This is the dedicated *spoiler* thread for Last Guard and earlier books in the series. Spoilers abound, so be warned!!
Usual rules: be kind to your fellow commenters and have fun. This spoiler thread will remain active as long as the blog does, so you can join in at any time. :-)
We don't monitor the thread for questions, so if you have a question, you can email me (nalini.assistant AT gmail DOT com).
If you're at an earlier point in the series and would like to discuss that book, click on the Spoiler Zone tag and it should bring up all the previous spoiler threads.
~Ashwini
21 comments:
So in this book we get a look at how protective Mercants are towards family. The donor of Canto's Y chromosome puts him in a "school" where everything is taken from him. Ena sues for custody and when she enters the "school" all the adults are dead. She then takes custody of all the children and apparently adopts anyone not related by genetics. And this isn't touched on again.
At first I thought that the Fernandez family had gone "oh jit, momma ain't happy. We need to sanitize." But on further reflection, I believe a different mother, who became the custodial parent, wasn't happy with the way her child was treated and took it out on the staff. Silver once noted that Ena became softer in her dealings after Arwen was born, but at the time that she adopted the children Arwen hadn't been born yet. Canto was in the hospital when Arwen was born and his shields went "shoonk" around minutes old Arwen. Though I can see why the netmind wanted an angry, hurt child exposed to a mindhealer.
I haven’t finished my reread yet, but just want to say how much I loved Payal and Canto. I liked that she was on medication to correctly calibrate her brain chemistry, he used a wheelchair, and neither was “cured” in the end. These things were just part of their lives. I also liked that her father’s paralysis wasn’t treated any differently: it was something that just was and it hadn’t changed his personality (he was still a terrible person).
I am still thinking over all the stuff we learned about the anchors. It was very plausible to me that neither Nikita nor Kaleb knew. Because the Psy knew the general “what” and “why” (they needed anchors) but not the “how” (the anchors did their job). So much more to contemplate now.
I am glad they didn’t have to cut up the PsyNet. But after worrying about what would happen for over a year while waiting for this book, I am strangely not as worried about The Architect’s end-of-book scheme. I realize this seems contrary, but I fully admit I have no idea how Nalini will solve the issues with the PsyNet so I am just along for the ride.
Not sure what to make of the Architect becoming even more megalomaniacal somehow. All of the clues still fit Shoshanna, but I am hoping it will turn out to be Dara Faison or one of the other not-as-likely suspects.
Super psyched to see Sophia again (yay!). Also very happy the NetMind/DarkMind have somehow already merged together and the reveal are hiding out in her mind! The ‘how will they merge’ has been on my question list for a long time, so pleased to know it has happened even if we don’t know how.
Fun to spend more time with the bears (even though we didn’t get to see Denhome). Enjoyed seeing Arwen & Pavel working things out. My list of “characters I want stories for” is a long one and Nova & Chaos are certainly on it.
Oh and I loved the scenes between Kaleb and Payal. I still really want a scene or more with Nikita and Ena together. Plus more Nikita & Anthony. I have zero guesses who will be next. As I said my want-a-book-for list is a long one and Nalini keeps making it grow.
I loved it! But I am just dying to know what exactly is going on between Anthony and Nikita. Every character in this series is interesting but these two have captured my interest since the beginning. I hope we get to see more scenes between them in the future. :)
Forgot to ask, did anyone else find it amusing the Ruling Coalition is suddenly doing video conference meetings (à la SnowDancer with the remote lieutenants) when they’ve always just met mentally in their PsyNet vault if they weren’t together in person before? It made me smile.
@library addict - Did not notice that until you mentioned it ! :)
@Anonymous
Discussing it on Discord others pointed out it could be seen as a sign the PsyNet has deteriorated so much. And even though Kaleb, Nikita, Anthony, Aden, and Ivy built the new PsyNet Coalition vault together, it could be seen as a sign of trust they are video conferencing since Payal could easily use something into their background images to get a teleport lock. It just stood out to me.
So, Ager Lii. Siamese twins?
@ anonymous, I figured Ager for being non-binary or gender fluid. And at their age they can be called whatever they want.
So now we know what designation Santano Enrique was in the earlier books before his death in Judd & Brenna's story.
This book is an interesting look into how ruthless Psy families can be. We got a taste of it with Nikita and Anthony, but nothing like in this book. We also got a look into those schools that Psy families shoved their imperfect children.
Bears! It was great to read about Val, Yakov, Pavel, and small bears. I loved the sections with Arwen and Pavel. Canto is a brave man living close to Denhome.
Did the character Bjorn appear in tangle of need as well as last guard?
@Anonymous - Yes Bjorn was the anchor Riaz and the Empress :) Adria guard.
@libraryaddict - there is a discord channel to discuss Nalini Singh's books ? I did not know !!! Cool ...
@Anonymous
Well it is the Broken Circle Discord set up by Bree & Donna (aka Kit Rocha). There is a very active channel for the entire series plus a spoiler one for Last Guard.
If you want to check it out Broken Circle Discord (with both Psy/Changeling and Guild Hunter channels)
You do not need to be familiar with Discord and it can seem overwhelming. Basically it is easy to mute any channels you aren't interested in and play in whichever parts you are. To me Discord is like a cross between an old-fashioned message board and LiveJournal. It started as a gaming platform IIRC but there are servers for a lot of interests now.
@libraryaddict - Thank you. I am joining now. :) May be a lurker for sometime so I can listen in first. Fun !!! :)
There is also a subreddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/NaliniSinghBooks/
Thanks ! Joining the subreddit too. :)
I really enjoyed Last guard. So far, it is my third favourite in the series, after wolf rain and heart of obsidian.
@libraryaddict this is way late, but if you still have an invite to the discord link, can you send it? The previous link seems to have been expired
@G. Singh
Sorry I didn't see your request until now. Here is a new invite link
The Broken Cirle Discord
If you do check back and this one has also expired (they are good for 7 days), just search for The Broken Circle on Discord and ask for invite and say you were sent from Nalini's blog.
@G Singh
For some reason it wouldn't let me post another invite with a link. So just take out the spaces.
Good for 7 days. Sorry I didn't see your comment earlier.
ht tps :// discord.gg/ NsRQnnDt
Beautiful book. I loved it and reread it a month after first reading it because I just couldn't stay away.
Were the name choices deliberate? I think of them as Song (Canto) and Dance (Payal), payals being anklets and 'canto' being a song.
Thank you for another wonderful book, Nalini!
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