Slave to Sensation is one of my favourite paranormal-romance series, but it's been a long time since I picked up the series or got to the final books so I thought a re-read was in order. I love Slave to Sensation as it has so many great concepts and develops some unusual and different aspects to the paranormal-romance genre.

Slave to Sensation is about three main "groups" of people, Changelings who are all shapeshifters in the forms of leopards, wolves, eagles, deers etc. Psy; these are psychic humans basically with immense mental powers such as telepathy, telekinesis, mind control, mind viruses and they are very scary people. The Psy are especially scary because they gave up emotion in 1979 in an attempt to stem their race's pathologically violent tendencies. Then there are the humans, who do not appear so much in Slave to Sensation.

The first novel focuses on the relationship between Lucas Hunter and Sasha Duncan and I adore both of these characters. Sasha intelligent, practical, kind and caring. She is determined and I love her character arc over the whole book as she grows in herself, her knowledge and her relationship with Lucas. Lucas is the love-interest and all around fierce, hot and scary hunter and leopard. He has some raw edges, but I really, really like Lucas. You definitely get the Alpha-vibes from him, but there isn't really that much macho-bs that you get in some paranormal romances with "Alphas". I love how strong and independent Sasha is. Not to mention the romance between these two is sizzling, although I also really like that there is an emotional vulnerability to it and a playfulness that means this isn't just about sex.

The second thing I love about this series is that it actually builds up a plethora of secondary characters and some good start to the world-building.

The World
We have the psy-net which is the psychic plain that all Psy connect to. In Slave to Sensation we begin to learn how this functions and runs and this is a big part of the overall world as the Psy can communicate on this plain and it functions as their life source. We have an alliance with the wolves, the SnowDancers who are DarkRivers (the leopard packs) closest neighbours. This relationship is crucial for the future books and the development of the Changeling-Psy relationships. Then you have the concept of Silence and the lack of emotion amongst the Psy. This is a major theme throughout all the books and how the lack of emotion has impacted upon the Psy race and hindered/helped them in different situations. In addition to this, the Changeling packs all have clear hierarchical structures, there is a human system of governance and justice, and the Psy have the Council who govern them. These clear concepts and world-structures really craft the world behind Slave to Sensation and make it a very strong book. I think this is one of the reasons I like the series so much as despite the romance aspect, there is still an interesting and engaging storyline.

Secondary Characters
The female characters in this book are equally well-rounded and interesting like Tamsyn the healer, like Rina (the soldier), Mercy (the sentinel) amongst the Changeling. Even Nikita Duncan (Sasha's mum) who is Psy is a character that begins to emerge in this first novel and despite her emotional silence, there is a level of personality and interest that develops about her. In addition to strong secondary female characters who I really like, you have an excellent villain, and a plethora of male secondary characters who are all interesting and have dark and disturbed histories ready for their own books in the series.

My conclusion is that I absolutely adore and love this book and would recommend to all paranormal-romance fans. I think having re-read this book my love for it has only increased!