Reviews with content warning for Murder - Slave to Sensation

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

15 reviews

indigoblue777's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

A million years ago my friend and I had a conversation about how much we both enjoyed reading a certain infamous YA vampire romance <s>saga</s> series, and she recommended that I read Nalini Singh's books. I added it to my TBR and promptly forgot about it. This leads to a few months ago when I was reading [book:Bride|181344829] by Ali Hazelwood. In the author's note, Hazelwood states that she was inspired to write Bride because of Nalini Singh. I really liked Bride, and so I inevitably found myself wandering down the path of paranormal romances.

After a bit of research about Nalini Singh's extensive canon, I found [book:Slave to Sensation|178476] was the place to start. An interesting title, to be sure, but it is a mass market romance.

Actually, this is more of a murder-mystery-fantasy-paranormal-romance. The plot is that changeling (aka animal shifter) women are being murdered by a Psy serial killer. I think the book couldn't decide if it was supposed to prioritize this mystery or the romance. And because this is classified as a "romance", it prioritized the romance even though the story would have been better served by prioritizing the mystery elements.

Spoiler: And then the mystery is resolved so quickly and poorly. It was so obvious that it was the councilor that I thought it couldn't possibly be him!

I didn't hate this book. I had a good time reading it. I enjoyed the mystery, the fantasy world-building, and some of the side characters were great. But overall I think it could have been better. Better organization of the story, better chemistry between the love interests, and better pacing to create tension.

The romance itself was just ok. Sascha's character arc was interesting, but it could have been more interesting if she started out from a place of self-denial instead of already knowing there was something wrong with her. I know these kinds of books are written for the female gaze, but the story would have been more dramatic if it started in Lucas's perspective so that the reader doesn't know Sascha has feelings or is aware of feelings. Don't even get me started on what kind of person Lucas is.
The author felt the need to name-drop the words "sensual", "slave", and "sensation" WAY too many times in this book. Lucas literally has no other character trait.

The world-building is impressive, but convoluted. There are so many details that get repeated over and over again, but are never easily explained, or are only explained much later. The Psy mental powers were hard to picture until Sascha finally entered the Psy Net. Also, where were the humans? Supposedly they exist, but there were none in this story!

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smallmac's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

The romance is alright, the Changelings are interesting but not incredibly different from other characters I've read about. What I'm most captivated by is the implications of Sascha's handicap and how she deals with it.

I knew almost right away that her energy keeping her emotions in was the reason she couldn't do much else of value to the Psy society, and it was nice to be validated when the truth came out. Hiding the undesirable parts of yourself (masking??) is very relatable, and it was gratifying to read about Sascha accepting her gifts and reframing everything she knew into a world where she could not only survive but thrive.

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siu_rose's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious medium-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

3.5

Overall I enjoyed it well enough. I thought the different races were inventive and made a good setup for the romance. Which was fairly predictable but still good, I was rooting for everything to work out. although there were still moments when I thought oh come on, really?. I felt the ending of the plot was a little abrupt or skipped over some things a bit or something.

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allingoodtime's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective tense 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? Yes

5.0

I’m so tempted to say, “Why didn’t anyone tell me how fantastic Nalini Singh is?!?” I cannot do that since it would be a lie. For years I’ve seen recommendations for this author. Any time I see her name come up it’s with high praise. So I only have myself to blame. This book was amazing!

I had a bit of trepidation going into this as an audiobook. I knew it would be a huge world-building book due to it being the first in the series. On top of that, it was a single narration. It wasn’t long before I was fully immersed in this story and my misgivings were forgotten. I was fascinated by the different races and their characteristics. While this book is firmly in the paranormal genre, it also sometimes felt like a science fiction story in the way the storytelling and world-building progressed.

All of the characters fascinated me. From Sascha and Lucas to all of Lucas’ pack and the other packs that have been introduced so far. There are so many possibilities for the direction this series can go and I’m excited to see how everything unfolds. Sascha and Lucas have wonderful chemistry and, as the story progressed, I loved seeing familial chemistry grow between Sascha and others in Lucas’ pack. I truly believed these people loved and cared for each other deeply.

While I often chat my husband’s ear off about books I’m currently reading and will tell him how much I enjoyed a book after I’ve read it, I rarely do what I did with this book. I paused the story, looked at him out of the blue, and said, “I really love this story.” That’s it. Simple, but it said so much. I didn’t want to tell him about the book because I was too engrossed to stop listening, but I couldn’t wait to tell someone how much I was enjoying myself. If you’re a paranormal reader and haven’t read this author yet, stop putting it off!

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givemaribooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book. It's a great start to this series. I am upset with myself that I waited so long to get to this series. I liked the characters a lot, and I am glad that the book was not too worldbuilding heavy, which tends to happen with first books in a series. I do think the book is a bit outdated, especially when it came to ableist language.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator is great, especially voicing the psy characters.

CW: murder, kidnapping, torture, death of parents (recounted)

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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

This is the story of Sascha, a Psy (a race of being who do not have emotions and they do not display feelings), who is working with Lucas, a Changeling (race of human/animal shapeshifters). Sascha and Lucas are working on a building development for the Changelings made in part by the Psy.

Lucas is actually trying to get information from Sascha because there is supposedly a Psy serial killer kidnapping and hurting Changeling women. Sascha is a Psy that is starting to "fall apart", she has emotions and feelings even though no other Psy does. Both of them have secrets to hide, neither of them anticipated falling in love.

The world building in this book was really nice, I enjoyed it. This is my first Nalini Singh novel and it won't be the last.

I was able to find out who the serial killer was without the help of the book so I'm going to knock off half a star because of that. This wasn't my favorite book but it is a book that I really enjoyed.

I'm giving this book 4.5 out of 5.

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vivivi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-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? Yes

4.0

It's an interesting world, and a heck of a lot of angsty people! There's a dramatic flair to how the story is told, and the narration style is very unique.

I like the transition that Sasha went through and how she tried to hide her "flaw." Knowing what I know now about the supporting characters makes re-reading the beginning of the series very interesting.

The whole situation with a dominant guy manhandling her that way isn't that interesting, really. Kind of annoying lol. Which I think was the point, but ah well.

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