Review - Slave to Sensation

Title: Slave to Sensation
Author: Nalini Singh
Publishing Date: September 2006
Genre: Paranormal
Rating: B
Sensuality: Hot

Slave to Sensation is the first book in Nalini Singh’s Psy-Changeling Series. It features Lucas Hunter, the alpha leader of the DarkRiver leopard pack. In his world there are three types of people, the changelings – people who can shift shape to animal forms, the Psy - people who have special mind powers, who have been trained to suppress all feelings or emotions and then last but not least, regular humans.

Lucas has recently lost a member of his pack to a serial killer. He suspects that the killer is Psy because of a scent at the scene of the crime and how the murders are being covered up. He arranges a deal with the Duncan Psy family to build a multi million dollar housing complex. He is paired up with Sascha Duncan as a consultant to the deal. His goal is to get close enough to her in order to do some investigating of his own.

Sascha Duncan has been chosen to consult with Lucas for the project. Sascha has been hiding the fact that she has been able to feel emotions for a long time now. She knows that if she were found out by the Psy Council she would be rehabilitated. This means she would become, basically, a vegetable. She would rather kill herself than let that happen. When these two pair up with they can’t seem to fight their attraction to each other and Sascha is afraid of the consequences.

Slave to Sensation has well thought out, very in depth world building. It is a unique twist to the shape shifter romance with the addition of the Psy population. I liked that Sascha was very cerebral and Lucas very physical. It made for a unique pairing. Both characters were very likable and I was sympathetic to both the changelings and the Psy groups. I enjoyed Sascha’s interaction with the other members of Lucas’s pack. I enjoyed her surprise when someone would show her affection through touch. This was something that was lacking in her life growing up. One drawback for the romance though, was that Sascha kept denying Lucas’s love for her. She doesn’t exactly accept it until the very end of the story. I felt like it added unnecessary angst to an already problematic relationship.

There was a very large cast of characters, but I was not overwhelmed and somehow I was able to keep it all straight – all due to Singh’s talent as a storyteller. It did seem to me there was more of a focus on the Psy culture than the changeling culture and I wonder if that will change in future books in this series. All in all, this was a good start to a series and I am looking forward to more adventures in Singh’s world.

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