So..... (Blaze of Memory)

I finally got a hold of a copy and read and read and read and....really liked it. Not as much as I liked Mercy and Riley's book, but it was still very good.

Question: Am I the only one who--for about 10-20 pages thought that Katya was going to die? I kept telling myself that Nalini is an Romance author, not a SF/F author but still, a large part of me was pretty worried.

I LOVED Judd in this book. To me, he has become sort of the series soul. I already liked him, but in this book I really started to fall in love. Because with me, looks have never, ever been enough. Its always been much more attracted to attitude and actions. And when Judd effectively went to William's rescue, that was it for me.

Noor and Keenan's part in the action was really great too. Given the depth and breadth of the trap in Katya's mind, there's no way I would have "bought" her just waking up. And yet, that Keenan was even there was hard to believe. A deathbed is no place for a four year old. But maybe that's just me. I've always been a bit of a nitpick.

So what did y'all think?

Katherine

I liked the book very much! Judd is one of my favorite characters and I also thought he was sort of the soul of the series. His way with the children (Noor and William) was fabulous. His telling William that it was so very good to be able to put broken bodies back together was one of the things that struck me.

I missed the changelings on one side but not in the other side. This book gave me the feeling that there was something that has to be told first before we read more about the changelings. I don't know why, it just came to me.

And yes, I also thought Katya was going to die, but I also couldn't believe it, it would have been so wrong in a romance novel. I liked it that it were the children who "fixed" Katya. I think a 4 year old can be at a deathbed, dying is a part of living and I don't think you should keep children away from it. And even more important in this case, Keenan is young but has gone through so many things that I think he is capable of going almost anywhere. And Noor is such a sweet little girl, I can't wait to read more about those two.

So... Next to caressed by ice, I think i fell for this book much more than the others. I loved the way how Dev took Katya's good-bye. So heart breaking, heart wrenching that I ended up pulling out a kleenex... I didn't anticipate the reaction. Nalini, you're so good!

We have seen through out the series how Judd developed from being a cold Psy to a loving mate. And I would love to hear Brenna pregnant and see how Judd will react. Hmmmm....

Also, I believe Mr. Darcy of Pride and prejudice was a Psy ancestor.

I loved this book too. I'm really not an emotional person when it comes to books and movies but that scene where Katya asked Dev to let her go... oh man, tears blurred the pages. I really liked Katya's character because she was the first Psy we met that didn't have to break Silence, it was already brutally broken.

Of course another great thing was that it really worked toward progressing the story within the PsyNet. We got to meet so many more rebels (Arrows!) and got to learn a little more about Kaleb. We also got to meet very interesting new characters (I would love a short story on Tag and Tiara).

Lili, Ashaya was the first psy who had silence broken prior to us meeting them...not as cruelly or viciously as Katya, but hers was most definitely broken when we first met her.

Rageane, you are so right. How could I have forgotten Ashaya? I guess the difference between Ashaya and Katya were that Ashaya was still trying to cling to Silence and refused to acknowledge that she had broken it. Katya, on the other hand, did not show any real characteristics of Silence from the moment she opened her eyes.

I think Ashaya's Silence was pretty traumatically broken. Remember? Amara buried her alive? Seems pretty traumatic to me. Really glad we got Katya's story though. I always liked her as a side kick. I wonder how she'll be effecting the Shadow net now?

CyndeB wrote:I think Ashaya's Silence was pretty traumatically broken. Remember? Amara buried her alive? Seems pretty traumatic to me. Really glad we got Katya's story though. I always liked her as a side kick. I wonder how she'll be effecting the Shadow net now?

Being buried alive (twice!) was definitely traumatic but I can't see it being nearly as bad as being tortured by Ming. Amara never really intended to <em>hurt</em> Ashaya, she just wanted to know what made Shaya tick. Ming, on the other hand, didn't give a hoot about Ekaterina beyond what she knew about the experiments. I imagine that using her as an operative happened only because she somehow managed to survive the torture and Ming figured that using her to kill Dev was worth a shot.

If there is one thing about Ming, it's that he doesn't waste a good asset...Ekaterina was dead for all intents and purposes. Yes, he got what he was after from her, but since she was alive after the mind stripping he wanted a black ops assassin (even the Arrows couldn't trace) so why not use her? He intended on keeping her all along, what he didn't take into account from his own arragance was that her survival made her a free thinking, emotional identity that could evolve into someone who would fight back. Like CyndeB, I too am curious how she will effect the shadow-net, and how the shadow-net will effect her as well.

I really liked this book. Though I would have given Nalini major props for doing something that few romance writers do and kill Kayta but I was happy that she lived as well...Dev was just so broken without her. I cried when he let her go and again when he was ready to "pull the plug" how he just wanted one more night with her it broke my heart. I missed my Changelings though...but we had to see the other side...the side of the Forgotten.

Judd touched me in this story as well. Noor and Keenan....I would love to see a future story about those two!!! I wish I saw more of Vasic...that teleporter has my heart I tell you...other then a certain wolf

Vasic is really interesting! I wonder what he and Aden said that Krychek (who becomes more fascinating with every book) was on the far end of the silence continuum? Does that mean he is more silent than most or less silent?

I felt quite the same way. Literally cried towards the end (crybaby here) because it felt like Nalini would do the unimaginable and kill Katya. Dev was so devastated after deciding to pull the plug that I felt sad just reading it.

Loved the arrows. I am hoping we get more into their stories in the second arc of the series.

Other than Dev saying goodbye to Katya, I love the parts on Sunshine, Alaska. It felt as though I was watching some Sci-fi horror film.

The scene where Dev's father talked about his relationship with his wife and son...so sad...sob.

And I like the fact that there seem to have quite a few developments going on in this book without compensating the romance of the h/h. Makes the overall story very interesting.

I still have to re-reread this one, but first, Ming was so terrifying here, I am *really* glad the Arrows aren't going to be "his" anymore. And yes, I did skip ahead to make sure Katya didn't die (bad of me I know). I was just that scared! Kaleb I like, & if he turns out to really be a baddie I'm going to be soooo mad at him *g* Dev, oddly enough, I didn't like until most of the way through this book. He was *too* ruthless, until Katya finally melted him. Why it's okay for Kaleb but not Dev, I don't know. I did really like what Dev said about Katya spending "her last night surrounded by hope." And while children that young were kind of unusual in a "deathbed" scene, these two are being raised as changeling children, & their world is very different, I think, because of that. And Judd stole my heart again...I liked him from the time he was introduced, & was very happy CbI was the next book! Off to re-reread now