Customer Reviews

Cape Storm (Weather Warden, Book 8)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This eighth book in the Weather Warden saga (not counting Undone, which uses the same universe but is not about Joanne and David), is much better than the last one, which almost turned me off the series. In this book Joanne and and her Djinn lover David are married, but have no time to honeymoon. The demonic Bad Bob has unleashed not only a killer storm off Miami, but a world-killer storm on the aetheric. All the regular characters return in this book, and they are at their best. The action is intense and never stops--I read this in one sitting, couldn't put it down. Joanne is back to being one of the better kick-butt heroines in supernatural fiction, after a few books where she kind of lost her mojo.

If you haven't read the other books in this series yet, do so before picking up this one, or you'll be lost and missing out on lots of great backstory. Without including spoilers in this review, it seems as if this might be the last book in the series, although that's not a given. If it isn't, things will be going in a new direction, and I'll buy the next book the day that it comes out.

Originally I was going to rate this book 4 stars but I can't give it that. There are two simple reasons: the plot lines here are very similar to earlier books and it needed to be the last book. The book was a great quick read and I enjoyed myself but I'm not left feeling satisfied or wanting more books.

The major plot line with the whole demon mark/evil thing was already explored. There was enough difference here to be interesting but I still had moments of strong déjà vu. I wish there had been more focus on the new twists and less on the demon mark. The character development of Lewis and Bad Bob was great and probably made the best parts of the book. There were great ideas but they should have taken the spot light in place of the more repetitive plots.

This leads into why I think this should be the last book. When the side character development is my favorite part this is a clear indicator that I'm done with the main characters. I've learned all I want about them and want to see them have a happy ending. The fact that the end of the book teases with a glimpse of a great happy ending just made it worse. I thought that possible ending was a great way to wrap everything up. Add an epilogue and I would have thought this was an awesome series. Instead a cliff hanger is thrown in at the last minute that is absolutely not necessary or wanted.

What I want from the next book is a wrap up of the series. I wish it had been this one but I could still love the series if the next book is the last one. We can resolve that final cliff hanger but hopefully with the same ending that is hinted at in this book (trying not to give spoilers, hopefully it's clear what I mean). If the author wants to continue with this world and time then she could easily let Jo and David move to the background. Lewis, or possibly new characters introduced by the resolution of above mentioned cliff hanger, could then take over as the main focus. That would keep me interested and happy to buy more books. I'll just have to wait and see with fingers crossed.

Let me start at the beginning...I first started Rachel Caine's phenomenal Weather Warden series a little over a month ago -pretty much on a whim. I instantly fell in love with Joanne Baldwin -the awesome, butt-kicking heroine -and her wild Warden life. I quickly devoured all of the subsequent novels up to Cape Storm, which is supposedly the second-to-last book in the series (Weather Warden book 9 is already scheduled for an August 2010 release on Amazon).

This may be why I had some trouble with Cape Storm. If you waited a year to read this novel after Gale Force, than all of the repetition between Cape Storm and the last few Weather Warden novels (particularly Gale Force and Thin Air) would probably not be so fresh in your mind. But since I literally put down the last book and picked up this one, they seemed to blur together into a story that I've already read before (multiple times) in this series.

While the story still has plenty of fast-paced fun and action that fans have come to expect from this series -Joanne's honeymoon to her Djinn lover David has to be postponed (again, the couple can't be happy), but she can't worry about it too much because the world is ending (again). Joanne wrestles with evil/good and in control/out of control conflict (this gives me flashes of Thin Air) and the story ends on yet another cliffhanger.

Frankly, this should have been the last book in this series. It really feels like the Weather Warden universe is to getting exhausted and there are simply no more stories to tell.

I've read all of the Weather Warden books, the "new" spinoff, and her Morganville Vampire books...and this is the first time I not only had a hard time getting into this I actually stopped midway and gave up. Like some other reviews have said, the storyline is a retread of many past themes. It was just plain painful and boring, in my opinion. I really hope this is the last book with these characters. Let her work with Undone, maybe something with Lewis, but I'm tired of Joann & David. A series about Venna would be more interesting.

The hurricane heading towards Southern Florida may make Katrina look like a sun shower; Chief Weather Warden Lewis Orwell knows what that storm did to New Orleans and the rest of the delta so he fears something even worse for Miami. He hijacks the cruise ship Grand Paradise and assigns his weather wardens and their djinn to sail the vessel into the open water with his goal being that the storm will chase after his unit rather than the populace on the Floridian Peninsular.

Newlyweds Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin and Djinn David are on board the Grand Paradise, but obviously this is a working honeymoon. However, this super sized storm is actually the work of magic by insane former weather warden Bad Bob; his formidable power is enhanced exponentially by his amoral lunacy. The honeymooners and their comrades in weather battle the hurricane of any century while Joanne and David also struggle with the poisoning of the demon mark that infects her.

CAPE STORM is an exhilarating weather warden thriller. The story line is fast-paced and filled with plenty of magical action as the lead couple is victims trying to stay one step ahead of the perfect storm, while also trying to contain the poison devastating Joanne. Rachel Caine provides another terrific tale in one of the stronger urban fantasies on the market today.

Harriet Klausner

When you think of the coast of Florida, one thing comes to mind: hurricanes. Well, also cockroaches, swamps and old people, but hurricanes are in the top five.

But the storms are unnaturally strong in the eighth volume of the Weather Warden series, "Cape Storm." And Rachel Caine's penultimate Weather Warden novel takes a dramatically dark turn with plenty of fatalities, some shocking twists and a trip to the dark side for her weather-warping heroine. Its a good climax to the series, and Caine literally keeps the plot twisting like a waterspout right to the end.

Joanne Baldwin has just sort-of-married her Djinn lover David, but they aren't getting a nice normal honeymoon -- a deadly storm is forming off of Florida. So the Weather Wardens and the Djinn end up taking over a vast luxury liner and heading out to sea (along with whiny celebrities and rich jerks who refused to get off the boat). Then they find a Djinn whose existence has been erased -- meaning the malignant Bad Bob is involved.

Of course, Bad Bob is stirring up the storm with antimatter, turning it into a potentially universe-destroying maelstrom that threatens to destroy them all. Also, the ship has some "skin"-wearing creatures that can erase Djinn. Worst of all, Joanne's demon mark is breaking loose of its constraints and swamping her true personality -- and even Lewis and David may not be able to save her.

Killer crystal skeletons, demonic storms, luxurious cruise liners filled with powerful Wardens and an evil tattoo -- I have to admit, Rachel Caine can manage some pretty interesting ideas. And the first chapters of "Cape Storm" are fairly lighthearted (including Celine Dion jokes -- "my heart would not go on, not if this voyage went badly"), but with some lurking flickers of darkness.

But it doesn't take long for Caine's story to blaze with black fire, especially when Jo is overwhelmed with her magical tattoo, and there doesn't seem to be any way to get rid of it. It's made all the more breathlessly horrible because of Caine's vivid writing ("the approaching black arms of the hurricane sweeping in like scythes") and warped sense of humor, which becomes downright twisted as Jo suddenly turns into a sneering, sniping, skanky monster. And it's even worse because the story is in first-person narrative.

And expect quite a few shocking changes in this book, especially for Jo and David. While some of these changes are merely entertaining (they get properly married on a pirate ship by the randy captain), others will have sweeping effects in the next book. BIIIIG effects.

Jo herself manages to maintain a fun sense of humor despite the ups and downs of her life (and her dubious fashion sense), but Caine succeeds in making her SCARY during the middle of the book, where her conscience gets switched off and she starts feeding off aggression and fear. And her constant battle against her mark -- even to the point of swimming in shark-infested waters -- is a powerful and seemingly doomed one.

David remains her deliciously sexy, adorably devoted Djinn lover, and Cherise serves as the snappy-tongued, clever blonde sidekick. And poor Lewis is forced to take some terrible actions to protect the world from Bad Bob and Jo, including a psychic "kill switch." The one downside is that it seems rather contrived when Lewis' thoughts on Jo are revealed.

"Cape Storm" is a sometimes shocking, intensely written urban fantasy, with plenty of plot twists and a heroine who gets more than her fair share of horrible wounds. An excellent next-to-last book.

...but I shouldn't have had to make such an effort to like the latest installment of the Weather Warden Series. To me, it seemed like the first book was getting re-hashed somewhat, with Joanne being dragged down by the Sentinel mark now, as opposed to the Demon Mark then. Of course, Bad Bob gave her both of them...I guess the book just didn't go in the direction I thought it would, and yet the plot really dragged getting us there.

But, I'm not giving up on Joanne, David, Lewis or the rest of the series. Lewis has made some decisions in this book that will have consequences reaching who knows how far. (Ashan, the sole Djinn conduit? Look out Wardens...) And once again, Caine has left us with a complete cliffhanger for an ending that will have us waiting with baited breath for the next installment. (Just...human...) So will Joanne and David find their powers again? Will they have an actual baby in the next installment? I hope so, although with Joanne and David being magnets for danger, that could go wrong too.

Overall, while I felt this book was another good addition to the Weather Warden series (and Ms Caine, THANK YOU for not turning this series over to ghost writers!), I felt it was not as good as others in the series. Nevertheless, I'm already drooling for the next one!

The book starts off almost in mid-sentence. There's no prologue or build-up or getting you back into the books. Just BAM - we're continuing a story already in progress.

While the book was typical Rachel Caine and you plow through it quickly with it's fast pace and interesting, ongoing stories and characters, I felt this one lack some intensity at points. What starts off as the huge, pressing fear - the hurricane - just kind of bobs along for several days as they cruise around the ocean.

Jo's decent towards "evil" was more annoying that exciting and the I'm Good/I'm Bad and the I'm In Control/I'm Losing Control bit was done too much as well. After all she's been through, to give up so easily to some mark (and then later a spear) - even after she was supposedly entirely clear of the influence - was very uncharacteristic.

In typical Rachel Caine fashion, the book ends abruptly and on a cliffhanger, setting up for the next book but making you wonder how many more times the world can be ending.

Sometimes a Weather Warden just can't catch a break! Instead of enjoying a honeymoon with her new djinn husband, David, with no more worries than whether she can match his passion for her, Joanne Baldwin finds herself once more demon-marked and struggling to retain control of her sanity, while about to set sail - on a luxury cruise ship, no less - into the teeth of hurricane, in an attempt to prevent it from devastating much of Florida. Luckily, she's accompanied on this voyage by a mixed group of Wardens and djinn, including David, of course; Lewis, leader of the Wardens and the most powerful human on the planet; Kevin, the semi-psychotic teenager; and her best friend, Cherise, whose beach-bunny beauty hides an inner core of steely determination, and a good thing, too, as Joanne's going to need all the help she can get, what with obnoxious first-class passengers who've refused to be evacuated, mysterious djinn-killers on board, and the demon-possessed Bad Bob, who's looking to bring about the end of the world.

If all this seems confusing, then you obviously haven't come across Rachel Caine's Weather Wardens series before, of which Cape Storm is the eighth volume. The initial concept - that the weather, and Mother Earth, is conscious and aware at some level, and would scour humanity from the planet if it weren't for the activities of a select group of people with powers over the elements - is undoubtedly a great one, and Joanne and David's travails thus far have made interesting, if undemanding, reading. Joanne makes a sassy protagonist - always bucking authority to do what's right, while also having a weakness for fast cars, designer fashion and her super-powered djinn lover - while David provides a dedicated foil - impossibly devoted and gorgeous, but yet vulnerable due to his djinn nature.

One of the strengths of this particular volume is how everything seems to make sense as Joanne gradually loses her battle with demon-mark and begins to behave in ways she normally wouldn't (the books are written in the first person) - a reader can follow her corruption from her own perspective, and Caine keeps the action moving swiftly and tells her story in a slim 300 or so pages. Weaknesses, I would say, are the central plot point of Joanne swimming through the Caribbean, which just seems unrealistic, and the somewhat pat solutions in the closing section, almost as if Caine suddenly realised she'd written herself into a corner and needed to get out of it quickly. Nevertheless, if you're a Weather Wardens fan, you'll enjoy this instalment, and probably look forward to the next one (the book ends on the by now customary cliff-hanger), although perhaps not as eagerly as you did to some of the earlier books; if you haven't entered Joanne and David's world before, take a look at Ill Wind , and see what you think.

I love this series but I think this episode shows signs that book 9 better be the last.

Joanne's back taking names that people want to keep secret and kicking asses that didn't think they could get kicked and in general turning into not just a trouble maker who always does what people tell her not to do, but someone who takes on more and more responsibility for righting wrongs.

The problem is the pirates. I think the author watched Pirates of the Caribbean -- all of them -- too many times. They talk too much. They're high school editions of pirates. They're not up to Joanne's weight class in any way shape or form. They're not paper tigers, they're toilet paper tigers. Wet ones. I felt like the author was just trying to fill out the necessary pages. Not up to her usual stuff.

But I really loved the reintroduction of Rahel. She's one of my favorite Djinn (Barbara Eden on speed).

I'm looking forward to reading Total Eclipse but if it's not better than this, it's over.