Last Guard by Nalini Singh

Last Guard by Nalini Singh
Pages: 384


Series: Psy-Changeling Trinity #5
Genres: Paranormal Romance
Setting: Moscow, Delhi
Source: ARC, NetGalley
Narrator: Angela Dawe
Also in this series: Silver Silence, Ocean Light, Wolf Rain, Alpha Night, Storm Echo, Resonance Surge
Also by this author: Angels' Blood, Archangel's Kiss, Silver Silence, Archangel's Viper, Slave to Sensation, Visions of Heat, Caressed By Ice, Mine to Possess, Hostage to Pleasure, Blaze of Memory, Bonds of Justice, Kiss of Snow, Tangle of Need, Shield of Winter, Shards of Hope, Allegiance of Honor, Ocean Light, Archangel's Prophecy , Wolf Rain, Archangel's War, Alpha Night, Archangel's Sun, Love Hard , Archangel's Light , Storm Echo, Archangel's Resurrection, Resonance Surge

Goodreads

New York Times 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 features 2 characters we aren’t familiar with at all. One thing I find different about the Psy-Changeling Trinity series is that we are getting characters from all over the place, and we aren’t really meeting them in books prior. It is a change that kind of throws me off, but the story is still so good!

Canto is a Mercant. He is a Cardinal telepath and brilliant at all the computer/information stuff the Mercants are known for. He is bound to a wheelchair and if he were in another family besides the Mercants, he probably would have been killed already since this would have been seen as an unacceptable deficiency. He is withdrawn and grumpy, but his cousin Silver is mated to the bear, Valentin, and the whole bear den has adopted Canto. Honestly, the bears are amazing and I want more of their books. I want ALL the bears!!!! I love that they sort of soften Canto.

Payal has not been mentioned before, but she comes from a super dysfunctional family. Her oldest brother was deemed a liability and murdered by their father. He other brother is a psychopath who enjoys torturing people. She knows that depravity exists in her mind and she keeps a tight reign on it. While everyone sees her as cold and robotic (even though the silence protocol is over), as you read you understand how complex she is because of her life. She is a cardinal telekinetic with teleport capabilities-very cool in terms of power.

Beyond their cardinal status, both Canto and Payal are anchors. Last Guard introduces a designation we have heard almost nothing about, but because they are so vital to the PsyNet, and the net is dying, their role is becoming more vital. Payal has to play the mind games of her family to stay alive and also stand up as a voice for the anchors, who are dangerously overworked. The anchors are such a unique designation and I loved that Singh explored them deeper. In each book of this series sees more demise of the PsyNet, so we are learning a lot about the various Psy and their powers.

While Canto and Payal were relative unknowns when I picked up the book, I loved them. They are both incredibly unique for Psy-both in who they are as people and in their jobs as anchors. Each book adds such depth to the world Singh has created and I always think I can’t love it more, but I do. I wasn’t sure about Last Guard when I started because I had trouble connecting to Canto and Payal, but I really loved their story.

 

•   POV: 3rd
•   Tears: no
•   Triggers: View Spoiler »Canto and Payal were physically and mentally abused in a reform type school when they were young. Payal’s brother tortures people and Payal has seen him do so. « Hide Spoiler
•   Series/Standalone: series (you really do have to read all the books to understand the very complex world of the PsyChangeling
•   Cliffhanger: View Spoiler »not for Canto and Payal, but there are always threads unfinished that carry throughout the entire series « Hide Spoiler
•   HEA: View Spoiler »yes « Hide Spoiler

The Shadow series by Christine Feehan, the Hidden Legacy series by Ilona Andrews, …then you will probably like Last Guard!

Related Posts