Atonement Sky by Nalini Singh: review

5/5 stars on Goodreads

Atonement Sky by Nalini Singh

Book number nine in Psy-Changeling Trinity series takes us to a completely different type of changeling, falcons. Adam Garret is the wing-leader (alpha) of WindHaven falcon clan in Arizona, fairly young for his position at 28, but capable. His backstory evolves around losing his parents when he was 18 to a poacher that he knows shot them knowing they were changelings and not real birds. But the J-Psy in the trial who was there to read the shooters memories confirmed accidental shooting.

It's not solely the injustice eating him. Assisting the J-Psy had been an intern his age he’d briefly encountered, only to realise she’s his mate. And then she betrayed him by taking the J-Psy’s side.

Ten years later, that intern, Eleri Dias, is a former J-Psy at the end of her life. A decade of absorbing the memories of psychopathic killers has destroyed her mind and once the last shield protecting her against the minds of other people goes, she’ll die. But before she does, she wants to track down a serial killer obsessed with her. That brings her to WindHaven’s territory.

This was a good, emotional story like all Nalini Singh romances. Adam is drawn to Eleri, as she is his mate, no matter that he hates her. But it doesn’t take him long to give up the hate when she almost dies saving a friend of his. For her part, she experiences fleeting emotions for the first time in ages. Unfortunately, every sensation erodes her shields and brings the death closer.

The hunt for the killer is fairly low-key and only after they come after Eleri does something happen on that front. The killer isn’t anyone interesting anyway and we don’t even learn why they’re obsessed with Eleri. There’s no additional background evil like usually working against the entire Psy race either. The focus is on Eleri’s impending death and finding a last-minute miracle to stop it so that she and Adam can have their happily ever after.

Like always, clan life with loving relationships is the heart of the story. Falcons had their unique features that were interesting, but the sense of ‘birdness’ wasn’t there the same way than with the animal natures of leopards and wolves. There are similar people like in every clan, the seconds in command and a healer who are all likeable. The one with some backstory even gets a romance of their own that I maybe liked a bit more than the main one. Nothing wrong with the main one, it was wonderfully emotional, but the first bedroom scene felt too soon, whereas the hookup of the second pair felt more natural.

Adam was the usual stalwart changeling hero with a big heart full of emotions to counter the complete lack of them in Eleri. She wasn’t the most interesting of the series’ heroines so far, but her impending death with no cure was compelling. Her acceptance of it and willingness to end her own life before her mind goes may upset some readers. Together they formed a good pair that was easy to root for.

Some old favourites like Sascha Duncan—and Naya!—make appearances. They don’t have great roles on page and barely any dialogue, but it’s always wonderful to see them. No Kaleb Krycheck to my disappointment.

The ending is, of course, happy and highly emotional. The solution they come up with for Eleri’s condition has wider implications to the entire Psy-changeling world, so it’ll be interesting to see where the author takes that. No solution to the unravelling of the psy-net yet though, so there will be more books yet. As always, looking forward to reading them.