Check out on Goodreads | Buy on Amazon Genres: Adult, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Also by this author: Rock Addiction (Rock Kiss, #1), Rock Hard (Rock Kiss #2), Heart of Obsidian (Psy-Changeling, #12)
Series: Psy-Changeling #12
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Source: My shelves
Step into New York Times bestseller Nalini Singh’s explosive and shockingly passionate Psy-Changeling world…
A dangerous, volatile rebel, hands stained bloodred.
A woman whose very existence has been erased.
A love story so dark, it may shatter the world itself.
A deadly price that must be paid.
The day of reckoning is here.
From "the alpha author of paranormal romance" (Booklist) comes the most highly anticipated novel of her career--one that blurs the line between madness and genius, between subjugation and liberation, between the living and the dead.
New to the series? Read my review of book one, Slave to Sensation.
!! This review will contain series spoilers!!
Heart of Obsidian was the book I was most looking forward to during my Psy-Changeling series reread. With good reason, it’s an obvious favorite of mine and remains one upon a full series reread :) Heart of Obsidian follows Kaleb Krycheck, someone we’ve known since the very beginning of the series… but someone we haven’t really trusted until recently. I’ve been craving this book since… book nine? Imagine a story with eleven books of build-up. IMAGINE. All amazing, incredible books that are positively unmatched to others in the genre. But this one… oh man. You’d think that a build-up of that caliber would signal inevitable disappointment, but you would be wrong. Singh built a story with incredible layers and feeling – I’m still in awe as I write this.
Kaleb was a Councilor on the Psy-Council, back when they ruled the Psy-Net. We knew him to be extremely dangerous, ruthless, focused, and cold. He was touted to be the most Silent individual on the Net and is said to be the protege of Enrique Santano, an ex-Councilor and serial murderer on a brutal scale, Santano someone we meet in book one, Slave to Sensation. What we learn in Heart of Obsidian is that all of it is true… he’s powerful, more dangerous than anyone ever thought (or anyone in Psy history, frankly) and utterly ruthless, yes. But cold, he is not. I’m always prepared to miss my Changeling’s when reading a story centered on the Psy… but honestly, Kaleb wins over them all. What he went through in his childhood… I could cry right now.
Kaleb’s story is richly intertwined with the story of Sahara Kyriakus, of clan NightStar. Sahara, a forbidden friend he made at age 13, when she was only seven. He continued to have a close bond with her until she was 16, brutalized, and taken. We knew Kaleb’s been looking for someone for a couple of books now, and that he was getting close, and even reading this as a reread (for at least the third time), I wasn’t prepared. Their history, which we got through snippets of memory, is so tender, affectionate, and sweet, it throws everything else into a stark sharpness of horror.
“Don’t be afraid of me.” Bending his head, he spoke with his lips against hers, the contact igniting a thousand tiny lightning strikes in her blood. “I’d line the streets with bodies before I’d ever hurt you.”
Sahara was an incredible heroine. Her Silence (which was never really present, to begin with) was fully shattered with her abduction and has an incredibly kind and compassionate nature. What she went through… oh man. She’s whip-smart intelligent, fierce in her own way, and kept Kaleb and me on our toes. As she serves as Kaleb’s conscious… I think we can all say a thank goodness on that one.
I just had a thought. Kaleb… is basically the adult version of Rhysand. I said it.
This book is an incredible choice to read in present day, with calls to rework and revitalize the police in America in the name of bigotry and racial bias. In Heart of Obsidian, the world as the Psy know it is crumbling. The Net is failing. Silence is falling. Their power structures are gone. The way they’d been doing things is not working, and they have to start over. This message echoes especially powerfully now, when America is going through something similar, although on a much smaller scale. In the world of the Psy, a civil war is being waged between those who believe in “Purity” and want Silence to stay, versus those who recognize the rot that’s infecting the Psy populace, and that Silence (in totality) is no longer an option. It’s a powerful echo.
I don’t want to go too far into how absolutely incredible Heart of Obsidian is, because I truly do believe this book has to be experienced. The Psy-Changeling series does follow individual couples along the way, but they are not individual, unrelated storylines. The series has an overall story arc, and focuses on how each couple helps move that forward. The books must be read in order. The fact that this book is the culmination of eleven books is so surreal to me, especially as it lived up to those expectations. These books keep getting better and better, more complex, and unyielding, but it never forgets the core tenents of the series. Heart of Obsidian is the best of the best so far, a story of intensity, strength, passion, choice, and resilience. I honestly just want to reread it again, right now. (My review of book one | My review of book eleven)
Series Reading Order
More reviews to come as I continue with my reread of the series!
Other books you may enjoy…
Have you read a book by Nalini Singh? Do you typically enjoy urban fantasy books? Let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear from you!
Chat with me!