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adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
I’m really enjoying these Psy-Changeling Trinity books. I loved the first book and this second one matches the brilliance of the first. Here, head of the Human Alliance, Bo Knight, who was critically shot in Book 1, has been taken by the aquatic changelings who have an experimental treatment to possibly bring him out of his coma and neutralize the deteriorating brain chip he took in the main Psy-Changeling series. They secretly have a secondary interest in finding out whether it was he who’s been targeting sea changelings and “vanishing” them. Kaia Luna, former biomedical scientist and now head chef on one of their key installments whose best friend Hugo is recently vanished, is resentful of Bo and has a key interest in figuring out what he knows. There’s just the complication of the burning attraction between them.
This was a really exciting read. From the start I adored both Kaia and Bo, I like the progression of their relationship and the way the conflict between them was handled in a mature adult way, rather than the bickering childish enemies to lovers route. If I have one minor niggle, it would be around the theme if humanitarianism and how Kaia (understandably) kind of expressed some entitled thoughts about why her parents should have received treatment first because they had come all the way from “the Western world” to this forgotten rural “township” to help and had caught their virus and then drags the people for corruption etc. I’m putting words into Kaia’s mouth and clearly she didn’t say it quite like this, but I definitely get where she is coming from, but I also think this is a fundamental problem of humanitarianism and who it centres and what it expects from the communities it serves. This is just a random tangent and it didn’t make me feel any sort of way about Kaia, her emotions on that traumatic occurrence made sense and I really felt for her. But I’ve been thinking a lot about humanitarianism and her narrative of what happened to her parents really brought that to mind. Another minor niggle is perhaps that the transition from mistrust to trust might be a little easily one for some- to me, it was perfect, because the characters had bigger fish to fry (not the most apt of metaphors given the characters in the book), but I can see how one could say that the initial conflict between Kaia and Bo was too quickly resolved. I think the suspense/mystery elements of this were really good as well. I didn’t see all of the plot unfurling the way it did. The secondary characters much like with the first book were compelling and made you interested in the whole ensemble. I can’t recommend this book enough especially if you’re familiar with the Psy-Changeling universe. I mean.. this could stand alone as well, but you’re definitely getting a devalued reading experience.
This was a really exciting read. From the start I adored both Kaia and Bo, I like the progression of their relationship and the way the conflict between them was handled in a mature adult way, rather than the bickering childish enemies to lovers route. If I have one minor niggle, it would be around the theme if humanitarianism and how Kaia (understandably) kind of expressed some entitled thoughts about why her parents should have received treatment first because they had come all the way from “the Western world” to this forgotten rural “township” to help and had caught their virus and then drags the people for corruption etc. I’m putting words into Kaia’s mouth and clearly she didn’t say it quite like this, but I definitely get where she is coming from, but I also think this is a fundamental problem of humanitarianism and who it centres and what it expects from the communities it serves. This is just a random tangent and it didn’t make me feel any sort of way about Kaia, her emotions on that traumatic occurrence made sense and I really felt for her. But I’ve been thinking a lot about humanitarianism and her narrative of what happened to her parents really brought that to mind. Another minor niggle is perhaps that the transition from mistrust to trust might be a little easily one for some- to me, it was perfect, because the characters had bigger fish to fry (not the most apt of metaphors given the characters in the book), but I can see how one could say that the initial conflict between Kaia and Bo was too quickly resolved. I think the suspense/mystery elements of this were really good as well. I didn’t see all of the plot unfurling the way it did. The secondary characters much like with the first book were compelling and made you interested in the whole ensemble. I can’t recommend this book enough especially if you’re familiar with the Psy-Changeling universe. I mean.. this could stand alone as well, but you’re definitely getting a devalued reading experience.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Panic attacks/disorders, and Physical abuse
Moderate: Addiction, Emotional abuse, and Kidnapping
Minor: Mental illness and Toxic friendship
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