Reviewer: Holly Last Guard by Nalini Singh
Series: Psy/Changeling Trinity #5
Also in this series: Silver Silence, Silver Silence, Silver Silence, Ocean Light, Ocean Light , Wolf Rain , Wolf Rain, Alpha Night, Alpha Night, Last Guard
Publisher: Penguin, Berkley
Publication Date: July 20, 2021
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: Alternating Third
Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Pages: 384
Add It: Goodreads
Reading Challenges: Holly's 2021 Goodreads Challenge
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Series Rating:
NYT bestselling author Nalini Singh returns to a world devastated by change in her award-winning Psy-Changeling Trinity series, where two people defined by their aloneness hold the fate of the Psy in their hands . . .
Termed merciless by some, and a robotic sociopath by others, Payal Rao is the perfect Psy: cardinal telekinetic, CEO of a major conglomerate, beautiful—and emotionless.
For Canto Mercant, family and loyalty are everything. A cardinal telepath deemed "imperfect" by his race due to a spinal injury, Canto cares for the opinions of very few—and ruthlessly protects those he claims as his own. Head of intel of the influential Mercant family, he prefers to remain a shadow in the Net, unknown and unseen. But Canto is also an Anchor, part of a secretive designation whose task it is to stabilize the PsyNet. Now that critical psychic network is dying, threatening to collapse and kill the entire Psy race with it.
To save those he loves, Canto needs the help of a woman bound to him by a dark past neither has been able to forget. A woman who is the most powerful Anchor of them all: Payal Rao. Neither is ready for the violent inferno about to ignite in the PsyNet . . . or the passionate madness that threatens to destroy them both.
Last Guard (Psy/Changeling Trinity #5) by Nalini Singh follows Payal and Canto, two Psy with a heavy burden to bear.
The PsyNet is failing, and without the biofeedback it provides the entire Psy race will die. Psy Designation A, the Anchors, have been quietly working in the background of the PsyNet for centuries, until Canto Mercant, a Hub-Anchor, realizes they have to come together and gain a seat in the Ruling Coalition if there is any chance of saving the PsyNet. When he reaches out to Payal Rao, he has no idea she’s also his friend/savior from childhood – a brave, smart girl who stood up for him, and who he has been searching for ever since.
Payal can’t show her true face to anyone. There’s a manic, angry girl inside her she barely keeps leashed, and in her family, showing weakness is a death sentence. She’s shocked when she comes to face-to-face with Canto and realizes he’s the boy she never forgot..and apparently he never forgot her either.
As they’re forced to work together, they both realize the connection they had as children is growing into something new and solid as adults. But Payal can’t let her guard down, or she risks losing all control….
This is one of the better books in the Trinity series. I enjoyed Payal and Canto, their friendship from childhood and the way they reconnected as adults. I also enjoyed learning more about the Anchors, and seeing them work through the problems association with the decline of the PsyNet. Canto is paralyzed from waist down and Payal is neurodivergent. I loved the strong message about being different, not deficient.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5
Psy-Changeling Trinity
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