Caressed by Ice by Nalini Singh

I've commented at some length about my reactions to Nalini Singh's first two books, Slave to Sensation and Visions of Heat. So, what did I think of Caressed by Ice?

I'm afraid it was a similar reaction, though for slightly different reasons.

On the plus side, great world building. Solid writing. Excellent story-telling.

On the negative side, things that disturbed me** and a lack of the type of conflict I like between my hero and heroine. (**On which more later).

In all three Psy/changeling books, whilst the full realisation of the depth of their emotions only comes close to the end, the hero and heroine basically acknowledge their attraction/ desire/ love from a relatively early stage. The agents that keep them apart are very much external agents. In books one and two, the core issue between the hero and heroine is the heroine's inability to live without the Psynet.

I've realised in considering my reaction to Singh's books that this isn't really my thing. I like the conflict between my protaganists to be highly personal and solidly rooted in character. I like their characters to develop through the romance. Character driven stories are more my thing than action-based stories. Singh's characters are too static for me. The heroes are Who They Are and they do not change. They simply fight the external obstacles thrown in their way, and they do so with absolute success.

I was intrigued by book 3 which promised a psy hero, a changeling heroine and possibly something a bit different. And I suppose it was a bit different. Instead of pawing Brenna like the changeling heroes, Judd was remote and icy. And Brenna was hotter and feistier - in some ways - than the psy heroines. But:-

(1) Judd has more in common with the changeling heroes than not. Like them, he is domineering/ dominant, possessive and sexually in control.

(2) I was mystified by the endless references to Judd's un-psy-like strength and speed. It was as though the hero always has to be the strongest, swiftest most alpha man ever. If we were told once that he could kill with a single mind-blow, we were told a hundred times and latterly I began to giggle whenever it came up. It just began to seem like this absurd delusion that Judd had.

(3) But the thing that bothered me more than anything else, was the moral focus of the novel; in particular the eye-for-an-eye philosophy and glorification of vigilante justice. It's absolutely at odds with my personal philsophy (I'll declare an interest - I'm a member of Amnesty) and it diminished the characters in my eyes. The constant references to the gory justice that was meted out to Brenna's abductor and the internal musings of Judd about how he wanted to 'bathe in the blood' of another would-be-murderer made me very uncomfortable. So much so that my concerns about the controlling nature of Singh's heroes paled into insignificance.

So that's it for me with the psy/changeling series I fear.

Good writer; excellent storyteller.

Not for me.