Storm Echo by Nalini Singh: review

4/5 stars on Goodreads

Storm Echo by Nalini Singh

With over twenty books, the return to Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling series always feels like coming home. This time more so, as Storm Echo returns to the DarkRiver leopard pack where the series began all those books ago.

We’ve been following the members of the Mercant Psy-family. The hero is Ivan Mercant, the family security expert and assassin with a difficult past. He meets and immediately loses Lei, an Ocelot changeling. A year later, he runs into her again, but she doesn’t remember him anymore.

Soleil is an Ocelot changeling who has lost her entire pack, first to a massacre and then to Lucas Hunter, who has executed what was left of them. Alone in the world, she wows to kill him. But before she has a chance, she meets a man that her cat recognises even though she has no recollection of him.

Psy-Changeling books are always a bit of insta-love, as the changelings recognise their mates in primal level before they fall in love. This isn’t an exception. Soleil’s cat claims Ivan, binding them together despite his efforts to break the bond. Because he knows it’s only a matter of time before his dark side devours him and takes Soleil too if they’re bonded.

In these Psy-Changeling Trinity books, the relationship drama and heartbreak are kept at minimum. The suspense comes from the outside. The Scarab Queen keeps destabilising the PsyNet in order to destroy it completely. And to his surprise, Ivan realises he might be able to do something about it. Problem is, it might kill him.

This was a lovely book with wonderful protagonists, and a welcome return of a few favourites from previous books. Even though the story is basically the same from book to book, there’s always something new and fresh. And Nalini Singh has a skill to tell the stories so that it’s almost a compulsion to keep reading.

That said, I would’ve wished for more drama. Everything happened so smoothly and easily that I’d barely braced myself for action when it was already over. It left me feeling happy but not very excited.

Ivan is the last of the Mercant family to get his story, ending a longer arc. I’m eager to find out where the series goes next.

I received a free copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.