Title: Silver Silence (Psy-Changeling Trinity #1)
Author: Nalini Singh
Date of publication: 13 June 2017
Genre: Paranormal romance, shifters
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Rating: 4.5 Stars
Blurb
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh introduces a bold new chapter in her extraordinary paranormal romance saga with the Psy-Changeling Trinity series. Wild passion will encounter the darkest of betrayal...
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...
Review
This story was another winner for me, a worthy addition to a favourite PNR series of mine. This is the start of spin-off series, or as Nalini Singh herself called it" a second season" of the Psy-Changeling saga.
This is the story of Silver, a cardinal Psy and Valentin, the alpha of the bear clan. There are some similarities with previous stories of cardinal Psys and alpha changelings, as it's book 15 in the series, I feel some repetition is unavoidable but it didn't bother me to much. Still, I would welcome more diversity in terms of tropes and how the romantic relationships develop, these things would be beneficial for the series and would make them even more fun to read. And I'm happy to say that there are signs of such changes coming along - we meet our first gay changelings here and I really hope Nalini Singh will give us their story at some point in the series.
Tthe bears turned Stu to be such a fun changeling clan. I didn't expect they would compete with Lucas' cats for the first place of my affections but they really did. Valentin was alpha to the core but also confused and vulnerable and playful which is something I love about all the changelings, even the wolves have this fun, playful side which I think. He was determined and even stubborn in his wooing of Silver, his love strong and unselfish.
In some ways Silver was the typical cardinal Psy - cold, calculating, smart and determined but we see the cracks in her silence as the story goes. There is an emotional side to her, deep caring for her family, for the world as a whole and gradually for the bear clan. I liked how strong she was, a true equal to Valentin. She didn't give in, didn't back down in their arguments and overall, I felt their relationship was very much based on challenging each as much as supporting and providing comfort to one another.
I absolutely loved the twist in eh last quarter of the story. It is a unique take on the amnesia trope which came rather unexpectedly and worked so well giving the story much needed freshness. It made the romance stand out on its own among the rest of the series.
Wwhat made this book extra special to me is that I'm Bulgarian and we have a lot of cultural similarities with the Russians. And I speak Russian, so all those cultural and linguistic bits in the story felt familiar and made so happy. This is the closest I have come to seeing my culture (rather one that is very similar to mine) represented in the romances I read and the feeling is incredible.
AS usual for the series, the complex world building continues, we see more of all the inhabitants of this world and the complex relationships between them which continue to change and evolve. I'm confident that fans of the series will enjoy this story a lot and at the same it is a good entry to point for new readers though some nuances coming from the previous books will inevitably be lost to them. Still, if you want to try Nalini Sighn's Psy-Changeling world, I highly recommend Silver Silence (and then going back to read all the previous books ;)
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