Re-reading the Psy-Changling Series

Last spring I decided to re-read Nalini Singh's entire Psy-Changeling Series when I discovered my public library owned it in downloadable audio format. Yesterday I finished Shards of Hope, the latest book in the series. All together it took me about 9 months to listen to 14 books (I did not attempt to re-read any of the novellas). It was an interesting experience. Last July, when I was part-way the series through I blogged this:

First, I'm extremely glad I decided to do this re-read. It's been almost nine years since the 1st book, Slave to Sensation, was published and over the years I've forgotten as much as I've remembered. Some books have been more compelling, and thus more memorable than others. Some, like Blaze of Memory have not been so memorable. Case in point, with BoM-- as I listened I knew I'd read it before, but honestly couldn't remember any of it until near the end. And this is kind of important because Singh has carefully built the Psy-Changeling world and each book is full of clues as to what will be coming. When I finally get to listen to the latest book, Shards of Hope, I suspect that some parts of it will make much more sense than they did when I read the book in June. Anyhow, I am enjoying the re-read and the narration by Angela Dawe. Her voice goes a little lower in volume when it goes low for the male lines, which makes it hard to drive with the windows down on the freeway (I hate to use the A/C). But I figure that's on me, not her.

And it's true, even though I'd read Shards of Hope in print last June, it was for more enjoyable now that I was re-acquainted with the major players and various groups. For example, in June I couldn't remember who the "Forgotten" were and I did not remember that Zaira made an appearance in Shield of Winter. I liked Shards of Hope first time around, but I definitely enjoyed it way more this time now that the details were fresher in my mind. The truth is, this is a series that you need to read from the beginning and each book builds on the one that came before.

You might be thinking, "Wow, Phyl, you must have an awful memory." Yep. It sucks. It's one of the main reasons I quit reading Kresley Cole's Immortals After Dark series. I was totally lost when trying to read the 5th book. When there's too much time between releases (and hey! I do get that the poor author needs time to write her book) it can be a deal breaker for me. This is especially true for a paranormal or SF/F series where the author is doing a lot of world-building. Sometimes I'll be reading an In Death book and it'll refer to one of Eve's previous cases. I don't even try to remember. Fortunately, it rarely has an impact on the current book. Anyhow, I steer clear of lengthy series these days and prefer the ones where there may be many appearances by happy couples (I'm looking at you, Mary Balogh), but I still get a central, satisfying romance. I don't need to worry about world-building and the accompanying details.

Anyhow, this was a great experience. I'm so glad my library owned them all. I am sad, though, that for the time being I have no more psy-changeling books to listen to. And I hope I can remember enough to enjoy future books in the series. Truthfully, I'm a little worried.