Storm Echo by Nalini Singh – Review & Excerpt
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Description:
Silence has fallen. The Psy are free to feel emotion. Free to love. But Silence was never a prison for Ivan Mercant. The biggest threat to his future lies dormant in his brain—a psychic monster that wants only to feed. And now, the brutal leash he’s kept on that monster is slipping. He prepared for this day, for the end of Ivan Mercant . . . but that was before he met Lei.
As primal as she is human, this wild changeling brings color into his life, laughter to his soul. Then the dream shatters in a rain of blood, in silent bodies in the snow. Lei is gone. Vanished without a trace . . . until he meets strangely familiar eyes across a busy San Francisco street.
Soleil Bijoux Garcia is a healer who has lost everything. She exists in a world of desolate aloneness . . . till the day she finds herself face-to-face with a lethal stranger. The animal who is her other half knows this man, but her memories are tattered fragments. Sorrow and a need for vengeance are all that drive her. Her mission? To kill the alpha of the DarkRiver leopard pack.
But fate has other plans. Soon, a deadly soldier who believes himself a monster and a broken healer might be all that stand between life and death for the entire Psy race.
Review:
Storm Echo by Nalini Singh is the 6th book in her wonderful Psy-Changeling Trinity series. Nalini Singh continues to be one of my must read go to authors, always loving her Pys-Changeling and Guild Hunter series. She never fails to give us fantastic stories, great couples and fabulous secondary characters; not to mention her amazing ability to make sure her continued world building is totally flawless.
Ivan Mercant, our hero, is the Mercant family security expert. Ivan considers himself dangerous, with an abnormal brain, able to go deep into the PsyNet with fears of losing control. When Ivan attends training sessions, he meets a young woman, who gives him strange vibes that he has never experienced.
Soleil Bijoux Garcia (Lei), our heroine & a healer, accidently runs into Ivan in the woods, and they both enjoy each other’s company. Lei is an ocelot, whose shifting side recognizes Ivan as their mate. Even though it has been a short time they have known each other, Ivan finds himself becoming obsessed with Lei. When she doesn’t show up one day, he begins a search and finds a massacre at her pack, and Ivan tries to save her life, but the healers and medics arrive. He uses all his powers to find Lei, but gives up after time; until one day almost a year later, he recognizes her.
Lei doesn’t remember Ivan, as she is hell bent on visiting Dark River (Leopard pack) to kill Lucas, since she felt he murdered her pack. Slowly, her Ocelot recognizes Ivan, and she starts to remember some of her memories. Ivan immediately goes into protector mode, and our wonderful Dark River healer, Tamsyn will help Lei, who will learn quickly that Lucas did not murder her pack, instead he saved most of the survivors, making them members of their pack. At first Dark River, was not happy to have Ivan with Lei within their territory, but Lucas can see a bond, and in a short time, their relationship will heat up. Lucas allows her to become a member of Dark River, knowing Ivan will stay with her.
The bond between Lei and Ivan was wonderful to watch, especially the ocelot side, who was demanding. Slowly, Lei and Ivan will succumb to their feelings, with her helping Ivan deal with the unknown physical intimacy; fully trusting her. I really loved them both together.
What follows is an exciting, suspenseful, intriguing and action-packed story that kept me glued to my kindle, unable to put the book down. Storm Echo was an emotional love story of two damaged people, with a bond that will bring them totally together. Ivan was able to use his ability to go deep into the PsyNet, with Lei able to monitor him, as he discovers how everything is falling apart, due to the Scarab Queen. Will Ivan be able to survive? Can he find a way to stop the evil Scarab Queen?.
I also loved seeing many of our previous heroes, such as Lucas, Kaleb, Ena, Tamsyn, Nate, Mercy, Canto, Arden, etc. Storm Echo was so very well written by Nalini Singh, which has always been the norm. She never fails to captivate me with her engaging creative stories, fantastic plots, and seamless world building; wonderful couples in each and every story; super secondary characters and fantastic world-building. I loved every moment of Storm Echo. As I have noted many times, if you have not read Nalini Singh, you are missing a gem of an author.
Reviewed by Barb
Copy provided by Publisher
Chapter 1
The child has severe attachment issues. It is not Silence. He is simply psychologically damaged to the extent that he may never be able to form an attachment to another on any level. As such, his loyalty to the family cannot be guaranteed. He is a risk.
-Private PsyMed report on Ivan Mercant, age 8 (20 June 2059)
3 May 2083
In terms of age, Ivan fell in the older cadre of Ena’s grandchildren. Younger than Canto, older than Silver and Arwen. He’d also always been the one who gave the family the least trouble-no trouble at all really. Canto was as stubborn as a bull and Silver had a steely spine, and neither ever bent for Ena unless they wished to do so.
As for Arwen, gentle, empathic Arwen could be obstinate in his own way. Like water running over stone. Slow and persistent until the edges of the rock were no longer so sharp and the water had carved a new channel without the rock ever being aware of the change.
Ivan, in contrast, was more wont to say yes than no. Ask any of the other three and they’d never use the words “obstinate” or “stubborn” in relation to Ivan. One of the teenage members of the family had used the term “chill” to describe Ivan, and when Ena had looked up what that term meant when used in that context, she’d had to agree.
Ivan flowed through life, willing to bend, never opposing Ena . . . and still doing exactly what he wanted and nothing else. It had taken a long time for Ena to realize that the least openly stubborn of her grandchildren was also the most relentless in his quiet will. It was Ivan, after all, who’d never studied at the tertiary level, despite Ena’s strong desire that he do so; and it was Ivan who’d chosen to walk a path she’d initially forbidden him from pursuing.
Ivan did as he pleased . . . but he did have one vulnerability.
“Ivan?” she said now, as she watched him pack the final items for his journey to San Francisco. She rarely intruded in the suite he kept at the family compound, but with him leaving today, it was well past time to have this conversation. “Is all well?”
“Of course, Grandmother.” He unzipped a side pocket of his holdall, then reached for a small and flat black bag that could contain either his toothbrush and soap-or a weapon.
There was no way to know when it came to Ivan.
“Are you certain?” She remained in the doorway, for she would not push into the private area of his bedroom-though she knew Ivan wouldn’t rebuff her. That was the problem, and why she asked so little from him. Because Ivan would give it to her. He went his own way when it came to his life and the choices he made, but should Ena ever request he do a task, he’d do so without hesitation.
Whether it was to put a bullet in someone’s head or to allow her in his space.
That was Ivan’s only vulnerability.
From STORM ECHO published by arrangement with Berkley, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Copyright © 2022 by Nalini Singh.
