Reviews with content warning for Murder - Slave to Sensation

Reviews tagging 'Murder'

Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh

12 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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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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sup3r_xn0va_maya's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

This is the story of Sascha, a Psy (a race of being who do not have emotions and they do not display feelings), who is working with Lucas, a Changeling (race of human/animal shapeshifters). Sascha and Lucas are working on a building development for the Changelings made in part by the Psy.

Lucas is actually trying to get information from Sascha because there is supposedly a Psy serial killer kidnapping and hurting Changeling women. Sascha is a Psy that is starting to "fall apart", she has emotions and feelings even though no other Psy does. Both of them have secrets to hide, neither of them anticipated falling in love.

The world building in this book was really nice, I enjoyed it. This is my first Nalini Singh novel and it won't be the last.

I was able to find out who the serial killer was without the help of the book so I'm going to knock off half a star because of that. This wasn't my favorite book but it is a book that I really enjoyed.

I'm giving this book 4.5 out of 5.

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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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maryshercules's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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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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friends2lovers's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

3.5

This is the first book in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series which revolves around the Psy—people with various psychic abilities like telepathy and telekinesis—and their adversaries, the changelings—human-animal shapeshifters. In Slave to Sensation Sascha, a Psy, forms an unlikely alliance with Lucas, a panther changeling, when she agrees to help track down a Psy serial killer who has been targeting female Changelings for the past 7 years.

Through a program called Silence, the Psy are conditioned from birth to eradicate all their feelings. Silence didn’t really work on Sascha and over the years she’s built up mental shields to hide her ‘flawed’ psyche. In the beginning, Sascha is emotionally guarded, wary of affection, and believes herself broken. This is typically where a hero’s arc starts in a M/F romance novel; it’s the heroine who breaks down his walls and encourages him to feel and love. It was refreshing to have this trope reversed; Lucas is more in touch with his feelings and he affectionately provokes Sascha out of her shell.

So later, when Sascha embraces her empath abilities and matures emotionally while Lucas struggles with his emotional control, it was a little disappointing. Their dynamic went from atypical to falling in line with gender norms, albeit with a supernatural twist. As an E-Psy and ‘healer of the mind’, she’s shouldering a lot of emotional labor in her relationship with Lucas as well as with the pack. I hope later books introduce male healers and E-Psy, because I don’t like the idea of these inherent abilities being passed down to females only. The powers that E-Psy possess are really cool, especially the potential to heal the trauma of others! It seems like a bummer, though, to constantly manage the emotions of other people (mainly male shapeshifters with tempers).

Overall, I really enjoyed the romance, I just liked the earlier bits best. The shared dreams were particularly effective at forging a believable connection between them, before either character was ready for that in real life. It’s like a heightened version of the trope where dreaming about another person either makes them realize their attraction to the person or allows them to act on feelings they aren’t supposed to have. Because neither character realizes that they’re dreamingtogether, their subsequent struggle to continue acting normally around each other is especially entertaining. I also liked that the mating bond was not immediately evident and it took time and effort to develop and accept.

I liked the earlier bits of plot and worldbuilding more than the latter, too. The culture of the Psy and the inner workings of the PsyNet were intriguing. Singh’s writing struck a good balance between being concise and descriptive. I never felt like I was drowning in exposition nor was I left wanting more explanations. Unfortunately, because Sascha’s abilities are all mental, the climax of the plot was internal, too. Sascha going into the PsyNet to trap and identify the serial killer was the one part of the book that I found difficult to grasp conceptually. Then the physical confrontation and action occurs off the page with different characters. It was just a bit underwhelming to have an external, high-stakes conflict resolved through internal strategic mental maneuvering.

3.5 stars. The first half is completely engrossing and fast-paced. The second half took me longer to get through as the things I liked about the romance and plot shifted in a different direction. Still, I’m pretty eager to continue the series and am curious about how the overarching plot will progress.

EDIT 04/13/2021: Yesterday, the Heaving Bosoms podcast posted their recap episode for this and I highly recommend checking it out. I wholeheartedly agree with Erin about the changelings' aversion to M/M platonic PDA within the pack, despite having no qualms about M/F PDA. I kid you not, I wrote a paragraph about this in my original review but decided to cut it for length.

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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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nisha_nee's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional slow-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? Yes

4.5

This is my very first paranormal romance (that I know of) and I could say that I had a jolly good time reading it. This has taken me longer before getting into the story, which I think is understandable since this is the first book, in a new world and unfamiliar genre. So, as a noob in the subgenre, I am no master of what overused tropes are in this, and I think this contributed to my enjoyment since I'm not that jaded (yet) with the first stories I'm sampling. If you are a beginner like me, this book and series can be your gateway for the PNR genre since I'm getting much interested in trying out other works after reading this. Once I got and know the simple rules and basics in this new world, it was very simplistic, to be honest, in that it is not that complicated like I see other high fantasy books out there but still very enjoyable. I loved the characters so much, I am attached to them now and am looking forward to reading the next books and couples. However, I'm a little bit hesitant in ending this first book because I really loved this couple and I feel sad parting ways with them. I just hope that we're still given updates, cameos, or appearances in the next book.

As for the actual story itself, I did not bother trying to guess what plot twist there is or what the explanation to the mystery behind Sascha, because I was just in it for the ride baby! haha. I just wanted my time reading this to be enjoyable as possible, so no need to get so analytic. The villain and some plot twists were somehow predictable but that did not hinder my enjoyment either.

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