The 13th in the Psy-Changeling
series of paranormal romance novels by Nalini Singh and I loved it! It is a very
worthwhile addition to the series, both for its primary romance and its secondary genre
content. Ive read 11 of the 13 books in the series, and a few of the novellas as
well. The series is set in an alternative future Earth where there are three basic types
of humans Psy, with their psychic abilities, changeling with their ability to take
an animal form and the basic human as we know it.
Each book focuses on a man and a woman as they get together to become a
couple during the story. As each romance unfolds in the forefront, so does the continuous
background story of the political turmoil facing this future earth created by Ms Singh.
Its a great setting for paranormal romance. We have global players from all over the
world. The action can take place anywhere. Due to the revolution in Heart of
Obsidian, the Psy are now free to experience emotion again after 100 years
of having it conditioned out of them, in the flawed belief that it would be safer.
Shield of Winter is about two people from the
Psy group who experience love for the first time in their lives. Ivy and Vasic are
attracted to each other and gradually fall in love after meeting each other when they are
required to work together to save their race from a psychic epidemic. I found this romance
to be sort of realistic, and it made me appreciate the story all the more for it. Quite
erotic directly due to the lack of sex until much later on in the book, making this a
change from others in the series where the attraction was near-instant. Shield
of Winter is also highly imaginative in that Vasic who is a very strong
telekinetic or Designation Tk in the series, is experiencing some interesting
side-effects while getting intimate.
Ivy also has a pet dog named Rabbit who features fairly
prominently as a secondary character in the book. We also see more of Aden who has
featured as a minor character in many of the previous books. Overall, Shield
of Winter had some serious warmth and heart to the story, making it about
relationships and friendship, as well as romance. I suspect some of the side-stories in
this book are setups for future books.
I loved the sections in this book that show previous main characters from
the earlier books getting on with their mated lives, but still part of the background
science fiction story. The background story has become epic. Reading a few of
the earlier books would help a reader appreciate the later books, especially Shield
of Winter as this is the first post-revolution story.
The first nine of the Psy-Changling books could be read out of order, but
it would still depend on how particular you were with your reading. From Kiss
of Snow onwards, the continuous background story starts to impact the
romance to the point you need a bit of the history to appreciate the context of
whats going on that is influencing the romance. Ms Singh gives just enough to cover
this in each book, but if you are more of a genre science fiction fan than a paranormal
romance fan, you may want the full story. You dont need to read all the previous
books in the series to appreciate this one, but reading a few would help.
|