#ocean light

Hi! I’m Alex, a YouTube Newbie and this is The Late Lockdown List where I talk about the list of things I’ve got on my mind since the lockdown started. Today, on the second episode of A Series on Series, I’ll be talking about one of my favorite romance novel series ever: 

Spoilers galore! That’s it. That’s the disclaimer.

So who are the Psys and and who are the Changelings?

In this world, there are three predominant races: the Psys who have powers akin to those of Professor X and Jean Grey, the Changelings who are shifters -- both animal and human forms, and the humans -- just humans. 

There are two main changeling 'packs' in the series: the cats (leopards and panthers) - DarkRiver and the wolves - SnowDancer. As of this writing, there are 15 books under the Psy-Changeling series and 4 under its spinoff -- Trinity -- so named because they've included the other race: humans.

The series starts with Slave to Sensation

with Sasha Duncan, a Psy, who gets involved with Lucas Hunter, the alpha of the DarkRiver cats.

Sasha is a cardinal Psy. This means she’s very strong - literally off the charts strong, because their scale only goes up to 9 and cardinals are way over 10. But her abilities have not manifested. Her mother, Nikita Duncan, is a member of the ruling council. In this book, Nikita decides to enter into a sort of business partnership with the DarkRiver cats to sell real estate to changelings. Sasha becomes the point of contact. 

So that’s basically how it starts. If you want to know more about the story, please go ahead and read it. I don’t want to tell you because that would be a disservice to the author. 

However, I’m going to tell you what I love about this book and the books that follow.

I think Ms. Singh is a great world builder. There are a lot of familiar things about this world where Psys -- who are in the Marvel parlance, mutants -- and changelings -- think were animals but that’s oversimplifying it -- coexists with humans. She sets up the story so well without overexplaining it -- showing AND telling at the same time. 

I found it very easy to dive into this world inhabited by the gifted and the supernatural mostly because their problems mirror a lot of what we contend with in the real world: corrupt politicians, violent crackdown of dissenters, prejudice against those who are not like ourselves… The characters in the story deal with these problems using their gifts -- ones we don’t have, but I understand their motivations and the decisions they make -- right or wrong. 

It may sound trite but the human element in the circumstances in which the characters find themselves are very real and I couldn’t help but be drawn and just stay engaged the entire time. 

So after finishing the first book, I hunted for the next and was completely gratified that it’s a series. I get to know what happens after and that’s amazingly satisfying. I also get to find out more about the initially peripheral characters in the book. And I get to learn more about what “Silence” is and why it’s starting to break…

The next books are about the rest of the packs with a smattering of Psys and humans here and there. The pairings are usually Psy and changeling. Down the road, you get human and Psy and then human and changeling. You’ll also meet the so-called bogeyman of the Psys: the Arrows. Essentially, they’re a squad of highly trained assassins, most of them trained since childhood. Fascinating bunch.

The last book in the Psy/Changeling series is Allegiance of Honor

which sets up the spinoff Trinity series. 

In this book, we meet an almost one-year-old Naya - Lucas’ and Sasha’s half-psy/half-changeling daughter and the only one in the world - who can now shift. This is also the book where we find out just exactly how many ‘pupcubs’ Mercy and Reilly have. 

It’s not all cute stuff, though. There’s an abduction attempt, a ‘righteous’ killing and vengeance. All through it, we see the lives of the Psys, Changelings and humans evolve to try to live in this world where there’s now a real possibility of all three races co-existing in peace. 

Of course, si vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war. And there’s a lot of foreshadowing.

So I’ve mentioned Trinity several times. The first book in the spinoff Trinity series is Silver Silence

where we meet Psy Silver Mercant, assistant of Kaleb Krychek who is the former Councilor now member of the new Trinity Accord council. Kaleb and Sahara Kyriakus’ story is told in the 12th book, Heart of Obsidian

We also meet another changeling pack, the StoneWater bears and its alpha, Valentin Nikolaev. 

In this book, someone is committing acts of terrorism against humans -- to start -- to undermine EmNet or Emergency Net headed by Silver. In the previous books, EmNet coordinated rescue and relief operations. 

The three other books in this series deal with more of the fallout of the creation of Trinity. A shadowy organization called the Consortium -- which is like the reverse side of Trinity -- also made up of all three races -- that seeks to undermine what Trinity wants to accomplish. It wants to sow discord among the races so they can go back to how it used to be: Psy, Changeling and humans living apart and keeping to themselves. 

I’ve talked about what I loved about this series, but I realized I left out one important thing: romance. Each book tells you the love story, either the start of one or the continuation of the ones you’d read before, of the characters. The dynamics of the relationships are different, especially among the changelings because they have a hierarchy: an alpha, his/her sentinels, lieutenants and soldiers. They’re also classified into two ‘dispositions’: dominants and submissives. The dominants are usually soldiers, but there are also maternal dominants -- ones who protect the hearth and home from within the hearth and home. In this world, submissives hardly ever hold eye contact for long against dominants, which makes for a power imbalance in a relationship where you’re ideally supposed to be equals. However, with mates -- like wolves, changelings who mate -- explained like a magical and psychic merging of the souls -- mate for life. With mates, the dominant-submissive dynamic is less structured. It wouldn’t make for a good relationship if the submissive doesn’t have ways to be in equal footing as the dominant. Here is where the human side of the changelings appear. The mating bond snaps into place only when both parties let it happen. It is up to the female (all of the major matings in this story are heterosexual) to decide to accept the mating bond. However, it is the male who becomes aware of the ‘mating dance’ first. 

I may be explaining it badly, but if you’re intrigued, go read the books. Seriously.

One other thing I love about this series that I know I’ve mentioned but feel like I should say again: this is a world you can happily get lost in. The way it’s built is so intricate; the details seem to jump out of the pages. I feel so invested in what happens to every single character that gets introduced in every book. 

Of course, I have favorites like Roman and Jules -- twin DarkRiver cubs who were introduced in the first book. 

I find myself looking for mentions of the pups or cubs because of how Ms. Singh writes them. Imagine having a toddler and puppy/kitten existing in one body.

It’s difficult to choose a favorite, but so far, mine is Allegiance of Honor. 

It has all my favorite characters and it’s a great setup to the spinoff. I was so relieved to hear about the spinoff because I thought that I would have to say goodbye to all of them. This way, I still see glimpses of my favorites while being introduced to new people and how they form connections to the characters that have yet to be explored.

That’s it for me. I hope you enjoyed listening to me ramble on and on about the Psy/Changeling/Trinity series. 

The latest book, Alpha Night

Full disclosure: I love the Psy-Changeling/Psy-Changeling Trinity series so you could say that I’m a wee bit biased here but who cares.

As I will undoubtedly say about every book in this series that I post a review for; I loved Kaia and Bowen’s story. It was so sweet!! 

Getting to see a softer side to the Human Alliance security chief was as interesting as finally getting an inside look at those secretive water-changelings. Watching Kaia learn about Bo, and realise he’s not the cruel and calculating man she was led to believe, gives just as much insight into Kaia as it does Bo.

As the story progresses and the ticking-time bomb of the Alliance-implant counts down Nalini Singh slowly spins an adorable tale of the dance between them as they learn each other and themselves. I’m not going to even try and get analytical because (as already established) so so biased here, but I will say that the complex characterisation, even among the smallest supporting role, remains one of Singh’s strengths – allowing you to sympathise with characters that, from an outside perspective, would probably come across as unlikeable.

As usual, I can’t wait to see where Singh takes us next and who’s in the lead for the next chapter of these adventures. I gotta say though, I’m really hoping we get to see a lot more of the potential Bowen-Kaleb friendship that looks to be cautiously developing. I reckon that could be lots of fun!

Would I read it/them again? Oui. Da. Yes. Si. Ja. However else you want to say “Of-fucking-course”.  

Rating: ❤❤❤❤ 

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Release Date: 12 June 2018

Synopsis: Security specialist Bowen Knight has come back from the dead. But there's a ticking time bomb in his head: a chip implanted to block telepathic interference that could fail at any moment--taking his brain along with it. With no time to waste, he should be back on land helping the Human Alliance. Instead, he's at the bottom of the ocean, consumed with an enigmatic changeling...

Kaia Luna may have traded in science for being a chef, but she won't hide the facts of Bo's condition from him or herself. She's suffered too much loss in her life to fall prey to the dangerous charm of a human who is a dead man walking. And she carries a devastating secret Bo could never imagine...

But when Kaia is taken by those who mean her deadly harm, all bets are off. Bo will do anything to get her back--even if it means striking a devil's bargain and giving up his mind to the enemy...

Ocean Light is the latest installment in the Psy-Changeling Series by Nalini Singh. This is a series I’ve been reading for years and this installment didn’t leave me disappointed. But then again Nalini Singh has never left me disappointed in anything she has written so I may be a little biased here. I strongly urge you read Silver Silence before this one as it picks up where that one left off.

Bowen Knight is the head of the Human Alliance. He’s a brave and engaging character whose is a literal walking time bomb. He’s an “alpha” for sure, but there was an unexpected sweetness and sensitivity to him that I adored. With Bowen, Singh has created a character fans will adore even though he isn’t a changeling, he could still hold his own and to me, that’s what made him admirable.

Kaia Luna is a water changeling and through her we learn more about the BlackSea Ocean Changelings and I was here for it. Kaia has issues aplenty but she never lets that stop her making her a great character. She is playful, loving, but has an edge of steel. She was wonderful.

Neither are looking for love and both have reasons to be reluctant. Though this was a slow burning romance that I adored. Instead of instant love or instant attraction, this pair is built on mutual affection. Their romance was real, heartbreaking, and uplifting all at once. That’s Singh’s magic, being able to pull the reader right into to the heart of the romance, sweeping you away.

“They might only have a fragment of an instant in time, but he’d make that fragment extraordinary.”

The world Singh has built is incredibly rich and diverse. The politics, the dynamics, the races. There is so much to sink your teeth into in this series so it’s easy to see why this series is as popular as it is.

I loved the underwater feel of this. It was so vivid and somewhere I actually wanted to be. See you later guys I’m running off to join the Black Sea Ocean Changelings. This book had intrigue, mystery, and a great romance. Pretty much everything I look for in Paranormal Romance is here.

It’s the character developments and the depth of emotion that keep me coming back to Nalini Singh. Her writing is gorgeous and vivid. To me she is the queen of Paranormal Romance and I hope she never stops writing.