Silver Sensation

Silver Silence by Nalini Singh
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I consider Nalini Singh a crossover artist. I generally do not like my sci-fi/fantasy to focus on romance and sex, so it's pretty amazing that I've read 26 of Nalini's books. She is that good a world-builder, and sex alone (or mate-finding) is not the focus of her stories. In the near-future alternate world of the Psy/Changeling, the Trinity Accord is the promise of lifting humans to a more level playing field after years of being the "poor cousins" to the shifters and the psychics in the power structure of the planet. Plenty of adventure and suspense to add to romance as Nalini's brilliant world-building continues and the plots of the Consortium and the wacko Architect try to break the power of the Trinity alliance. Silver Silence takes us deeper into the lives of the Mercant Psy family as Silver Mercant takes center stage and debates stepping out from Silence. We also get to explore Bear sensibilities as Silver is drawn into the protective warmth and outsize humor of the Bear changelings. It's great to immerse oneself in a world where love and inclusion win over hatred and fear. It's a message we need to hear over and over again to keep fighting the good fight in our own lives, in our own world, and I love that Nalini never loses sight of the need for fun and delight in our quest for justice and healing. She writes good plots and good people. No need for guilt, only pleasure as you can go as deep or light as you like. In other words, these are smart and sexy and Miss Em cannot resist.
(Thank you Netgalley and Berkley for the early galley to review!)


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Adventures in Being a Professional Reader, Part II

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If it’s not obvious, I ‘m a true book addict. While I can, and have, sold or donated thousands of books over the years, I can’t say no to an interesting blurb, I’m drawn to a pretty cover.  So I was thankful to find Netgalley, and their ebooks for review. That’s good, right? The books pile up in virtual reality, not your floor. Good for the budget, too, right? Well, that’s where the rose-colored glasses need a wash. I’m incapable of not requesting a book that catches my interest. But you don’t get all the books you request, especially in the beginning. And then you’re getting more books, and more books catch your interest (you buy them) and you find new authors, and it’s actually pretty wonderful—if it weren’t for two things: digital books give me migraines—and now I’m reading to review deadlines. Not free to go back and read all the Belisarius novels, for instance, or investigate Pastrix:

The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint, or catch up on the series, plural, that I’ve been reading for twenty years and I don’t request because I’m buying them anyway. There’s good and bad in everything, I guess.

I am grateful for Netgalley and all the publishers and publicists and reps I’ve met (virtually) because of them, but after two years, I understand the blogger who walked away. I have 400 ebooks and out of the 4K in my house about 400 I haven’t read. That’s 800 books on my to-read shelf. That’s 800 days of books for a fast reader like me, more than two years worth of reading. And I’m diminishing, not exaggerating the numbers. So it’s hard to justify the 20 books I have on pre-order—but believe me, I can justify!

Essentially, though, you pay for the books with a review. You do not have to publish a good review, but you need to turn one in. You are sometimes dealing with indie authors, sometimes with publishers, sometimes with publicity firms. You must put your reactions into words and pass them on. This is different than the simple process of assigning stars, 1-5. It requires thought and care. It takes time away from reading. The books pile up. 

I’m being more careful about my requests, but I’m not giving up Netgalley. I look forward to catching up on my own quirky reading paths, but I’ve found wonderful new paths as well. The glorious thing about a reading life is that, even if you read a book a day, you’ll never deplete that TBR pile!