Tuesday, August 09, 2016

Review: Allegiance of Honor by Nalini Singh

Allegiance of Honor by Nalini Singh
published by Berkley in June 2016
The Psy-Changeling world has undergone a staggering transformation and now stands 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 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, protect the vulnerable—and 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?
Genre: Paranormal romance
Series: Psy-Changeling, Book #15

The Story: It's pretty much as the blurb describes. The world Ms Singh has created have undergone a lot of changes since Slave to Sensation. The Psy no longer have a Council, Dark River and Snow Dancer packs are allied, the Arrows are independent and humans have proved they are not as weak and fragile as the Psy and changelings thought. Now, all of these people have to figure out how to live together harmoniously instead of separately. However, the task is not simple because decades of grudges and distrust are hard to overcome. In addition, there are still individuals looking out for their own only... and of course, not everyone is happy and in favor for an unified world.

Aside from politics, some people still face big challenges. Parts of the PsyNet is still rotting and nobody knows the reasons. A bounty has been put on the head of Naya, Lucas and Sascha's daughter and the first Psy-changeling child in this new era. Finally, the BlackSea pack is still dealing with its missing members...

My Opinion: The Psy-Changeling series is one of the most popular series in blogland and for good reasons. The writing is excellent, the characters are intense, interesting and appealing, the romance is hot and the story is interesting and actually moves forward! You can feel that Ms Singh knows where she's going with the story and each book was a step in the direction she wanted. For years, there were rumors that Ms Singh would be writing a spin-off of the Psy-Changeling series and this year, it was confirmed. The first story arc is over and Ms Singh used Allegiance of Honor to wrap things up.

To tell the truth, I actually have mixed feelings about Allegiance of Honor. I always enjoy seeing characters from previous books and see what they are up to and where they are now. And that was basically the purpose of Allegiance of Honor. It's usually fun and sweet and logically, I should have loved this book... but the reason why I have mixed feelings instead is that I felt it was too much ^_^; I don't mind when it's novella, but a whole book dedicated to past characters? It was just a bit too much, especially since there were so many of them! Plus, everything was wrapped up too neatly. Every issue, every question was addressed. Yes, it's satisfying... however, when it feels like a list being ticked off, it's just not as enjoyable. Also, I have an excellent memory when it comes to characters and stories. I know not everyone is the same and therefore, recappings are necessary... but those recappings probably made up a quarter of the book!

Basically, Allegiance of Honor reminded me a lot of Tangle of Need in the sense that both are transition books. Allegiance of Honor's purpose was to wrap up the story arc and set up for the next. In that aspect, it did the job. There was no romance like in Tangle of Need; instead, there was a mystery thread about the disappearance of a member of the BlackSea pack and most of the action and exciting bits came from that thread. At times, I felt this mystery thread didn't bland well with the rest of the story, but overall, it was interesting.

My Grade: B-. Allegiance of Honor was not as intense or exciting as the last few books in the series. It had a purpose and fulfilled it well. Yes, it was fun to catch up with the past characters... but was it really necessary? I'm not convinced. If you enjoyed Tangle of Need, then I'm pretty sure you will like this one as well :) No matter how I feel about this book, one thing I know for sure: I'm looking forward to Ms Singh's new book and see where she takes us for her new story arc!