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mirandadarrow 's review for:
Slave to Sensation
by Nalini Singh
I always wonder what to say when reviewing romance books. I was shocked by the ending? Or that the main couple had obstacles to overcome? Um, no. This is a romance book. The story arc was pre-ordained, so the differentiating factors are the universe, the characters, the side plots, the writing style. For these, one short paragraph a piece:
The universe - I liked it. In a world where the ruling Psy have evolved to have no feelings, our protagonist Sascha is a freak who has feelings. And then her mom, a grand-poobah of the Psy, herself a quite successful unemotional robot, asks Sascha to interact with a changling, the half human, half animal (be it leopard, cougar, wolf, housecat, I'm not sure) hybrids which can change back and forth and have characteristics of both species working all the time. And man, are they emotional. The first half of the book, the universe was quite strong. The second half, I actually got bogged down in it. Too much lengthy description of the Psy-Network and the details of Sascha navigating around the Psy-Network and I thought, hey, let's get back to the sex already, I'm tired of hearing about some computer's central processing unit's inner workings already.
The characters - were strong. I liked both of the main couple, Sascha and Duncan were both compelling. There was a little bit of insta-love on Lucas' part that they tried to pass off as some type of panther trait, which actually reminded me of the Twilight series imprinting and that reminded me of Jacob and Reneesme and I threw up a little in my mouth. At least these two crazy kids in love are both adults and they seem to be into it. The side characters were also decently drawn, especially the healer lady whose name escapes me, as she makes cookies. And I love cookies. I'll go hang out with her, and even play with the cubs, but I'm not letting them wreck my boots. Boots are expensive, man. What kind of universe is that not a factor?
The side plots - There are serial killers on the loose and a young woman's life in the balance and potential tribal war between various factions of changlings and also between changlings and the Psy. So, there are plots abounding. And some weird business deal involving real estate and housing built for various types of changlings and the Psy investing in it despite the fact they would never use it and that whole plot line got dumped somewhere along the line. So, a mixed bag here. Spoiler
The writing style - it was good. I'd give this author another try. I kept reading, even when I was annoyed with how long we were in the Psy Network. It was quite readable.
Overall, enjoyable, but I did have some issues with it.
The universe - I liked it. In a world where the ruling Psy have evolved to have no feelings, our protagonist Sascha is a freak who has feelings. And then her mom, a grand-poobah of the Psy, herself a quite successful unemotional robot, asks Sascha to interact with a changling, the half human, half animal (be it leopard, cougar, wolf, housecat, I'm not sure) hybrids which can change back and forth and have characteristics of both species working all the time. And man, are they emotional. The first half of the book, the universe was quite strong. The second half, I actually got bogged down in it. Too much lengthy description of the Psy-Network and the details of Sascha navigating around the Psy-Network and I thought, hey, let's get back to the sex already, I'm tired of hearing about some computer's central processing unit's inner workings already.
The characters - were strong. I liked both of the main couple, Sascha and Duncan were both compelling. There was a little bit of insta-love on Lucas' part that they tried to pass off as some type of panther trait, which actually reminded me of the Twilight series imprinting and that reminded me of Jacob and Reneesme and I threw up a little in my mouth. At least these two crazy kids in love are both adults and they seem to be into it. The side characters were also decently drawn, especially the healer lady whose name escapes me, as she makes cookies. And I love cookies. I'll go hang out with her, and even play with the cubs, but I'm not letting them wreck my boots. Boots are expensive, man. What kind of universe is that not a factor?
The side plots - There are serial killers on the loose and a young woman's life in the balance and potential tribal war between various factions of changlings and also between changlings and the Psy. So, there are plots abounding. And some weird business deal involving real estate and housing built for various types of changlings and the Psy investing in it despite the fact they would never use it and that whole plot line got dumped somewhere along the line. So, a mixed bag here. Spoiler
Spoiler
why on earth did Sascha's mom push her into working on this real estate deal with Lucas, particularly because she suspected that Sascha was having forbidden feelings? Was she trying to push her into helping them find the killer, or trying to get her daughter killed, or what exactly was this strategic master-mind's end game. That was weak.The writing style - it was good. I'd give this author another try. I kept reading, even when I was annoyed with how long we were in the Psy Network. It was quite readable.
Overall, enjoyable, but I did have some issues with it.