Silver Silence
(Psy-Changeling Trinity #1)
by Nalini Singh
Publisher: Berkley Romance
Publication Date: June 13, 2017
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Rating:
Control. Precision. Family. These are the principles that drive Silver Mercant. At a time when the fledgling Trinity Accord seeks to unite a divided world, with Silver playing a crucial role as director of a worldwide emergency response network, wildness and chaos are the last things she needs in her life. But that’s exactly what Valentin Nikolaev, alpha of the StoneWater bears, brings with him.
Valentin has never met a more fascinating woman. Though Silver is ruled by Silence–her mind clear of all emotion–Valentin senses a whisper of fire around her. That’s what keeps him climbing apartment buildings to be near her. But when a shadow assassin almost succeeds in poisoning Silver, the stakes become deadly serious…and Silver finds herself in the heart of a powerful bear clan.
Her would-be assassin has no idea what their poison has unleashed…
My thoughts…
Silver Silence is supposed to be the start of a new series. However, it’s also a spin-off of a well established series. The author stated that this book can be read without having read the previous series but coming from someone who did just that, I would not recommend it. I had no idea what was going on for the first 100 pages of the book. I’ve no clue what psy is, what Silence is, or anything that has to do with Silver, the main character. Is she like Professor X from the X-Men? She can hear the minds of others like her, make them do things by digging into their mind, and can telepathically talk to people? I honestly have no idea but that was what I deduced by reading. Silver is a female Charles Xavier. Aside from having no clue what was going on when it came to the Psy, I understood the changelings because they are pretty much just shifters. Plus, I gathered that there’s some sort of discord between the humans, the Psy, and the changelings but that all fractions were working to come together. So, I grasped the story as a whole but I really struggled in the beginning and even put the book down and thought about throwing in the towel.
While I still have absolutely no idea what a Psy is or anything that pertained to it, I still liked Silver’s character. I didn’t understand a lot of her inner workings but I liked that as a person, she put her differences aside, gave Valentin a shot, fell in love, and when that connection was compromised was able to still remain true to who she was deep down. She fought for the little things, especially when it affected those around her. She wasn’t afraid to ruffle feathers and hurt feelings if it meant making her loved ones happy.
Valentin was great. I’ve read bear shifter stories before and I loved that this one seemed to go more in-depth into the bear psyche. I mean, it’s not just a close group of changelings, these bears NEED one another to survive. Valentin being the alpha is responsible for letting all members of his clan know that he loves and accepts them. So, he’s always hugging, touching, and wrestling with all his clan members. The close-knit bond that they share was unlike anything I’d ever read before.
While I had a tough time reading it, I enjoyed this story as a whole. It’s kind of like abstract art for me. If I look too closely, it’s just a bunch of jumbled shapes pieced together, but when I take a step back and look at it, the picture it portrays is beautiful. I think if I’d read the previous series and had not only a better understanding of the Psy but also knew some of the previous characters and their story arc before diving into this story, I would have enjoyed Silver Silence a whole lot more. However, I really struggled with this and as long as I glossed over the Psy and Silence, and really anything that made Silver who she is, I was able to enjoy the story. So, if you’re a fan of the previous series or have read ANY of the books from that series, you’d probably love this. If you’re like me and are hoping to get on the Nalini Singh fan train with this new series… don’t do it. You will be confused and you won’t enjoy it nearly as much if you already had an understanding of the Mercant’s, Psy, Silence, or even the dynamics of these characters. Even though this is a first in a series, you’re really just jumping into a series that’s already buried deep in character and world development.
Favorite quote…
“We all see clearly when we haven’t lived the pain.”
My last psy book was book 12 or 11 but it still worked well for me 🙂
I haven’t read her Psy Changling series either so I was excited to hear about this one. I did enjoy her Guild Hunter books but this does sound confusing. Eh – maybe I’ll just start with the PC one.
For What It’s Worth
I’ve only read a couple of books in her Psy Changling series and while I liked them they didn’t grab me so I haven’t read anything else from her. But this sounds rather good. Maybe I’ll give her another chance.
Thanks for the heads up, I haven’t read her other series and was thinking about getting this one lol
Thanks for the heads up. I have never read any of her books before and was planning to start with this one.
Haven’t read anything from her yet, but I think I have some in my TBR. Great review Kristin, too bad it didn’t worked out well for you 🙁
I remember reading some of the original series, and it was a little complicated. I can’t imagine what a newbie would think of it. A shame you couldn’t enjoy it as much as you hoped.