Kiss of Snow is a big book, at 418 pages I think it is the largest in the Psy-Changeling series, and it is by far the best since the original novel, Slave to Sensation. We have all have waited for the story of Sienna and Hawke to round out the series. Kiss of Snow is much better than I expected it to be. This is the sort of book Nalini Singh does so well. She has created complicated characters living in a complex culture under attack by a society very different from anything else imagined in paranormal literature, with tremendous gifts but unsupportable through its own excesses and corruption.
The book actually includes two love stories. Walker, in the series from the beginning yet always before a background two dimensional character, and Lara, a healer who is submissive but beloved by everyone in the Pack, develop a relationship which is a moving counterpoint to that of the Alpha Hawke and the intense,deadly Sienna. But the book is not merely a romance. Singh spends much of the book describing the preparations for war, the strategies, counter strategies and the battles themselves. I found these as gripping as the Valor novels by Tanya Huff. Characters from the previous novels don't simply make cameo appearances. Lucas, Sascha and Judd especially are essential to this story and all the Snow Dancer pack members who starred in previous books in this series are important though supporting characters in this book.
If this had been the final in the series I would be delighted because I don't think Singh can top this book. But it is obviously not the end. There are still cliff hangers and another book due in February. I hope it can hold its own against this one but I don't know how it can.
