Shards of Hope by Nalini Singh

Shards of Hope (Psy/Changeling, #14)

by Nalini Singh

"The "smoldering heat, epic romance, and awesome action"* of Nalini Singh's New York Times bestselling series continues as two Arrows find themselves caught in a chilling conspiracy that spans all three races. Awakening wounded in a darkened cell, their psychic abilities blocked, Aden and Zaira know they must escape. But when the lethal soldiers break free from their mysterious prison, they find themselves in a harsh, inhospitable landscape far from civilization. Their only hope for survival is to make it to the hidden home of a predatory changeling pack that doesn't welcome outsiders. And they must survive. A shadowy enemy has put a target on the back of the Arrow squad, an enemy that cannot be permitted to succeed in its deadly campaign. Aden will cross any line to keep his people safe for this new future, where even an assassin might have hope of a life beyond blood and death and pain. Zaira has no such hope. She knows she's too damaged to return from the abyss. Her driving goal is to protect Aden, protect the only person who has ever come back for her no matter what. This time, even Aden's passionate determination may not be enough because the emotionless chill of Silence existed for a reason. For the violent, and the insane, and the irreparably broken like Zaira"--

Reviewed by Melanie on

5 of 5 stars

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4.5 stars

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

After listening the previous book, Shield of Winter, which featured one of the upper echelon of the Arrows squad, I was very excited to listen to Shards of Hope, which features Vasic’s best friend and leader of the Arrows, Aden. If you aren’t familiar with this series, the Arrows are an elite squad of soldiers who are part of the Psy race. Not only are they great soldiers in a physical capacity, they also have great psychic powers. All the Psy have lived their lives under a strict code of Silence, where they bottle up all their emotions to help the race control their powers.

Shards of Hope starts not long after the previous book. Silence has fallen and not all of the Psy are dealing well with it. The Arrows have it really tough because they usually had very powerful psychic powers, they needed Silence more than most to help control their powers. Most have been in a strict military setting since they were as young as three. It is hard for some of the older Arrows to start to show their feelings. The Arrows start working to build a more family and community for them to live and train in, instead of barracks and compounds.

Early in the book, Aden and Zaira, who has been close to Aden since they were children and is now one of his best Arrows, are captured by a group of humans, Psy and Changelings. They do escape and end up with a Changeling group that we haven’t met before. Aden gets a chance to see how the Alpha leads, teaches and interacts with those in his pack.

I loved watching Aden learn how to lead the Arrows in this new family environment. He has to learn how to teach the kids to play. There is also dealing with teenagers that are now allowed to react to their hormones. He is also trying to create family units with children living with older Arrows.

While this series is a paranormal romance, it reads almost more like an urban fantasy to me especially when both characters are Psy as they have a much slower built toward romance. There is a new couple in every book, but it has a very strong series arc. I’ve read several romance series where you can come into the series in the middle and not have any issues with the overall story. I wouldn’t recommend coming into this series in the middle of the series. I think the overall story would be lost.

Narration
I still enjoy Angela Dawe’s narration. She doesn’t blow me out of the water the way some other narrators do, but I think she does a great job. I also think she is perfect for this series. She does a great job going between the feelings of Changelings and humans to the coldness of the Psy. You can even feel the Psy warming throughout, not just the each story as the romance builds between the characters, but also I think the warmness of the Psy is increasing book to book as Silence falls.

I like to thanks Tantor Media for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 23 May, 2015: Finished reading
  • 23 May, 2015: Reviewed