4.5 
 Nalini Singh's new anthology features four stories set at various points within the Psy-Changeling world. 
 Echo of Silence features Psy Tk Stefan who resides in the underwater station, Alaris, and according to Nalini's Author's Note at the beginning of the book takes place early on in the series after Visions of Heat. Tazia is an engineer who, literally, works on Alaris fixing odds and ends and making sure the station remains working. She's intrigued by the cold Psy who keeps hovering around her orbit. As workers on Alaris are required to go topside every few months, Taz spends time with Stefan and starts to see beyond his cold Silent exterior. 
 I liked the interplay between Stefan (Psy) and Tazia (human). As a longtime reader of the series and currently caught up on all the books I was mostly interesting in where this story is supposed to take place within the timeline of the main series, in that it takes place very early on when there's still a pretty big division between Psy and the Changelings and Humans. It's just interesting to see what's actually been going on under the sea since the beginning of the series :) 
 Dorian of course involves the DarkRiver sentinel, and it was a quick read and takes place at various times in Dorian's life, but I really loved the early look at many of the characters we all know and love: Lucas, Mercy, Clay, Vaughn, etc. It just further solidifies the familial feelings between them all. If you're a longtime reader of the series you'll know the specific before and after issue this short deals with in Dorian's life. 
 Partners in Persuasion features a SnowDancer male submissive and a DarkRiver female dominate which, I believe I read in on of Nalini's newsletters, is the first pairing of this kind. I thought that Felix and Desiree were sweet in their pursuit of each other and the subtle ways in which they both have to approach a relationship. 
 Flirtation of Fate was the big draw for me of this book and it's also the longest story. Of course longtime readers will know the dance that Kenji and Jem (Garnet) have been doing around one another as small side characters, but Nalini Singh just made their chemistry pop off the page anytime they would be featured, I was so happy when I learned she would finally give them their story. We know through the earlier glimpses of these characters that they are not together. Well, here, we learn why they aren't and whether or not they can get past whatever is going on and finally become mates (as pretty much everyone around them believes is inevitable). Oh, yeah, and there's a murder mystery to solve along the way. Let's not pretend that this story is anything other than theirs. The mystery was just an added element to bring them together, not that I minded. I was drawn into the mystery, although I did figure it out a few pages before the characters did. 
 As usual themes of love and family (pack) are big in the stories, but I always love seeing the connections these characters have to each other reinforced over and over again. 
 I think that if you haven't read any of the series before you'd be just fine picking this up and enjoying what Nalini Singh has written. But, as always, I think an anthology written this far into a series (we're what, 15 books in now?) is best enjoyed with the knowledge and understanding of the storylines and dynamics already established. And, honestly, the Psy-Changeling series is a highly recommended series anyway so I don't think there'd be any hardship in reading it :) 
 *ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.