Review: Blaze of Memory

Blaze of Memory by Nalini Singh
Series: Psy-Changeling #7
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

A woman without a past becomes the pawn of the man who controls her future…

 

Dev Santos discovers her unconscious and battered, with no memory of who she is. All she knows is that she’s dangerous. Charged with protecting his people’s most vulnerable secrets, Dev is duty-bound to eliminate all threats. It’s a task he’s never hesitated to complete…until he finds himself drawn to a woman who might prove to be the enemy’s most insidious weapon yet.

 

Stripped of her memories by a shadowy oppressor and programmed to carry out cold-blooded murder, Katya Haas is fighting desperately for her sanity. Her only hope is Dev. But how can she expect to gain the trust of a man who could very well be her next target? For in this game, one must die…

Book 0.5: Beat of Temptation (See Wild Invitation Review)
Book 0.6: Whisper of Sin
Book 1: Slave to Sensation
Book 2: Visions of Heat
Book 2.5: Echo of Silence (See Wild Embrace Review)
Book 3: Caressed by Ice
Book 3.5: Stroke of Enticement (See Wild Invitation Review)
Book 4: Mine to Possess
Book 5: Hostage to Pleasure
Book 5.25: Dorian (See Wild Embrace Review)
Book 6: Branded by Fire
Book 7: Blaze of Memory
Book 8: Bonds of Justice
Book 9: Play of Passion
Book 9.5: Declaration of Courtship (See Wild Invitation Review)
Book 10: Kiss of Snow
Book 10.5: Texture of Intimacy (See Wild Invitation Review)
Book 11: Tangle of Need
Book 11.1: Partners in Persuasion (See Wild Embrace Review)
Book 12: Heart of Obsidian
Book 12.1: Flirtation of Fate (See Wild Embrace Review)
Book 13: Shield of Winter
Book 14: Shards of Hope
Book 15: Allegiance of Honor

Meh. That’s my overall feeling of this book. And a little bit of resentment as I started my re-read of it. I just don’t love this book. And after Mine to Possess and I reached a new understanding on this re-read, this book – Blaze of Memory – has taken up residence as my least favorite Psy-Changeling book….by a lot.

Which isn’t to say it’s a bad book. I’m sure that it works for a lot of people, and I couldn’t really give a blanket ‘don’t read it’ statement, but there are definitely friends of mine I’d recommend away from it. Because it’s not the usual level that I’ve come to expect from Nalini Singh. I thought, maybe, it was because this was the first real book that had no Changeling presence, at least in the main couple. And that might be partly it, but I think a larger part of it is that the overarcing story kind of stalls here. There’s not a lot of movement, and we get kind of a side-story of things happening  that really could be summed up in a couple of paragraphs in some other book. Also, my hatred of Ming is upped considerably in this book.

Then there’s the fact that I don’t like Dev. I liked him well enough, and thought he was interesting, when he showed up previously, but when he’s the hero? Blegh. He’s not very heroic, first of all. He spends the majority of the book being a total asshole – which is understandable given what’s going on, but I still don’t like it. And given how much I feel for Katya and her struggles/history, it makes it harder to be sympathetic to Dev. A little kindness could have been extended without losing any security.

The best thing about this book is the intimate insight we get into some of the Psy, specifically those that were against Silence, back when Silence was first being put forth and implemented. It gives a depth of history and understanding to the struggle the Psy faced, and the choices made, that I don’t think we’d previously gotten. Those were the sections that I really enjoyed reading. The rest of it….I could have left.