Psi Hunter by Jaye McKenna

Hey everyone,

Ages ago I read Gremlin’s Last Run, which turned out to be book two in the Guardians of the Pattern series by Jaye McKenna. As I enjoyed the second book I thought it was about time I read the first one in this science-fiction m/m romance series. So without further ado lets talk about Psi Hunter by Jaye McKenna.

The book:

In a future where humanity has spread out among the stars, those few possessing psychic abilities are looked upon with suspicion at best and murderous intent at worst.

On Aurora, one of the more tolerant worlds of the Federation, Pat Cottrell works for Federation Security as a psi hunter, tracking down and neutralizing dangerous psi criminals.

Kyn Valdari works for the Institute for Psionic Research, running search and rescue operations, in which psions in distress are offered the chance to learn how to control psychic abilities that can threaten sanity and ruin lives.

Kyn and Pat used to be best friends, closer than brothers. Three years ago, one passionate night that never should have happened left both of them shocked, confused, and desperately wanting more.

They haven’t spoken since.

Now, the silence between them must be broken. Kyn and Pat have been ordered to investigate a string of murders that may have been committed by a psion powerful enough to kill with a thought. In order to succeed, they will have to work together to save an abused, traumatized young psion from being taken advantage of by the very organization that is supposed to save him.

My thoughts:

This is definitely a series that on reflection I should have read in order. The world created by Jaye McKenna, the amount of characters introduced and the amount of storylines developing in parallel meant at times I was a little confused. Not helped by my brain trying to connect what occurred in Gremlin’s Last Run with the storylines and characters being introduced in Psi Hunter. Also although this is the first book in Guardians of the Pattern series it works on the assumption that you have read the prequel novella Facing the Mirror.

“Trevor told me that I didn’t get to do that. That you don’t get to just start over. That life is about living with all that’s happened to you and instead of letting it beat you down, you accept it and know that you’re stronger because you survived it”

Although I enjoyed the romance between Kyn and Pat it was more watching them fall-back in love and learning to accept that they love each other. As a reader we aren’t watching Kyn and Pat fall in love and I would have loved to have seen their initial feelings for each other grow and develop. As a whole I felt like Kyn and Pat’s relationship took a back seat to the drama surrounding Luka, which in all honesty wasn’t a bad thing.

“It was too new, too fragile, and he’d held it close to his heart, afraid to say it out loud. He’d wanted it for so long, he was certain that if he moved too quickly or said the wrong thing, it would all blow apart.”

As a reader I connected more with Luka, he felt more real and three-dimensional. In contrast Kyn and Pat felt too predictable with Pat playing the role of caring, i’ll always love you even when love me lover and Kyn playing the i’m not good enough for, i’m brooding and dangerous. Normally these stereotypes don’t bother me that much but when combined with all the external drama to their relationship and the fact we didn’t watch the initial romance between these two left me feeling disconnected. Therefore Luka became the character that I was rooting for.

“The truth was suicide had never crossed his mind. He’d already faced down that particular demon at the tender age of sixteen, and had decided that he wanted to live far more than he wanted to die.”

Having said all that I still enjoyed reading Psi Hunter, I love the concept behind the world and I find a lot of the secondary character intriguing. In my opinion this is just a series that leans more towards the science-fiction side of science-fiction romance. So although I didn’t love the two main heroes I thought it was a good introduction to a complex and potentially confusing series. I want to give this 3.5 stars but I decided to round up because I felt mean giving it three stars.

My rating:

Happy reading and see you next time!