This one just wasn't for me. I am trying to get into this author, but I believe that paranormal romance isn't something I want to read anymore.

Once upon a time, a cardinal empath sat across from an alpha changeling, trying desperately to conceal a crash of emotions she shouldn't be feeling...and so began the many tiny pebble falls that grow into an avalanche that seeks to obliterate the imposed power structure of the world and allow a new structure to be born in the ashes of the old ways. And so we come to Allegiance of Honor, book 15 in the Psy-Changeling universe created by Nalini Singh.

Nalini Singh's Psy-Changeling series is undoubtedly among the very best Paranormal Romance/Urban Fantasy series I've ever read. The world is compelling and expands organically, developing over the course of the previous 14 books, and allowing readers to gradually absorb the "rules" of Singh's fictional world. Even the bane of a long series -- the need to "recap" for new readers -- remains engaging and enjoyable, book after book, for long-time series fans. Each title focuses on a pair of characters or families, and the world as they see it, expanding the readers' understanding of the complete universe Singh has created.

The world-shattering nature of the over-arching story, and the part each of these individual characters plays in the wider plot is beautifully balanced against the personal stories of characters relationships and individual struggles. Each book is captivating, and the series is a delight.

This 15 entry into the Psy-Changeling universe acts as a p[art-extended epilogue and part-prologue. It revisits the characters we have grown to love, letting readers peek back into the various families as the larger arc examines the first steps into a still-fragile new world order post-Silence. The Consortium is stripped of its power and a new bloc has arisen, one that is committed to giving Changelings, Psy and humans the opportunity to live in peace and unity. However, new villains and old are still seeking the reins of power, and the Dark River leopards, Snow Dancer wolves, former Arrows, and allied Psys and humans must confront the shadowy new dangers.

Ultimately, any fan of the series really must read this book. Many of the over-arching plot questions are answered, and so many beloved characters are revisited, that any fan of the series would be foolish to miss this installment. Personally, I loved Allegiance of Honor; however, I think that some readers might find it a little over-long and a little indulgent. The warm, funny scenes of pups, cubs, and pupcubs, of fiercely proud and protective parents are a delight; however they do distract a little from the sense of urgency and danger of the larger world events culminating in this book. To my mind, that is how world-shattering events happen -- right in the midst of everyday life -- but not usually in fiction.

A delightful summation of the past and first step into the new future.

Janine and I have done joint reviews of two previous books in the series, Tangle of Need and Shield of Winter, and when she suggested doing a joint review of the newest book, I was more than game. — Jennie

Jennie: Allegiance of Honor marks the 15th (!) book in the Psy/Changeling series, and the first book that does not feature a central romance. That is to say, it does not introduce any new hero/heroine pairings; instead, it revisits the couples featured in the previous fourteen books, weaving them into a few main storylines.

The first storyline involves the threat that the Consortium (the newest Big Bad in the Psy/Changeling world) represents to the Trinity Accord, the alliance of Psy/Changeling/human who are trying to usher in a new era of cooperation, peace and equality among the three races.

The Consortium remains a shadowy force throughout the book: they are suspected in the attempted kidnapping of Naya, the young daughter of Lucas and Sascha from the very first book in the series, Slave to Sensation. As the first child born half-Psy/half-Changeling, Naya represents a huge threat to those who want to keep the races apart. She is, after all, a living symbol of their intermingling.

Another prominent storyline features the search for Leila Savea, a water-based Changeling who was kidnapped by unknown persons (but probably the Consortium) and is known, by way of a message in a bottle she was able to smuggle out, to be being tortured by her captors. The search for Leila is spearheaded by Miane Leveque, the alpha of the Water Changelings, but she receives significant cooperation from Psy and human characters as well.

Meanwhile, Xavier Perez, human and erstwhile priest, is in the mountains of South America, searching for his lost love Nina. Xavier was once a member of a secret triad (the other two members being Psys Kaleb and Judd) that helped bring about an end to Silence. (To back up a sec, for those that don’t know, Silence was the century-long Psy practice of ruthlessly suppressing emotion, ostensibly to prevent the outbreaks of madness and violence the Psy race are given to.) Since Xavier is on his Nina-hunting quest alone, we get his POV through letters he writes to her.

A much lighter storyline involves both the DarkRiver leopards and the SnowDancer wolves eagerly awaiting the arrival of the “pupcubs” – Mercy and Riley’s multiples, the number, gender and disposition (wolf or leopard?) of which is the subject of heavy betting throughout the book.

Finally, there’s an investigation into the cause of and solution to the continuing problem of rot in the Net, the Psychic network (almost) all Psy are plugged into and need to survive.

So, there’s a lot going on, as well as a huge number of characters being visited. If I counted right, there are 80 people listed in the “Cast of Characters” guide at the beginning of the book. I’m not sure if that represents every single person mentioned by name in the course of the book, even in passing, but I would say a significant number of them make substantial appearances in the book. By “substantial” I mean, what you get out of their scenes as a reader may well depend on whether you can remember who they are in the first place or not.

Of course, you can always go to that Cast of Characters section for a refresher, and actually usually the characters are briefly identified within the text – say, as “a leopard Sentinel mated to so-and-so”, or whatever. But knowing that isn’t the same as remembering them or caring about them, so the number of characters tracked really was overload for a reader like me, who *doesn’t* remember the vast majority of minor characters, and hasn’t read most of the novellas that accompany the series.

A reader on the opposite side of the spectrum may get a lot more out of a half-page scene with Singh’s version of “Hey, it’s that Guy (or Gal)!”

Janine: I have read all the novellas as well as the novels in this series and I remembered all the novella couples (Nate and Tamsyn! Annie and Zach! Emmett and Ria! Grace and Cooper! Bastien and Kirby!) as well as all the couples from all the novels (too many to list) but even so, there were times when I felt like the ball in a pinball machine being shot from one blissful couple to the next.

Jennie: There’s a Grace and a Cooper?

Janine: Yup. It has a dominant / submissive conflict which makes it not my favorite of the novellas, but it wasn’t bad.

But back to the couple-itis, I couldn’t decide if this diligent inclusion of every single protagonist and each of their offspring was a strategy for pleasing every character’s fans, or if it was clever product placement to remind readers of stories they might have missed.

Jennie: It may work as the latter for me as I’m now somewhat intrigued and thinking about trying to hunt down some of the novellas.

For what it’s worth, Lucas and Sascha get by far the most time, followed probably by Kaleb and Sahara.

Janine: I didn’t think that sounded right so I checked by searching my digital ARC for a handful of character names and Vasic (206 mentions) and Hawke (194 mentions) both have more mentions than Kaleb (181). Fellow Judd lovers, fear not, he has 172.

Among the women, Ivy at 153, Miane at 152, and Mercy at 151, all have more appearances than Sahara (96). There may be others as well since I barely scraped the top of that character list. Also, name mentions aren’t conclusive, since some characters, like Leila and Nina, are mentioned by others a lot but don’t spend much time on the page in person.

But there’s no question that the feline first family, Lucas, Sascha and Naya, are the stars of this particular show, with 624, 454, and 334 mentions respectively.

Jennie: Oh, good idea – I didn’t think to be that scientific about it. I think maybe Kaleb and Sahara *felt* like they got more time than they did because most of their scenes are with each other rather than interacting with the other characters the way Judd or Hawke maybe did.

Janine: Yeah, they had a lot of couple time though Vasic and Ivy may have had more.

I’m going to contradict myself by saying that despite the inclusion of so many characters, I was disappointed not to see more of Brenna. Considering how much page time Judd gets in these books, it feels like she’s become peripheral to the series. I loved their book and I would love to see her utilized in a subplot sometime, the way characters like Judd, Faith and Dorian were in this book, but it feels like Singh is done with her.

Jennie: I agree! (That I’d like to see more of Brenna; I don’t know if Singh is done with her.)

I took a peek at some preliminary reviews on Goodreads, and wasn’t surprised to see that one of my big issues with Allegiance of Honor was mentioned more than once: it feels like a book-length epilogue at times, one where the reader gets to revisit all of her favorites and see how blissfully happy they are. Yes, there are storylines, but there’s also a lot of downtime, and it often felt repetitive.

(I should note that I was at first unclear on whether this book is meant to end the series, but in checking Singh’s website it seems more like she wanted to give closure to the arc that she began with Slave to Sensation; there will be other books set in the Psy/Changeling world.)

Did the epilogue-esque feel of AoH bother you, Janine, or did you like having the opportunity to see everyone? What did you think of the structure of the book? What was your favorite storyline?

Janine: I’ll address the structure first. I’m not a fan of epilogues, and yes, at times this read like one. It’s not that I’m a grinch, but rather that a plethora of blissfully happy, gorgeous, successful couples within the same community bears so little relationship to my experience of real life that I often find my suspension of disbelief in short supply when I see so many couples whose relationship conflicts are far behind them.

Jennie: I guess that’s inevitable when all your HEAs hang around for subsequent books. Though I agree that there could have been less emphasis on all the bliss.

Janine: For that reason, I was glad to see Hawke and Sienna have a serious fight, one that put their happiness in jeopardy. It was great to see a couple have to hash out a conflict *after* the HEA, and I thought it played out in a very believable way. I could believe that Hawke would do something like that and that Sienna would react as she did. And that the resulting bump would create a hurdle, but they’d overcome it.

Jennie: Yeah, but did the conflict have to be *that*? Without spoiling too much or complaining about things I’ve complained about at length in previous reviews and told myself that I wouldn’t complain about any more, it was disappointing to have the conflict be about the men (and it wasn’t just Hawke, which made it even more disappointing/annoying) treating a woman as less than equal.

Janine: Yeah, that aspect was disappointing, but it was still more interesting to me than all the bliss and baby cuteness. Also, we almost never see couples in this genre have arguments after they arrive at their HEA, but conflicts are a part of any relationship, so I was really appreciative of seeing that portrayed in a romance series.

To get back to the novel’s structure, I knew going in that this was an arc-closing book with no central romance, and I had the sense that it might be epilogue-ish, so that helped some with that issue too. Ultimately, there was enough other stuff in the book to keep me turning the pages. I picked up this book in the middle of a reading slump, and it still engaged me, so that’s a point in its favor.

As for my favorite storyline, it was one your recap didn’t mention.

Spoiler (Plot spoiler): Hide

The loss of Zie Zen. Vasic’s discovery of things he didn’t know about his great-grandfather in the midst of his grief really resonated with me, and I shed many tears throughout this section.
Jennie: I probably found the search for Leila the most compelling storyline, though I doubt it could have sustained a full book.

Janine: Yes! This was my second favorite storyline. I recently described to a friend how the initial scenes of the DarkRiver teens finding Leila’s message in a bottle, and the delivery of the message to Miane, had me crying within less than two pages. There are very few authors who can get me that emotional that quickly, but Singh does it with ease.

Jennie: Xavier and Nina were a snooze for me – it didn’t help that 99% of their story was Xavier recounting stuff that had happened in previous books via letter to Nina.

Janine: Judd fan that I am, I actually enjoyed Xavier’s take on his introduction to Judd, but I thought Xavier and Nina’s reunion suffered from other problems in addition to the one you note. Not only was there not enough time to get to know Nina, but after so many years apart, the reasons behind their separation felt a little insufficient and contrived.

Spoiler (Plot spoiler): Hide

On top of that, it looks as though Nina’s disability may get a miracle cure and if so, ugh.
Jennie: The threat to Naya was compelling at times but brought out my perpetual annoyance at one of the strong themes in the book (and the series): Changelings really love their kids (more on that later).

Janine: Agreed. I could’ve done with fewer words devoted to Naya’s cuteness, Naya’s first shift, Naya’s stuffed toy, and Naya’s vocabulary. The Hallmark card daycare moments made me a little grumpy. Then the kidnapping attempt happened, and suddenly this story got interesting. I loved the related subplot about a Changeling pack called SkyElm (Even though I didn’t know the word ocelot. I thought it sounded like something that should be a pendulum). I also enjoyed Naya’s introduction to Nikita.

Jennie: Naya’s meeting with Nikita was great and I think will be very satisfying to long-time fans of the series.

I was a little more ambivalent about the SkyElm stuff because of the resolution.

Spoiler (Plot spoiler): Hide

On the one hand, I appreciate seeing the Changelings act like what they’re supposed to be – territorial and aggressive animals (considering I’ve complained about the author pulling her punches in that regard before). OTOH, the vigilante justice aspect of it made me uneasy, especially when perpetrated as it was on a smaller, weaker animal.
(I did know what ocelots were, because I’m a certified Crazy Cat Lady and conversant with all felines great and small.)

Janine: LOL!

Spoiler (Plot spoiler): Hide

I didn’t love the vigilante justice either, but I loved the interactions between Lucas and the members of the ocelot pack who weren’t to blame.
Aside from the major plots, there were also some smaller but no less satisfying “easter eggs” for longtime readers, like Annie’s long-awaited reunion with a certain boy from her past, Faith’s first meeting with her younger half-brother, a poignant development with Kit, and Lucas and Hawke’s struggle to work out the politics of who should speak first at a gathering of both their packs. I was also glad to see Kaleb humanized, even if it’s not entirely consistent with his earlier characterization.

The other thing that I thought was interesting in this book was that we got to see and know more about both the Mercant family (we meet Silver’s grandmother) and Pax Marshall. I’m starting to think of Pax as “Baby Kaleb” because he’s this powerful and badass Psy who may or may not be evil, which is how Kaleb was first introduced. We’ll see if Pax, too, is headed for a romance.

In terms of other characters whom I hope are headed for starring roles in books – I would love to see more of Silver, Miane, Alice, and Kit.

What about you, Jennie? What’s on your wish list for future books?

Jennie: Definitely Silver! I find the Mercants intriguing. I am interested in Alice but almost fear her story is too sad for a convincing HEA.

Though my interest tends to be focused more on the Psy than the Changelings, Miane is an intriguing character. A female alpha (or at least as close as the Water Changelings have to an alpha), and different for being water-based. I’d be interested in reading about her.

Switching subjects, I’ve complained at length in previous reviews about some central issues that I have with this series (they boil down to: Changelings good/Psy bad; women are equal, but not really; everyone is so damn histrionically emotional all the time!), so I’m going to try not to focus on those this time. Alas, I have new complaints specific to this book, some minor and some not so minor. First the minor:

Is Naya really the first Psy/Changeling kid in history? What about before Silence – there weren’t any then? That detail and a few others served to remind me that the Psy/Changeling world is very detailed in some respects but oddly hazy about others. There’s not a good sense at all of what the world was like before Silence, or at least not that I remember being detailed.

Janine: Great point. We know that humans and Psy had children which resulted in the Forgotten, so it stands to reason that there should have been some Psy/Changeling couples in the time before Silence, but it doesn’t appear to have been the case.

Jennie: And okay, this sounds petty, but have there always been such copious descriptions of what everyone was wearing throughout the books? Because I *really* noticed it in AoH, and it felt like the book would’ve been 5% shorter without the constant sharing of what color shirt Judd was wearing or what Miane’s outfit looked like. I know some people like more detail; I guess it makes the story come alive? But for me it can be distracting and feel superficial.

Janine: You’re cracking me up. I didn’t notice that so much, but what I do notice about this series (and have since the beginning, since it’s always struck me as extremely unlikely) is that for a world with different technologies than our own, peopled by characters with enhanced abilities we don’t have, the fashions they’ve produced in 2082 are almost exactly like our 2016 styles.

Jennie: Maybe they’re just coming back in again!

Besides the clothing descriptions, there were occasional little bits of prose that seemed to give extraneous detail in a jarring way. An example – Clay and Lucas are driving in San Francisco: “Clay slowed the car to permit a pedestrian who’d miscalculated the light change to cross safely onto the sidewalk.” Later on the same drive: “Stepping out into the salt-laced air of the waterfront after putting up the passenger-side window, Lucas shut the door…” These instances weren’t so numerous as to constitute a big problem in my reading, but when they occurred they took me out of the story. Again, maybe it’s a case of “some readers like more detail” but for me when you mention the pedestrian or the open window I get yanked out trying to figure out if the details are relevant to anything. Is the pedestrian an assassin? Does the open (then closed) window have some significance?

Janine: I’m familiar enough with this technique of Singh’s that it doesn’t distract me, but that’s a very good point.

While we’re picking nits, am I the only one who was slightly disturbed by the constant reference to the babies as pups or cubs? I know they are part animal but it still unsettled me.

Jennie: Yeah, I thought it was a little…creepy is too strong a word, but evocative and not in a good way, necessarily? (I also found “pupcubs” in reference to the Riley/Mercy babies too precious by half.)

The larger complaint I have, though, which probably goes hand-in-hand with the epilogue-feel complaint, is that Allegiance of Honor felt very repetitive at times. A few themes were illustrated over and over again as the various characters made their appearances: how much Changelings love and protect their children (unlike humans? I know Psy under Silence weren’t supposed to, but I would expect that humans would also be loving and protective of their children); how possessive and protective Changelings are of their mates (also Kaleb because he’s an alpha hero for all that he’s Psy); how idyllic life is for all of the mated couples and their families, in spite of the various external threats that the characters still face.

Janine: I think it’s pretty much what you get when you try to wrap up an arc that covers fifteen romance novels and five romance novellas. Twenty couples is a lot of rainbows and unicorns. I could have done with less of that, too. A scene in which Sascha and Ria bond over how sexy their guys are when they hold the babies was almost enough to make me wish they would bond over exhaustion from midnight feedings and changing poopy diapers.

Jennie: Ha! I felt that way about all of the illustrations of how wonderful all the Changelings were as parents. Like, I wanted one of them to yell at their kids because they’d had a bad day and the kids had made a mess and not cleaned it up, or something.

Janine: I can’t say I wanted that. Like I said before, there was enough here to keep me reading and that’s no small feat considering the slump I was in the middle of when I picked up this book. It’s also worth noting that I can’t think of another series I’ve stuck it out with this long. And there was even something refreshing about not having a central couple, and putting the focus on suspense plots instead. Gripes aside, I enjoyed this one enough to give it a B.

Jennie: Fair enough! I think it’s a B- for me, which is pretty in keeping with my grades for the series as a whole.

Excerpted from long form review at link given:

This is the book for the die-hard fans who love epilogues (especially "baby-logues"), who love to catch up with old friends, and who have a list of loose ends from the previous 14 books and NEED CLOSURE. If you love the montage episode at the end of the TV series, you'll love this book. I absolutely loved this book. But just so you know, if you're looking for a traditionally-structured PNR with a single focal couple, this isn't quite built on those lines.

Possibly the best part of this book is its optimism for the future of the Psy-Changeling world. It's been a dark ride at times, with man's inhumanity to man spotlighted in a way that doesn't require paranormal trappings to recognize from our own world. In the past fourteen books, Singh has built an amazing complex, textured world-- and then she tore it all down. _Shards of Hope_ and _Allegiance of Honor_ are the beginnings of its rebirth. The notion of a new world order built on *honor* is a powerful one. I wish that just a few more politicians of this day and age ever seemed to demonstrate a passing acquaintance with the concept.

This felt like an unnecessary filler book. There's no central romance but just some interlocking vignettes. I get that it was intended to close out a story arc and setup the next but it felt clunky and unnecessary.

A unique and innovative long epilogue-style story for a large and colorful cast of characters that acts as the bridge between the first season of a compelling and riveting futuristic paranormal romance world of the Psy-Changlings into the second season, that of the new Psy-Changling Trinity series.
Review

Allegiance of Honor is book fifteen and of all the books in the series that must be read in order this is the one. The author explains before the book opens that this one is different from the rest of the series and has a different purpose.

It spends time with the major players and some secondary ones tightening up and even finishing off some of their storylines while setting the table for what is to come. It flips scenes swiftly though the reader is never confused as to who is the narrator and focus of the scene.

While it snapshots each romance pair from the novels and novellas to a certain extent, it does focus on some more than others. The romance and passion is that of established pairs and how they are becoming family-types and addressing what family and family ties are coming to mean.

There are also a couple of new story threads like Xavier on his quest to find his Nina, the Black Sea Changlings and their quest to find a kidnapped pack member, the unknown and dangerous Architect of the Consortium, a few rare snippets giving great insight into the backstory of Nikita Duncan and a full-circle moment involving Kaleb as a youthful hero.

It was unique in element and construct, too. It has the distinction of being swift moving because of the rapid scene changes, but also slow-paced because it is more character than action-driven. It pauses on daily life moments both at home and in their work to keep the Psy-net healthy and foil Consortium plots.

I went in with the right expectations after reading other reviews and the author’s note so I didn’t get surprised or have to adjust to the difference between Allegiance of Honor and the rest of the series that came before it. It was a huginormous gift to the fans and I will cherish the warm fuzzy this one is while looking forward to what is to come as everyone under the Trinity Accord gets ready for what the Consortium is planning to throw at them next.

My thanks to Penguin-Random House for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.