Reviews with content warning for Torture - Slave to Sensation

Reviews tagging 'Torture'

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

8 reviews

allingoodtime's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful informative reflective tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I’m so tempted to say, “Why didn’t anyone tell me how fantastic Nalini Singh is?!?” I cannot do that since it would be a lie. For years I’ve seen recommendations for this author. Any time I see her name come up it’s with high praise. So I only have myself to blame. This book was amazing!

I had a bit of trepidation going into this as an audiobook. I knew it would be a huge world-building book due to it being the first in the series. On top of that, it was a single narration. It wasn’t long before I was fully immersed in this story and my misgivings were forgotten. I was fascinated by the different races and their characteristics. While this book is firmly in the paranormal genre, it also sometimes felt like a science fiction story in the way the storytelling and world-building progressed.

All of the characters fascinated me. From Sascha and Lucas to all of Lucas’ pack and the other packs that have been introduced so far. There are so many possibilities for the direction this series can go and I’m excited to see how everything unfolds. Sascha and Lucas have wonderful chemistry and, as the story progressed, I loved seeing familial chemistry grow between Sascha and others in Lucas’ pack. I truly believed these people loved and cared for each other deeply.

While I often chat my husband’s ear off about books I’m currently reading and will tell him how much I enjoyed a book after I’ve read it, I rarely do what I did with this book. I paused the story, looked at him out of the blue, and said, “I really love this story.” That’s it. Simple, but it said so much. I didn’t want to tell him about the book because I was too engrossed to stop listening, but I couldn’t wait to tell someone how much I was enjoying myself. If you’re a paranormal reader and haven’t read this author yet, stop putting it off!

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caitlinemccann's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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givemaribooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

I loved this book. It's a great start to this series. I am upset with myself that I waited so long to get to this series. I liked the characters a lot, and I am glad that the book was not too worldbuilding heavy, which tends to happen with first books in a series. I do think the book is a bit outdated, especially when it came to ableist language.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator is great, especially voicing the psy characters.

CW: murder, kidnapping, torture, death of parents (recounted)

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vivivi's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

It's an interesting world, and a heck of a lot of angsty people! There's a dramatic flair to how the story is told, and the narration style is very unique.

I like the transition that Sasha went through and how she tried to hide her "flaw." Knowing what I know now about the supporting characters makes re-reading the beginning of the series very interesting.

The whole situation with a dominant guy manhandling her that way isn't that interesting, really. Kind of annoying lol. Which I think was the point, but ah well.

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rakizaka's review against another edition

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dark tense slow-paced

Strong character development? Yes

4.5

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crownoflaurel's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

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just_one_more_paige's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

I spent the last week on vacation in Hawaii (a trip that has been postponed for over a year, for all the obvious reasons) and it was amazinggggggg. I had a few books on deck to bring/read, but knew that I was going to want some deep romance reads because that is the perfect beach/poolside genre for me. I did a little research and re-stumbled upon the Black Dagger Brotherhood series that I binged the shit out of a few years ago (or maybe longer, since it was pre-blog). Anyways, the feels for a new bingeable paranormal romance series that I could get totally lost in (and speed through) hit hard. And, having had it on my backburner radar for a while now, this was the series I landed on.

Sascha Duncan is Psy – the economic ruling species with varying psychic powers, that has trained themselves to not feel emotion or react to stimuli over generations. Lucas Hunter is Pack alpha of DarkRiver leopards, changelings (part human, part animal) who survive on emotion and connection. When the two are thrown together to work on a precarious, and first of its kind, business deal. But Lucas also has ulterior motives of gaining insight/access to secret Psy information in an attempt to track down the murderer responsible for the deaths of a number of his packmates. And Sascha is attempting to hide her increasingly deteriorating ability to ignore her emotions (her “flaw”). Cue the development of a sensual romance between these two conflicting species/worlds.

Well, despite the horrific title (I mean seriously, I’m here for exactly what this story provided, but this title makes me cringe when I think about it for so many reasons), this story hit the damn spot. If you go in expecting the exact “trashy” paranormal romance vibe that the title indicates, you will be completely satisfied with what you get. Does it hit the reader over the head with the animal sexuality of the “beast” side of the changelings? Yes. Are the “exotic” descriptors a bit much? You better believe it. Are the descriptions of the lightening and heat and sizzling affects of touch/eye contact on the arousal of the characters overdone? Of course. Did I speed through this book in like, a few hours, and immediately check the next one out from the library? Absolutely.

I also do feel like it’s worth noting some interesting aspects that were included as well. I honestly was impressed with the depth of development of the Psy and changeling cultures. I mean yes, a lot of it was predictable, but it was also there was some real nuance to it. In addition, there were a few really original and creative psychological aspects and connections that (as a fantasy/sci-fi lover) I was legitimately fascinated by. There were a few holes, but nothing major, especially when considering other sci-fi tropes/stories, and I thought a couple things were quite unique in a more general sense. So that was unexpected and pretty cool. In particular, the way that dreams were used to give some steamy scenes quickly, but in a believable way, considering a realistic pace for the two characters to get to that point IRL under the setting/circumstances, was nicely done. Sort of related, and I know this is a personal preference (or not), but the heavy protective “mated male” trope is strong in this novel and, I can’t help it (I know it’s not exactly healthy), but I love it. I was hoping for it and I got it in full force.

I know a murderer was mentioned in the plot blurb, but let me just say, the entire plot of that part of the story was way more involved and had way more page time than I had been anticipating. It was much more intense than expected as a result (CW: kidnapping, confinement, torture, psychological/emotional and physical abuse, violence and death), but also gave a lot more depth to the book overall. Just, be careful going into it if you know that’s a triggering topic for you, because it’s not glossed over. Similarly, be careful as there is significant parental loss (of the violent sort) and childhood trauma as well.

So yea, this book is, mostly, exactly what it advertises itself as. And it was completely what I wanted on vacation. In fact, as I enter my cold-weather, early-dark, end of year “meh” period, I do believe the binge of this series that I have on my horizon is going to be on par with the BDB binge of a few years past. And I am not at all sorry.

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rorikae's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

'Slave to Sensation' by Nalini Singh is an engaging paranormal romance with a mystery at its center.
This is the first installment in the Psy-Changeling series, which takes place on an Earth where there are three different groups of people. These are the Psy, who have psychic powers and have ensconced themselves in the Silence to suppress all of their emotions, there are changelings who can shift into different animals, and then there are humans. 'Slave to Sensation' centers on Sascha Duncan, a Psy who believes she is falling apart because she is unable to completely shut out her emotions like other Psy. When she is assigned to help with a building project, she meets Lucas Hunter, an alpha changeling. Her emotions begin to crack further as she starts to feel drawn to Lucas and as she is drawn into a mystery. There is a Psy serial killer abducting changeling women and Sascha's link to the PsyNet may be the one way that they can solve this mystery and stop any future changelings from being hunted.
I absolutely love the world in this book. Singh does an exceptional job of introducing a politically complex world but in an easy to understand way. One thing that helps is that it is set on Earth and familiar places, which means that the reader can focus on the relationships and politics of the world. Getting to learn about this through her character's interactions does a great job of making the reader interested both in the world and the characters themselves.
I am finding that the romances I enjoy best are those that have a really strong plot outside of the romance element and that is definitely true for 'Slave to Sensation.' The reader gets to uncover a lot about the characters as Singh expands their relationships through the main mystery of the story. Though the beginning was a bit slow, when the mystery element and investigation started to heat up, I found it really hard to put this book down. The one hiccup with the mystery is that there aren't that many people who are possible suspects, which makes it a little easy to figure out though that didn't stop Singh's set-up from being engaging.
The one downside for this story for me is that Lucas is very alpha and that isn't something that I love in books. He's very possessive and though him being a changeling explains this away in some respects, it was the part of the book that I enjoyed the least.
I do love this world though and will definitely be reading more in this series. I can't wait to see what happens next because I have heard that Singh does an exceptional job of incorporating what is happening in the world in each book.

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