Joanne Baldwin is on the run for a crime she didn't commit: the murder of a senior weather warden. Joanne can control the weather and has been trained to safely tame the weather, but something goes horribly wrong when Bad Bob, a warden known for his temper and his dislike of Joanne, asks her to help him with a project. Bob ends up dead and Joanne has only one option that won't result in her being stripped of her powers: to hunt down Lewis, one of the most powerful wardens known, and get help in removing the demon mark that's trying to work its way into her. Only one of the Djinn he holds can save her. Her road trip takes her across the country and pits her against the other senior wardens, and some of her discoveries along the way are even less pleasant than her confrontation with Bad Bob.
Impression: It's always hard for me to pick out a new (to me) author to try, and more times than not, I end up not being too happy with them. Fortunately, I loved the first in Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series and am looking forward to picking up more when I can. The story opens with Joanne already on the run and there's few dull moments from that point on. The author does provide moments where the reader can catch his or her breath, but keeps the action going through the novel.
The characters are entertaining and have complexity, although I did figure out the "secrets" of two of them, one relatively early after his appearance. The weather work is well detailed and fascinating, and the plot is less straight forward than it appears, and while I saw some of the ending before it happened, there were still plenty of surprises to hold my interest. And knowing some of the ending didn't give it all away, particularly Joanne's fate. However, everything that happens is well set up in the story itself. The story holds a reader's interest, the writing is nice and clean. I would like to see a little more depth in future excursions, but it's a great opening for a new series.
Unless otherwise noted, all books reviewed have been purchased by me.
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