Singh, Nalini - Mine to Possess and Hostage to Pleasure
Mon, Jun. 22nd, 2009 02:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
oyceterMine to Possess - Clay Bennett and Talin McKade were childhood friends, but one night of violence tore them apart. Talin let Clay believe she were dead the past twenty years, but now that someone is kidnapping the street kids she's been working with, she thinks Clay and the DarkRiver leopards are the only ones who can help her.
It's nice that this is the first Psy-Changeling book starring a human character (Talin), although I felt it made some of the aggressiveness from Clay even less acceptable to me (I have ongoing issues with the whole dominance and marking and whatnot that goes on with the Changelings). Although I very much liked that Talin and Clay had a backstory, I felt Singh didn't illustrate it as much as I wanted, and given the circumstances under which they parted, I really really really really REALLY did not like Clay getting into Tally's personal space. REALLY did not like. I can handwave the whole "the leopard in him hated that she was afraid of him" thing, but honestly, the reaction to her being afraid to you is not to crowd her!
In terms of worldbuilding, I like that the plot in this book leads much more seamlessly into the next book (below), as well as how we're getting more and more hints as to what's going to happen with the Psy and Silence. I particularly like that Singh is starting to add humans back in; in most of the other books, they seemed like the neglected third corner without any nifty powers.
Also, as fond as I am of awkward infodumps, putting an infodump in the prologue that basically reveals the Big Reveal at the end of the book is possibly not the best idea.
Hostage to Pleasure - Ashaya Aleine is an M-Psy (medical Psy) who has been researching something that may enslave the Psy race. When Dorian Christensen helps her out in Mine to Possess, he finds himself strangely attracted to her, despite the fact that his sister was killed by a Psy serial killer and that he hates all Psy.
For some reason, the chapter headings here vary from quotes from Ashaya's personal journal, usually commenting on how Dorian affects her, to notes from the mysterious Iliana, to notes from a burgeoning rebellion. I have no idea why there are quotes about Dorian in the header, as they are anvilly and add nothing to the emotional development (and if they did, I feel the editor should have moved the development into the actual chapters instead of the headers). The others might be nice random background, but the treatment of the quotes is extremely inconsistent. I ended up ignoring most of them.
I originally did not want to read this at all, given the back cover copy—Ashaya is a mother and an M-Psy, and I very much didn't want a story about healing and maternal love. The maternal love is still there, but I liked how Ashaya's M-Psy-ness is at a DNA-level, meaning that she works more in labs and not with people at all.
Also, there is a not-too-spoilery element that makes this one of my favorite books in the series: Minor spoiler!
Ashaya has an amoral twin, Amara! They are bonded! It is AWESOME! And I especially like how Singh sets them up as mirrors, and although she definitely critiques Amara's complete lack of a moral compass and her abusiveness, she also acknowledges the bond between the sisters and how there is no easy solution for Ashaya. I was very pleased by how she wrapped up the Amara plotline, because it didn't go south the way I thought it would. I also love seeing non-mating bonds given a similar weight. Of course Ashaya chooses Dorian, but the element of sisterhood was much, much stronger than I had expected for a romance novel.
Oh, also, warning for lots of food skin descriptions (made up example: "Your skin is like chocolate and cream! I want to lick you up and eat you.")
As with all the other Singh books I have read, I have the same problems with male dominance, female acceptance of that dominance, the inclination toward aggressiveness and violence in the men, and the way the emotional tension disappears halfway through the book.
I'm sure people are like, "Well, why do you keep reading?"
I do because I'm interested in the worldbuilding, which probably isn't on the same level as sf/f worldbuilding, but reminds me a lot of some manga worldbuilding (i.e. "Whatever we can think of! Then we'll proceed from there. Maybe with zombie angels if that makes things better."). Although I note that there is also manga out there with impeccable worldbuilding. Sometimes it just does not give me the same rush. I really want to see how the Psy end up by the end of the series, and what that means for the rest of her world. I love the hints of backstory and generations, the story of a cultural war fought a century ago that still has impact now.
I also very much enjoy that many of her heroes are Changelings while many of her heroines are Psy, which disrupts the usual romance dynamic of the emotionally giving and understanding woman and the cold but sexual man. Obviously I have issues with the Changeling Psy dynamic as well, as noted above re: dominance and violence. But another result of having several Psy heroines is that because the main plot of the series is the changing of Psy society, the heroines are given a weight that the heroes do not have. They are the bearers of change, and I find that fascinating.
Another thing is my two favorite books in the series so far (Slave to Sensation and Hostage to Pleasure, above) are, unsurprisingly, the ones that focus most on female relationships. They are not perfect by any means, especially because all the other characters are enmeshed in nearly all-male networks, but it's still interesting.
Plus: multiracial characters, even if they have Starbucks skin and special eyes.
Most of all, I like that even though the heroes all inevitably have angsty backstory, the main development is with the heroines, who usually must change more, deal with more, and grow more. Their angst usually isn't as dramatic as the heroes', but I feel it's given much more weight in the story. With the heroes, their angst gets a lot of lip service, but because it doesn't directly impact the plot, it doesn't matter as much. I think Caressed by Ice may be the exception to this, but I don't remember. And it doesn't hurt that all the heroines so far have started out as icy and withdrawn.
It's nice that this is the first Psy-Changeling book starring a human character (Talin), although I felt it made some of the aggressiveness from Clay even less acceptable to me (I have ongoing issues with the whole dominance and marking and whatnot that goes on with the Changelings). Although I very much liked that Talin and Clay had a backstory, I felt Singh didn't illustrate it as much as I wanted, and given the circumstances under which they parted, I really really really really REALLY did not like Clay getting into Tally's personal space. REALLY did not like. I can handwave the whole "the leopard in him hated that she was afraid of him" thing, but honestly, the reaction to her being afraid to you is not to crowd her!
In terms of worldbuilding, I like that the plot in this book leads much more seamlessly into the next book (below), as well as how we're getting more and more hints as to what's going to happen with the Psy and Silence. I particularly like that Singh is starting to add humans back in; in most of the other books, they seemed like the neglected third corner without any nifty powers.
Also, as fond as I am of awkward infodumps, putting an infodump in the prologue that basically reveals the Big Reveal at the end of the book is possibly not the best idea.
Hostage to Pleasure - Ashaya Aleine is an M-Psy (medical Psy) who has been researching something that may enslave the Psy race. When Dorian Christensen helps her out in Mine to Possess, he finds himself strangely attracted to her, despite the fact that his sister was killed by a Psy serial killer and that he hates all Psy.
For some reason, the chapter headings here vary from quotes from Ashaya's personal journal, usually commenting on how Dorian affects her, to notes from the mysterious Iliana, to notes from a burgeoning rebellion. I have no idea why there are quotes about Dorian in the header, as they are anvilly and add nothing to the emotional development (and if they did, I feel the editor should have moved the development into the actual chapters instead of the headers). The others might be nice random background, but the treatment of the quotes is extremely inconsistent. I ended up ignoring most of them.
I originally did not want to read this at all, given the back cover copy—Ashaya is a mother and an M-Psy, and I very much didn't want a story about healing and maternal love. The maternal love is still there, but I liked how Ashaya's M-Psy-ness is at a DNA-level, meaning that she works more in labs and not with people at all.
Also, there is a not-too-spoilery element that makes this one of my favorite books in the series: Minor spoiler!
Ashaya has an amoral twin, Amara! They are bonded! It is AWESOME! And I especially like how Singh sets them up as mirrors, and although she definitely critiques Amara's complete lack of a moral compass and her abusiveness, she also acknowledges the bond between the sisters and how there is no easy solution for Ashaya. I was very pleased by how she wrapped up the Amara plotline, because it didn't go south the way I thought it would. I also love seeing non-mating bonds given a similar weight. Of course Ashaya chooses Dorian, but the element of sisterhood was much, much stronger than I had expected for a romance novel.
Oh, also, warning for lots of food skin descriptions (made up example: "Your skin is like chocolate and cream! I want to lick you up and eat you.")
As with all the other Singh books I have read, I have the same problems with male dominance, female acceptance of that dominance, the inclination toward aggressiveness and violence in the men, and the way the emotional tension disappears halfway through the book.
I'm sure people are like, "Well, why do you keep reading?"
I do because I'm interested in the worldbuilding, which probably isn't on the same level as sf/f worldbuilding, but reminds me a lot of some manga worldbuilding (i.e. "Whatever we can think of! Then we'll proceed from there. Maybe with zombie angels if that makes things better."). Although I note that there is also manga out there with impeccable worldbuilding. Sometimes it just does not give me the same rush. I really want to see how the Psy end up by the end of the series, and what that means for the rest of her world. I love the hints of backstory and generations, the story of a cultural war fought a century ago that still has impact now.
I also very much enjoy that many of her heroes are Changelings while many of her heroines are Psy, which disrupts the usual romance dynamic of the emotionally giving and understanding woman and the cold but sexual man. Obviously I have issues with the Changeling Psy dynamic as well, as noted above re: dominance and violence. But another result of having several Psy heroines is that because the main plot of the series is the changing of Psy society, the heroines are given a weight that the heroes do not have. They are the bearers of change, and I find that fascinating.
Another thing is my two favorite books in the series so far (Slave to Sensation and Hostage to Pleasure, above) are, unsurprisingly, the ones that focus most on female relationships. They are not perfect by any means, especially because all the other characters are enmeshed in nearly all-male networks, but it's still interesting.
Plus: multiracial characters, even if they have Starbucks skin and special eyes.
Most of all, I like that even though the heroes all inevitably have angsty backstory, the main development is with the heroines, who usually must change more, deal with more, and grow more. Their angst usually isn't as dramatic as the heroes', but I feel it's given much more weight in the story. With the heroes, their angst gets a lot of lip service, but because it doesn't directly impact the plot, it doesn't matter as much. I think Caressed by Ice may be the exception to this, but I don't remember. And it doesn't hurt that all the heroines so far have started out as icy and withdrawn.
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(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 23rd, 2009 12:25 am (UTC)Though IIRC correctly, there is one woman sentinel, and it might be interesting to read a book where she was the heroine.
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 23rd, 2009 12:32 am (UTC)Mercy's is the next book! I am kind of looking forward to it, except also kind of not, because it's specifically about her wanting a mate who is equal in power or more powerful than her. Because she wants to be dominated. Sigh. I'm also worried because Singh's other female Changeling book (Caressed by Ice) was the least interesting in the series because the angst and whatnot was all about her Psy mate.
On the other hand, the next next one has an amnesiac potential assassin as the heroine! I am sure it will have the same problems, but I am way more excited about it anyway.
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 23rd, 2009 03:16 am (UTC)Say it ain't so!
I think I will be putting these aside.
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 23rd, 2009 07:37 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 23rd, 2009 01:08 am (UTC)I would never ask that question of you when I happen to know that the series involves shapeshifter condos and totally literal orgasm fireworks.
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 23rd, 2009 07:47 pm (UTC)And hey, even if the women tend to defrost halfway through the book, at least they are kind of icy in the beginning!
(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 23rd, 2009 02:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Tue, Jun. 23rd, 2009 08:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Thu, Jun. 25th, 2009 12:10 am (UTC)