Veena’s review of Ocean Light (Psy-Changeling Trinity Book 2) by Nalini Singh
Romantic Fantasy published by Berkley 12 Jun 18
Readers familiar with fur, fang, and claw now dive into the black to meet the denizens of the deep, also known as the Black Sea Changelings. Words like blue and black will acquire new meaning after you read this book. While much of the story plays out fathoms below the sea with a host of new characters, the author keeps things humming by bringing in favorite characters from the series for cameo appearances. Humans who have been dismissed as weak and fragile by the psy are the glue that is necessary to restore health to the psy-changeling world.
When a near fatal shooting in Venice leaves Bowen Knight, leader of the human alliance, for dead, it jeopardizes the survival of the Trinity Accord and the Psy. In any event, if it wasn’t the bullet from the gun, it might be the degrading chip in his brain that might have brought him down anyway, right? Perhaps…
It seems there’s a chance in a million that an experimental procedure in a Black Sea lab might be able to give Bowen a chance at life. Bowen, who awakens from a coma with a mechanical heart, now has a choice to make. Die from the degradation of the chip? Live as a vegetable if the treatment does not deliver on the outcome? Or live a long life to achieve all his dreams? Not easy for a man who has vowed after a brutal assault on his brain to never live a life as a vegetable with no control.
At the end there is no choice. Bowen loves his sister and the other knights of the human alliance too much to not give them a chance. Also, the lab assistant who smells of cinnamon and directs her anger at him intrigues him beyond measure. Determined to live each day he has left to the fullest, he sets out to court Kaia and to make friends with the denizens of the undersea city where he finds himself. Of course you can’t divorce the security chief from the man as he works with his team outside to track down the disappearance of Black Sea changelings and how the human alliance and his ships are participating in the plot.
Life is not totally smooth, even though we have endless days of love and fun for Kaia and Bowen. It turns out that Kaia is hiding some secrets. The most important one is her telepathic power, which is an anathema to Bowen, and then, of course, the next insurmountable challenge is her phobia of being on land. Even if Bowen lives, what future do they have as a mated couple if she can’t live on land and he can’t live under the sea? Have faith in the author who’s been writing romance a long time to find a solution.
More than any other changeling characters, the Black Sea have such a large host of animals to chose from, so it’s a lot of fun seeing changeling characteristics in the human characters we get to meet. Also, the entire underground city is a glass biosphere that allows one to look in as much as to look out. and so we enjoy seeing the changeling side of the characters as they swim outside the glass.
Grade: B
Summary:
New York Times bestselling author Nalini Singh dives beneath the surface of her Psy-Changeling world into a story of passionate devotion and selfless love…
Security specialist Bowen Knight has come back from the dead. But there’s a ticking time bomb in his head: a chip implanted to block telepathic interference that could fail at any moment–taking his brain along with it. With no time to waste, he should be back on land helping the Human Alliance. Instead, he’s at the bottom of the ocean, consumed with an enigmatic changeling…
Kaia Luna may have traded in science for being a chef, but she won’t hide the facts of Bo’s condition from him or herself. She’s suffered too much loss in her life to fall prey to the dangerous charm of a human who is a dead man walking. And she carries a devastating secret Bo could never imagine…
But when Kaia is taken by those who mean her deadly harm, all bets are off. Bo will do anything to get her back–even if it means striking a devil’s bargain and giving up his mind to the enemy…
