Slave to Sensation

Psy-Changeling Series, Book 1

By: Nalini Singh

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

Nalini Singh dives into a world torn apart by a powerful race with phenomenal powers of the mind - and none of the heart. Born a Psy, Sascha Duncan must hide the emotions that mark her as flawed. But a passionate Changeling will tempt her to reveal everything - and risk her very soul.

Mind over matter: listen to more in the Psy-Changeling series.

©2006 Nalini Singh (P)2011 Tantor

Critic reviews

"This book is a must even for those uninitiated in the paranormal genre." ( Romantic Times)

Good book, good narrator.

Interesting story of many species. At first I hated the Psy but later I felt that it wasn't completly their fault. I like the wolves. I am a little partial to wolves after the Shadow Wranglers Series by Sarah McCarty but the cats have a different personality that is starting to grow on me too. This book has a different kind of "action" than I am used to reading. The fighting is more of escaping and fighting on a mental plane than in a brawl but a brawl is bound to break out sometime. The book is imaginative and believable. Can't wait to listen to the next one.

I liked it.

Had to work at liking it at times. Dragged in spots but turned out to be worth the effort. The premise of valuing the repression of emotions is interesting. I got the next one, so I must have liked it. I want to know how the different species work out the essential conflict.

Engrossing

Crisp writing. Interesting world. Excellent characters. Great narration. I agree completely with the review by Diana of Norfolk 5-30-11. Both Dave and I really enjoyed this book. We downloaded this book during a sale in which the entire series is on sale. The series has 11 books on sale - we enjoyed them enough to buy them all now. We have audio books from 436 authors (over 800 books) and are always looking for new favorite authors so we are adding Singh to our daily watch list and will be trying out her other audible series - Guild Hunter.

A Great New Paranormal Romance!

This book is a very interesting and complex version of opposites that attract each other. On one hand we have a Psy woman named Sascha who has been trained to have no emotional responses (think Vulcan) and on the other hand you have a man who is a leopard changeling (think shape shifter) ruled by instinct and emotions. Both have their own hidden agendas but have to work together.

Our changeling, Lucas, needs to use our Psy woman, Sascha, to help them find a psy murderer and will go to any lengths necessary to get her to help, even (oh gasp) seducing the cold fish. Sascha needs to prove she is a capable business partner in the Psy world and will do everything she can, including working with this changeling who is spouting off with sexual innuendos at every turn, to prove she is adept.

This was a great story and I enjoyed it very much. The author did a great job of drawing out our characters so you could almost feel their responses to each other. Even though this was the first book in the series, I didn’t feel bogged down with the world building and character setup. This story flowed very nicely from beginning to end and you were not left with a giant cliffhanger leading to the next book. Even without a cliffhanger, I am very interested in where we go in the next book in the series.

The Narration Review
This audiobook was narrated by Angela Dawe. Although I thought she did a good job on the voices, I felt like she was rushing through the book. There were no pauses for sensations or feelings, just reading on through. I don’t feel that it took away from the story, but would have preferred a more relaxed read.

Voice works for this Story

Angela has a kind of monotonous voice that can put you to sleep because it’s not exciting but somehow still very soothing. For the character she is voicing, this is actually very perfect because the voice fits the personality to a T. I don’t know if her voice would work for another kind of MC but she does Sascha justice.

surprisingly amazing!

I'm about 3/4 through this delightful surprise and have already decided that I'll go on to the next. This world is fleshed out so well that I easily fell into it. The complexity of the psy community is refreshing. Not many authors in this genre have such a unique world that can suspend disbelief so well.
The characters are well devloped and I easily empathised with them.
Great listen! I can happily recommend 100%!

good story

I really liked the story but it was a little too cerebral for me. There was A LOT of made up mind scapes, and mental powers. I would still recommend it and I'll continue on with the series, but for me, this is a series that will have to be read with other books in between.

so AMAZING

I loves this book can't wait to start the next. I definitely recommend this. go ahead girl.....jump in

Great listen

I liked the storyline. Angela Dawe did a great job with the storyline. There is suspense and HEA.

Welcome to Psy-Changeling express

Bought for Myself
Overall Rating 4.25
Story Rating 4.25
Character Rating 4.25
Audio Rating 4.50

Note: Alright all my friends that have read this series, swore to me that I would want to devour it, and made fun of me for not jumping on the Psy-Changeling Train---YOU WERE RIGHT! I am now buying my ticket (aka the rest of the books) on the Psy-Changeling express!

What I Loved: What a fantastic opening to a series! Slave to Sensation held all the things I loved in a series opener: good groundwork, introduction of characters outside the main couple, interesting world building, and just enough unresolved issues to keep you coming back for more. The world in which the controlled Psy exist with the very feeling Changelings is one full of rich possibilities and introducing those through Lucas and Sascha was a perfect way to go. I don't want to give away the story but I think both of these character were great reflections of the two races that we will see in this series or at least I hope so.

What I Liked: Just about everything else: the tracking down of the serial killer, the dealing with the council, the striving to come to terms with accepting who you are, and the connections made/broken are all really well done. The pacing was spot on and I really didn't feel any kind of lag at all in the story.

Complaints: None

Audio Specific: Angela Dawe did a fantastic job on the narration! She had good pace, great voice technique, and made sure to make each character unique.

Why I gave this a 4.25: Fantastic freaking opening to a series. I was not disappointed at all.