| Book: Slave to Sensation (Psy-Changeling #1) by Nalini Singh Genre: PRN (paranormal romance with Changelings and Psys) Published year: 2006 Rating: 5 out of 5 (*****) The blurb: In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of "rehabilitation" - the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was...
Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy coexistence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice-cold Psy is very capable of passion - and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities - or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation... |
My Review:Slave to sensation is the first book of one of the best PRN series I’ve read.
With the Psy-Changeling series, Nalini Singh created a brand new original and slightly futuristic world. This series truly has one of the best world building in the genre with a general plot that just keep you riveted and guessing. This is my third read and not only I don’t tire of it but each read brings into light new elements.
The series starts in the years 2079, the Earth is inhabited by three different species. The humans, the changelings and the psys.
The Psys rules the world, politically as well as economically. They are humans genetically modified with formidable mental skills. The problem is that a century ago in order to reduce their increasing and alarming criminal rate, they implemented the Silence protocol. This protocol has made of them an emotionless robotic race for which any form of emotions are banned under penalty of chemical lobotomy. The Changelings are shapeshifters, touch is the cornerstone of what they are, and if they are physically the strongest of the three breeds for the Psys they are barely better than animals. Finally, Humans are considered the weakest.
This book focuses on the DarkRiver, a leopards Changeling pack who has control over the San Francisco area but also introduces us to the SnowDancer -a wolves and the most important Changeling pack in California-, as well as the Psy world.
Since Silence protocol was implemented the Psys stopped to mingle with the other two races but when a Psy serial killer preys with impunity on Changeling young women, Lucas (the DarkRiver alpha) accepts an exceptional business deal with Nikita Duncan (a powerful business woman and dangerous Psy Councilor). The deal brings him to work in close collaboration with Sascha (Nikita supposedly flawed daughter) and is the start of their beautiful and hot love story as well as the beginning of the political plot that will continues over the other books.
I loved how Nalini Singh slowly introduces us to the Psys subtleties, how she can make so vivid something as abstract as the PsyNet. I loved the way the Changelings interact with each other.
Sascha and Lucas form a hot and beautiful couple. I loved them. Their interactions, even their dreams, are hot and beautiful.
And I love love LOVE Julian and Roman!