Rachel Caine, Ill Wind

Rachel Caine's Ill Wind story caught me completely by surprise. Picked it up out of curiousity, but once I started reading it I was hooked, and hooked good! This is a fascinating universe with sexy, appealing, and scary characters. A very fun read!

I found the Rachel Caine's Ill Wind interesting, though the characterization was a little shallow.

The only minor quibble is that in my copy it is mentioned that the Earth rotates from East to West. Of-course, the Earth rotates from West to East.

There are also some other technical things which nobody will notice except for professional quibblers.

Ill Wind

Rachel Caine

Roc, Dec 2003, $6.99, 352 pp.

ISBN 0451459520

Less than one percent of the human population keeps Earth from destruction by managing weather, fire, earth, and water. These wardens magically control the hurricanes, raging fires, and tsunamis under the control of an association with very strict rules and regulations for using their power. If a warden goes rogue, the association strips that person of their powers and erases their memories. The most powerful wardens have their own djinn, magical beings that enhance their powers.

Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin is on the run for killing a senior Warden who gave her the Demon Mark. She can't explain the murder to the wardens without telling them about the mark; if they knew about that, they would kill her. She seeks to give the Mark to a djinn owned by the rogue Lewis, the most powerful warden of all. Instead she meets David, a djinn with no master, who will allows her to enslave him and will take the Mark but since they made love she is unable to do it. David doesn't want her to die or free the demon, but she refuses to condemn her beloved djinn to eternal insanity. One of them will have to acquiesce for no other solution seems available.

The protagonist learns a lot about herself in ILL WIND. She won't kill an innocent to save herself and she is a very powerful Warden, one that other wardens who are even stronger can't always control. Readers will care deeply about this heroine because she gives without asking for anything back. Fans of Laurell K. Hamilton and the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher are going to love this fast paced action packed romantic urban fantasy.

Harriet Klausner