REVIEW: Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh
Dear Ms. Singh,
I’m a longtime reader of your Psy/Changeling series and love the Arrows, so requesting an ARC of Shards of Hope was an easy decision for me. Shards of Hope centers on Aden Kai, the leader of the Arrows, and on one of his senior officers, Zaira Neve.
I loved the back cover copy plot description for this book, but it’s a little misleading:
Awakening wounded in a darkened cell, their psychic abilities blocked, Aden and Zaira know they must escape. But when the lethal soldiers break free from their mysterious prison, they find themselves in a harsh, inhospitable landscape far from civilization. Their only hope for survival is to make it to the hidden home of a predatory changeling pack that doesn’t welcome outsiders.
And they must survive. A shadowy enemy has put a target on the back of the Arrow squad, an enemy that cannot be permitted to succeed in its deadly campaign. Aden will cross any line to keep his people safe for this new future, where even an assassin might have hope of a life beyond blood and death and pain. Zaira has no such hope. She knows she’s too damaged to return from the abyss. Her driving goal is to protect Aden, protect the only person who has ever come back for her no matter what.
This time, even Aden’s passionate determination may not be enough—because the emotionless chill of Silence existed for a reason. For the violent, and the insane, and the irreparably broken…like Zaira.
The blurb makes it sound like Aden and Zaira spend a lot of time alone trying to survive an inhospitable landscape but that’s actually only 13% of the book.
Aden awakens to discover he and Zaira are captive in strange surroundings. Zaira was badly injured during her capture and after helping Aden eliminate their guards, she begs him to abandon her so that she won’t slow down his escape. Of course, Aden being Aden, he refuses to listen.
While on the run, Aden and Zaira also discover their brains have been implanted with devices that block their connection to the PsyNet, and that these implants must be removed before they’re used to kill them. By the time Aden and Zaira stumble into the territory of a local changeling pack, both are in bad condition.
In the pack’s territory, Aden and Zaira have a chance to recover. But they are still cut off from the PsyNet, and for Zaira, this is terribly dangerous. Horribly abused and isolated as a child, Zaira is in desperate need of connection, so she and Aden use physical contact to anchor her.
But that very contact brings up the romantic feelings she’s had for Aden since they were both very young. And these emotions, too, are dangerous, because Zaira has buried and trapped so much anger inside her, and letting go of Silence means letting what she calls her “rage creature” escape her control. She fears turning into a monster, becoming too possessive and killing anyone Aden cares for.
Eventually, Aden and Zaira return home, to the Arrow facilities, but they still don’t know who kidnapped them, or why.
Meanwhile, a psychopathic Arrow named Blake has received a message tempting him to go on the hunt…and he has decided to involve a young person in his crimes.
Zaira and Aden both want a different kind of childhood for the child Arrows in their care than the one they had. But that means not just providing safety and security, but also teaching the children that it’s okay to express emotions, and being a power of example to the rest of the squad.
Aden, who has loved her for years, wants nothing more than to make Zaira his own. Zaira loves Aden back but she doesn’t know if she can handle a relationship. She would die for him, but can she allow herself to be fully alive to every emotion the thought of him brings?
There is a lot of focus on the romantic relationship in this book, something I have been wanting for a while. Shards of Hope has a conflict that isn’t about the romance as well, but it’s not one that has been built up for multiple books like the Psy/Changeling War, the fall of Silence, or the virus in the PsyNet, so up until the climactic confrontation that external conflict was less exciting than in some of the more recent books. If the tradeoff is more romantic relationship focus, I’m not sure I mind.
I liked many things about this book, starting with both of the main characters as individuals. Aden we already know, but here we really see him shine as a leader, as well as get to know how compassionate and caring he is where Zaira is concerned.
And Zaira is really cool. She has a Jordanian background, yay for that. And she is resilient, spirited and strong. As a child, Zaira survived her abusive parents and then escaped that horror by killing them at age seven. This led to her recruitment into the Arrow squad. Zaira fears what she calls her suppressed “rage creature,” but Aden sees it as a sign of her indomitable spirit.
There’s a nice backstory and even a few flashbacks to Zaira and Aden’s childhoods that show how Aden helped Zaira survive captivity — her biggest demon — as a child. There was always a connection between them, but their kidnapping brings these feelings to the fore.
I really liked the gender role switch in this romance. For a change, Zaira is the possessive / protective / emotionally wounded badass, while Aden is the one who has his act together emotionally and is trying to help her and other Arrows heal.
That is not to say that Aden doesn’t have power — his secret ability is revealed and I won’t spoil it but it’s something really, really cool.
We also learn more about the BlackSea changelings and see more of them in this book.
There were some wonderful, though very brief, scenes with Nikita/Sascha and Nikita/Anthony, too.
And I thought it was really, really cute (and perhaps a nod to the hint of m/m in the Aden/Vasic relationship) that Zaira was at first a little jealous of Vasic.
What I liked less:
For some reason — maybe because there was so much focus on the Arrow squad internal politics and caring for the Arrow kids, I didn’t feel the chemistry between this couple as much as I wanted to. It’s exactly the opposite issue from the one I had with the previous book. I felt that Vasic and Ivy could have been more believable characters, but had great chemistry together. In this one, I loved Aden, and I loved Zaira, and I liked them together but the chemistry wasn’t as potent.
We’re told a lot that Aden takes care of everyone but himself and needs someone like Zaira to force him to rest, but we weren’t actually shown him working himself to the bone, or Zaira insisting he rest against his own inclinations to the contrary. Maybe if it had been shown instead of just told, I would have felt their chemistry more.
Shards of Hope introduced a number of new child characters, at least five I can think of. I wondered if so many were necessary; I think I might have been more invested in the fate of the Arrow squad had the focus on protecting and rescuing of children been portrayed through two or three of these new characters.
I also wished Aden’s secret ability had been revealed earlier in the book because it’s SO COOL. I have the feeling that what we’ve seen in this book is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what he can do.
Additionally, I wanted Zaira’s own psychic ability to be more interesting and to be used more, but her physical fight capabilities made up for it some.
Spoiler: Show
All in all, Shards of Hope was an entertaining addition to the series, and I’m looking forward to book fifteen. This one gets a B.
Sincerely,
Janine
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I finished this yesterday and like all of the Psy/Changeling books, I really enjoyed it. I would give it a B+, but I can understand the things that didn’t work as well for you. I loved Remi and the RainFire pack. It was interesting to me that he was a new and inexperienced Alpha and the parallel between him and Aden.
@Lisa J: Yes, I agree, Remi being a new Alpha was interesting and I liked RainFire too, though I got a bit tired of Jojo after a while.
The Psy-Changeling series is one of my favorites and I enjoyed this book, but it doesn’t rank as high as some of my favorites (Caressed by Ice, etc).
I think one of my issues — more of a nit, really — relates to your spoiler. Being vague — everyone was really chatty and nice to each other. It seemed a little soon, maybe?
I also wanted to see more of Aden’s power…they kept talking about it, but it got to the point that I was afraid we weren’t going to see it.
Looking forward to the next installment…but man, is a year long to wait!
@Heather Greye: Yes! I agree, it feels like things are moving a little fast on that front.
I didn’t realize book 15 is a year away, but with Singh writing two other series, it’s not that surprising.
I feel like the series almost needs a reset, either a move to the future when Kit is a new alpha or a switch to the WindHaven or BlackSea packs. Nalini Singh has said that she’s thinking of focusing on these characters in future books and I’m really looking forward to that. I hope there will be another big arc like the one about the fall of Silence because otherwise, things may feel too hunky dory. No idea what that will be, though.
I enjoyed the book a little more than Shield of Winter so gave it an A-. It’s harder for me to decide where to put Aden & Zaira as a couple because they fall right between an “A” and “B” for me. I don’t actually rank the couples against each other, but do have a list of them divided into 5 levels and I use a balance between the romance and the more external plot in each book to determine the overall book rating. The thing about this series is that what I might give a 1 or 2 star rating to could be a C compared to any other author. I only started rating my books because of Calibre so my rating system is skewed/more individualized when it comes to these long-running series. While I do have my clear favorites, I do not actually DISLIKE any of the couples in the series so far and there have been moments in each and every one of their romances I enjoyed.
While at face value the new direction of the series may appear to be too generic, I am still intrigued by the Consortium and wondering who the Architect is. I’m 99% convinced s/he is someone we’ve either already met or has at least been mentioned. And Nalini did a great job of remaining gender neutral during all of the architect’s POV scenes without it being obvious. So, unlike the Ghost, we cannot narrow the suspect pool down by gender. Since this book was mainly about ending the Silence story arc more-so than setting up the next one, I am willing to trust the author. Having reread the entire series yet again before reading Shards of Hope it’s patently obvious she knew where she was going the whole time. So I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt that the new direction of the series will be just as planned out. Even if it doesn’t seem like it at this moment things will eventually gel together.
I really liked the ending. I think the “spoiler” was something the series has been building toward since book 1. And as was said in the text, it’s not a magic bullet. It will take work from all the parties involved and there will be setbacks along the way. The fall of Silence is not a magic wand and suddenly everything is rainbows and sunshine. There are still people who are struggling to cope. What I love about the new direction is it makes it crystal clear none of the groups are perfect or better than the others. All are made up of good and bad. (Trying not be spoilerish, but probably not succeeding).
Given the blurb, I knew we would be meeting either Remi or Selenka, so was pleasantly surprised we got to meet both of them. And I was so psyched to see a certain healer again. I’m looking forward to getting know these other packs plus the WindHaven falcons and the sea changelings better. And I’m still hoping for books, novellas, or secondary romances between a long list of characters (at the top are Silver, Adam, Bowen, Teijan, and Rina, though the list is long and I’m sure not everyone will get a story). I also want to hear more about Riordan & Noelle, D’Arn & Sing-Liu, Elias & Yuki, Amin & Cristabel, and Axl & Tamar (or was that my imagination?). Nalini said in her Q&A yesterday we’ll find out what happened with Xavier & Nina in book 15 which will an ensemble book rather than focused on an individual couple. So now the long wait begins.
Here is a link to the Mighty Ape chat Nalini did yesterday.
@library addict: I liked this one a little better than Shield of Winter too– I think I gave that one a B-. I don’t dislike any of the couples either, though I’m more fond of certain characters than others.
I’ve enjoyed all the books as well, but I’m not sure I want more books set among the DarkRiver or SnowDancer packs. I need a break from them. So I hope that when Singh writes future books about characters who belong to those packs, they get paired with people from other backgrounds. I could be wrong, and she may convince me otherwise, but after fourteen books the leopard / wolf / deadly Psy thing is starting to feel a little stale.
I agree re. the aspect of the new direction that you mentioned and also agree that the Architect is probably someone we know, but the latter by itself doesn’t get me excited. I think the Architect is likely to be one of the former councilors. Now if the Architect turned out to be someone we had previously thought to be a good guy, *that* would be exciting.
I’m sure there will be setbacks but right now, in this book, it feels like things are going a little too well. No doubt that will change when the new arc takes off.
I have to wait until the weekend to read this so I didn’t read the review or most of the comments – I’ll have to come back after I read the book. But a B grade and the comments about liking it a little better than the previous one seem like good signs to me.
I absolutely loved this one. It is my favourite Nalini Singh book since Heart of Obsidian, and may actually become my favourite of the series (lets first see if it stands up to re reads). Perhaps because it has so many of my favourite elements- Psy, Arrows, badass heroine, and a romantic relationship that predates the book. Many of my series favourites are couples who have had a prior relationship of some sort- Heart of Obsidian , Caressed by Ice, Kiss of Snow. Though Mine to Possess is an exception, somehow that one doesnt work so well for me (though as library addict said, i don’t actually dislike it).
I agree, the gender role reversal was great. Apparently the forthcoming Psy Changeling novella collection will have one about a dominant female and submissive male changeling pair- I am quite eager to read that.
Apart from the scenes Janine mentioned, the one where Kaleb is jealous of Aden’s power was really funny.
I loved that scene, too. Especially when Sahara rolls her eyes at Kaleb.
@Janhavi: Those are some of my favorites too (except Mine to Possess, and I would replace it with Branded by Fire). I agree it’s great to have a pre-existing relationship but I was hungry for more information about Aden and Zaira’s. I would have loved more flashbacks and I wondered if the reason we didn’t get them was to differentiate this book from Heart of Obsidian. To me it still would have been interesting and different enough, because of the child Arrows aspect and Vasic also being in the mix.
@Janhavi & library addict: I liked that scene too. I’m tired of Kaleb being so much more powerful than everyone else; it was great to see him a little uneasy about someone else’s power for a change.
@Janine: I am a bit confused- Were you saying that Branded by Fire doesn’t quite work for you? The way I don’t enjoy Mine to Possess very much?
Hmm, I hadn’t thought of that- I would have enjoyed flashbacks and as you say, perhaps they were intentionally not there. I did like the mentions of moments from the past, like the email and cell phone and gifts and so forth.
This book was really long- 484 pages, and I think that’s why I managed to feel satisfied with Zaira and Aden’s relationship even though there was so much else going on. Heart of Obsidian was much shorter- 360, so the Aden/Zaira relationship page time was probably about the same or even more than Sahara/Kaleb. The other characters/POVs felt more like a bonus rather than taking time away from the main relationship. In contrast, I agree with Janine’s point in her Archangels’ Shadows review that there wasn’t enough romance. I just realized that HoO is significantly shorter- all the other hardcover books since Kiss of Snow have been 420 pages or more ( as per my kindle books). Huh.
@Janhavi: Ah, no, I didn’t read what you said carefully enough. I thought you liked Mine to Possess, and I was saying that it’s not one of my favorites but Branded by Fire is. Sorry for the confusion!
Obviously we agree re. Archangels’ Shadows but even with Shield of Winter I thought the relationship development could have gone a bit more slowly and the character exploration could have had more depth. So I was pleased with this book on both those counts.
On another topic, did anyone else want Aden’s parents’ reactions to the reveal about his powers? It’s probably petty of me but I really wanted to see them eat crow.
Thanks for the review/discussion. I’m forcing myself to wait for this book–the current Kindle price is $11.43 (weird price), which I think is actually cheaper than it was just a few days/weeks ago ($12.99?)–and I just refuse to do that. And, since I’m one of those perverse readers who loves spoilers, I loved all the dropped tid-bits. :-)
@Janine: I probably was not being clear :) Branded by Fire is one of my favs too.
Yeah, Shield of Winter was a good, solid entry to the series, but not on par with this one or Heart of Obsidian (Well, this is all relative- all of Nalini Singh’s books are great, and Shield of Winter and Archangel’s Shadows remain in my top reads of 2014. The top spot went to Magic Breaks, though-did you ever pick up the Kate Daniels series after Burn for Me?).
Heh, that would have been a cool scene. I would also like to see the other Arrow’s reaction to Aden and Zaira’s bond but we probably will see that in the next book.
Completely different topic: I am now a bit confused about the ‘season change’. Since Book 15 is going to be an ensemble cast of previous characters, I expected it to be the final book of this arc, before Book 16 onwards moves on to Rainfire, BlackSea, etc (and I too am looking forward to those books). Yet this book seems to have more or less wrapped up the on going storylines- except, I suppose, for Ming. And if the next season is about battling the Coalition and building a proper triumvurate, that too seems to have started off in this book. Unless what we have so far is more of a trailer/lead in, and there will be much more depth later…
@Janine:
Yes. Going into the book I had expected for whatever reason to like Aden’s parents. But once we “met” them I was happy to dislike them and it made for a better story. Even though Walker is not that much older than Aden (14 years or so), I loved the way their relationship played out in this book.
@cleo: Yes, please do come back and share your thoughts.
@Susan: Totally understand waiting for a better price though I would find it very hard to do with this series myself! Each release manages to create so much anticipation.
@Janhavi: The other arrows seeing the bond would be heartwarming.
Book fifteen will be about the hunt for Ming; I’m pretty sure I read that somewhere. Other than that, I’m not sure what to expect from it, if it’s going to be a kind of extended epilogue. The Hawke / Sienna lovey-dovey post courtship stuff in Tangle of Need didn’t do much for me, so I’m hoping MIng will be hard to bring down. I think there will need to be some kind of plot or conflict, otherwise (if everyone is just glowing with happiness for the whole book) it will get old fast.
(I read Magic Bites long ago but after the Burn for Me discussion I got the Magic Burns audiobook from the library. Alas, I didn’t care for the audiobook narrator. I need to get the ebook instead so I can give the series a real second shot.)
@library addict: Yes. I agree that it made for a better backstory for Aden than if he’d had good parents. Even though Walker isn’t one of my favorite characters, the way Aden felt about him was touching.
Just finished this. A “B” for me. A solid B, as in “Good”. I got confused by the many crises that occurred throughout the book. Plus, because of these ongoing issues, the H/h didn’t get a lot of down time together to really explore their new-found intimacy.
There was a lot of repetition about how Zaira was a possessive monster, how children must be protected. Made for a long and occasionally draggy book. I would have liked for Zaira to have a better breakthrough from her possessiveness of Aden. Like, discover by the end of the book that she had other attributes besides being possessive of Aden. She was kind of one-dimensional (or of limited dimensions, maybe I should say).
As for Aden, his physical relationship with Zaira did not thrill me the way Judd’s discovery of same with Brenna did. I guess that’s because Aden was never really “Silent”, so for him, there was no struggle to break through and enjoy it. (Actually, now that I think of it, Aden was pretty perfect.) Anyway, a good, if somewhat confusing, story, but the romance was not quite there for me.
I’m late to the discussion, but I finally read it this weekend, and it was OK. I enjoyed it, it was a perfect rainy weekend read, but I wasn’t as swept away by the story – I kept getting pulled out to make cranky eye-rolling comments to myself, which I don’t really remember doing as much for previous books. 14 books may be my limit for one story arc or even for the whole series.
I loved Zaira. Her struggles with her “rage creature” resonated with me, although I felt like it got repetitive.
I’ve been aware for awhile that I don’t really agree with the portrayal of madness/ mental illness in this series, but I’m usually able to suspend disbelief, treat it like the fantasy world that it is, and just go with it. But all the talk of madness and brokenness really bothered me this time – I can’t quite articulate why it bothered me, what I disagree with, but, ugh.
And speaking of ugh, I hated the sections in Blake’s pov. Ugh, ugh and ick.
I thought the transition of the Arrows was really interesting and I loved Aden figuring out how to be a leader / alpha post Silence and how to create a sense of family. But I found myself wondering where their money comes from, if they’re no longer a covert force controlled by the Council. And I started to wonder about the human rights abuses of having a group of trained assassins running aroun executing serial killers.
@Dallas: I agree re. Aden’s lack of silence. There have been a lot of Psy characters recently who were never silent to begin with (If memory serves, it’s true of Aden, Sahara, Ivy, and to a lesser degree Kaleb. I can’t remember the deal with Vasic) and given the difficulty faced by characters like Sascha, Faith and Judd early in the series I would have expected them to have more difficulty hiding that fact and/or to suffer serious consequences (ETA: From Psy authorities, I mean). Ivy did but if I recall, not the others.
@cleo: Yes! Re. mental illness. Though I actually noticed it more in Archangel’s Shadows. It bothers me when mental illness is described in terms like “weak” or “broken.”
Blake’s POV was creepy and disturbing. I was conflicted about whether to mention it in the review because his creepiness did serve Beatrice’s storyline, and I liked Beatrice’s scenes with Zaira.
LOL and good point! I just remembered — I think they have investments.
@Janine – of course they have investments. Doh! I wish my (modest) investments were half as successful – I think every character in this series is a secret financial genius.
And I’m glad I’m not the only one bothered by the portrayal of mental illness. I have a feeling this book bothered me more than earlier ones because of stuff going on irl, but I really noticed it this time. I don’t like equating mental illness with brokenness, or weakness or wrongness. And there’s also the idea that mental illness / madness is this terminal condition. Not something that can be treated or managed (except through the power of true love). I guess Zaira does get some trauma treatment from Ivy, but not much.
@cleo: I think it’s in Vasic’s book where we learn that Zaid set up a fund where the Arrow’s paychecks went and that the system was automated. He wanted to ensure the Council couldn’t get their hands on the money. But since the Arrows were expunged from their bilogical family records, the money just stayed in the fund when they died. So when Aden figured out the funds existence, they basically had access to all the money members of the squad had been paid going back 100 years.
I had totally forgotten that detail. Thanks for providing the answer to the question.
I guess they may still be getting paid out of tax revenues as well, aside from the investments, though we don’t know one way or another. I mean, till recently they were basically salaried public sector employees, after all.
This point about Aden not being silent- I am sure he was Silent enough to not get into trouble. This is still a man who hasn’t smiled at the beginning of Shards of Hope, and doesn’t understand hope at the end of Kiss of Snow. And the Arrows rarely touch either.
Its clear that Arrows are some of the most deeply Silenced people in the entire net. Even if Aden is not quite as bad as the rest, I doubt he would stand out among the regular population. As Walker and Judd say in previous books, there were always plenty of people who still cared a lot for their children or other people.
I actually didn’t think Zaira had limited dimensions- or at least, I really enjoyed her emotional growth towards being able to care for more people than just Aden- to become friends with Miane and Ivy, and accept a hug from Walker, and comfort Beatrice and the other kids. Compared to say, Kaleb, she grew quite a bit over the book.
@Janhavi: I hope the Arrows find a way to earn a living in the future beyond relying on investments and past earnings. Either they continue to serve their society, in which case they should be compensated for that, or else they need to find another purpose or disband.
I take your point about Aden but in the last three books Psy main characters have been said not to have ever been Silent to begin with. With Judd and Walker, I don’t that was the case.
I agree with you on Zaira. I really liked her.
@Janine: Well, at the end of Shield of Winter, it is Aden who ensures the empaths get paid out of tax revenues for their services, so I am going to assume he has enough political know how to ensure the Arrows get paid for their services too :D
True, Sahara and Ivy were not at all silent and Kaleb was not Silent about Sahara, at least. With Walker, though he certainly thought himself as Silent, and we were told he was Silent, in terms of actions he seems very similar to Aden- always caring for his siblings and family and also for all the Arrow children.
Maybe its because the last three have been Psy-Psy books that the focus has been on how ‘non Silent’ one partner is. I mean, because the previous Psy characters were partnered with changelings/humans, their Silenced nature was played up. But with both characters Psy, someone is forced to be non Silent or else the book can’t progress? A romance with two characters as Silent as Faith and Judd were initially would be hard to pull off.
@cleo: Re your comments: “I don’t like equating mental illness with brokenness, or weakness or wrongness. And there’s also the idea that mental illness / madness is this terminal condition. Not something that can be treated or managed (except through the power of true love).”
Yes, this. I don’t understand why there was no mention of PTSD for Zaira (or any other Arrow who grew up through the system). Has the health field changed so dramatically that no one — Psy, Human, or Changeling — in any of the novels where folks acknowledged or recognized the childhood tortures experienced by Arrows–even mentions the possibility of PTSD, depression, etc. and that treatment (without finding true love) may be possible?
@Janhavi:
I would like to think that something like what almost happened to Zaira at the hands of the kidnappers could thaw someone like Aden out of silence, the same way Judd was thawed. So I think it could be possible to write a romance between two silent characters, but it may be easier to go the other route.
@Amy: Good point.
@Janine: I know that I am replying to this some two years later… But I really need help. I am trying to finish my book report, but I didn’t get enough time to finish reading… (I didn’t procrastinate or anything, but I seriously had two other projects + homework crashing down on me at the same time) So please: what is Aden’s secret power that everyone is talking about???
@Annonymous: I don’t want to spoil it for other readers but you can email me, janineballard at gmail dot com.