few contrivances, though, that involved ignoring the abilities of a number of characters. Early on in the book, it was stated that Memory can broadcast emotions very loudly—that is how Alexei found her. But later on, when she was in trouble again, she didn’t make use of this ability.
Jennie: That’s a good point, and one I hadn’t thought of.
Janine: In Alexei’s case, this type of thing bordered on the absurd. At one point he needed to reach Memory quickly, but didn’t immediately ask Judd, a packmate and one of his closest friends, to teleport him directly to the region where she was, or request that Hawke, his alpha, provide backup. For that matter the Arrows would have been glad to help, too. It stretches the imagination to believe that none of these things would have occurred to him. And during another incident in Chinatown, packmates offered their assistance, but even though they could have been useful, Alexei turned most of them down.
Ignoring abilities extended to other characters, too. When a minor character suffered a head injury and Judd couldn’t help (not that it was ever explained why not), the idea of asking Keenan and Noor to pitch in didn’t come up. I realize that there’s a concern about exploiting children, but since the injury happened on DarkRiver land and Sascha was very upset by it, I thought an exception might be considered.
What are your thoughts about these omissions? Did they read like contrivances to you, or were you absorbed enough not to be bothered by them?
Jennie: Again, for whatever reason (probably a combination of external and internal factors), I went into this with very little institutional memory or judgment/expectation, which allowed me not to be so aware of these contrivances. I did notice that in the incident in Chinatown, Alexei refused help until a “name” Changeling showed up.
Sometimes, ignorance really is bliss. I think I was vaguely aware at points that using teleporters should be an option, but it was only a passing thought, not a prominent one.
(My main issue with verisimilitude had to do with a character that was described as having her throat torn out, but later it was mentioned that she expressed her last wishes to Alexei. With…her throat torn out?)
Janine: I’m drawing a blank on this—whose throat was it?
Spoiler: Show
It’s also becoming a pattern in this series that an ability and / or side effect of one crop up that no one has ever figured out how to use, block, or channel safely. One would think that in all the centuries before the rise of Silence, answers to pressing problems such as those that Memory and the mystery attacker (to say nothing of characters from earlier books) were faced with would have been found.
Jennie: I think this relates to something I’ve complained about in various other books in the series, which is the “OMG everyone is doomed unless a fix is found for x problem!” when you know a fix will be found by the end of the book. It’s a slightly different issue, but it highlights that a lot of tension is going to be solved by a deus ex machina, and the reader knows it.
Janine: “Everyone is doomed until a fix is found” is getting to be a well-worn trope, too, but I don’t view the resolutions in most of the previous books as deus ex machina.
Because they were solved by the characters involved in the conflicts, and because they were hinted at early on, I didn’t feel that the solutions to the conflicts were deus ex machina in Wolf Rain, either. Did you?
Jennie: No, not in Wolf Rain.
Janine: The second half of Wolf Rain absorbed me more than the first because that was where the various external conflicts picked up and that created more story tension. The resolution to the romance was good and a bit different from the usual—neither of the main characters was comatose or in surgery, for one thing.
Spoiler: Show
Janine: I wanted an emotional moment between Memory and an injured character after that person recovered, and something more with her and the mystery attacker at the end of the book, too. Nalini Singh usually does an excellent job of extracting every drop of emotion from a given scenario, so the fact that we didn’t get these moments made me feel deprived.
Jennie: I ended up really liking the mystery attacker subplot. I thought it was interesting and different and a more nuanced take on the Psy than the series has sometimes shown in the past.
Janine: Yes! I liked it too. I expected the nuance because I guessed who the attacker was even before the first attack.
Spoiler: Show
This author’s books usually have me reading late into the night, but not this time. Singh’s paranormal romances are pretty much the only ones I read, and the Psy/Changeling series is almost a genre unto itself, so she is competing with herself at this point. While this isn’t my favorite of her books, it isn’t at all bad—especially if the reader isn’t fresh enough on the earlier ones to see a lot of the similarities.
Jennie: So, I think we’ve sort of passed each other on the way in some ways with these books. Through probably a dozen books I moaned about my issues – over-the-top writing, confusing descriptions of the PsyNet, my issues with the gender politics and the “Psy=bad/Changeling=good”, and probably other things I’m not thinking of now. But I did like the last book with the different, underwater setting. And though I’ve not been a big fan of the “predatory changeling male” trope, at least when it feels like it’s been done to death, I thought Alexei was a fairly restrained Changeling hero.
Janine: I loved Ocean Light. Is it Silver Silence you’re thinking of that I didn’t like as much as you did? And yes, Alexei was more restrained—that’s what I meant when I said he was less bossy. I appreciated that, too.
Jennie: Yes, I think I liked Silver Silence better than you did…or at least better than I expected to.
Janine: I was pretty frustrated by that book, yeah.
Jennie: This is all to say that for at least these past several books, I think I’ve come to terms with some of the issues I have with this series and have…fought them to a draw, so to speak? At least for now. So I ended up enjoying Wolf Rain to a surprising degree. I didn’t really expect fresh elements (which is not to say I wouldn’t appreciate them), so I was okay with what I got.
Janine: LOL. I had a lot of these same frustrations very early on, but mine came to a draw earlier than yours. I think anyone who has read Nalini Singh knows what to expect in terms of her voice. Vivid, dramatic descriptions, big emotions, powerful and dominant heroes and some essentialisms about the different supernatural races. We’re still reading her eighteen books in, though, so obviously her voice works for us!
Jennie: I can’t really judge it against other books in the series (serieses?) because my memory of them (at least on an individual basis) is not that strong, but Wolf Rain worked pretty well for me.
Janine: You’re not alone. A lot of readers I know liked it. I think I’m more of an outlier on this one.
What is your grade for Wolf Rain, Jennie? Mine is a B-.
Jennie: I’d give it a solid B+!
Note to readers: The discussion in the comments contains spoilers.
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Janine and Jennie. I stopped reading this series a couple of books ago; I missed the simplicity of the earlier books in the series when the majority of the book dealt with the main characters. I did start the first of the spin off series, but I put it aside fairly quickly.
@Kareni: There are a LOT of characters keep track of at this point! And a lot of them make appearances. I kind of have to tune out the “noise” of trying to remember who so-and-so is. (Singh does give expository introductions, at least.)
I don’t mind the more expanded world, maybe because the romances in many of the books in the series have felt repetitive to me at times, so having other characters and plotlines keeps the story moving along for me.
@Kareni: I think that when I read the first few books, I was annoyed by having to read about the psy council machinations since I almost never want to spend my reading time reading about villains. But as the series has grown those stories became more complex and interesting. The introduction of the Ghost, the alliance between Nikita and Anthony, the war that eventually broke out, all made it more interesting to me. The current iteration of the psy leadership is a lot more well-meaning than the previous one, and that helps, too. I’m looking forward to the Nikita / Anthony novella if it ever comes out.
Thank you both for the added thoughts. I may yet go back to the series; time will tell.
The huge cast of characters is one of the things I love most about this series. It’s fun trying to figure out when a one-line character is really just there to be a “day player” or when they are a character who will later play a pivotal role (think Aden, Sahara, and others). The way the author lays in foreshadowing and tiny clues that can be so easily glossed over is fascinating to me. It’s also one of the reasons I have reread the series multiple times. I always pick up something new and have those “aha!” moments.
I adored Memory. Yes she was too well adjusted for only being out of captivity for a month, but it didn’t bother me. I liked Alexei okay, but he’s not a favorite. I am over the whole “I’m making this decision for you because I want to protect you” type. There are stories where this type of plot works for me, but those are mostly books I read for the first time years ago so the hero’s (or heroine’s) behavior is grandfathered in so to speak. It doesn’t work well for me in new-to-me stories if that makes any sense.
One of my favorite parts of this book was the friendships. Lexie’s bromances with Judd and Matthias and Memory’s developing relationships with Sascha, Jaya, Ashaya, and Lucy made for some of my favorite scenes.
I guessed the unknown Psy was Pax very early on. I didn’t like him when we met him back in Shards of Hope and none of his subsequent appearances have induced me to do so. Janine described him as “Baby Kaleb” and that may be partly why he just doesn’t work for me. He’s a wannabe and if he never appears again I won’t miss him. I wished we’d had more closure on that subplot. Are we supposed to believe Aden and the Arrows gave him a pass for the damage he caused because he helped to cure Yuri? That seems odd since it was his fault Yuri was injured in the first place. And what about the possibility he was responsible for Naya’s attempted kidnapping. Sadly I think the fact none of the people he tried to kill actually died leaves open the possibility of him being a future hero. Meh. I would like to learn about his twin sister though. I get that they were kids when his grandfather separated them, but what a creep he was for continuing to allow her to be treated so poorly by their family after he came to power.
I wished we’d gotten to see Alexei’s usual satellite den on page. When he was first announced as the hero that was one of the things I was looking forward to.
While I didn’t like the book as much as the first two “season two” books I did enjoy it a lot. I loved all of the cameos from old favorites and the list of characters I want stories for is still long, but I also want more bears, the Russian wolves, BlackSea, and the falcons. Plus Remi’s pack. Can’t wait to know who will be up next.
@library addict: That’s a great point about the little tidbits of foreshadowing.
Memory’s being so well-adjusted did bug me but it didn’t surprise me because the same was true of Ivy and Sahara. She was a fun character but as I say, except for the fact she had different conflicts to deal with, I felt like I was reading about Ivy #2.
You make a a great point about Alexei. I don’t know why that didn’t bother me when it bothered me so much more when Kenji made a similar decision when he found out he couldn’t have biological children. Maybe because Alexei didn’t waste years doing that and maybe because the motive was stronger. It’s one thing to “protect” someone from having to choose between you and adopted children or no you and biological children, but another to be concerned that you’ll kill the person you love.
Also, I didn’t see Alexei protecting Memory alone, but also himself and his own well-being. I don’t think he could have lived with himself if he has mated her knowing he was endangering her life in the process. It would have tortured him and he knew that about himself.
Re. Pax, I think of him more as Nalini-Singh-wants-him-to-be like Kaleb. I mean, he does model himself after Kaleb, but i didn’t recall that from the earlier books. What I did recall was that he was introduced similarity to how Kaleb was introduced, with a lot of mystery as to whether he was a good guy or a bad guy. I actually like him better than I liked Kaleb early on in the series, before he knew he was the Ghost. I remember hoping the Ghost wasn’t Kaleb, because I didn’t care for Kaleb.
Pax seems to have a touch more humanity than I felt Kaleb did in those years; he set up that trust fund for his sister. It didn’t bother me that he more or less disowned her; I would have been surprised if he hadn’t, given the circumstances. He was very young and the adults in his life didn’t give him a choice about it. Plus he was mostly Silent. And in the PsyNet showing emotion could get you sent to rehabilitation; it would have made them stay emotional and that would have presented a danger to her as well as to him.
I’m looking forward to seeing where their relationship goes from here out. And yes, I agree that she is an interesting character in her own right.
Agreed on Alexei’s satellite den—that would have been more interesting! And I agree the book was enjoyable.
Just finished reading the book. It really bothered by how quickly Memory adjusted to normal life and had a normal interaction with people after many years of captivity with only a cat for a company. I kinda compared it with Sahara situation, but I think Sahara took more time to recover and Sahara was much older when she was abducted.
The relationship between the main characters was just ok nothing special just meh for me. When Yuri was in critical condition for a moment I thought that Nalini will finaly kill a character for an emotional impact, but of course, she did not, she never does. I like Nalini writing style, however, there is no emotional investment in her books, we all know no one will die, everything will be worked out in the end.
The only interesting thing that I learned from this book is the harmonizing effect. I guess the two little kids (I forgot their names) did it in the previous book, and now we learned what it called.
@Natasha: Agreed. I even had the same thought about Yuri. I didn’t exactly want him to die, but I kind of wish she’d kill off someone. It’s especially glaring when there are wars like in Kiss of Snow or Archangel’s Legion. In the backstories people die, like Memory’s mother, or in the Guild Hunter books, Dmitri’s children. But never in the current-time storyline. I agree that it robs the books of suspense to a certain extent.
The two little kids were Keenan and Noor. I mentioned them in the review. It was weird that no one discussed or even thought of bringing them in to deal with Yuri’s injury. All the more so since Ashaya is Keeenan’s mom and she had benefited from Memory’s work with Amara.
@library addict: I forgot to add, regarding the Arrows’ willingness to forgive Pax, or at least allow him to make amends, that it wasn’t that different from the changelings’ forgiveness of Bo and the Human Alliance after the HA kidnapped one of their own.
I also forgot to ask, what makes you think Pax was involved in Naya’s kidnapping? I don’t remember anything that pertained to that, but I may be forgetting something.
@Natasha: Re. Yuri, it was an interesting twist that some of his memory is missing. It made me wish he’d get his own book dealing with that—kind of like what happened to Silver, but in an Arrow context.
I did like this book. I finished it yesterday.
Not asking Keenan and Noor to help Yuri bugged me, but I am guessing at some point Pax and his sister will help the children figure out the skill they have. Pax is the “truck” as Noor called Keenan for his sister and he may be able to help the adults in the pack figure out how to deal with the children’s skill.
Where was the Consortium in this book? I kept waiting for them to try and co-opt the new power in the web. It seemed like something the architect would know about and try to use. I have my suspicions as to who the architect is and I feel like that person would know about these super powers. Wasn’t there a mentioned in the book, about powers like these in the web before Silence?
Memory and Alexei worked for me. The Trinity series seem to include more “fun” in the couple and a little less angst for me. Although I understand why Silver Silence may not work for some, it was one of my favorites in either series because I love the bears. I am keeping my fingers crossed we will get to see the sea changelings again next (but I am hoping Mianne and Malachi are not a couple, I don’t know why, I just don’t want them to be a couple).
@Janine: Bastien found a link to Pax’s personal accounts when investigating the funds transfers made in Naya’s kidnapping. It was in Allegiance of Honor.
@Lisa J: That would be cool if Pax and his sister (I forgot her name) help Keenan and Noor in the future.
I have no thoughts on who the Architect is unless it is Ming Le Bon. That’s my only suspicion so far! And yes, it was mentioned that those super powers existed before Silence. Maybe we’ll see the Consortium try to make use of them in a future book. I would not have minded a little Consortium in this book, but I’m guessing that between Memory’s kidnapper (I forgot his name too) and blackout Pax, there were enough villains to deal with in one book and the rest of the page count was needed for focusing on the main characters.
That’s a good point about there being less angst in these newer books. Kaia and Bo had some in Ocean Light, but there was a lot of joy in that book as well.
I am not a fan of the bears and I don’t care whether or not we see more of them, but we almost certainly will. And maybe they’ll win me over when we do.
Re the sea changelings, yes! I have not made up my mind on whether Miane and Malachi should be paired with each other but I want a book or books for them so much! I love Miane and it would be great to see a female alpha for once. I’m so glad there are two of them with heroine potential! I also love the ocean setting and have since Echo of Silence. I think a Malachi book has a lot of potential partly because of his role in security. I would love to see him track someone underwater! That would be so cool. I am dead certain that he’s a shark. For some reason my suspicion is that Miane is a whale but I couldn’t tell you why.
@Lisa J: Thanks for jogging my memory. I’m fuzzy on the details of that but wasn’t there some suspicion that it was a false trail left for Bastien to mislead the leopards?
@Janine: There was a suspicion and the leopards are watching him before making a move. They think it could be a Consortium trick to get them to take out another power player.
I think the architect is Shoshanna Scott. It was mentioned in Silver Silence the architect’s voice changer glitched and it is a woman. Unless that is another trick, I am going with Shoshanna.
It is rumored Miane is a Mako shark. That would work for me. Like you, I can’t wait to read her book.
I want to know what Mal is. They made so much of his speed in the water in Ocean Light. No one can outswim him. Google is my friend – according to a search, mako sharks are one of the fastest swimmers. Your shark idea holds merit for him.
@ Janine, I think in one of the books it was mentioned that the Challengings do not want to use kids as “harmonies” because they are kids and not to be disturbed (do not remember witch book). I agree with you in both series she avoids killing off characters. I know there are a lot of angry readers right now regarding Elena’s development but at least something happened there that gave us some sort of emotional impact.
Personally, I did not like the bear book or the fish book (sorry about the names). I usually love the wolf and cat books that is why I was looking forward to this book. However, for me in this book, not enough angst and not enough emotional depth. Everything was neat and tidy and not even the heroine who was kidnaped and as a kid had any lasting and emotional issues.
@Janine: That’s what I meant too (about Pax). It’s not that the character himself thinks he’s like Kaleb, more that the is-he-a-bad-guy vibe reminds me too much of Kaleb. But Kaleb has always been one of favorite characters, so trying to repeat the vibe makes Pax appear a poor imitation. That’s just my 2¢, I’m sure you are not alone in liking Pax more than Kaleb.
Pax has been head of the family for nearly three years now (plus the shadow power actually in charge for longer). Silence fell over a year ago, yet he has been in contact with Theodora since they were seven. Yes he ensured she wasn’t being abused by their other family members, but he only just set up the trust fund in case he needed to commit suicide. She doesn’t even know about it yet. I just think he could have made an effort to reach out to her sometime in between then and now (other than having his shields feed off her psychic energy when he was recovering from the fugue state).
I also have to say I appreciated that Alexei was honest with Memory AND apologized. The thing that bugged me most about Kenji is he never even told Garnet he was sorry for his crappy behavior and years of ignoring her then years of teasing her. When done well I am a sucker for the “I’m not worthy of your love so I will set you free” trope. But when one character makes such a unilateral decision because they know best and then proceeds to treat the person they supposedly love horribly so as to get them to be the one to walk away, as a reader I need more groveling from them. I think that’s why the trope hasn’t worked for me as well lately as it did in years previously, because authors today tend to skip the “I’m so sorry, I will do everything in my power to make it up to you” phase so it’s harder to buy into the HEA. In this case Alexei wasn’t mean to Memory to get her to hate him, so it also helped he skipped that step. I did like their romance overall.
As @Lisa J: said, all the evidence Bastien found pointed to Pax ordering Naya’s kidnapping and Sascha’s death. The transaction was made from his personal slush fund account and it the evidence was very difficult to find. (“…they’d need to know every single one of Pax’s passwords. I couldn’t get into the account itself, that’s how secure it is, but the trail definitely dead-ends there.” The scene takes place at the very beginning of chapter 52). Lucas made the decision not to act on the possibility that he was being framed and DarkRiver was being set up to cause a power vacuum. But they were going to watch Pax via both the deal with SnowDancer and have the Arrows help, so I find it hard to believe that Aden doesn’t know about Lucas’ suspicions. But maybe they are all still just watching him and waiting for more definitive proof. Now that we’ve had his POV, I am even more convinced it wasn’t Pax. But we still don’t know for certain.
I don’t think it’s quite the same as the situation with Bowen because even though no one was killed, Pax hurt a lot of people. On the flip side, it apparently wasn’t a conscious decision he made whereas Bo knew what he was doing when he kidnapped Nash even though he never planned to actually kill or hurt anyone. It was a misguided attempt to save Nash, but his motives weren’t solely focused on that aspect. So in some ways what Pax did was worse, in others ways what Bowen did was. I just wish the decision to simply let Pax go had been talked about on page in the book. We had a few Aden POV scenes so a line or two about it would have been easy to address it. As it stands, it feels like a loose thread.
My #1 suspect for the Architect is still Shoshanna Scott. We know s/he has a “highly recognizable face”, but has Nalini actually confirmed the Architect is someone we’ve met on page before? I am assuming it is because when there was speculation as to who the Ghost was she was always careful to say it wouldn’t be someone we didn’t know as that would be a cheat. But I don’t remember hearing her say much at all in interviews about the Architect.
@Lisa J: I am kind of hoping the architect is a new person. I’m tired f the old councilors and am glad that Marshall, Henry and Tatiana at least are not capable of making a comeback (well, Tatiana technically could, if someone rescued her from wherever it is that Kaleb has stashed her, but I don’t see that happening).
Mal is definitely a shark.
@Natasha: I know (I think it was in either Blaze of Memory or Bonds of Justice), but like I said in the review, given that (A) the attack took place on DarkRiver land while under DarkRiver protection, (B) Sascha, the DarkRiver alpha’s mate, was really upset by it, and (C) Ashaya, the mother of one of the kids in question benefitted directly from Memory’s intervention with her sister, then an intervention by the children could have at least been considered or discussed. I’m not saying they should have gone ahead with it, but for it not to even come under consideration seems contrived to allow Pax and Theodora to step in.
What did you think of my other point, that Alexei forgot to ask Hawke for backup or have Judd or Vasic teleport him into San Francisco when time was of the essence?
I wasn’t thrilled by the last Guild Hunter book but not because Elena lost her wings. Rather, it annoyed me that the Cascade started acting like a person rather than a phenomenon and the cliffhanger ending was dissatisfying.
@library addict: I’ll reply tomorrow, hopefully!
@Janine: and @Natasha: I thought Alexei had to drive to SF because Kaleb was busy repairing a PsyNet collapse while Vasic and the other Arrow teleporters were evacuating people. Lexie called Hawke to tell him that Renault had nabbed Memory, but there was no mention of Judd until he calls him after arriving in SF. So that was odd but I just figured he didn’t have an actual location yet just a direction. I suppose Judd could have gotten him to SF faster, but I chalked it up to Alexei wanting to conserve Judd’s energy levels until he had more info.
I agree that Noor & Keenan should have been considered and thought it odd at the time. But then again we don’t know for sure it wasn’t as we didn’t really hear any specifics about all of things they tried. Just that they’d consulted multiple neurospecialists and that they’d “just played our last card and failed.” Not to say it shouldn’t have at least been mentioned on page, but it’s possible we’ll hear in a future book that the idea was floated and turned down. Or that Ashaya thought his brain was too damaged to have them make an attempt and/or made the decision herself not to mention it. I’m not sure Aden knew about Noor & Keenan to even ask. And IIRC we didn’t see Ashaya on page again after the scene in which she does Memory’s hair. But I may be misremembering.
But the more I think about it the more it seems it should have been mentioned. Especially since Noor briefly appeared and was then mentioned when the other little girl was kidnapped.
As an aside I find it amusing that Nathan has twice saved guys in bars. He found Clay in a bar in NYC and now we learn he helped Alexei.
tried to post another comment, but it’s not showing. No error message either.
Testing
@library addict: I’m sorry but your comments got caught in the spam filter. I think the length triggered it as lately we’ve been having spammers posting the equivalent of “War and Peace”.
@library addict: You’re right about Kaleb as well as Vasic and the other Arrows being busy with an emergency. I had forgotten about that. But as to Judd, after reaching San Francisco, Alexei had a forehead-slapping moment of “Why didn’t I think of calling Judd sooner?” So he wasn’t conserving Judd’s strength, he just forgot. And I simply don’t buy that he wouldn’t have thought of Judd, since Judd is one of his closest friends.
There’s even less explanation of why Alexei doesn’t ask other packmates with fighting skills to meet up with him in San Francisco, or come along with him. Someone left him the car at Hawke’s command, which means they could easily have waited with that car or brought more cars to that same spot. Alexei shouldn’t even have to ask it of them, Hawke would normally do it on his own initiative, or at least suggest it. But neither Alexei nor Hawke thought of it.
And then there was the Chinatown thing; just as puzzling.
Yes re. Noor. I like the idea of Ashaya thinking Yuri was impossible to save and wanting to spare the kids that heartache. But wasn’t whoever the kids saved in the earlier book (Katya? Sophia? I can’t remember which of them it was) also thought to be beyond saving?
And re. Nate and bars—LOL!
Now to respond to your earlier comment.
@Janine: My take was that Alexei was just in “it’s easier to just do it myself than stop and ask for help” mode. I agree that it doesn’t necessarily make a lot of sense, but that was the vibe I got.
When I was reading about Yuri injury I was surprised that the kids were not mentioned because they did save Katia.
As for Alexi not asking his pack friends for help, in general, this book was not as pack oriented as her other pack books at least not for me. Yes, we saw pack interactions but not at the usual valium that I am used from other pack books. Maybe that is why this book was flat for me, not sure. I understood why Alexi was blocking the mating bond and why Memory was not upset by it, I also understood why he opened the bond to find her. But the romance itself was really flat for me, maybe because everything happens so fast and not really believable giving the Heroine past. Also, I think that the rouge thing was dealt rather quickly like an instant fix, nor very interesting in the end.
Do you know what I would love to read? I would love to read about the couple who mated on the spot without knowing each other (like Hawk parents) and how they get to know and love each other, I hope I made since.
@library addict: Re. Pax. I see we meant the same thing now! I don’t know if I like him better than Kaleb overall, just that I didn’t like Kaleb earlier on in the series, and there’s time yet for Pax to develop.
(As an aside, I also have a huge issue with Kaleb’s genocidal impulses but I’m sure we’ve discussed that before.)
Yes, Pax could have done more for Theodora, but it’s not easy to change sibling dynamics that were instilled in childhood. And for all we know, his Silence conditioning may have involved pain controls—that would make it even harder to break the habit, even if the pain controls are no longer there.
Further, I think it’s very likely that Theo would have rejected the trust fund if she had found out about it. Maybe that’s part of why he didn’t set it up sooner. It’s mentioned in the book that he has kept an eye on her and made sure that she was never out of funds and that no one was abusing her because of her low status. That’s probably more than his parents taught him to do.
You’re right, of course, that he could and should have made an effort to reach out in the years between the fall of Silence and the book’s present. But that doesn’t bother me enough to make me dislike him. If he had reached out to her, he would be like all the other major characters in the books and this way he is more distinctive. It will be interesting to see how he develops now that he is forced to interact with Theo more.
Re. Alexei and Kenji. I agree that Alexei’s honesty and apology make a big difference. And you are so, so right when you say that “authors today tend to skip the ‘I’m so sorry, I will do everything in my power to make it up to you’ phase.” Preach!
Seriously, I miss that trope so much! I love redemption stories and it bothers me that so many heroes nowadays are assholes without even showing any remorse. I blame all the TV shows with protagonists whose arc is one of moral decay.
You guys make a good point about the cats watching Pax. And I couldn’t agree more that Aden’s decision to let him go should have been discussed so that we could see how it was reached. Yes to that.
I wonder if the problem is that the wrap up would have felt too long, pacing-wise, if we’d been shown that. As I said in the review, I felt deprived when we didn’t get an emotional moment of reunion between Memory and Yuri, and more of a moment between Memory and Pax. But perhaps the former didn’t happen because there’s another reason the author needs Yuri’s memories from the last month to be missing. As far as the latter, who knows?
I did feel, though, that Memory’s flip on Pax, from wanting to help him when he was attacking E’s to wanting to refuse him her help after he had done his best to make amends made absolutely no sense.
I think that Bo’s actions were worse than Pax’s—Pax had no control over what he was doing during the fugues and didn’t know what he had actually done. Once he figured it out he did his best to get help and even made plans for his own suicide if that didn’t work.
W/r/t the Architect. I don’t know what Nalini has said, but like I said before, I hope it’s a new face.
@Natasha: You’re right that this book felt less pack-ish (for lack of a better word). One exception was the scene when Memory moves into the den and everyone greets her with warmth and acceptance.
Yeah, the romance happened super fast! I noticed that Alexei started thinking of Memory as “his E” really early on. I just checked and it was 8% into the book when that happened. And yes, the fast development was one of the factors that made the romance fall flat for me too—I forgot to mention that in the review.
I agree that the rogue thing was wrapped up too quickly and easily, too, so again I wonder if the ending had to be that way because there were so many threads to wrap up and giving each the time it deserved would have made the wrap-up feel long, and yet they all had to be squeezed in there.
Re a couple who mates instantly and then have to figure out their relationship, have you read the novella Alpha and Omega by Patricia Briggs, and its sequel, the novel Cry Wolf? That is the story there.
@Jennie: But shouldn’t Hawke have thought of it, even if Alexei didn’t? If pack members had been waiting with the car, Alexei wouldn’t have had to stop at all.
@Janine Alpha and Omega and the rest of the books are on my reread list constantly such good books !!!!! But I wish Nalini would write instant mating too would like to read it (as long as it’s not drunken bears ).
@Natasha: It’d be great if she did. For years I wanted her to write a romance during Silence for psy in the PsyNet, who would have to hide their feelings. The novella Echo of Silence satisfied that desire for me. So you never know, she might write the story you’re hoping for, too.
Agree that Hawke should have either gone to help himself or sent help regardless of what Alexei was or was not thinking. But I suppose if multiple pack members were there (as when they conducted the first raid on Renault’s townhouse) Alexei may not have been the one to get to kill him. Not that I would have cared, but some readers like it when only the hero gets to take revenge.
Re: Noor & Keenan healing Katya when it was thought she was beyond help, the kids snuck into the room and Dev made the choice not to make them leave. But at the time no one knew that Noor had the ability to weave or that she and Keenan could harmonize. It came as a huge surprise to everybody when they healed her. So it wasn’t a choice Ashaya and the adults made to allow them to work on her, it was actually how they found out about the ability.
The only clue readers had (which I did not give enough significance to during my first read) was when Noor gave Judd the stone and told him they were the same. Also I don’t think the other characters knew she had ANY psychic abilities at that point. There’s been no mention made of them trying to track down her biological family or if she was one of the Shine-adjacent kids or how she came to Larsen’s attention to end up kidnapped. We also don’t know if she’s in the ShadowNet or not.
The whole weaving brain matter thing must be some instinctive ability since Theodora and Pax were also children when they first did it. Whereas Judd is able to help heal people because he actually studied how hearts and organs function when he was an Arrow to know how to assassinate people. Not knocking it, I mean that’s not any more out-there than the other abilities the Psy have. I just find it interesting.
I hope the Architect is someone new as well. I think Shoshanna seems too obvious. But so far she’s the only character I can think of that fits the “highly recognizable face” clue as well as being female. Unless it’s a character we’ve met only in passing or has been mentioned multiple times but never actually appeared (Jen Liu and Kalani Chastain spring to mind). That’s why I wonder if Nalini has said for sure if it is someone we know already. Personally I was also hoping the Architect isn’t Psy, but the line from their POV mentioning Ena Mercant pretty much rules that hope out.
Your theory that the wrap-up would have been too long is a good one. We can hope Nalini will show the reunion between Memory and Yuri in a future book and address the Noor question. She’s clarified things from previous books in later books in the past. Such as when we wondered why DarkRiver didn’t have as much of a page presence in the heavily SnowDancer books (Play of Passion, Kiss of Snow, Tangle of Need) as the wolves played in the earlier DarkRiver books and specifically about how Lucas wasn’t involved in the conversations with BlackSea. So there was a line in Shards of Hope about how Hawke took point on the negotiations but kept Lucas apprised the whole time.
@Janine: Ignore my earlier thing about Noor & Keenan curing Katya. I get now you were just saying Katya was thought to be beyond saving not that they made a decision to allow the kids to help her despite that. Sorry.
I think that’s what it was really about.
I agree, the brain weaving is an instinctive ability. Judd’s ability is cooler, partly because he visualizes and had to learn it, but also because he can repair other parts of the body as well. And he can do it on his own.
Remind me who Jen Liu and Kalani Chastain are. I’m drawing a blank. And what was the line about Ena Mercant? I have forgotten that too.
That would be great if we got a Yuri / Memory moment in a later book. I would also love to see something interesting happen with Yuri’s amnesia—for it to have a real purpose in the story. Otherwise it will feel like just an excuse for why we didn’t get a reunion between Memory and Yuri.
What do you guys think of what I said earlier, about how Memory wanted to help Pax when he was hurting Empaths, but had less interest in helping him after he did his best to make amends?
We haven’t talked about Amara. Where do you think she is headed? It would be great if she eventually got a book of her own.
@Janine: Jen Liu was on the phone with Kaleb the first time we saw him in his office in Caressed by Ice. Aden calls her in Shards of Hope when Lucas tells him how her company bought up the entire supply of something they needed and purchased a microbrewery just to mess with them. That’s when Aden starts to put the pieces together about the purposeful rifts the as-yet-unnamed-Consortium was causing. She also appeared briefly on the phone with Lucas in Allegiance of Honor. Other than the fact she’s matriarch of the Liu Group, we don’t know much of anything about her.
Kalani Chastien hasn’t actually appeared on page yet. She was mentioned in Shards of Hope as being the head of the Chastain Group.
During my last full reread this past December I was looking for other suspects and they are two powerful Psy women. Sadly they were the only ones I came up other than Shoshanna and multiple other characters we know it cannot be because they’ve been heroines in previous stories. If I missed someone I would love to know as my suspect list is pitifully thin once I rules out all of the men after the clue in Silver Silence.
Right after Zie Zen died in Allegiance of Honor there’s a POV scene for the Architect in which she (?) was reminiscing about how they learned to be a shadow power by observing Zie Zen. Then s/he is thinking about all of the people on their hit list. Thinking of the reasons Silver needs to be killed: “The Architect had only recently realized the latter fact, after a passing comment by a Mercant who thought the Architect was an ally in a certain limited sense. And why not? After all, Ena Mercant herself considered the Architect a valuable connection and had maintained an open line of communication even when the Architect’s fortunes fluctuated over their decade-long relationship.”
As for Memory’s attitude about Pax, she was conflicted in both instances. After the failed attack on Sascha and the other empaths in Chinatown she felt sympathy for him but wonders why given his actions. Later before she helps him, she’s thinking how her anger at him has grown every hour Yuri had spent fighting for his life. So I don’t think it was such a black-and-white thing of her wanting to help and then not wanting to help. She reacted with empathy when she was close to his mind during the PsyNet attack because she’s an E and that’s what her power is partially designed to do, help people like Pax. But when not in close proximity her instinct to help wasn’t as “active” so she allowed her anger to fester. In both instances she’s feeling a mix of emotions and motivations. It’s rather a moot point since she does help him for Theodora’s sake.
@Janine:
I like Amara and want to see more of her, but I am fine with her remaining a sociopath who only cares about Ashaya. And not because I don’t want to read her having a romance.
I’m not sure how to say this without sounding foolish, but I don’t see the need for every character in this series to be “fixed.” I was fine with Dorian being able to shift after so many years of being latent because we knew it would happen way back in Faith’s book.
I’m more on the fence about Nina’s surgery curing her blindness in Allegiance of Honor because other than her being a nurse and the long-lost love of Xavier we never really got to know her (we never have her POV in the book, only Xavier’s).
Annie has her limp, but there was talk of her undergoing another surgery before she became pregnant so it’s presumably the plan still once Rowan is older.
And it’s not that I want Nina, Annie, etc. to be in chronic pain. I just don’t know why every character has to be “cured” of their physical disabilities or in Amara’s case, her inability to feel emotion. I mean, I don’t want Amara to embrace her former urge to kill, but why does she have to be changed? Obviously Amara is a unique case because she’s not going to fall in love without a massive change in circumstance, but I’m conflicted. If Nalini gives her a story I will gobble it up and I think Nalini could pull it off. But there are at least two dozen characters I would rather have novellas and books about.
@library addict: No wonder I couldn’t remember Jen and Kalani, those are very small parts.
A relationship between Ena and the Architect doesn’t necessarily indicate that the Architect is psy. She could be human or changeling and still have dealings with Ena, just as Lucas and Hawke had dealings with Nikita.
Memory’s change of heart seemed out of character to me. Why would she think of refusing help to someone who would kill others or kill himself without her help? Even if she weren’t an empath, it wouldn’t make sense. But she is and the empaths we’ve met so far have been tender-hearted generally, not just when they’re close by.
@library addict: I agree so much about “fixing” disabilities. I was annoyed by the Nina subplot, the Annie mention and also what happened with Jessamy in the last Guild Hunter novel. It’s ableist to assume disabled people need fixing. But I feel differently about Amara.
I’m not sure if sociopathy is a disability; in many cases it’s more like a superpower. Look at all the powerful sociopaths in our own society, at characters like Ming, Tatiana, Shoshanna, or for that matter, Kaleb. Somehow developing a conscience feels much different to me than healing blindness or a limp. It’s a growth arc, whereas the others are not. And I think it could be really interesting to see Amara have to face up for all she had done and feel remorse. I had no thought of her getting her own story before this book but now I’m a little intrigued.
I agree, though, in the sense that her story is not at the top of my list either. I’m much more interested in Kit and Anthony and Alice Eldridge. I don’t really care that much about Nikita; I would prefer Anthony paired with someone else. But Nalini Singh could change my mind on that.
@Janine: True. But Ena doesn’t go out in public. Most people in the PsyNet have no clue what she looks like, who she is, or that her family is very powerful. Kaleb struggled to even find a recent picture of her. So I am not under the impression she’s been secretly doing business with Changelings or Humans. It’s not like she runs an actual business where she sells things or would have a reason to deal with them. She’s a power and information broker. Only she doesn’t sell secrets for those who have earned the family’s loyalty. Maybe I’m wrong, but I don’t see her having much contact with those outside the PsyNet.
I guess I didn’t see it as out of character for Memory seeing how she grew up.
I want Nikita’s story only because there are so many male “heroes” who have done worse in many a romance and they always get a pass. So why shouldn’t she? Plus I find her a fascinating character. I don’t see Nalini giving her or Anthony their own book though. If they do have a romance it will more likely take place as a subplot in the main books. While not confirming they’re involved, Nalini has said they probably won’t have a book multiple times.
I get what you’re saying about Amara. Since Nalini had said she’d ruled out giving her her own book years ago I haven’t given her much thought other than finding her an intriguing character when she made her brief appearances (my favorite scene is the one with Mercy where she made the test tube turn red like her hair). I don’t object to having a story and as I said I think Nalini could pull off the challenge.
There are so many couples I want to see expanded upon (Sing-Liu & D’Arn, Atalina & Dex, Noelle & Riordan, Jaya & Abbot, Yuki & Elias, Nicki & Jason, Evanova & Alik, Seraphina & Edison, and now Nerida & Yuri and Matthias & Nell are all at the top of that list). For the single characters, my top picks are Adam, Finn, Lily, Lissa, Remington, Ria, Selenka, and Tanique. I would also love a story for Teijan, but I don’t think it will happen.
I also really want a scene or two of Galina interacting with her now-adult children. We only had very brief scenes of her in bear form and I want to see her actually talking to Valentin and her daughters and interacting with Dima as his grandmother.
@Janine: I have mixed feelings because she’s a very intriguing character, but it’s hard for me to imagine her with her own book without her becoming…less intriguing? She’s creepy as hell, but what’s creepy about her is also what makes her unique. Maybe a novella with another “defanged” psychopath, if they get to the point where Amara is defanged but not “fixed.”
Opposing view: I like Singh’s bear shifters very much. I particularly like the Russian StoneWater Bears. I do realize that if too many former lead characters return in every subsequent novel, it risks feeling like a Hallmark Christmas movie. But I still hope that Singh does reprise the bears at some future date.
@library addict: Good point about Ena!
You are right about Nikita but she turns me off. I think it’s her power—the brain viruses. Otherwise I would be on board more than I am.
Of the nine couples you mention wanting stories for, I only remember five! And of the eight singles, five. I am definitely on board for Adam and Lily. Also that female lieutenant of Bo’s who is grieving for Kaia’s friend. I agree Teijan won’t get a book. I liked him in human form but bears are weird enough, I absolutely cannot do rats.
I wish we could get a romance with a widowed heroine, or one with a single dad hero. I guess Walker was the latter but he’s not a favorite for me. I think so much more could be done with that trope. I’d love to see a psy hero whose reproductive agreement turns out unexpectedly when he mother of his child dies and he has to step in as a parent when he was only going to be a bio dad. Or a changeling hero who lost a lover and ends up raising his child on his own.
@Jennie: Great point about Amara. I can see that, absolutely.
@Mzcue: A lot of people like the bears but I have too many associations to bears that interfered with my enjoyment of Silver Silence. Like when Valentin said Silver tasted like honey during oral sex, all I could think of was Winnie the Pooh. Or when bears with grace were mentioned, the one from the Charmin ads was what I thought of! Also, I cannot see bears as graceful. They are lumbering animals. You can tell me they are graceful in bear form as many times as you like, but it will never be anything but jarring.
@library addict: Ooh, I forgot! Nalini Singh once said that Anthony would get a novella. That was year ago, though. Been waiting for it for a long time.
Thank you thank you thank you for such a well informed discussion!
Who do you think the next book will be about? I want to read Matthias and Nell’s story, but I’ve also gotten a bit tired of the SnowDancer pack. Maybe a Psy/Psy pairing?
@mel burns: Thanks so much! You’re welcome! :) Please come back and let us know what you thought of the book, if you’d like.
@Bea: I have no idea what the next book will be about, but personally, I would love to read about the falcon changelings next.
@Bea: I vote for Adam, too.
But Nalini was convinced last year that the next book would be falcons or bears (from the Entertainment Weekly interview) and…we got Wolf Rain. So I think it will be a while before we know as she’ll be even more leery of saying until she’s absolutely sure.
I think the PsyNet problems will continue to feature heavily in the storyline. But she can accomplish that with side scenes of Kaleb, Ivy, and/or meetings of the Ruling Coalition. So the main characters of the next few books won’t necessarily have to be Psy (although they are often my favorites so I won’t mind if they are).
I@Bea: I’m gonna go ahead and say Pax Marshall might be the lead in the next book. I don’t know why but i feel there’s a reason we are told about his conflict in Wolf’s Rain. If not next then definitely in later books. Nalini definitely has mentioned of giving us a book about the Falcons , and RainFire pack. And Kit. I feel she isn’t going to write like in the previous series wher every member of a new pack we encounter will get a book. They might get a novella but not a book. Right now the future we might have books for the falcon alpha Adam, RainFire alpha Remi and maybe a lieutenant, maybe a water changeling, Pax Marshall for sure, maybe Kit and thats all i can think off. That’s around 8 books all together with the Tritiny ones already published.
@SuchiB: The water Changelings will definitely get more books IMO. So will Pax and Adam. Remi probably, I think one or two of Valentin’s sisters are also likely. I would like a book for Selenka and one for Miane since we’ve yet to see a female alpha or other group leader in this world get a book.
@Janine: Definitely a book for Remi is on the list for sure. And one for Adam. And another one for Maine andmaybe for the Russian wolf alpha. I don’t see Nalini not writing a book for each Alpha. And a book for Pax and another for his sister? I wonder if any Arrows will get another book. I don’t know why but I’m curious about Zaira’s lieutenant Mica. There’s not much about him but he’s mentioned quite a bit in Shards of Hope. As far as I know he’s the only unmated Arrow so far . Like i mentioned before though that Nalini most probably won’t be writing her stories like she did for Season 1, where every lieutenant and sentinel gets a book. The plot of season 2 doesn’t require it as in season 1 as far as i have observed. and allies have already been formed. The Alphas will definitely get books and maybe a psy or two but everything else will most definitely be in novellas.
@SuchiB: I am interested in Yuri, the arrow who got injured and lost his memory in Wolf Rain. I would love an amnesia romance for him. I am interested in a romance for Alice Eldridge as well but I’m not sure if we’ll ever get one. Ditto Anthony.
@Janine: I forgot about Alice. I don’t know why but i feel she’ll get a book. There’s just so much about her to uncover. She’s been in a coma for years, and now she’s free and ready for adventure. Definitely a story for Yuri is required. I think Anthony x Nikita is something everyone has been asking for years now. I don’t care about anything else honestly, as long as Anthony x Nikita get their story told.
@SuchiB: It’s the fact that people have been asking for a Nikita / Anthony book for so many years that makes me wonder if one is coming.
@Janine: i really hope Nalini is writing a Nikita x Anthony book/Novella. So many would b disappointed if she didn’t. Also, the book would be unique ’cause it willbe featuring an older couple and both Psy :-D
@SuchiB: Yeah, I would be bummed, too.
@Natasha:
I don’t know if you or anyone else is still following this thread but it looks like you got your wish! I can’t wait.