The big change as come and huge fractures and turmoil has begun for the Psy race. A huge gamble is taken that a part of their race that have been repressed and erased from history to come to the Psy people’s rescue. Intense action, but at its heart a redemptive love story is in the making. Another deeply engaging page-turner.
Review

This series has been knocking my socks off since book one. And the last book… it left seriously big shoes to fill. I was nervous for Shield of Winter because it had the job of reaching even close to the high bar that Heart of Obsidian set. And it did. Lucky 13th release in the series was our Shield of Winter. It delivered a wallop.

Vasic was the perfect choice to get his story next. This dark, broken Psy warrior assassin is right on the edge and everyone fears he has seen and done too much to come back. He’s a walking dead man and the only thing holding him together is his loyalty to the other Arrows (Psy race’s version of a black ops team) and the need to do what he can for his race. He’s a protector at heart under all that icy Silence and now he’s been given the point-man job to protect the vulnerable Pys of the E(motion) designation as they work to stop the disease that is turning their people into mad creatures of death and destruction.

And because I have loved Vasic all along, I was really crossing my fingers about his heroine. She had to be one special lady. Nalini Singh came through. Ivy Jane was just the right blend of vulnerable and steel-spined heroine. Ivy is one of the suppressed E-psy that the Councils for the whole time of silence destroyed and suppressed because emotions weren’t allowed in the Silence Protocol. She’s so tenacious and this is good. She loves her race even if many reject her and she falls for Vasic seeing him through and through and she steps up to stick with him even when he seems to broken to heal.

From their first meeting to that tear-inducing and fabulous climax at the end, I was so into this pair. They make a great team of fighters for their race, but also as truly romantic and passionate lovers. The romance is developed right alongside the action so well and at just the right pace for the situation.

Survival of a race and an unstoppable disease of the mind made for quite the intensive, action filled conflict that infused the series with a nice new twist after some of the other long-running conflicts were resolved.

While this is Vasic and Ivy’s story, it gives some more Kaleb and Sahara along with the Changlings time while Aden emerges as the next lead character. I enjoyed staying in tune with the backlist of characters and their lives.

This is definitely not a good place to start in the series and again, I would push anyone who hasn’t yet, to give this series a go.