Scan barcode
A review by heabooknerd
Silver Silence by Nalini Singh
4.0
It was nice to go back to the older feel of Nalini Singh’s books and to be so focused on the Changelings which are my favorite. But I would be lying if I didn’t say I really missed all the characters we’ve spent over 10 years with. Nalini Singh is a master at the paranormal romance genre and she’s done an amazing job with this exceptional world. I had very high expectations for this book and a lot of excitement over a new era of the Psy as they begin to live outside of Silence. I can say that for the most part, this book lived up to those expectations and set forth a lot of new characters, groups, and packs to follow. Silver Silence was a bit of a throwback to the earlier books in the series and I really appreciated that because I love that earlier vibe.
The bears are fun loving, charming, partiers with the biggest hearts. After seeing so much of DarkRiver and SnowDancer I found StoneWater to be a bit more primitive in their nature; I’m not sure if it’s because they’re bears (likely) or because they’re Russian (possibly). They’re not as “in” with the humans or Psy so their experiences have been more isolated and they are just starting to become a force in their region. Valentin was this great big cuddly bear on one side and a very primal, protective man on the other side. He was an interesting mix of the danger we got in Hawke (SnowDancer Alpha) and the charm we got in Lucas (DarkRiver Alpha). I loved his devotion to Silver, even when he realized it meant he could lose her forever.
Silver has been a quiet presence in the background of Kaleb’s business so it was nice to get to know more about her. I also found the Mercant family to be really interesting in light of all we know about the Silence Protocol. The Mercants managed to find ways to maintain their family and principals while also becoming outwardly cold enough that no one would mess with them. I’d love to see more of the family, particularly Arwen, since being an E-Psy means he’s already far along the path of dropping Silence.
There were some phrases that got quite repetitive by the end of the story. For example, “Silver Fucking Mercant” was used 25 times, primarily in the 2nd half of the book, so it felt very heavy handed.
One area I’m still looking for improvement on is the type of Psy we’re being presented with. I felt like in the beginning of the series we had powerful Psy (Sascha, Faith, Ashaya) but their stories were more about embracing emotion in a race that shunned it and what it would mean to give up being Psy. The more recent books have been about Psy with furious, extraordinary powers (Kaleb, Vasic, Aden, Silver) that they have to control at all costs and this is why they are reluctant to embrace emotion. Basically, I liked the more internal reflection on moving away from the norm and embracing who you are as opposed to the current model of my powers will be out of control. Where are all the average Psy? The ones who have less dangerous powers but still struggle with embracing emotions they’ve never felt before in their life. I don’t mind strong Psy but I’d like something different every once in a while to mix things up.
The bears are fun loving, charming, partiers with the biggest hearts. After seeing so much of DarkRiver and SnowDancer I found StoneWater to be a bit more primitive in their nature; I’m not sure if it’s because they’re bears (likely) or because they’re Russian (possibly). They’re not as “in” with the humans or Psy so their experiences have been more isolated and they are just starting to become a force in their region. Valentin was this great big cuddly bear on one side and a very primal, protective man on the other side. He was an interesting mix of the danger we got in Hawke (SnowDancer Alpha) and the charm we got in Lucas (DarkRiver Alpha). I loved his devotion to Silver, even when he realized it meant he could lose her forever.
Silver has been a quiet presence in the background of Kaleb’s business so it was nice to get to know more about her. I also found the Mercant family to be really interesting in light of all we know about the Silence Protocol. The Mercants managed to find ways to maintain their family and principals while also becoming outwardly cold enough that no one would mess with them. I’d love to see more of the family, particularly Arwen, since being an E-Psy means he’s already far along the path of dropping Silence.
There were some phrases that got quite repetitive by the end of the story. For example, “Silver Fucking Mercant” was used 25 times, primarily in the 2nd half of the book, so it felt very heavy handed.
One area I’m still looking for improvement on is the type of Psy we’re being presented with. I felt like in the beginning of the series we had powerful Psy (Sascha, Faith, Ashaya) but their stories were more about embracing emotion in a race that shunned it and what it would mean to give up being Psy. The more recent books have been about Psy with furious, extraordinary powers (Kaleb, Vasic, Aden, Silver) that they have to control at all costs and this is why they are reluctant to embrace emotion. Basically, I liked the more internal reflection on moving away from the norm and embracing who you are as opposed to the current model of my powers will be out of control. Where are all the average Psy? The ones who have less dangerous powers but still struggle with embracing emotions they’ve never felt before in their life. I don’t mind strong Psy but I’d like something different every once in a while to mix things up.