Shield of Winter (Psy/Changeling)

Shield of Winter was one of my most anticipated books of 2014. After the extraordinary, impossible romance and jaw-dropping leaps forward for the overarching series plot in Heart of Obsidian I was dying to see what would next happen in the Psy-Changeling world. I was also wary of being disappointed. Highly anticipated books always run that risk, but I think following up a stunner like HoO is a tougher challenge. Luckily, Nalini Singh is on a hot streak and shows absolutely no signs of slowing down. And that's saying something because even the earliest books in her paranormal series are outstanding. And I'm still recovering from Heart of Obsidian, by the way. Shield of Winter showcases everything that that makes this series so wonderful: 1) Unique, intricate worldbuilding - the concept of the PsyNet is one of the best worldbuilding constructs I've ever read and it takes center stage here. 2) An alpha hero with a devoted, protective and positively molten core despite his mistakes and haunts from the past. Vasic was not what I expected but I couldn't imagine him every other way. He is different than the other heroes in this series yet so, so perfect. 3) A strong feisty heroine who has an iron will, contagious zest for life, and deep awareness of the world around her. I admire Ivy like crazy. Out of all the leading ladies in this world I think she's the truest fighter of them all. 4) Airtight plotting with threads that come full circle from the first book, Slave to Sensation (and SoW is #13!). 5) A sweet, heartrending romance that's also hot, hot, hot. 6) Prose that is haunting, soulful and beautiful on one page and clinical yet flowing the next - Ms. Singh has an incredible storytelling voice. First, SO much was packed into this book. It is just as much an aftermath book as it is about new beginnings and continuing the stories already told. After the destruction wrought on the PsyNet and wider world by the fanatical group Pure Psy everyone is still reeling. Now add that to the fall of Silence, the protocol that conditions Psy not to feel emotion...because often their rampant feelings cause them to sink into insanity or lose control of their abilities and unintentionally hurt others. Silence kept the lid on those things but it also destroyed their society and allowed sociopaths free reign. Now a disease that originated in Silence is destroying the fabric of the PsyNet - the psychic network that connects all Psy and keeps them alive. After Silence fell it grew ever more voracious. The Arrow Squad, which was long the Psy Council's dirty little secret now works only for itself and is dedicated to saving the Net. To do this they must "wake" the empaths, whose core ability of healing emotions and damaged psyches caused them to be systematically suffocated under Silence. Vasic is one of those Arrows. As a telekinetic who is also a born teleporter he was extremely valuable to the Council and has been part of the squad since childhood. After all he has seen and done he is ready to give up. Ivy is a powerful empath who was very nearly rehabilitated (a psychic brainwipe) after she broke Silence in a big way at 16. It took her years to recover, and now she's been asked to be part of a group of empaths to investigate the disease and find a cure. Vasic is her guard. He will do this one last thing before he finds the only peace he can get. However, Ivy is a fighter through and through and she refuses to give up on Vasic - or allow him to give up on himself. The disease and romance are the two biggest plot threads. However, there are also quite a few new characters introduced (Arrows and Empaths - what a combination!). There is a kind-of secondary romance (Nalini Singh you owe us a story about Abbot and Jaya!...I mean, please?). Like I said, there's lots more but this review is already going to be way too long. We do get to catch up with characters from past books like Kaleb and Sahara, Judd Lauren, Sascha and Lucas, Alice Eldridge, Zie Zen and even Dev Santos. Kaleb in particular is such a complex character, and for all his enormous power he is ever the politician. I also loved seeing Sahara building her own life and her life with Kaleb. These two deserve every single millisecond of their happiness. And Judd Lauren continues to steal my heart. I love you, Judd Lauren. Don't get me started on Kaleb. So I know I gave this book five stars, but there are actually quite a few things that annoyed me. I'm going to list them briefly, but I just want to say despite the stuff I didn't like this book and series just leave me awestruck. 1) Too many cameos. There are well over fifty significant characters in this series. Ms. Singh never, ever info dumps on her readers, and while I LOVE seeing past MCs again sometimes I feel certain appearances are unnecessary. In particular I didn't think Mercy, Riley and Sienna's part were necessary. 2) The prose. Yeah, I said it was great. But there was some ridiculousness going on in there. At times it's so overly dramatic it feels campy. It also gets repetitious in places. And there was THREE times Ivy felt like there was "confetti" inside her. It stuck out like an awkward, sore thumb. 3) Too much build up and glossed-over resolution. I was nervous about how Ms. Singh would solve the dilemma (understatement) of the disease, and I thought the solution was perfect. Unfortunately there wasn't much pagetime for the actual cure and aftermath. I'm sure some of this will be covered in Psy-Changeling #14, but it was still somewhat disjointing. 4) Ming LeBon. This situation still isn't resolved. I'm thinking his part happened for a reason that will become evident later on but it felt unneeded while reading. 5) This is a darker series and some pretty horrifying things happen. Like not thousands but hundreds of thousands of people dying. Sometimes I feel that awfulness isn't emphasized enough. I also think the characters and events get pretty edgy only for Ms. Singh to pull back. I wouldn't call it deus-ex-machina but it still seems there should be more sacrifice from the characters. Although this is a series I think SoW can be read standalone. New readers won't be familiar with the socioeconomic attributes of the Psy-Changeling universe or the histories of past MCs, but it's still manageable. However, you're going to really like this book, then go back and read the rest and wish you had read them in order in first. It's an amazing journey and Nalini Singh is a sneaky, genius, masterful storyteller. And very emotive. These stories will touch your heart and soul. I don't so much dread having to wait for a new installment in this series as I do finding something to read after a new book goes out. Seriously, withdrawal occurs - and it ain't pretty. Booklist has called Nalini Singh the "alpha author" of paranormal romance. For me it's pretty much fact. Shield of Winter is an impressive addition to the phenomenal Psy-Changeling series, and I treasured every minute of reading it. The phrase not-to-be-missed is NOT an exaggeration here!

Silence has fallen, bringing hope to the Psy race…if they can survive the aftermath. The Psy’s only hope for survival lies with the empaths, a designation almost entirely obliterated when the Silence Protocol was put in place. Vasic is an Arrow to his core. He’ll protect his people until the end, though he may not have long. His conscience is weighed down by all that he has been forced to do and the implant in his arm is slowly killing him. Empath Ivy Jane breathes new life into Vasic when he’s tasked with guarding her. He’ll stand as her shield as she risks everything to save their people, and their growing bond means there’s no chance Vasic can deny his attraction to the beautiful Ivy. But their burgeoning romance may not survive what lies in store for them. For not all Psy believe the empaths should exist, and some will do anything to protect what they believe is the “purity” of their race. Shield of Winter is a stunningly well-crafted book by paranormal romance superstar Nalini Singh. Vasic and Ivy are two endearing, memorable protagonists who join a long line of fantastic Psy-Changeling heroes and heroines. Vasic is a man who’s been used as a weapon for so long it breaks my heart. He’s so much more than his abilities, yet precious few outside the Arrows see him as more than such. I wanted to see Vasic truly experience life and love, and Ivy is the reason he does. She’s strong and deeply caring, and I admired her willingness to risk so much for the good of her people, even though she was almost broken as a child because of the Silence Protocol. Vasic and Ivy make a heck of a couple, their passion and blossoming love for one another making the pages of Shield of Winter fly by. While Ivy and Vasic’s romance is the heart of Shield of Winter, it’d be remiss of me not to mention the worldbuilding Ms. Singh does in this book. The end of Silence has sent shockwaves through the Net and we see the horrifying fallout that threatens to crush the Psy race. If they can survive the infection and chaos among the Net, there is hope for them to become stronger and better as a whole. The empaths are the key to the race’s survival, but figuring out how to unlock the empath’s abilities and use them to protect the race isn’t easy. There’s amazing advances as well as heartbreak in Shield of Winter, and I’ll leave it to readers to uncover what Ms. Singh has in store for the Psy. Shield of Winter is the thirteenth full-length book in the Psy-Changeling series and I don’t recommend reading it as a standalone. Each book in the series builds upon the last, and though Ms. Singh does a great job of providing all the information necessary to read Shield of Winter within the book, I suggest at least reading Heart of Obsidian before diving into Vasic and Ivy’s story. Fans of the series will surely devour the new information uncovered in Shield of Winter and the appearance of some past favorite heroes and heroines is both necessary to the story and just plain fun. Ms. Singh consistently writes incredible, intelligent stories and Shield of Winter is no exception. I loved this complex, fascinating romance from beginning to end and I can’t wait to see where Ms. Singh takes readers next. Joyfully Recommended! This book was reviewed by Shayna for Joyfully Reviewed (JR), and was provided by the publisher/author at no cost to JR for the purpose of being reviewed.

Rating~ 4.5 Stars. I know as with many fans of the series we were all eagerly waiting for Vasic's book to be released (ever since he said he was tired, and seemed suicidal and some of us were greatly disappointed that he wasn't going to end up with Aden). SoW is mainly about Vasic an arrow and Ivy an empath psy, but we see a lot of our favorite changeling packs and Psy's world where we see the impact of what happened in the last book. While I did love Vasic and Ivy's story it was different than other other Psy books like for e.g. Judd and Kaleb's. In those books we saw Judd and Kaleb kind of learning about emotions and understanding them but at the same time they were very much still in silence in the way they interacted with others apart from their heroines. Vasic is different in that aspect though he did not quite understand emotions like hope but he had someone who kept him from feeling lonely, his friendship with Aden which saved him from a difficult childhood and later with the morality of what they were doing for their race. To me it felt like Vasic and Ivy's relationship came about very easy and without much conflict. It could be because the end of silence or just because they both could feel without any restraints, especially with all the understanding and emotional backbone that Ivy had. Their falling in love was sweet and cute. I really loved all the scenes that showed the previous characters since it showed what they had been up to and their meetings were all constructed very well to include the overall arc of the series and its effects. In the end, this was a great read and I can't wait for the next book in the series (Aden's).

シリーズの中でもLucas、Juddに続いてお気に入りなVasicの巻ですが、さすがSingh女史、まったく期待を裏切らない展開で大満足です。 年末発売だったため届くのに時間がかかり、ここは少々残念でしたがマスマーケット版で揃えてしまっているので文句は言わないことに。 PsyNetは痛みと犠牲を伴いながらもあるべき姿に向かっていきます。 この巻で決まってくるArrow達の新しい役割にも納得でした。 しかし何よりも印象的だったのは女主人公Ivyの飼い犬Rabbitの力でしょうか。 彼の「遊んで」攻撃にはVasicは当然ながら、Adenや他のArrow達も次々と陥落、そのminion（手下）となっていきます。遊びを知らないPsyなのでその行動に何の意味があるのか困惑しながらも、Eを守るという義務の延長線としてひたすら真剣に枝を投げるArrow達がとにかく可愛らしいです。Kalebはさすがに鉄壁の守り（というか、Rabbitとの接触自体がほとんどありませんでした）。しかし個人的にはちょっと投げて欲しかった（Saharaにお願いされたら勿論投げてくれるでしょうけど）。 また、Vasicの腕に組み込まれたコンピュータについてですが、6巻（Riley & Mercyの巻）にあった伏線が今頃復活していてさすがにこれには気付きませんでした。1度しか出てこなかった名前なので当然ながら忘れてました。後で「そういえばそんなことあったかも。。」という状態。 最終的には色々とLossもありますが、VasicはTKがあるので生活には困らないし。。 残るはAden・・・と思っていたら次巻はやはり彼主人公ということに。 Mingがいつまでも野放しなのも気になりますが、とりあえずArrowサイドを終わらせるようです。 本巻でVasic & Ivyと同時進行だったAbbotとJayaはどうなったのかはっきりしなかったので、NovellaかAdenの巻で出てくることを期待します。

Cette série est magnifique ! Nous voici avec Vasic qui au bout du rouleau ne pense pas que le bonheur puisse être à sa portée et utilise ses dernières forces pour sauver les flèches et le psy net . Et voilà que la solution passe par le réveil et la protection des empathes ! Mais la destruction est en marche avec ses centaines de morts, encore ! Et il faut prouver que le salut de la race psy passe par les émotions. Et pourquoi pas Vasic aussi ? Nous en apprenons encore plus sur les flèches tant redoutées et pourtant si attachantes . Que d'émotions et de douceur alors que le monde est en feu ! De l'humour aussi : comment faire l'amour avec des pouvoirs si violents (on sait que Kaleb fait trembler la terre ! ) Et la relation avec croquette le petit chien d'ivy, une alliance prend forme, c'est intéressant ! Ce livre je l'ai lu à sa sortie et si je fais ce commentaire maintenant c'est que je viens de lire la version française et de relire cette version car j'avais l'impression que c'était mieux, je ne suis pas claire alors voilà : en bref je préfère la version anglaise même si c'est bien traduit il manque quelques subtilités inhérentes à la langue anglaise qui ajoute de l'émotion en plus ! Mais que ce soit en français ou en anglais ce tome est magnifique, cette auteure merveilleuse

This is one of my favourite books in this series. The concept of the Arrows and finding emotions is captivating. A well written and entertaining book. Highly recommend.

Love this author, can't wait for the next book!!