Last Guard
by: Nalini Singh
Series: Psy-Changeling #20 / Psy-Changeling Trinity #5
Last Guard is easily one of my favorite books of 2021! It’s also one of my favorite books in this series – which is saying a lot considering so many of the books are absolutely amazing.
It’s no secret that I yearn for each new book that Nalini Singh writes. She is a master at building a world that never fails to amaze me. Her characters fill me with all the emotions, and the story she tells enchant and engross me.
I gulped down Last Guard as soon as I was able to download it to my Kindle. Then immediately dove back in. I’m still so in love with it that I’m re-reading the entire series right now, so I can enjoy the depth of what Nalini Singh has brought to the page yet again.
We’ve been hearing about anchors in the PsyNet since all the way back in Slave to Sensation. The concept is not new. By the time this book starts readers probably feel that they have a pretty decent feel for who anchors are, what they do, and why they’re so important.
But it quickly becomes obvious that we still have so much more to learn.
Throughout my sixteen years of reading this series the thing that blows me away the most is how Nalini Singh can continuously expand this world and our understanding of it. Things that you know in previous books – well they may not be wrong, necessarily, but it doesn’t mean we have the full understanding either. As I just re-read Slave to Sensation, I’m amazed all that we – and the characters – didn’t know we didn’t know. The world is full of uncertainty and lost history, peopled with unreliable narrators – not because they’re trying to obfuscate, but because they are mostly just best-guessing as well. This makes every revelation feel like truth. It doesn’t feel forced or like the author rewriting the rules. It feels natural. I love that in the twentieth book Nalini Singh can still surprise me with where we’re going.
Sometimes the world and story are the main draw, but here I also loved and adored our two main characters: Payal and Canto. They are complex, unique, and absolutely wonderful. Nalini has always been ahead of the game with regards to diversity, but here she escalates even that. Payal is Indian and clearly neurodivergent. Canto has a disability and uses a wheelchair. There are LGBT characters that are more than just blink-and-you-miss-them cameos. For me, the representation here was beautifully and lovingly done. There were times that tears filled my eyes because I felt so seen. So understood.
Last Guard gave me everything I hoped for, everything I wished for, and everything I didn’t even know I wanted.
Ugh I’m dying. I’m on book 2 of Psy-Changeling but I wanna know why everyone loves this book so much!
I have a number of issues with Visions of Heat! And so do many of my friends – you are NOT alone. I can tell you that this series continues to get better (with a few numpties (as my friends call them) along the way. But the world-building and the majority of the characters are heavenly.
If you’re really not enjoying book 2, I can give you some cliff-notes and I’d highly recommend moving to book 3. It’s almost universally agreed that book 3 is AMAZING and is what hooks the majority of readers.
On the other hand – if you mean that you’re just anxious to get to Last Guard, OMG – yes! It’s SO good. I can’t wait for you to read it. 🙂
So…when are we starting our buddy read of the series? LOL
Oh, I am ALWAYS down for a reread of this series! Absolutely whenever you want 😂❤️