Shield of Winter

Psy-Changeling, Book 13

By: Nalini Singh

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

Length: 15 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

Assassin. Soldier. Arrow. That is who Vasic is, who he will always be. His soul drenched in blood, his conscience heavy with the weight of all he's done, he exists in the shadows, far from the hope his people can almost touch - if only they do not first drown in the murderous insanity of a lethal contagion. To stop the wave of death, Vasic must complete the simplest and most difficult mission of his life. For if the Psy race is to survive, the empaths must wake....

Having rebuilt her life after medical "treatment" that violated her mind and sought to suffocate her abilities, Ivy should have run from the black-clad Arrow with eyes of winter frost. But Ivy Jane has never done what she should. Now, she'll fight for her people, and for this Arrow who stands as her living shield, yet believes he is beyond redemption. But as the world turns to screaming crimson, even Ivy's fierce will may not be enough to save Vasic from the cold darkness.

©2014 Nalini Singh (P)2014 Tantor

Loved every minute

Kind heartbreakingly dark at times hearing about how Vasic was trained as a child but there is so much to like about Ivy, Rabbit and Vasic's friendship with Aiden that it helps balance out the ugliness of his training.

It is well worth the read but then I haven't found one in this series that isn't.

good story meh performance

Nalini Singh is still one of my go to authors but of the audible books I only bought 2 (at the same time or I would have only gotten 1) in this series due to my personal dislike of Ms. Dawes reading style. I really wish the publisher's would re record this book (this time with dual readers for the hero and heroine parts) ones who are not so stilted in their narration.

The New Net

This book moves us forward in the Psy-Changling saga and introduces us to the E’s and gives a deeper look into the Arrows. Vasic and Ivy’s story is sweet and poignant. Angela Dawe totally did this story justice. Really great performance and story.

V of my heart ❤️

I’ve been wanting V’s story forever and I wasn’t disappointed! Ivy was just too adorable and B was everything I wanted him to be and more. The action in this one was heavier than the usual being the targets were more external than internal and were a lot but the relationship between the two MCs made it a beautiful story. Ready for Aiden’s story now!

The best series!

I recommend this series to everyone it’s well worth the credits. Start at the beginning to get the full depth of the stories and world. It well worth the time

Not the best but loved it anyway.

I guess I should start out with how much I love this series. While in the world of what I consider fluff reading, the world-building is awesome and I have come back to Nalini Singh's books more than once. To gear up for this new book I re-listened to the entire 12 books that came before it.

Which is probably why Angela Dawe fell a little flat this time around.

I think Jim Dale (of the Harry Potter audiobooks) has proved that you can not only create a huge number of voices, but that you can carry them throughout an entire series. The moment Hawk and Lucas started talking through Dawe's performance in this book, I was immediately taken out of the story: she changed them. You just can't do that. It's like breaking a Cardinal Rule (punpun). If you don't have a range of male voices, which I don't think is true because I've always commended Dawe on her male voices, then don't suddenly lower one just to create a difference. It's bizarre for someone you know to suddenly drop into a lower scratchy octave.

(SPOILERS)

As for the story, there was just something about it that seemed disjointed. At this point, the pool of singletons in Singh's book world are starting to dwindle so we're jumping out of the realm of the better-known characters into the life of the mysterious arrow Vasic and newcomer Ivy. The natural progression was there but while the former novels had a fluidity to the overall plotline, there was just something about this story that made me want to say "get on with it" in some areas and "wait, I want more detail" in others. And Ming... that whole line in the story needs to be revisited - he showed up as a blip comment then a quickly-over skirmish where he wasn't even present - he seemed more like a forgotten menace than an actual threat. Also, the new empaths seemed to start out strong as characters then pretty much faded into a general group occasionally mentioned near the end. The main problem/sickness/darkness in the book arrived so sudden, with really no hint at trouble until the previous book, that it seemed to be more of an excuse for something (other than Ming) to battle... I think I would have liked to see it stick around for a few books more rather than escalating and being resolved in one novel out of 13.

Still, as with any series we adore, even this tasty morsel of a story is welcome. It's not the best story of the series... trying to beat the original Lucas/Sasha story, the thrilling Judd/Brenna pairing, the steamy Riley/Mercy book, the long anticipated Hawke/Sienna novel, or the revelation/super hero saga that was Caleb/Sahara is pretty tough and I don't think this one succeeded. However I do think it beats some of the others and was yummy on its own. Vasic is a fun one to move on to and I was excitedly anticipating this book's release. I like Ivy and her little dog too, and was curious at how the couple would come together.

Though Dawe failed to deliver her usual stellar performance when it came to past characters, and the book had a few issues, my joy at listening to is couldn't let me give it the 3 that is the overall average of my score... 4 stars.

Wonderful! Thrilling and made me laugh and cry.

Loved the story of Vasic and Ivy. Their journey and the journey of the psy is enthralling and heartfelt. Almost makes me want to be a part of this world.

I Love this Series

I love this series! Great stories , we'll written, seriously addicting. I'm going to try the Guild Hunters series next!

Uneven volume of narration marred a great story

I listened to this story using Audible escape. Would have returned it if I had used a credit..
I Loved the story. The narrator wasn't my favorite by a long shot , her cadence hard to get used to at first. However the volume of the narration was terribly uneven which made the story less enjoyable than it could have been. Almost all of the conversations were almost whispered so that I had to turn up the volume which made the rest of the narration unbearably loud. I spent a lot of time adjusting the volume, throwing me out of the story. Don't know if the problem was with the narrator or the production.

Love the book and series.

This has been such a great series! I am so glad to finally get to Vasic’s story. Wow!!! I had problems with the audio, as it seems like so many other people. I listened at the 1.25 rate, which to me was just fine, even though I still had to repeat several sections due to poor quality. Overall, it is a great series and I have heard so much worse by other narrators.