Tina's Reading Books

im•mer•sive [iˈmərsiv/]
adjective:
noting or pertaining to digital technology or images that deeply involve one's senses and may create an altered mental state:

I am like a lot of people in that this series is an absolute highlight of my reading when a new book comes out.

Last year when I finished Heart of Obsidian, I closed the book with one of those big, gusty satisfied sighs and then started it all over again. When the second read through was done, I went back and started the entire series all over again. And when that was done, i rather desultorily cast around for something else to read while trying to disengage myself from the Psy/Changeling world that I had become completely immersed in.

I remember the first time I picked up this series. There were only four books written at the time. I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but man did I love the world, the writing, the people and the blend of science fiction and paranormal romance.

Now, when this book came out. I knew I had to temper my expectations. HoO was one of my favorites of the series and like any long-running series, not every book is a home run.

That said, this one is a pretty damned satisfying follow up. No real review but here are some of my rather rambling thought about what I read.

- I liked getting a little more insight into the Arrows. Judd is hands down my favorite of all the heroes in the series and Caressed By Ice - Nalini Singh remains my favorite of all the books. So it is his fault really that I was ready for another Arrow hero and ready to know more about the men and women who were trained from childhood to become these lethal warriors.

- As much as I like all the characters that populate the series, I admit my biggest fascination is with the Psy. I am liking the complexity with how she's crafted their story arc from the anthropomorphism of the 'Net to how the whole concept of Silence feels somewhat analogous to Freudian psychological repression. And just as repression has a profound effect on the mind, body and spirit of an individual, these same sorts of effects feel like they are mimic'd only writ large over the whole of Psy society.

- I also enjoy that the cast is familiar enough and comfortably large enough that we get to see some familiar faces, but only those really relevant to this particular plot. It wasn't necessary to trot out every single character for a walk on, but the characters from the earlier books that had to be involved were. And I loved how she used a really rather minor character from before, Zie Zen, to create a familial connection between Vasic and the Felines.

- Second virgin/virgin couple in a row?  I love how they read 'manuals' to learn sexy-times stuff and it becomes part of the foreplay. 

Good book, great series, ready for the next one...