Review: Shards of Hope (Psy-Changling #14) by Nalini Singh
Paranormal Romance
Releases:  June 2, 2015
Berkley

Reviewed by Sheena

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.

We are full swing into Spring and that means it is time (finally!!!!) for the latest addition in Nalini Singh’s phenomenal Psy-Changeling series.  Book 14 is Aden’s story. Strong, loyal and mysterious Aden.  I didn’t know how starved for his book I was until I began to read it.  Aden is one of those sleeper characters that blind side you with their awesomeness.   Shards of Hope is such a deep novel.  Multi-layered plot and this new “ramifications of fallen Silence” story arc is a masterpiece.  New characters, new territory- the first Arrow-Arrow pairing and Nalini balances each little nuance with the finesse of the artist that she is.  If you can not tell, I really loved this book and to be 14 books deep with reader’s fatigue not even close to settling in…well that is just remarkable.

Aden and Zaira couldn’t have been more suited for one another.  Their connection forged as Arrow children and though forced to live as silent elite assassins, they never forgot one another.  Zaira was a fantastic heroine.  She loved Aden with a fierceness that we are used to seeing as the hallmark of the predatory changeling males.  Zaria covets Aden, her loyalty and devotion ingrained into her very soul.  Protecting him from harm, real or imagined is second nature to Zaira and more so than any previous heroine. I really got a kick out of her violent and savage need to keep him alive, keep him for her own.  She follows her instincts when it comes to Aden, and would sooner give her own life than see him in danger of losing his own.

“He knew her desire was pathological, and yet he didn’t back off.  Because if Zaira had a ravenous want for him, he had just as ravenous a need to be wanted.  “Who is it you want?  Aden, or the leader of the squad?

Shifting so close that their bodies pressed along her entire length, she slid her hand into his hair, gripped it in a fist.

“The squad means I have to share you.  I don’t want to share you.  You’re Aden and you’re mine.”  Her eyes turned midnight in front of him, the whites disappearing.

“Do you see it?  she whispered.  “The want?  It’ll devour you.

Aden’s story is so well written, I too felt like a psy awakening to feeling. Cautiously elated to be free of the bindings of silence yet frightened to live in a world free of rigid mental boundaries.  So much happened, so much revealed and so much love and unconditional acceptance and loyalty flowed between these pages and  it made me very emotional. The beginning had a pretty steady pace.  We witness Aden and Zaira’s daring escape, meet a new changeling pack all while learning the full history  Zaira, Aden and Vasic shared.  Nothing short of gripping – reliving their horrors as dangerously talented Arrow children, watching them be torn apart and toyed with by their handlers.  It is a miracle they survived.  A miracle named Walker who had me in absolute sniffles with his strong sense of character and unwavering devotion to fight the only way he knew how.  Did I mention that so much went down in this book!? I am tying myself in knots in efforts not to spoil everything but we have always known Aden was an adept medic with an unknown super-psy power.  Let’s just say if you think Walker’s mental valve-star-filter trick was cool…Aden. Will. Blow. You. Away. I still have goosebumps.

Beyond dealing with the fall of Silence and the instability of the Psy world, the romance between Aden and Zaira was beautiful.  You have Aden, who gives everything to everyone that he can’t see why anyone would bother to pour anything into him and Zaira whose bone deep drive to hold Aden- own him, keep him so close their bone marrow could mix; their coupling was honest and raw and the hope that each were suffocated by made their courting authentic.

“You hear what I told you, if we do this, I might not be able to put myself back in the box.”

“I never wanted you in a box…I need your fire most of all”

“If take you, you’re mine. Always”

“Take me.”

“What if I decide to beat in the heads of everyone I see as competition for you?

He didn’t believe she’d do that, but he had no way to prove it to her.

“I’m not afraid,” he said to her, holding her as tight as he could without hurting her still tender injury. “Not of any part of you.”  Including the rage that was woven inextricably with her fire.

“You should be.”

Ah Zaira.  Damaged and fueled by a critically deadly fire and rage that manifests when she feels threatened or in reaction to a threat against her loved one (because for Zaira- Aden is and will for ever be her “one”) Zaria is in rapt fear of what a life without silence could mean for her.  A slip on her control over her powers could be supremely disastrous.  Little does she know her bond to Aden can change her life in ways she never dared to dream!

Psy-Changing fans, this is the novel you have been waiting for.  If you thought Kiss of Snow, Heart of Obsidian or  Shield of Winter were game changers, Shards of Hope firmly solidifies itself as a series stunner.   Less about action and more about uncovering truths and journeys to self discovery, the pace is slow but steady.  A ton to absorb.  Nalini threw fans major bones because we see little snippets of all the early series star’s lives.  It felt rather deft and ingenious weaving the past heroes and heroines into the fabric of the huge plot revelation. I was content to read and peel back the many layers, and the payoff was nothing short of epic.  Seriously, the last quarter absolutely slayed. I had no choice but to surrender.  I am bewildered and enraptured and twiddling my thumbs until more information is released about book 15!

Grade: A

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