Veena’s review of Allegiance of Honor (Psy/Changelings, Book 15) by Nalini Singh
Paranormal Romance published by Berkley 14 Jun 16
Silence has fallen, leaving the Psy-Changeling world contemplating a new future full of hope and promise. The Trinity Accord brings together disparate races and people to pave the path toward a United Earth Federation or UEF. While this is not entirely free from controversy, the Consortium is licking its wounds in the shadows and plotting. This is a not-to-be-missed pivotal launching pad for the next story arc in the series, while allowing the winners to celebrate and rest on their laurels.
Readers who missed fur and claws in the last few books are richly rewarded for their patience with the leopards and wolves once more taking center stage, along with their pups and cubs, but most particularly one very delightful mischievous psy/leopard cub named Naya Hunter, who is the star of this story and will totally steal your heart as she did mine.
The pupcubs are born and no, I will not let out any spoilers on how many and if they are wolves or leopards. The entire scene with the alphas and the families is delightful. In an interesting twist, we see the heart beneath the icy perfection of Nikita Duncan while we see how ferocious a parent can be in the defense of her child when gentle Sacha Duncan Hunter weaponizes her empathy to protect her cub.
As the series has evolved, we’ve seen threads emerge that bind the various characters in multiple ways, but Ms. Singh does a stellar job of touching all her characters, even some that you might have forgotten and considered minor, to give you an opportunity to catch up on their lives. Most of these characters all finally meet up together at the birth celebration of the pupcubs to party together as an extended family. Who’d have thought that these people could be civil to each other, let alone family when the series first started.
There are two threads that weave throughout the story that keep the reader in suspense on the final outcomes. Father Xavier is making a pilgrimage the old-fashioned way, to the dismay of his TK friends, to find his beloved Nina. The story told in the form of his letters to Nina kick off the chapters to give us great insights into the three rebels (Father Xavier, Judd Lawrence, and Kaleb Krychek) and what drove them to bringing about the fall of Silence.
A message in a bottle washed up on the San Francisco pier unites disparate people in a massive manhunt to rescue a kidnapped sea changeling marine biologist. Bo of the human alliance summarizes it perfectly when he turns down Malachi’s offer of a favor in exchange for their help by offering his hand in friendship and refusing to treat the fragile lives of innocents as collateral for favors.
Finally, despite the return of empathy to the PsyNet, the disease within it is still progressing at an astonishingly fast rate. What is causing this continued degradation? The answer will surprise you.
So what comes next? In Lucas’s words to Sacha, “Hold Trinity together, defeat the Consortium, help the Psy save the PsyNet, and the humans figure out a way to block psychic intrusion, and finally set up a UEF. Lets do it.”
I’m definitely ready for the next set of adventures in this world to help fulfill Lucas and Sacha’s dream to see their daughter Naya leading the UEF.
Grade: A
Summary:
The “unparalleled romantic adventure”* of Nalini Singh’s New York Times bestselling series continues as a new dawn begins for the Psy-Changeling world…
A staggering transformation has put the Psy, humans, and changelings at a crossroads. The Trinity Accord promises a new era of cooperation between disparate races and groups. It is a beacon of hope held together by many hands: old enemies, new allies, wary loners.
But a century of distrust and suspicion can’t be so easily forgotten, and it threatens to shatter Trinity from within at any moment. As rival members vie for dominance, chaos and evil gather in the shadows and a kidnapped woman’s cry for help washes up in San Francisco, while the Consortium turns its murderous gaze toward a child who is the embodiment of change, of love, of piercing hope: a child who is both Psy…and changeling.
To find the lost and protect the vulnerable—and to save Trinity—no one can stand alone. This is a time of loyalty across divisions, of bonds woven into the heart and the soul, of heroes known and unknown standing back to back and holding the line. But is an allegiance of honor even possible with traitors lurking in their midst?
Other books in this series:
