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Weather Warden #4
Windfall
Less than a year ago, Joanne Baldwin was an agent for one of the most powerful organizations in the world, entrusted with the safety of millions of lives on a daily basis. Now she's a scantily clad "weather girl" for a Ft. Lauderdale television station.
After losing her job as a Weather Warden (those with the ability to manipulate the weather and avowed to protect humankind), Joanne is finding life in the "real world" not as enticing as she once thought. Her job as a cheesecake weather girl is humiliating, especially with a lecherous head meteorologist (deliciously named Marvelous Marvin McLarty) who delights in devising new ways to embarrass her on camera. But with her supernatural Djinn lover slowly dying and a recently divorced, shopping-addicted sister camping out on her sofa, Joanne's problems couldn't possibly get worse -- or could they? Throw in a highly suspicious detective bent on arresting Joanne on murder charges, a Djinn civil war, and a monster of an approaching hurricane --and suddenly Marvelous Marvin's antics don't seem so bad!
Wildly unpredictable weather -- and women! -- and an extraordinarily entertaining female protagonist with enough sexy panache and irreverent attitude to make Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake look like an octogenarian etiquette expert, Rachel Caine's Weather Warden saga (Chill Factor, Heat Stroke, et al.) is an absolute delight to read. You want guilty pleasures? Read these novels, which are a little romance, a little urban fantasy, and a whole lot of fun. Barometer not included.
After losing her job as a Weather Warden (those with the ability to manipulate the weather and avowed to protect humankind), Joanne is finding life in the "real world" not as enticing as she once thought. Her job as a cheesecake weather girl is humiliating, especially with a lecherous head meteorologist (deliciously named Marvelous Marvin McLarty) who delights in devising new ways to embarrass her on camera. But with her supernatural Djinn lover slowly dying and a recently divorced, shopping-addicted sister camping out on her sofa, Joanne's problems couldn't possibly get worse -- or could they? Throw in a highly suspicious detective bent on arresting Joanne on murder charges, a Djinn civil war, and a monster of an approaching hurricane --and suddenly Marvelous Marvin's antics don't seem so bad!
Wildly unpredictable weather -- and women! -- and an extraordinarily entertaining female protagonist with enough sexy panache and irreverent attitude to make Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake look like an octogenarian etiquette expert, Rachel Caine's Weather Warden saga (Chill Factor, Heat Stroke, et al.) is an absolute delight to read. You want guilty pleasures? Read these novels, which are a little romance, a little urban fantasy, and a whole lot of fun. Barometer not included.
330 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 2005
115 people are currently reading
3573 people want to read
About the author
Rachel Caine
215 books19.2k followersRachel Caine is a pen name of Roxanne Longstreet Conrad.
She has also published as:
Roxanne Longstreet
Roxanne Conrad
Julie Fortune
Ian Hammell
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She has also published as:
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Julie Fortune
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 280 reviews
December 7, 2024
In retrospect, becoming a television personality probably hadn’t been the best career choice I ever made, when a cop was missing and presumed dead, and I’d been the last one to be seen with him. Guess I should’ve thought of that. I’d spent too much time in the Wardens, where things got taken care of, and frictions with the rest of the mortal world were smoothed over with influence and cash and — sometimes — judicious use of Djinn.Following Chill Factor, Jo’s finally free from the Wardens, and in a cutesy twist of fate, she’s working as a weather girl for a local TV station in Florida. One of the conditions of her release is that she can’t actually use any of her abilities; if she does, she’ll be marched into the nearest Warden facility and lobotomized for her trouble.
After reading Midnight at Marts, I was excited to get more of Joanne on her own. To liven things up, Caine gives Jo a non-supernatural friend in Cherise, a quirky co-worker at the station that shares her passion for fashion. Sadly, that’s the breadth of their relationship.
Even when Jo’s older sister comes to town, that dynamic doesn’t change: its all boys, clothes and calories. It’s borderline parody at parts.
What gets me is that if this had been written by a man, I’d have been less forgiving. It took Jo’s big sister’s arrival to properly piss me off. Sarah’s going through a divorce from her rich ex-husband and due to an iron-clad prenup, she’s left with nothing. Jo isn’t terribly charitable about her sister’s situation and while that can be put down to classic sibling rivalry, it comes across a bit more mean-spirited than I expected from Jo.
Sarah’s life has been upended, something Jo should be all too understanding about. A stab at empathy wouldn’t have hurt.
What does hurt is her ruthless appraisal of Sarah. Within a minute of talking, Jo notes to herself that her ex-husband hasn’t “ruined” her. Why? Because her big sis is sporting a few, negligent wrinkles a good skincare regimen can sort out. I’m not exaggerating. By the next minute, she’s phoning up Cherise to take Sarah shopping. No in-depth conversation, no emotional exchange (good or bad), nothing. They pack themselves into a car and blab about boys, clothes and calories without skipping a beat. It’s just a little too juvenile for three adults in that situation.
Thankfully, the plot interrupts as Jo discovers that it isn’t just the Wardens on her heels but a cop looking into the death of a friend of his, Quinn, from Chill Factor. This was actually my favourite part of the book.
Rodriguez is an interesting consequence of the fallout from the last book, and his relationship with Jo is pitch-perfect. I enjoyed all their interactions and was sad to see him go, and livid when Caine had him tortured and left for dead off-page.
On the magical front, there’s two separate schisms to contend with. The Wardens ongoing issues with corruption has destroyed the organization from within, while Ashan has broken away from Jonathan. Naturally, Jo is caught in the middle of it.
Regarding Jo and David’s relationship, I’m still pissed with how the impregnation was handled, but there’s not much else to it now. Their tragic relationship of devotion and sacrifice hits a fairly final roadblock: David “dying” by becoming an ifrit. Not that I think David is actually going anywhere.
Lewis is also there. The way Caine references the non-existent love triangle at this point is funny. Jo will make an admiring internal comment of Lewis and amend it with: If I didn’t already love David... She even assumes he’s flirting at one point and realises he isn’t before she can shut him down. He’s clearly interested (at least) in Rahel. It’s a weird sticking point to a dynamic that needs to evolve.
Caine isn’t going to go there with Lewis and Joanne, so lets move on already.
The climax is so convoluted its comical. Mostly because of the very contracted timeline. In a matter of days, Eamon charms his way into Jo’s sister’s life and the twist, while obvious, doesn’t make his connection to Quinn feels less silly.
During a dangerous storm, Jo trades a Djinn for Sarah’s life in a particularly phallic building (according to Jo); Eamon gets hit by lightning, Jo tries to escape with Sarah only to be confronted by a cartel that pops in out of nowhere and I was just giggling by that point. Eamon ends up Bowsering off with Sarah at the end, too.
Windfall is an improvement on Chill Factor, but falls short when it comes to its handling of its characters and side-plots.
It's closer to a 2.5 than 2 star.
January 6, 2016
Well, this is a toughy. It was a decent enough read for its genre and the second half was tough to put down. But the female characters, including the main character, were obsessed with fashion and men in that order and their fabulous bikini-clad bodies, and it really began to get ludicrous given what was going on. It felt weirdly out of sync with the kind of people I know who read these types of books: way too romance-y and mainstream until she was horrified to drive a minivan, which was a little more like her old self even if insulting to a large portion of Caine's readership. The worst part was the fact that she nearly dies about 8 times in the book at least and each time she is rescued by a man, usually one who is exhausted from the battle of his life but still can give her energy because she's in worse shape. She was even rescued by a villain at one point. Just once I wanted her to rescue herself. There were one or two strong women characters but they weren't human of course. At least the characters were somewhat multicultural. The last page was the only thing that saved it for me. I really enjoyed others in the series so I will read the next one but if she keeps getting saved by men, I'm outta here.
October 3, 2015
As of this book I'm just under halfway through catching up with this series, and I have to say: I'm mad about it.
Not because it's bad - no, because it gets better with each book.
I never expected this, to be honest. I was thoroughly frustrated with Rachel Caine's Glass Houses, and found the first few Weather Warden books to be fun, but junky and dated (mostly by Joanne's painful fashion sense, which I'm sure was on trend in the mid '00s - but then again, so was this). Imagine my surprise when, as I got into the third and fourth books, I found myself not just enjoying a bit of junk food but actually... feeling genuine respect for the way the narrative is crafted and issues handled.
Certainly, part of my bias towards this book has to do with the fact that it invokes one of my favorite tropes: character who has previously been supremely badass and competent as a result of magic is stripped of magic and has to learn how to cope. Now, I say 'favorite tropes', but that comes with a disclaimer: it's not always done well or tastefully. Rachel Caine, though, knocks it out of the park in this book. Not only is the reason for Joanne's slow power drain compelling (thank you, thank you for not making it 'because pregnancy!' because fuck that), but the gradual creep of it means that she can use her abilities at the beginning of the book, and we see her struggling with reduced strength before we see her with nothing. Joanne has been a tremendous force of raw power before this book, so even when she still has a bit of talent she can barely manage - she's not used to economizing, and it's a stark wake-up call.
This also draws a contrast between her and many of the other major players, who are still fabulously powerful, as well as the... semi-sentient hurricane approaching the Florida coast throughout the book. Previously, Jo could go toe-to-toe with the physics of a storm like that; now she doesn't even have that option, and she has to get a lot more innovative. It's pushing her character development in interesting ways.
And speaking of pushing character development: Jo's complicated relationship with her sister is by turns fascinating and frustrating. The frustrating parts mostly come from Jo not setting boundaries - honestly, what would it have taken to tell Sarah not to shop at high-end stores on her dime? What would she have lost by keeping control of her credit card and limiting her sister's spending spree? It's a bit out of character, too, for strong-willed Joanne to just bend backwards and let someone take advantage of her that flagrantly. But I can kind of accept it in the context of how they relate to each other, which is generally a turmoil of anger and affection. There's a scene near the end with Jo screaming at Sarah for making a mistake she couldn't possibly understand which was painful to read, and then there's this:
Like. Okay, junky urban fantasy, yank on my heartstrings why don't you?
There's a pervasive theme here of Joanne's near-total isolation. She's losing David; can't make head or tail of Lewis's motivations or loyalties; barely gets along with her sister; is mistrusted by all of her old friends in the Wardens and hated by the most powerful Djinn in the world. What makes her an admirable heroine is the way she lets nothing - not even her lack of allies or friends - slow her down when something needs to be fixed. "Goddamn Saint Joan the martyr," is what someone called her in the last book, and it's so true. She may be alone in the world, but it won't ever stop her from throwing herself headfirst into saving people. There's literally no hesitation:
She's fleeing a titanic battle of magical power which ends up collapsing the building and setting it on fire, but she immediately risks her safety for that of others. That's a heroic trait I can cheer for. (She also ends up saving the life of an antagonist because of this, but it's all in good principles.)
SPEAKING OF HEROES. I'm not going to spoil the third member of the spectacular triad burning rubber north by the end of the book, but the second is fantastic. Cherise is exactly the kind of character I expect writers to denigrate in favor of their leads: young, pretty, sexual, obsessed with shopping. Instead, she's one of Joanne's only supporters throughout the book, cool and supportive in a crisis, and never the butt of a joke. I adore her. I hope she's in the entire rest of the series.
The romantic relationship between Jo and David is, honestly, kinda beautiful to me. Maybe I'm just a sucker for angst but this not-separation (and the Thing that happened at the climax of the book) just hit all my buttons. It helps a lot that Jo actively calls out some of the bullshit presumptuous stuff David does ("This is - you guys just - men! You don't make decisions for me, got it?"). I get the strong sense that she'll just go toe to toe with him until they end up basically equal, regardless of magical strength. And the way they care for each other just - agh. It's a beautifully supportive relationship.
Regarding some stuff with future-book implications:
While earlier I might not have come to this conclusion, now I'll say it: yes, I recommend this series. It's a fast, fun ride and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
Not because it's bad - no, because it gets better with each book.
I never expected this, to be honest. I was thoroughly frustrated with Rachel Caine's Glass Houses, and found the first few Weather Warden books to be fun, but junky and dated (mostly by Joanne's painful fashion sense, which I'm sure was on trend in the mid '00s - but then again, so was this). Imagine my surprise when, as I got into the third and fourth books, I found myself not just enjoying a bit of junk food but actually... feeling genuine respect for the way the narrative is crafted and issues handled.
Certainly, part of my bias towards this book has to do with the fact that it invokes one of my favorite tropes: character who has previously been supremely badass and competent as a result of magic is stripped of magic and has to learn how to cope. Now, I say 'favorite tropes', but that comes with a disclaimer: it's not always done well or tastefully. Rachel Caine, though, knocks it out of the park in this book. Not only is the reason for Joanne's slow power drain compelling (thank you, thank you for not making it 'because pregnancy!' because fuck that), but the gradual creep of it means that she can use her abilities at the beginning of the book, and we see her struggling with reduced strength before we see her with nothing. Joanne has been a tremendous force of raw power before this book, so even when she still has a bit of talent she can barely manage - she's not used to economizing, and it's a stark wake-up call.
This also draws a contrast between her and many of the other major players, who are still fabulously powerful, as well as the... semi-sentient hurricane approaching the Florida coast throughout the book. Previously, Jo could go toe-to-toe with the physics of a storm like that; now she doesn't even have that option, and she has to get a lot more innovative. It's pushing her character development in interesting ways.
And speaking of pushing character development: Jo's complicated relationship with her sister is by turns fascinating and frustrating. The frustrating parts mostly come from Jo not setting boundaries - honestly, what would it have taken to tell Sarah not to shop at high-end stores on her dime? What would she have lost by keeping control of her credit card and limiting her sister's spending spree? It's a bit out of character, too, for strong-willed Joanne to just bend backwards and let someone take advantage of her that flagrantly. But I can kind of accept it in the context of how they relate to each other, which is generally a turmoil of anger and affection. There's a scene near the end with Jo screaming at Sarah for making a mistake she couldn't possibly understand which was painful to read, and then there's this:
Chretien? Cruel? New idea to me. I mean, he'd always been shallow and supercilious; I just couldn't see him as abusive. And she'd have told me, right? Even if I was a total bitch. My sister would have told me if she'd been married to someone who hurt her.
Right?
Like. Okay, junky urban fantasy, yank on my heartstrings why don't you?
There's a pervasive theme here of Joanne's near-total isolation. She's losing David; can't make head or tail of Lewis's motivations or loyalties; barely gets along with her sister; is mistrusted by all of her old friends in the Wardens and hated by the most powerful Djinn in the world. What makes her an admirable heroine is the way she lets nothing - not even her lack of allies or friends - slow her down when something needs to be fixed. "Goddamn Saint Joan the martyr," is what someone called her in the last book, and it's so true. She may be alone in the world, but it won't ever stop her from throwing herself headfirst into saving people. There's literally no hesitation:
On the fifth floor I ran into refugees. Shit. There were tenants still in the building. I abandoned my escape attempt and banged through the door, running from office to office rattling doorknobs and yelling for people to get the hell out.
She's fleeing a titanic battle of magical power which ends up collapsing the building and setting it on fire, but she immediately risks her safety for that of others. That's a heroic trait I can cheer for. (She also ends up saving the life of an antagonist because of this, but it's all in good principles.)
SPEAKING OF HEROES. I'm not going to spoil the third member of the spectacular triad burning rubber north by the end of the book, but the second is fantastic. Cherise is exactly the kind of character I expect writers to denigrate in favor of their leads: young, pretty, sexual, obsessed with shopping. Instead, she's one of Joanne's only supporters throughout the book, cool and supportive in a crisis, and never the butt of a joke. I adore her. I hope she's in the entire rest of the series.
The romantic relationship between Jo and David is, honestly, kinda beautiful to me. Maybe I'm just a sucker for angst but this not-separation (and the Thing that happened at the climax of the book) just hit all my buttons. It helps a lot that Jo actively calls out some of the bullshit presumptuous stuff David does ("This is - you guys just - men! You don't make decisions for me, got it?"). I get the strong sense that she'll just go toe to toe with him until they end up basically equal, regardless of magical strength. And the way they care for each other just - agh. It's a beautifully supportive relationship.
Regarding some stuff with future-book implications:
While earlier I might not have come to this conclusion, now I'll say it: yes, I recommend this series. It's a fast, fun ride and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.
July 3, 2013
This review has also been posted on my Happy Indulgence Blog. Check it out for more reviews!
Does Joanne Baldwin ever get a break? First, she’s trying to figure out how to save her Djinn lover from his demise. Then, she witnesses the outbreak of a Djinn civil war. This is amidst her perfect older sister turning up unannounced and needing shelter from an ex-lover, and her job as a laughing stock weather girl. Not to mention the stalker cop that she’s picked up.
Like many others, I experienced a turmoil of emotions with Windfall. We’re used to seeing Jo kick ass with her awesome weather manipulations. In this one, she’s almost powerless, based on her reluctance to let go of David. She constantly gets herself in a bind, due to her nature of helping people, but she’s always saved by someone else multiple times throughout the book. I found it frustrating to experience so many things thrown at her and her not getting to spend some one-on-one time with her lover, David.
It also felt like there was something slightly absent here. What I love about this series, is the drool-worthy scientific descriptions of the weather. There didn’t seem to be much of that this time around, except in some brief interludes in between chapters which were wholly focused on the weather.
We’re used to Joanne always running away from/towards something, and in this one she’s trying to establish a seemingly normal life away from the wardens. I found it a refreshing change, and was glad to see her making new friends and interacting with people who don’t have superpowers.
As with the previous books in the series, it was fast-paced and action-packed. These books pack a punch with their epic finales and it always feels like you need to catch a break after the twisting of emotions in each book. The weather warden world is nothing short of epic, it’s well thought out and unique. It’s also incredibly easy to read and get sucked into. Joanne is also a quirky heroine, snarky, powerful, but with a whole lot of heart. I can’t wait to read the next book, especially after that crazy ending.
Does Joanne Baldwin ever get a break? First, she’s trying to figure out how to save her Djinn lover from his demise. Then, she witnesses the outbreak of a Djinn civil war. This is amidst her perfect older sister turning up unannounced and needing shelter from an ex-lover, and her job as a laughing stock weather girl. Not to mention the stalker cop that she’s picked up.
Like many others, I experienced a turmoil of emotions with Windfall. We’re used to seeing Jo kick ass with her awesome weather manipulations. In this one, she’s almost powerless, based on her reluctance to let go of David. She constantly gets herself in a bind, due to her nature of helping people, but she’s always saved by someone else multiple times throughout the book. I found it frustrating to experience so many things thrown at her and her not getting to spend some one-on-one time with her lover, David.
It also felt like there was something slightly absent here. What I love about this series, is the drool-worthy scientific descriptions of the weather. There didn’t seem to be much of that this time around, except in some brief interludes in between chapters which were wholly focused on the weather.
We’re used to Joanne always running away from/towards something, and in this one she’s trying to establish a seemingly normal life away from the wardens. I found it a refreshing change, and was glad to see her making new friends and interacting with people who don’t have superpowers.
As with the previous books in the series, it was fast-paced and action-packed. These books pack a punch with their epic finales and it always feels like you need to catch a break after the twisting of emotions in each book. The weather warden world is nothing short of epic, it’s well thought out and unique. It’s also incredibly easy to read and get sucked into. Joanne is also a quirky heroine, snarky, powerful, but with a whole lot of heart. I can’t wait to read the next book, especially after that crazy ending.
August 6, 2024
I like this series but the weather science gets a little boring at times. The Djinn stuff is pretty awesome though. My girl Joanne needs a serious break but I don't see her getting one anytime soon and that's okay with me. Shit just hit the fan big time so there's no time for it anyway. And I think all the hanky panky with David is kaput for a while, damn. More energy for saving the world I guess.
Over and out
Over and out
February 21, 2019
Hmm. I wish I could say that I enjoyed this fourth Weather Warden book as much as I did the earlier installment in the series, but I have to be real with you. This one felt different.
I had a very hard time connecting with it, especially in the first half. Joanne has left the wardens and is making ends meet as some kind of assistant to a weatherman. Let me stop right here and say this might have been part of my problem. I work in television news and I have for the past 20+ years. I have never seen any dynamic like the one portrayed here. Apparently, Jo is paid to dress up like a fool or a bikini babe to be a prop for a TV weatherman. She gets water dumped on her. She gets her bathing suit popped. She wears foam. This does not happen in real life and frankly it bothered me quite a bit. Yes, I know this book is more than 10 years old, but this didn’t happen in 2005 either. So yeah, grr.
Anyway, her powers are virtually nonexistent, since David is barely hanging on as an infirit and using her for a power source. Things are made worse when Joanna‘s sister shows up, having been unceremoniously dumped by her husband and uses Joanna as a cushion to fall back on. Jo has to take care of Sarah, tried to fix David, and shake off a cop who is investigating her off the record for Quinn’s Death.
Weather wardens and djinn do pop up after a while. A war is brewing between the two factions and no one is a big fan of Joanna’s. This thread intensifies in the second half, and the stakes are driven up on what will happen with David.
I missed Joanna as a weather warden. There are several interludes about a brewing storm, but it is nowhere near the same as seeing her manipulate the weather. She is incredibly weak throughout this book, and I don’t like seeing her this way. Once again, she and David are separated and the disconnect between them is growing tedious. A few stolen moment do not make a romance, and that’s all these to have had for a long time.
Lewis is back, but again I’m not really sure how to interpret his relationship with Jo. There is a villain revealed, but by no means is it surprise. You knew the guy was bad news, it was just an issue of what he was doing there. I really did not like the ending, by the way, and I felt like there were loose ends all over the place. Like with her sister and even the lecherous weatherman.
I will keep reading, to see if this series recaptures what I loved about it, but I am disappointed in this one. It just wasn’t the same.
Rating: B-/C+
I had a very hard time connecting with it, especially in the first half. Joanne has left the wardens and is making ends meet as some kind of assistant to a weatherman. Let me stop right here and say this might have been part of my problem. I work in television news and I have for the past 20+ years. I have never seen any dynamic like the one portrayed here. Apparently, Jo is paid to dress up like a fool or a bikini babe to be a prop for a TV weatherman. She gets water dumped on her. She gets her bathing suit popped. She wears foam. This does not happen in real life and frankly it bothered me quite a bit. Yes, I know this book is more than 10 years old, but this didn’t happen in 2005 either. So yeah, grr.
Anyway, her powers are virtually nonexistent, since David is barely hanging on as an infirit and using her for a power source. Things are made worse when Joanna‘s sister shows up, having been unceremoniously dumped by her husband and uses Joanna as a cushion to fall back on. Jo has to take care of Sarah, tried to fix David, and shake off a cop who is investigating her off the record for Quinn’s Death.
Weather wardens and djinn do pop up after a while. A war is brewing between the two factions and no one is a big fan of Joanna’s. This thread intensifies in the second half, and the stakes are driven up on what will happen with David.
I missed Joanna as a weather warden. There are several interludes about a brewing storm, but it is nowhere near the same as seeing her manipulate the weather. She is incredibly weak throughout this book, and I don’t like seeing her this way. Once again, she and David are separated and the disconnect between them is growing tedious. A few stolen moment do not make a romance, and that’s all these to have had for a long time.
Lewis is back, but again I’m not really sure how to interpret his relationship with Jo. There is a villain revealed, but by no means is it surprise. You knew the guy was bad news, it was just an issue of what he was doing there. I really did not like the ending, by the way, and I felt like there were loose ends all over the place. Like with her sister and even the lecherous weatherman.
I will keep reading, to see if this series recaptures what I loved about it, but I am disappointed in this one. It just wasn’t the same.
Rating: B-/C+
December 18, 2020
Probably really two and a big bit stars.
After leaving the Wardens, Jo has got a job as a weather girl - no, she's not using her meteorological talents to read the forecast, instead her task is to dress in a silly costume depending on what forecast the chauvinistic weatherman gives. Meanwhile, Jo has problems in her private life - she may have left the Wardens, but her power is being drained away by her djinn boyfriend David, who's on the edge of becoming an ifrit, and her sister has turned up on her doorstep after her marriage has fallen apart. She really doesn't need any more trouble, like a literal and physical storm on her doorstep, but that's her bad luck.
I didn't like this book as much as previous installments. It was still an entertaining read, but seemed to drag a bit here and there, and Jo's agonising about her relationship with David really got on my nerves (I'm too old and cynical for the 'but I loooove him!' dilemma to produce much more response from me than an irritated eyeroll). The ending was a mild cliffhanger, but I couldn't help feeling a lot of this book was planned purely to set it up, which also irritated me. Still, I will be reading it, though; I hope this is only a blip and next time we see Jo she's back to butt-kicking form.
If you've read three of these books already, you'll probably enjoy this one. Onward and upward!
After leaving the Wardens, Jo has got a job as a weather girl - no, she's not using her meteorological talents to read the forecast, instead her task is to dress in a silly costume depending on what forecast the chauvinistic weatherman gives. Meanwhile, Jo has problems in her private life - she may have left the Wardens, but her power is being drained away by her djinn boyfriend David, who's on the edge of becoming an ifrit, and her sister has turned up on her doorstep after her marriage has fallen apart. She really doesn't need any more trouble, like a literal and physical storm on her doorstep, but that's her bad luck.
I didn't like this book as much as previous installments. It was still an entertaining read, but seemed to drag a bit here and there, and Jo's agonising about her relationship with David really got on my nerves (I'm too old and cynical for the 'but I loooove him!' dilemma to produce much more response from me than an irritated eyeroll). The ending was a mild cliffhanger, but I couldn't help feeling a lot of this book was planned purely to set it up, which also irritated me. Still, I will be reading it, though; I hope this is only a blip and next time we see Jo she's back to butt-kicking form.
If you've read three of these books already, you'll probably enjoy this one. Onward and upward!
October 16, 2014
Hmmm hard to write a review to this book. I felt that many of the action scenes were not visually readable. One minute Joanne is doing this, the next she gets grabbed and dragged but manages not to go far, or somehow still has an advantage in the fight, or needs someone to save her. It was a bit awkward to read. Perhaps too much chaos. And perhaps that is my problem, there was too much chaos going on in this book. Joanne is getting slammed by different groups left, right, down, and above. There wasn't enough David and Joanne story, as the first 3 books had, which is what I loved about the series besides the weather warden story-line. I didn't like the ending when she drags Eamon out of the room with the broken glass. I almost just dropped the book, but hey there were only 10 pages left so might as well finish reading the damn book. But yeah, I thought she was a dumbass for saving the villain. Really? He abuses your sister and you need to save him? Not the Joanne type of character I saw from the first 3 books, she wouldn't have done that. But hey, I guess you need another story-line to give Joanne a rough battered time about. I think I'm also just tired of the plot-line: heroine/hero must battle the apocalypse and somehow do it on their own with no help. Really? Sometimes you really do need help from a team of people. And I guess that's pretty much why I'm done with the series-- there's only so much fighting, hurting, trouble, and chaos I can take with a lead character all by herself.
May 9, 2008
More of the same, with the following notable differences:
Joanne suddenly has a sister, four books in. She may have been mentioned at some point in one of the previous books, but she certainly didn't make an impression on me, so the effect was rather that of watching the first episode of season five B:tVS. Their sisterly bond made me think the author is an only child-- I can imagine hating my brother, but I can't imagine the sort of absent-minded indifference Joanne displays. (With, I note, just cause.)
Joanne is trapped among muggles! Well, they're not called muggles, but Joanne is navigating human society, which is sort of interesting, when it's not sort of boring. It appears that as a secret conspiracy, the Weather Wardens are a passable social club: all it requires to be informed of it is to be petty criminal, and/or stalk Joanne for a bit.
Joanne carries a gun! OH WAIT NO SHE DOESN'T. So why on earth is that on the cover?
Spoilers! Stop reading now!
Again, David is kept to the sidelines, so that was nice, and again, Joanne is betrayed by putting her trust in a charming stranger who appears out of nowhere. It seems that when strangers appear out of nowhere, it's the ones she reflexively distrust who turn out to be trustworthy, and vice versa. She may want to get that looked in to.
Joanne suddenly has a sister, four books in. She may have been mentioned at some point in one of the previous books, but she certainly didn't make an impression on me, so the effect was rather that of watching the first episode of season five B:tVS. Their sisterly bond made me think the author is an only child-- I can imagine hating my brother, but I can't imagine the sort of absent-minded indifference Joanne displays. (With, I note, just cause.)
Joanne is trapped among muggles! Well, they're not called muggles, but Joanne is navigating human society, which is sort of interesting, when it's not sort of boring. It appears that as a secret conspiracy, the Weather Wardens are a passable social club: all it requires to be informed of it is to be petty criminal, and/or stalk Joanne for a bit.
Joanne carries a gun! OH WAIT NO SHE DOESN'T. So why on earth is that on the cover?
Spoilers! Stop reading now!
Again, David is kept to the sidelines, so that was nice, and again, Joanne is betrayed by putting her trust in a charming stranger who appears out of nowhere. It seems that when strangers appear out of nowhere, it's the ones she reflexively distrust who turn out to be trustworthy, and vice versa. She may want to get that looked in to.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2021
This might be my favourite one so far. All the Weather Wardens are fast paced and Joanne is always right in the middle of all the action. I love Joanne and David, they are perfect, I really feel everything they go through. I like how she has that spark with Lewis but it isn't a love triangle really. She's not weak, I love that about her, even without her power. One of my favourite heroines of any series. I'd love to see this as a TV show, it would be original and refreshing.
November 29, 2015
Joanne kind of annoyed me in this one (whoops) and I wish we saw more control of power inwardly (as in introspection), especially since she didn't have much power in this book.
Either way, I'm blowing through this series! Love this author's YA but wowzas her adult books are quite thrilling. <3 <3 to Jeann for the recommendations!
Either way, I'm blowing through this series! Love this author's YA but wowzas her adult books are quite thrilling. <3 <3 to Jeann for the recommendations!
January 30, 2014
Jpo and David are torn apart, a new world is born of chaos and great pain. This book takes us to new lows for Jo and David they may not be able to recover from. Jo's sister comes back into her life and drags trouble into an already full pool of pain.. great action
August 11, 2016
Poor Joanne, her life has gone from bad to worse the girl can not cop a break. With almost no power now she struggles to try and save the love of her life David and her unborn child but for every new djinn life there must be a djinn death.
December 23, 2008
In a word, WOW.
First and foremost, re: the fate of David the Uber-Hot: AIE!
Okay, yeah, fine, no real surprises there--anybody who is familiar with a long-running urban fantasy series these days is pretty much not going to be surprised if the lead character and his or her love interest don't get to maintain a stable relationship the entire time, especially if one or both parties are supernatural in some way. It's happened in the Dresden Files. It's happened in the Anita Blakes. It's happened in the Sookie Stackhouses. I totally expect it to happen in Patricia Briggs' new series that started up this year. And gods know it was all over both Buffy and Angel on TV.
If you want to keep your readers (or viewers) on edge and anxious for more, romantic tension is one of the biggest and easiest ways to do it, and this is almost inevitably going to mean that your protagonist is going to have more than one love interest. Sometimes sequentially, sometimes in parallel. And chances are extremely high that your protagonist and the most obvious love interest will have some sort of tragic separation, which may or may not lead to an eventual reunion. The whole idea of One True Love? Not so big in long-running urban fantasy.
But all this said? AIE! Not that I didn't totally expect that David would get cured of being an Ifrit, since we had that telegraphed loud and clear due to seeing two prior cases of this happening--with Sarah and Rahel. Nor was I surprised by David having to take out Jonathan--or really, when you get down to it, David becoming Biggest King Badass of the Djinn in his place. This is, after all, an urban fantasy, and our heroine's love interests pretty much are obliged by Tradition to be the Biggest Supernatural Badasses of their individual types--David in the Djinn and Lewis among the Wardens (and hold that thought on Lewis, I'll get to him in a minute ;) ). But what I didn't see coming was the Djinn all suddenly becoming the Agents of the Vengeance of Mother Earth. I totally should have seen it coming, since we had this telegraphed too--with all the commentary in the previous book about how the Ma'at were really big on the idea of balance and how they had arisen in part because the Wardens, in their use of their power to save human lives, were actually really throwing the Earth out of whack. And we also know that the Earth in these books is enough of a sentient entity to have pitched a fit when Jonathan had his mortal death--so no big surprise, really, that "the Mother" got pissed when Jonathan had a Djinn death as well.
But GUH, that King Djinn David is now planted firmly on the other side from Joanne of what promises to be one hell of a nasty conflict in Book Five. And he had just enough time for the obligatory tragic parting commentary to Jo, including a scream for her to run, before he went all red-eyed and scary and GUH! At least he's not an Ifrit any more. Sniffle. :)
Meanwhile, we have Lewis still well and thoroughly in the game when it comes to Jo's potential affections. Most interesting indeed that he had those little exchanges with her about the nature of Djinn love--that it is really not love as humans understand it. I really loved the pot-kettle routine she did with him, and that they actually burst into laughter. That was a fabulous scene and a sign that these two really are good together. Jo does get a lot of super-hot sweet lovin' out of David, but how often do we see them just genuinely laughing together? It's a very human thing, and that alone makes me very, very expectant that Lewis is bound to step in to fill the void left by David the Uber-Hot. Well, that and the fact that he smooched her. Very, very passionately. ;)
What else? Man oh man. I liked the side plot with the sister, though her Mysterious British Boyfriend of course had to be a villain of some kind. I spent most of the scenes he was in just waiting for the shoe to drop there. And I really liked that the cop from Vegas, Quinn's former partner, turned out to believe Jo and ultimately was not an asshole.
And I really liked the side plot with Jo's craptacular job at the TV station--and that we got a neat new side character out of it, Cherise. Very, very cool how Jo got her revenge on Marty.
And I really liked the "Interlude" parts--which were cleverly written, because at first I thought they were from Jo's POV and that she was talking about the storm building up off the Florida coast. Once I realized they were from Jonathan's POV and that the storm was in fact a new incarnation of the ancient storm that had led him to make the deal with the Wardens that enslaved the Djinn, that got cooler. Plus, it was a very nifty way to actually get David's taking out of Jonathan on camera; otherwise we as readers would not have seen it, since Jo wasn't there to witness it. And yeah, it was a suitably tragic and epic kind of thing at the end there. Sniffle.
Last but not least, whoa hey, Jo's Djinn daughter is now alive and kicking! Imara! Well, this ought to be entertaining. ;) And a very interesting question as to why she hasn't gotten drafted into the Mother Earth Djinn Army of Vengeance.
All in all, a non-stop barrage of coolness, and I'm really looking forward to Firestorm now. I do find myself wondering how exactly Ms. Caine will be able to top what's going on in that book in future installments--because really, where do you go from having to save humanity from the very planet it lives on, hrmm?
Can't wait to find out!
First and foremost, re: the fate of David the Uber-Hot: AIE!
Okay, yeah, fine, no real surprises there--anybody who is familiar with a long-running urban fantasy series these days is pretty much not going to be surprised if the lead character and his or her love interest don't get to maintain a stable relationship the entire time, especially if one or both parties are supernatural in some way. It's happened in the Dresden Files. It's happened in the Anita Blakes. It's happened in the Sookie Stackhouses. I totally expect it to happen in Patricia Briggs' new series that started up this year. And gods know it was all over both Buffy and Angel on TV.
If you want to keep your readers (or viewers) on edge and anxious for more, romantic tension is one of the biggest and easiest ways to do it, and this is almost inevitably going to mean that your protagonist is going to have more than one love interest. Sometimes sequentially, sometimes in parallel. And chances are extremely high that your protagonist and the most obvious love interest will have some sort of tragic separation, which may or may not lead to an eventual reunion. The whole idea of One True Love? Not so big in long-running urban fantasy.
But all this said? AIE! Not that I didn't totally expect that David would get cured of being an Ifrit, since we had that telegraphed loud and clear due to seeing two prior cases of this happening--with Sarah and Rahel. Nor was I surprised by David having to take out Jonathan--or really, when you get down to it, David becoming Biggest King Badass of the Djinn in his place. This is, after all, an urban fantasy, and our heroine's love interests pretty much are obliged by Tradition to be the Biggest Supernatural Badasses of their individual types--David in the Djinn and Lewis among the Wardens (and hold that thought on Lewis, I'll get to him in a minute ;) ). But what I didn't see coming was the Djinn all suddenly becoming the Agents of the Vengeance of Mother Earth. I totally should have seen it coming, since we had this telegraphed too--with all the commentary in the previous book about how the Ma'at were really big on the idea of balance and how they had arisen in part because the Wardens, in their use of their power to save human lives, were actually really throwing the Earth out of whack. And we also know that the Earth in these books is enough of a sentient entity to have pitched a fit when Jonathan had his mortal death--so no big surprise, really, that "the Mother" got pissed when Jonathan had a Djinn death as well.
But GUH, that King Djinn David is now planted firmly on the other side from Joanne of what promises to be one hell of a nasty conflict in Book Five. And he had just enough time for the obligatory tragic parting commentary to Jo, including a scream for her to run, before he went all red-eyed and scary and GUH! At least he's not an Ifrit any more. Sniffle. :)
Meanwhile, we have Lewis still well and thoroughly in the game when it comes to Jo's potential affections. Most interesting indeed that he had those little exchanges with her about the nature of Djinn love--that it is really not love as humans understand it. I really loved the pot-kettle routine she did with him, and that they actually burst into laughter. That was a fabulous scene and a sign that these two really are good together. Jo does get a lot of super-hot sweet lovin' out of David, but how often do we see them just genuinely laughing together? It's a very human thing, and that alone makes me very, very expectant that Lewis is bound to step in to fill the void left by David the Uber-Hot. Well, that and the fact that he smooched her. Very, very passionately. ;)
What else? Man oh man. I liked the side plot with the sister, though her Mysterious British Boyfriend of course had to be a villain of some kind. I spent most of the scenes he was in just waiting for the shoe to drop there. And I really liked that the cop from Vegas, Quinn's former partner, turned out to believe Jo and ultimately was not an asshole.
And I really liked the side plot with Jo's craptacular job at the TV station--and that we got a neat new side character out of it, Cherise. Very, very cool how Jo got her revenge on Marty.
And I really liked the "Interlude" parts--which were cleverly written, because at first I thought they were from Jo's POV and that she was talking about the storm building up off the Florida coast. Once I realized they were from Jonathan's POV and that the storm was in fact a new incarnation of the ancient storm that had led him to make the deal with the Wardens that enslaved the Djinn, that got cooler. Plus, it was a very nifty way to actually get David's taking out of Jonathan on camera; otherwise we as readers would not have seen it, since Jo wasn't there to witness it. And yeah, it was a suitably tragic and epic kind of thing at the end there. Sniffle.
Last but not least, whoa hey, Jo's Djinn daughter is now alive and kicking! Imara! Well, this ought to be entertaining. ;) And a very interesting question as to why she hasn't gotten drafted into the Mother Earth Djinn Army of Vengeance.
All in all, a non-stop barrage of coolness, and I'm really looking forward to Firestorm now. I do find myself wondering how exactly Ms. Caine will be able to top what's going on in that book in future installments--because really, where do you go from having to save humanity from the very planet it lives on, hrmm?
Can't wait to find out!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2022
This book was ok but definitely not the best one I have read in the series. It also ended on a bit of a cliffhanger. David is trying to recover and Jo has virtually no power left. She has left the Wardens and taken a job at a tv station as the weather girl. Her sister is separated from her husband and comes to live with Jo. Jo is also being stalked by a policeman who wants to know what happened to his former partner. The book had lots of action but some of the events that happened were predictable.
Read
December 28, 2019Ok, I didn't actually read the whole book. I only read the first 50 pages and decided, "you know what, I'm just not into this series anymore." and stopped.
November 7, 2022
I mean this turned out sorta how I thought it would. Mostly the end.
July 25, 2023
Un peu de mal à rentrer dedans, mais une fin à en perdre haleine tellement les événements s’enchaînent et je dévorais les pages avec avidité ! Hâte de lire la suite 📖
March 7, 2018
I am really enjoying this series. I feel like I should be rating the books higher, but somehow they've all felt like "very good books that I really enjoyed," so four stars for this book, too. (But maybe five stars for the series-so-far?) :-)
I will write more, but later. I want to think about this one a bit longer. I might end up changing my rating from four-very-good-stars to five-amazing!-stars. ;-)
I will write more, but later. I want to think about this one a bit longer. I might end up changing my rating from four-very-good-stars to five-amazing!-stars. ;-)
February 7, 2022
This review also featured on Behind the Pages: Windfall
Joanne has reached an all new low. She’s left the wardens and is under threat to never use her powers again. David is near death. Every interaction outside of his bottle brings him closer to the edge and her new job isn’t exactly glamorous. She’s taken up working for a news station as a weather girl. But she isn’t forecasting the weather, instead, she’s the stand in for the butt of jokes to amuse the viewers. When Joanne’s sister shows up on her doorstep, newly divorced and begging for a place to stay, it’s just the icing on the cake of her new life. But something is brewing in Florida. A threat of violence that has continued to grow over time reaches the breaking point, fracturing the wardens and dragging Joanne into the middle of it.
Each new Weather Warden book brings a host of problems for Joanne. This time around it is a mix of supernatural and human-related issues. And each book reaches a higher level of action and potential for the series. The world-building never ends and the challenges characters face keep escalating. Not to mention the emotional dive Joanne has to face in Windfall. She’s losing everything, her life is falling apart. Add into the mix high stakes tension, near death experiences, and threats from some of the most powerful creatures on Earth. Every page you turn, there is something to keep you reading, driving you forward to find out what is going to happen next.
A common theme that has cropped up in each Weather Warden book, is how close Joanne comes to dying. Normally this would become repetitive since Windfall is the fourth book in the series, however, Rachel Caine does something clever. Multiple characters point out to Jo that courting death is not a fitting characteristic, nor is it a good hobby. This puts it into perspective that yes, this is happening all too often, and even the characters are not happy with it. Do I think Joanne will stop having close calls? Most likely not. It’s not in her nature to back down when she thinks she has a chance, even if it is a slim one. And it’s one of the reasons I enjoy her character.
I’ve mentioned the magic system often enough in my book reviews, but another component unique to the Weather Warden series is the way Rachel Caine personifies elements. Storms take on personalities of their own, boiling in angry streaks across the atmosphere, lashing out with lightning and rain. Fires surge in fits and starts, consuming all they can in hunger. Each encounter brings readers closer to the concept of mother earth being a living breathing being. An idea Rachel Caine has teased since the first book, Ill Wind.
Something else I have not mentioned in my book reviews is how focused on fashion and body image the female characters are in this series. Joanne zeroes in on designer fashion and feels ashamed when she isn’t wearing the latest trends. While fashion is not a topic that interests me, I see it as just another trait of Joanne’s personality. And she does tend to surround herself with females of similar interest. Joanne is also a woman self-conscious about her body image. Her sister takes trendsetting and body image to a whole new level. But this is a minor element of each story. Sort of a reminder of Jo’s base personality while she is also kicking butt and taking names.
Joanne has her faults, but every character does. Despite her shortcomings, she feels deeply for those she cares about. Any time she has no choice but to make a decision that may harm someone she loves, it cuts her deeply. Watching her character develop throughout the series has been such a joy. And given everything that is thrown her way in Windfall, I’m interested to see how she continues to develop in the next book.
Joanne has reached an all new low. She’s left the wardens and is under threat to never use her powers again. David is near death. Every interaction outside of his bottle brings him closer to the edge and her new job isn’t exactly glamorous. She’s taken up working for a news station as a weather girl. But she isn’t forecasting the weather, instead, she’s the stand in for the butt of jokes to amuse the viewers. When Joanne’s sister shows up on her doorstep, newly divorced and begging for a place to stay, it’s just the icing on the cake of her new life. But something is brewing in Florida. A threat of violence that has continued to grow over time reaches the breaking point, fracturing the wardens and dragging Joanne into the middle of it.
Each new Weather Warden book brings a host of problems for Joanne. This time around it is a mix of supernatural and human-related issues. And each book reaches a higher level of action and potential for the series. The world-building never ends and the challenges characters face keep escalating. Not to mention the emotional dive Joanne has to face in Windfall. She’s losing everything, her life is falling apart. Add into the mix high stakes tension, near death experiences, and threats from some of the most powerful creatures on Earth. Every page you turn, there is something to keep you reading, driving you forward to find out what is going to happen next.
A common theme that has cropped up in each Weather Warden book, is how close Joanne comes to dying. Normally this would become repetitive since Windfall is the fourth book in the series, however, Rachel Caine does something clever. Multiple characters point out to Jo that courting death is not a fitting characteristic, nor is it a good hobby. This puts it into perspective that yes, this is happening all too often, and even the characters are not happy with it. Do I think Joanne will stop having close calls? Most likely not. It’s not in her nature to back down when she thinks she has a chance, even if it is a slim one. And it’s one of the reasons I enjoy her character.
I’ve mentioned the magic system often enough in my book reviews, but another component unique to the Weather Warden series is the way Rachel Caine personifies elements. Storms take on personalities of their own, boiling in angry streaks across the atmosphere, lashing out with lightning and rain. Fires surge in fits and starts, consuming all they can in hunger. Each encounter brings readers closer to the concept of mother earth being a living breathing being. An idea Rachel Caine has teased since the first book, Ill Wind.
Something else I have not mentioned in my book reviews is how focused on fashion and body image the female characters are in this series. Joanne zeroes in on designer fashion and feels ashamed when she isn’t wearing the latest trends. While fashion is not a topic that interests me, I see it as just another trait of Joanne’s personality. And she does tend to surround herself with females of similar interest. Joanne is also a woman self-conscious about her body image. Her sister takes trendsetting and body image to a whole new level. But this is a minor element of each story. Sort of a reminder of Jo’s base personality while she is also kicking butt and taking names.
Joanne has her faults, but every character does. Despite her shortcomings, she feels deeply for those she cares about. Any time she has no choice but to make a decision that may harm someone she loves, it cuts her deeply. Watching her character develop throughout the series has been such a joy. And given everything that is thrown her way in Windfall, I’m interested to see how she continues to develop in the next book.
September 26, 2011
I give it 3.75, it was a fun book and a good installment in the series. It's definitely not stand-alone book, it really needs to be read as part of the big story arc. Part of what makes it interesting to me is the issue of how Jo deals with being almost powerless and alone while being attacked from all sides, magical and mundane. In addition, there is are the big story story arcs that are being explored, that of her relationships with David and Lewis, of the roles of Djinn and Wardens in the world, the story of her baby, and what her role is going to be whether as a Warden or if they're going to decide to go after her and try to take her powers away. If the reader hadn't read previous books, Jo's less-thank kick-ass-ness (I know, not a real word) might be annoying. I read a review where the writer noted that the way that Jo worries about her car, hair, and wardrobe made her seem frivolous, but that's part of what I consider to be her endearing, humorous, down to earth and realistic, and previously identified, character. The reviewer also noted that Jo frequently turned to men, I assume she means David and Lewis, for help instead of solving her own problems. For one thing, I don't think that's entirely true, but also that didn't annoy me because it was an exploration of a dynamic that was a continuing part of the big story arc, so I thought it made sense for the story and was interesting. And it also got back to the issue of how Jo without her Warden power would react in desperate situations.
I had to knock a bit off my rating is because some things were too predictable. People are introduced or situations arose that were so clearly foreshadowed that it took the fun out of things. It was still a great read and fun to watch it unfold and twist together, but a bit more subtly would have been appreciated.
I also have to comment on the cover - the last three were greet, I really appreciated that the publisher supported the books by having original art created that so closely reflected a scene from each book, each was really lovely and cool. But why the heck is Jo carrying a gun in this one? That's just a big bizarre marketing WTF. I get that they wanted to make an exciting action-oriented cover and probably didn't want to pay for original art anymore (so sad), but that was dumb. She doesn't use guns. She gets held at gunpoint s few times though...
I had to knock a bit off my rating is because some things were too predictable. People are introduced or situations arose that were so clearly foreshadowed that it took the fun out of things. It was still a great read and fun to watch it unfold and twist together, but a bit more subtly would have been appreciated.
I also have to comment on the cover - the last three were greet, I really appreciated that the publisher supported the books by having original art created that so closely reflected a scene from each book, each was really lovely and cool. But why the heck is Jo carrying a gun in this one? That's just a big bizarre marketing WTF. I get that they wanted to make an exciting action-oriented cover and probably didn't want to pay for original art anymore (so sad), but that was dumb. She doesn't use guns. She gets held at gunpoint s few times though...
May 28, 2008
I think this was my favorite Weather Warden book so far. Having washed her hands of the Wardens, Jo is back in Florida working a pay-the-bills job as a "weather girl" with a local TV station. The hilarious part is she doesn't even get to predict the weather. She just stands around in nightmarish costumes (picture huge foam suns with face cut-outs and bulky clouds dripping glitter rain), forced to grit her teeth and smile as the schmaltzy-beyond-belief weather man struts his stuff. Fortunately she has a new friend in the feisty Cherise--the petite and beautiful weather girl who drives a Mustang, gets to wear flattering bikinis, and never gets buckets of water dumped on her.
Jo's carefully laid plan of flying under the supernatural radar while trying to figure out how to revive David gets blown to smithereens when her estranged sister shows up on her doorstep in need of a place to stay at the same time as the local Wardens come after her for supposedly tampering with the weather in a Big Bad sort of way. Meanwhile, nobody can find Jonathan, the free Djinn are starting to form into factions, and the whole conflict seems to be quickly ratcheting up the scale from debacle to outright civil war.
The great thing about Windfall is the new characters that are introduced. I loved Cherise and I really liked Jo's sister Sarah. Together they bring a human quality to the story that seemed to be lacking in the last two books and that, I think, Jo desperately needs if she's going to stay afloat. It's good to know there are people who care about her and who will be there when she needs a friend or someone to help ransack the dump for a missing bottle. Four books in and Rachel Caine continues to keep the tension taut, the stakes high, and Jo's wardrobe awesome. On to the next. I'm so glad I found this series after six books were already out...
Jo's carefully laid plan of flying under the supernatural radar while trying to figure out how to revive David gets blown to smithereens when her estranged sister shows up on her doorstep in need of a place to stay at the same time as the local Wardens come after her for supposedly tampering with the weather in a Big Bad sort of way. Meanwhile, nobody can find Jonathan, the free Djinn are starting to form into factions, and the whole conflict seems to be quickly ratcheting up the scale from debacle to outright civil war.
The great thing about Windfall is the new characters that are introduced. I loved Cherise and I really liked Jo's sister Sarah. Together they bring a human quality to the story that seemed to be lacking in the last two books and that, I think, Jo desperately needs if she's going to stay afloat. It's good to know there are people who care about her and who will be there when she needs a friend or someone to help ransack the dump for a missing bottle. Four books in and Rachel Caine continues to keep the tension taut, the stakes high, and Jo's wardrobe awesome. On to the next. I'm so glad I found this series after six books were already out...
March 30, 2014
I've been wanting to pick back up the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine for a while now. A few years ago I got into them, read the first three (and bought all of the others) and then set them down. Not for waning enthusiasm, though, but for the old bookstore distracted-by-something-else scenario. This week I picked up Windfall, the fourth book in the series, and wow, am I in love. Wow. I remember this old flame. Very well.
Windfall finds Joanne working as a weather girl in Fort Lauderdale. She quit the Wardens at the end of book two and is now struggling to make ends meet. Enter one down-on-her-luck sister, Sarah, and suddenly Joanne's financial straits prove even more difficult. Oh, and her boyfriend, David, has become a power consuming Ifrit... and Joanne's pregnant with his half-Djinn baby.. and... and... and...
A co-worker pointed out something fairly illuminating to me a while back - readers often read series so they can experience the same book over and over again with minimal variations on the same theme. Whilst I don't completely agree with this elitist point of view (said the girl hooked on 80+ series) I do agree to a point... people like to read similarities again and again. Well, the thing you have to know about the Weather Warden books is this - expect the unexpected. No book is exactly the same as the one prior. In fact, Caine manages to surprise, and dupe, the reader again and again. Just when you think you know where it's going Caine and co. surprises you with the unexpected.
Can't go much into the details on this one because it will be spoilerific. Just, trust me, if you haven't started this series you need to. Book four is one of my favourites.
5 out of 5 stars.
- review courtesy of www.bibliopunkkreads.com
July 29, 2012
WOW!!!! What a story!
A couple of days back, i was talking to a friend about the books that i had finished reading, and the ones that i intended to start. This was one of them. And laughing, she told me, that the description i had made of this one, sounded like i was talking of the real thing. Not a piece of fiction but reality as we know it.
Well, the only thing i can say after finishing it, is, so do i. This series by Rachel Caine, turns out to be more amazing that it already is, by that fact. This is one of the most "realistic" books of urban fantasy that i've ever read. Because the imagination behind this one is unbelievable detailed and outstanding.
So what happens in this one?
Well after having a demon forced down her throat. Being killed. Being reborn as a Djinn, courtesy of the love of her life, David, and then losing her Djinn abilities, and having to face life almost as a common person. Joanne Baldwin now faces one of the biggest challenges of her life.
She is a weather girl....
Having to put up with a crappy job, along side with a disgusting boss, almost no powers, and having her boyfriend practically sealed in his bottle _ as a way to regenerate his powers and strenght_ takes a toll on a girl. Add to that, having to accommodate an older sister with whom she never quite....bonded....and we have a formula for disaster.
A Djinn war is on the horizon, and warden's are being hunted down like prey.
For once, Jonathan doesn't seem to care, almost about anything, and the situation looks dire indeed.
So what will Joanne do in the end?
Will she be able to sacrifice David?
Another fast adventure, with some amazing characters, fast cars, and forces of nature not to be reckon with.
A couple of days back, i was talking to a friend about the books that i had finished reading, and the ones that i intended to start. This was one of them. And laughing, she told me, that the description i had made of this one, sounded like i was talking of the real thing. Not a piece of fiction but reality as we know it.
Well, the only thing i can say after finishing it, is, so do i. This series by Rachel Caine, turns out to be more amazing that it already is, by that fact. This is one of the most "realistic" books of urban fantasy that i've ever read. Because the imagination behind this one is unbelievable detailed and outstanding.
So what happens in this one?
Well after having a demon forced down her throat. Being killed. Being reborn as a Djinn, courtesy of the love of her life, David, and then losing her Djinn abilities, and having to face life almost as a common person. Joanne Baldwin now faces one of the biggest challenges of her life.
She is a weather girl....
Having to put up with a crappy job, along side with a disgusting boss, almost no powers, and having her boyfriend practically sealed in his bottle _ as a way to regenerate his powers and strenght_ takes a toll on a girl. Add to that, having to accommodate an older sister with whom she never quite....bonded....and we have a formula for disaster.
A Djinn war is on the horizon, and warden's are being hunted down like prey.
For once, Jonathan doesn't seem to care, almost about anything, and the situation looks dire indeed.
So what will Joanne do in the end?
Will she be able to sacrifice David?
Another fast adventure, with some amazing characters, fast cars, and forces of nature not to be reckon with.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 3, 2014
Audiobook re-readSo sad! My library doesn't have the next book so I thought I'd re-read the whole series by audiobook so the next book is a complete surprise. I'm leaving the rating at 4 stars.
Previous review 08/07/11 I liked this better overall than the other books in the series, but the ending sucked. Even the happy ending was a WTF. Joanne is trying to make a living outside of being a weather warden and is instructed not to use her abilities or its lobotomy time. David is turning more and more and she's not having any good effect on him although everyone keeps telling her she needs to do something but not what that something is. And the baby question, that is something I can't explain because I don't understand it at all even using my imagination, which can accept a lot. I'll read the next book in the series, but I'm wondering how many more there are because this woman really needs a break. ****
Previous review 08/07/11 I liked this better overall than the other books in the series, but the ending sucked. Even the happy ending was a WTF. Joanne is trying to make a living outside of being a weather warden and is instructed not to use her abilities or its lobotomy time. David is turning more and more and she's not having any good effect on him although everyone keeps telling her she needs to do something but not what that something is. And the baby question, that is something I can't explain because I don't understand it at all even using my imagination, which can accept a lot. I'll read the next book in the series, but I'm wondering how many more there are because this woman really needs a break. ****
August 4, 2011
This one felt a little slow getting started, but before I realised it I was about halfway through, so being slow to start definitely doesn't mean it's a lemon. I think the reason this feels pretty slow is because it lacks the 'ticking clock' element ... there's no life-threatening catastrophe in the wings (well, there is, but it's set apart from the main storyline and dealt with in a series of interludes between chapters). In many ways it's more like a consolidation of old business in anticipation of entirely new business in the form of the next novel, 'Firestorm'.
'Windfall' is a bit like hitting the eye of the storm - a brief period of calm and a pause to catch the breath, but before the end of the book it's fairly obvious that the respite won't last, and the storm is angrier than ever. Can't wait to get my hands on the next instalment.
'Windfall' is a bit like hitting the eye of the storm - a brief period of calm and a pause to catch the breath, but before the end of the book it's fairly obvious that the respite won't last, and the storm is angrier than ever. Can't wait to get my hands on the next instalment.
May 16, 2009
This is such an unpredictable and exhilarating series. I am impressed with Caine’s ability to get me so emotionally involved that my heart breaks for the characters and I feel a tightness in my chest I’ve felt with no other book. This book in particular was hard on me. I LOVE IT - but they are intense books.
While extremely intense, I was still able to giggle and laugh with the characters in several hilarious scenes. I was actually giggling out loud during the scene when Jo returned home to her sister furiously chopping omelet ingredients! SO FUNNY!
While extremely intense, I was still able to giggle and laugh with the characters in several hilarious scenes. I was actually giggling out loud during the scene when Jo returned home to her sister furiously chopping omelet ingredients! SO FUNNY!
July 25, 2016
I don't think I have ever NOT wanted to be a heroine from one of the series I love... But man I don't want to be in Jo's shoes. She never really has any control or power over her life. She never knows what's going to happen next.
Nevertheless, another great book. The ending was just great, should have seen it coming but I didn't. I'm hoping Jo starts kicking some butt soon!
On a different note, I don't know how I feel about Lewis and his role in Jo's life. I'm glad he is always there when she needs help but will there me something more...? He is a tease.
Nevertheless, another great book. The ending was just great, should have seen it coming but I didn't. I'm hoping Jo starts kicking some butt soon!
On a different note, I don't know how I feel about Lewis and his role in Jo's life. I'm glad he is always there when she needs help but will there me something more...? He is a tease.
January 14, 2023
I was up and down with this book. I didn't know if I liked it or if I was missing somethings.
The answer is no it is a little all over the place but that is ok because it all comes together in the end and boy what an ending. Your heart is going to be sad and happy and sad and happy again.
It really is a rollercoaster of emotions.
Kind of like the weather in this one. My word!!
Surprised by Joanne's sister coming to town. I want to know if she is going to play a permanent role in the books or if she was just a distraction. I guess we will see.
The answer is no it is a little all over the place but that is ok because it all comes together in the end and boy what an ending. Your heart is going to be sad and happy and sad and happy again.
It really is a rollercoaster of emotions.
Kind of like the weather in this one. My word!!
Surprised by Joanne's sister coming to town. I want to know if she is going to play a permanent role in the books or if she was just a distraction. I guess we will see.
September 11, 2011
I am in love with this series. I notice that I'm starting to think of the weather the way Joanne does. When I go outside I see everything differently now. I like this change. I love what this series means to me. Joanne is a great role model, always believes in the greater good and that's the way things should be. There should be more people like her out there. Fighting for what they stand for, and I admire that.
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