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4.21 AVERAGE
4.21 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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:
Complicated
dark
funny
lighthearted
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:
Complicated
I love Mercant pairings! I love the Mercants!! I still love the balance of romance and worlbuilding. I’m invested in both.
La série Psy changeling est ma série doudou, que je lis quand j'en éprouve le besoin.
La romance y tient une place importante mais j'adore aussi le fil rouge de la série, l'intrigue qui évolue de livre en livre
La romance y tient une place importante mais j'adore aussi le fil rouge de la série, l'intrigue qui évolue de livre en livre
IT PAINS ME TO RATE THIS ONLY TWO STARS. I love this series and I think my standards are too high as a result... But I read my review for the previous book and pretty much everything I said then applied here. This series is suffering from a lack of setup and payoff, though I believe we've met Canto before (I don't remember him though - I'm assuming he played a part in Silver Silence as the bears love him so) I'm pretty sure Payal is new. It feels almost like there's no plan, just a blank slate for each book, which I know isn't true as the Architect is a recurring menace and the imminent demise of the psynet continues to be a theme. But the Anchors are hugely important to the story, but it feels like they came out of nowhere? And a few books ago, it was implied that the withdrawal of humans from the psynet was destructive, but it's barely mentioned since?
I'm cross because I care, I suppose. I really hope the next book is one of the dozens of characters we've already met, crying out for their own story. And I'd really love a human/Psy pairing but I suspect it'll be another changeling story. I won't remember Payal and Canto sadly, much as I enjoyed a growly Psy with zero f-s to give, they were not a couple I'll fondly look back on.
I'm cross because I care, I suppose. I really hope the next book is one of the dozens of characters we've already met, crying out for their own story. And I'd really love a human/Psy pairing but I suspect it'll be another changeling story. I won't remember Payal and Canto sadly, much as I enjoyed a growly Psy with zero f-s to give, they were not a couple I'll fondly look back on.
emotional
hopeful
tense
slow-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
I was skeptical at first but GOSH this turned out good.
3,5 Sterne. Ich mochte die Figuren sehr, besonders Canto, aber ich habe das Gefühl, dass Singh allmählich die innerhalb ihres Worldbuildings möglichen Beziehungsstrukturen und Plots auserzählt hat. Vieles fühlte sich repetitiv an, ich hatte das Gefühl, es in Stücken schon aus anderen Bänden zu kennen, diesmal nur anders zusammengesetzt. Dabei entsteht noch immer eine kurzweilige, emotional berührende Geschichte, die ich gerne gelesen bzw. gehört habe, aber viel Spannung ist nicht entstanden, zumal sich in den letzten Kapiteln die Konflikte etwas zu einfach in Wohlgefallen auflösen.
Last Guard by Nalini Singh - 4 Stars Last Guard is the fifth book in The Psy/Changeling Trinity series which is a continuation of The Psy/Changeling series. These series are some of my all time favorites, I love getting to go back to this world and revisit with my favorite characters. I find this series hard to write a review for because you need to know background and I don't want to give spoilers away. So in this book we are following Canto Mercant who is in charge of intel for the Mercant family and Payal Rao who is the CEO of a huge corporation. Canto and Payal both had a traumatic childhood and were in an "institution" because they were considered defective Psy. After they are both released Payal gets sent back to her father and she must maintain being the perfect Psy so he doesn't get rid of her. While Canto gets rescued and taken in by his mother's family and even though the Psy don't show emotions the Mercan't always protect their family. I really enjoyed their story and what they had t overcome to be together. I especially enjoyed Canto's relationship with the bears!! The bears are some of my favorite characters in this entire series!!
Both of the main characters are Psy and honestly thats my least favorite pairings to read about because Psy are usually emotionless but Canto was not and I loved him so much! The Mercant's are such a great family to read about. This series is one that you would need to read in order as the overall story arc encompasses all the books and then each book centers on one couple. Thank you Berkley for my gifted copy for review.
Both of the main characters are Psy and honestly thats my least favorite pairings to read about because Psy are usually emotionless but Canto was not and I loved him so much! The Mercant's are such a great family to read about. This series is one that you would need to read in order as the overall story arc encompasses all the books and then each book centers on one couple. Thank you Berkley for my gifted copy for review.
I really wasn't expecting to like this book so much. This is a long running series with lots of side characters and these two seemed to come put of nowhere.
But I loved Canto and he won me over and of course the bears.
But I loved Canto and he won me over and of course the bears.
dark
emotional
inspiring
reflective
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:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Violence
Moderate: Ableism, Child death, Emotional abuse, Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death
To be honest, I wasn't very impressed with the first book in this series, but it was also before I had read much from the romance genre, so I was less accustomed to the structure and tropes. That said, now that there are over a dozen volumes of these books, I've been enjoying how Nalini Singh has been able to write enough volumes to develop the characters and setting. Both the politics and emotional stories have become stronger and more complex as the series has gone on, as has the world-building.
In the book before this one, I was excited that both a gay (M/M) romance and romance with a disabled hero were hinted at. A character who had a cameo also referenced dating men and women. I'm a little disappointed that the M/M storyline is probably only going to be told in asides in the main books. Maybe Singh isn't comfortable writing a M/M romance; maybe the publisher doesn't want an M/M romance in this series. Who knows? Anyway, this is a long paragraph to say that while I was very excited to have a decently positive portrayal of not only a paraplegic character, but also a neurodivergent character, as well as glimpses of an M/M romance, I'm irked that all of this had to be shoved into one book, as if this is the diversity bingo volume before going back to cishet romances in which the goal is monogamous mating and lots of children. With over twenty books in the series now, and the fact that it is decades later, I think that there is space and a fertile market for more diverse romances.
In the book before this one, I was excited that both a gay (M/M) romance and romance with a disabled hero were hinted at. A character who had a cameo also referenced dating men and women. I'm a little disappointed that the M/M storyline is probably only going to be told in asides in the main books. Maybe Singh isn't comfortable writing a M/M romance; maybe the publisher doesn't want an M/M romance in this series. Who knows? Anyway, this is a long paragraph to say that while I was very excited to have a decently positive portrayal of not only a paraplegic character, but also a neurodivergent character, as well as glimpses of an M/M romance, I'm irked that all of this had to be shoved into one book, as if this is the diversity bingo volume before going back to cishet romances in which the goal is monogamous mating and lots of children. With over twenty books in the series now, and the fact that it is decades later, I think that there is space and a fertile market for more diverse romances.