Nalini Singh – Slave to Sensation

Apr 3, 2017 | reviews, romance

In a world that denies emotions, where the ruling Psy punish any sign of desire, Sascha Duncan must conceal the feelings that brand her as flawed. To reveal them would be to sentence herself to the horror of “rehabilitation”–the complete psychic erasure of everything she ever was…

Both human and animal, Lucas Hunter is a Changeling hungry for the very sensations the Psy disdain. After centuries of uneasy coexistence, these two races are now on the verge of war over the brutal murders of several Changeling women. Lucas is determined to find the Psy killer who butchered his packmate, and Sascha is his ticket into their closely guarded society. But he soon discovers that this ice-cold Psy is very capable of passion–and that the animal in him is fascinated by her. Caught between their conflicting worlds, Lucas and Sascha must remain bound to their identities–or sacrifice everything for a taste of darkest temptation…

Slave to Sensation, by Nalini Singh

There are books that come into your world and turn it upside down. That create a reality that you come to know almost as well as the one you inhabit, where the world is rich and vibrant and different and you can truly escape for a time there. That you crave each new addition to like you crave food or water or oxygen.

Slave to Sensation was one of those books for me.

It was weird. I mean, I grew up reading Regency romance. That was my go to in the romance department. I wasn’t interested in paranormal romance, really. (I’ll be honest, after some exposure to Laurel Hamilton in college I kind of swore off both that and urban fantasy for quite some time – I know she works for a lot of people but definitely not my cup of tea at the time.) But I had just finished my Ph.D. defense and I needed something completely unrelated to work to unwind.

The result was multiple nights up until 3am or later as I devoured every one of the books released in the Psy-Changeling series at that point (through book 11).

So that’s the necessary context to have in mind as you tackle this review. I love this series, I love this world, and as a writer, I have nothing but the utmost respect for what Nalini Singh has been able to do.

This is not my favorite book in the series.

Oh, it’s definitely up there. If you pinned me to a wall and made me list them in order (and really, that’s a horrible thing to do), it’d probably be somewhere in the top five. Both Sascha and Lucas are awesome, complex characters with understandable motivations. The chemistry is there (and sizzling!) and the plot actually builds logically from the world that she’s built.

And it’s the world that absolutely seduces me. The differences between Changelings and the Psy, and how humans add into the mix. The alternate history that makes sense, with just enough details to let you fill in some of the backstory without being overly distracting. Within the context of the world she’s built, none of the decisions the characters make leave you wondering what just happened or why they did that – it all grows organically from the story and the rules of the world. You easily have the sense that you could fall asleep one day and wake up in this world the next and it would be believable.

(If that does someday happen, I’d be thrilled to find out my husband and I were in a Changeling pack and mated. That’d be great.)

Lucas is definitely an alpha male – he should be, as the Alpha of DarkRiver. He’s dominant and not willing to give up on Sascha, even if the situation confuses the hell out of him. Sascha is more than a match for him, with an internal strength that she grows into over the course of the book as she embraces her ability to feel. They’re far from the only characters either, although as the central couple we certainly spend our time with them – Nalini introduces a host of side characters (although she does so in a way that isn’t overwhelming) and focuses on a select few to keep the book from turning into an information dump. You’re left with just enough to tantalize and tempt you to read the next books because you’re curious about the other characters you’ve met.

That’s not to say that the book completely avoids the dreaded information dump, but to some extent it’s unavoidable when dealing with the first book in a new universe and by far the majority of it is worked in so that it fits with the story. It’s mostly noticeable in comparison to the later books – which, to be fair, have a lot less new information to communicate to the reader. And while I like both Sascha and Lucas (and am happy to see more of them in the next books!), they’re not my favorite couple in the series. (There’s a few others fighting over that honor.)

So that’s lots of text, but what’s the bottom line? This is a series where it’s well worth your while to start at the beginning instead of jumping in at the middle and fortunately Slave to Sensation is an excellent read.  Even if it’s not my favorite book in the series, I’m more than happy to recommend it to the reader who hasn’t yet given it a try – even if paranormal romance isn’t your normal thing. It wasn’t mine (and while I explore it a little more these days, I’m still really picky). But at least once a year, I find myself either rereading Slave to Sensation or pulling it up on Audible as I stitch away at yet another project. (Angela Dawe’s narration of the series is fantastic and well worth the credits!)

As a note to potential readers, Nalini has structured the Psy-Changeling series so that each book represents an “episode” with there being an overall “season” story arc that progresses through the series. Allegiance of Honor represents the last book in this “season” and transitions a little to the next season, starting with Silver Silence, which comes out in June. That will be the first book of the Psy-Changeling Trinity series and I’m really excited to see where she goes with it.