I received this book for free from my own shelves in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Source: my own shelves
Blaze of Memory
by
Nalini Singh
paranormal romance in a Kindle edition that was published by Berkley on November 3, 2009 and has 386 pages.
Explore it on Goodreads or Amazon
Other books by this author which I have reviewed include Must Love Hellhounds, Kiss of Snow, An Enchanted Season, Archangel's Blade, Angels of Darkness, Lord of the Abyss, Desert Warrior, Angels' Flight, Tangle of Need, Play of Passion, Archangel's Storm, Wild Invitation, Heart of Obsidian, Archangel's Legion, "Hide and Seek", "Making Dinner", Shield of Winter, "A Conversation", "Home", Angels' Pawn, "New Year's Kisses", Night Shift, "Weapons Training", "Zoë's Workshop", "Wild Night", Archangel's Shadows, Archangel’s Enigma, Shards of Hope, “Fairy Balloons”, “An Unexpected Guest”, Allegiance of Honor, "The Song of the Wolf", Silver Silence, Archangel’s Heart, Archangel’s Viper, Ocean Light, "Elena's School of Horror", Cherish Hard, "Ain’t No Party Like A Bear Party", Archangel's Prophecy, "One Night At The Refuge", "Secret Things", Rebel Hard, Rock Hard, Wolf Rain, "Clean and Dirty", "Wolf School", "Naya’s Most Important Visitors", "Grocery Shopping", "The Cannibal Princess", "A Gift for Kit", "Movie Night", "Kaleb and Sahara’s Meeting with Sascha and Lucas", "Housewarming at the Orchard", "Christmas in the Kitchen", "Stalking Hawke", "Romancing Drew", "Sunday Morning", "Rowan", "Baubles & Ben", Wild Embrace, Love Hard, Rock Addiction, "Music Awards", Rock Courtship, "Rock Courtship Memo"s, Rock Redemption, "Sunshine", Rock Wedding, "With This Memo", "That Lip Ring…", A Madness of Sunshine, "Beary Tiny Ghosts", Alpha Night, "A Wedding Breakfast", "Poker Night", "Knives and Sheaths", "Seedlings", "Star Kissed", "A Walk on the Cliffs", "Wild Cat Blues", Slave to Sensation, Caressed by Ice, Visions of Heat, Kiss Hard, Angels' Blood, Archangel's Kiss, Archangel's War, Archangel's Sun, Archangel's Light, Archangel's Resurrection, Last Guard, “A Perfect Moment”, "Music in the Rain", Storm Echo, Resonance Surge, "Mate", “New Year’s Eve”, Archangel's Lineage, Visions of Heat, Mine to Possess, Hostage to Pleasure, Branded by Fire
Seventh in the Psy-Changeling paranormal romance series and revolving around three races: the Psy who have phenomenal psychic powers and no heart, the Changelings who support and love their own, and the humans. The focus is on our introduction to the Forgotten via Dev Santos and Ekaterina Haas.
If you’re interested, there is a chronological listing of the Psy-Changeling books on my website.
My Take
Ooh, Singh knows how to up the ante with this “rogue” group of Psy with their strange new abilities. I can’t wait to find out what those are! I’m sure we’ll learn about them through Singh’s use of third person dual protagonist point-of-view from Kayta’s and Dev’s perspectives.
I do love how different Aleine’s life is with DarkRiver. How much more human she is with her son. Another first, for the Council, is their giving their people the chance to voluntarily come in for reconditioning. Who’d’ve thought?
Ya gotta love the Shine Foundation’s purpose. All those children lost to their legacy and their horrible experiences amongst humans who have no idea. The incarceration, the drugs.
Ooh, this world’s technology is enticing enough, and then Singh introduces us to the Shine building. It sounds very much like Dorian’s home in the forest. I want.
Those letters from Matthew’s mother are a fascinating look back into the history of Silence, from the debates about it to the fears Zarina has about its affect on the Psy — David’s reaction to her fears as to his emotional state was heartbreaking as are William’s terror-filled mind. It’s somewhat similar to Katya’s discovery of how people can trust others without that Psy connection. Another bit of history explores the possible origin of the Psy themselves. Then there’s Jon’s recollection of how Katya helped him in the lab, protecting him as well as she was able.
There’s a sharp contrast between regular Psy and the Forgotten who are encouraged to appreciate art and music with their emotional affects. When you read of Katya’s parents “parenting contract” and how their children are expected to choose, you’ll recoil. Then Dev reveals his family background, and you’ll want to cry for all that was lost.
Katya’s torture was a, sort of, great idea, in that it has broken her conditioning, which makes her conflicting thoughts possible and so much more interesting.
The Psy Councilors are/were a nightmare. They hold absolute power and strong opinions on how their world should be governed. That Henry Scott and the violence he promotes is a nightmare. As for his and Shoshanna’s joint dream of a Psy ruled by them alone . . . oh, god!
I do love following Judd’s character arc as he learns emotion and interacts with other wolf shifters AND the children. As he discovers a positive side to his assassin ability to destroy a body’s cells. As he’s able to save a young boy. It’s not the only save in Blaze of Memory, when DarkRiver and the Forgotten learn of a new “twin” gift, one that needs a truck for the weaver.
As horrible as those Councilors are, it shocks me when the rebels are able to dissociate themselves from them and assess the practical considerations. To ignore the many betrayals in the Psy-Changeling series — and Blaze of Memory is no exception.
It’s action. It’s character. It’s romance with violence and brutality.
The Story
Devraj Santos’ mission is to save his people, to keep them safe from the Psy. Only, his gift and the pressure are turning him cold until he finds a woman unconscious and battered, with no memory of who she is.
Duty-bound to eliminate all threats, Dev is drawn to this woman who might prove to be the enemy’s most insidious weapon yet.
No one is allowed to escape the Psy Council. No one.
And the PsyNet continues to die.
The Characters
Katya, a.k.a. Ekaterina Haas, a Psy scientist with a mid-level gift as a telepath and an M-Psy who had been Ashaya Aleine’s research assistant, survived.
The Forgotten are . . .
. . . a group of Psy, humans, and changelings who broke away from the PsyNet at the dawn of Silence. The Shine Foundation is a Forgotten organization led by Devraj Santos. Shine’s mission is to find Forgotten Psy children who were lost and suffering from Talin Process Degeneration. Maggie is Santos’ secretary. Marty had been Santos’ predecessor with a warning. Aubry is one of Shine’s vice-directors. Aryan is one of the Guardians. Tag and Tiara are strong telepaths who work for Shine. Dr Glen Herriford. Eva is the manager in charge of educational development. Dev’s home is in Vermont where Dr Connor is Dev’s neighbor and on Shine’s diagnostic team.
Jack is Devraj’s doctor cousin whose seven-year-old son, William, is coming apart and terrified. Melissa is Jack’s wife and William’s mother. Kiran Santos, a.k.a. Maya or “Nani”, is Dev’s grandmother, an artist with glass who had been one of the Forgotten foot soldiers when Silence was initiated. Her gift is for untangling psychic knots. “Nana” is Dev’s grandfather. Officer Michel “Mischa” Benoit is one of Dev’s cousins, a highway patrolman. Cindee is Michel’s mom and sister to Massey Petrokov, Dev’s father. Sarita had been Dev’s mother.
The ten-year-old Cruz is a newly discovered Forgotten child with a cardinal level gift. A Guardian is Shine’s version of a social worker. The ShadowNet is the “PsyNet” formed by the Forgotten. The Forgotten Psy are evolving with New Generation abilities. Beck is a radical academic who thinks their people serve no purpose.
DarkRiver is . . .
. . . a leopard shifter pack in the San Francisco area with a strong economic base, partly through their thriving construction business. Lucas Hunter is its alpha. He’s mated to Sascha Duncan, a Cardinal E-Psy and the best shield technician (Slave to Sensation, 1). Clay Bennett is a leopard shifter and one of Lucas’ sentinels. He’s mated to Talley McKade, a Psy, who had been a Guardian for Shine. They’ve adopted Jonquil “Jon” Duchslaya and Noor, Forgotten lost children being experimented upon by Ming LeBon. Faith NightStar, the world’s foremost foreteller, is mated to Vaughn D’Angelo, a jaguar shifter and sentinel (Visions of Heat, 2). Soldiers include Cory and Jamie. Ashaya Aleine is a Psy scientist who defected and mated Dorian (Hostage to Pleasure, 5). She has a little boy, Keenan, with whom she bakes cookies. Amara is Ashaya’s crazy twin, a woman with no emotions, no conscience.
Mercy, a DarkRiver sentinel, is mated to Riley Kincaid, a SnowDancer lieutenant (Branded by Fire, 6).
SnowDancer is . . .
. . . a wolf shifter pack also in the San Francisco area and allied with DarkRiver. Their alpha is Hawke Snow. Judd Lauren, a former Tk-Cell Arrow, had defected to SnowDancer with his family. Walker Lauren is his brother. Brenna is Judd’s wolf shifter mate (Caressed by Ice, 3). Ben is a sweetheart of a SnowDancer pup.
Father Xavier Perez, a former guerrilla fighter, is one of three people rebelling against the Psy. Nina, a nurse, is the woman he lost.
RainFire is . . .
. . . a leopard shifter pack in the Smokies led by Remington “Remi”.
The Psy are . . .
. . . a race of humans who evolved into beings with strong psychic powers who only understand logic, practicality, economics — NOT emotion. They are ruled by the Council, which includes: Ming LeBon, who is gifted with mental combat; Shoshanna and Henry Scott (a 9.5 telepath), who fake being a couple; Kaleb Krycheck, an extremely powerful dual Cardinal — telekinetic and transporter who had been molded by Santano Enrique (Slave to Sensation, 1); Anthony Kyriakus, who is the head of the powerful NightStar Clan of foretellers; and, Nikita Duncan, who is Sascha’s mother with a gift for mental viruses.
Psy have different abilities, including the long forgotten and ignored E. Other designations include M for Medical; Anchors, who hold the Net stable — and produce too many serial killers!; J for Justice; Tk for telekinetic; X is said to be more cursed and very rare; and, Ps for psychometrics. The Gradient is the scale by which the Psy measure power, with 10 being the highest — and Cardinals going beyond 10. Silence is a protocol the Psy adopted to eliminate all emotion.
The Arrow Squad are the assassins the Psy fear. Their commitment and loyalty to each other is that no one is left behind. Aden is the Arrow in charge of monitoring the health of Jaxed-out Arrows at the Dinarides facility — he’s the only Arrow trained from the cradle. Keisha Bale is an M-Psy, but not an Arrow.
Sunshine Station had been headquarters in Alaska for an EarthTwo mining operation. Larsen “Lizard Man” had been Aleine’s research assistant back in Hostage to Pleasure.
Jessie Amsel is a human truck driver. Isaac is a truck driver who taught Jessie how to drive a big rig.
1969
A series of letters from Matthew Petrokov’s mom chronicle the onset of Silence and the thoughts behind his family’s defection. Zarina, an M-Psy, and David, a foreseer had been Matthew’s parents. It’s heartbreaking when Zarina refers to Matthew’s love for art. Margaret has been Matthew’s baby sister. Emily is a sister who survived. Greg, a stronger foreseer, is David’s brother who decided to accept Silence. Mrs Ennis is a neighbor whose husband was murdered by a serial killer. Tilly had been a close family friend.
Catherine and Arif Adelaja came up with the concept of Silence, a protocol intended to save the Psy race. Their group came to be known as Mercury. Their twin sons, Tendaji and Naeem Adelaja, were the first to be experimented on. Zaid is their older brother who formed the Arrows, a squad of enforcers. Moran had been a Councilor back then.
The PsyNet is a biofeedback “universe” required by every Psy to survive. As Silence has aged, the PsyNet has split into the NetMind and the DarkMind that is made of all the rage and pain the Psy refuse to feel. Jax is a Psy drug meant to erase the personality but not the mind. Shosanna’s reaction to Ming’s report is enough to make me hate the Councilors.
The Cover and Title
I always think James Bond when I see the cover for Blaze of Memory. It’s that blast of fire in the upper left above a building while on the right, Dev is in an action pose wearing sunglasses and a beige unbuttoned shirt over brown suit pants. The author’s name is in a black-outlined white in the upper left superimposed over the fire while the title crosses Dev’s thighs in a black-outlined orangish red. There’s a testimonial in white on the lower right.
The title refers to Katya, for her sudden Blaze of Memory.
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