Customer Reviews

Thin Air (Weather Warden, Book 6)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

First of all, it took me about three hours to get through this book. That's short even by my standards.

The good: Continues where Firestorm left off, lots of action, and an overall well-paced read. There was little lag time, and Ms. Caine makes her characters very interesting. I actually care about them. We got some cute backstories, more info on Venna (Alice, the Djinn), and the final reunion of Joanne with the Wardens (the constant on the run from everyone including her former employers was getting a bit old). The idea was fresh, at least to me, in that chunks of the story were told from the point of view of memories; it was a creative idea. The Sarah storyline was handled in an interesting manner, I'm curious how it plays out later on. It kind of came from nowhere, but provided an intriguing twist.

The mediocre: There are times where I scratch my head and go "huh?" at some of the events in this book (and others in the series). The "evil twin" concept didn't work too well for me, it just feels cliche. The storytelling keeps this from being too much of a negative, though.

The bad: There is always a bad, and in this case it's that Ms. Caine is falling into the LK Hamilton mode of deus ex machina. How convenient that the now-deceased Imara is the new Earth Oracle. How convenient that this results in Joanne getting Earth Warden powers at just the right time. How convenient that she is now the second most powerful person in the world. And how convenient that the Djinn who like her break away from the Djinn who mostly do not. It's things like this which bug me. Does Joanne need more powers? She is a take-no-grief character who started out as a Weather Warden, died, became a Djinn, was reborn, gained Fire Warden abilities, has several Djinn actively assisting her at every turn, and is now an Earth Warden, making her only the second triple-threat to exist. I hope Joanne doesn't go the way of Anita Blake and find new powers in every book. She doesn't need them, she is an amazing character all on her own.

Reviewing "Firestorm" I said I would probably pick up the sixth book in the Weather Wardens Series if I could read to Chapter Two. I managed to do that and to some extent, "Thin Air" has restored my faith in the series.

The story opens with a woman awakening nude and freezing in a forest. A man comes to rescue her, she knows this man as Lewis, but she doesn't know her own name or whether this man is friend or the person who put her in her current predicament.

Ooooh, that's a very good start!

Unfortunately, we spend a lot of time in that forest with person after person showing up that the woman doesn't recognize between her bouts of near freezing.

Yes, our Mystery Girl is Joanna Baldwin, and to add to the confusion, she's now got Earth powers to add to Weather and Fire. Her friends have cleared up Jo's concern over her amnesia--someone stole her memories, but where did she get the new gift?

Pretty quickly, the plot thickens. Someone killed her daughter, Imara. Joanna's got a demonic doppelganger fully equipped with her memories who's convinced the Weather Wardens she is the real Joanna and setting them against her. Her sister Sarah and boyfriend, Eamon, come into the fray. Ultimately, Jo's got to stop her Evil Twin before something dire happens--whatever that something is and her only ally is the djinn, Venna, a little girl who looks like "Alice in Wonderland" and is probably closer in reliability to the Mad Hatter.

"Thin Air" is an action-packed ride. The usual Jo Baldwin cross country car chase epic moves from forest to desert to the East Coast. Of course, she's got a souped up car and some interesting companions like always.

The format is the same as the other Weather Warden novels. A lot of readers have problems with varying story arcs within the text, which to some extent, you'll all agree is a lot like real life.

"Thin Air" is better than "Firestorm" in that it leaves fewer questions unresolved, but if you're looking for a fantasy series with stand alone components---this series is not it.

We also get to see some hope for a character I've been following with interest for a long time. That's one of the best things about Caine's novels--you really have a chance to get involved with her people and you're wanting to see their lives come out all right.

While "Thin Air" isn't precisely my favorite or the best in the series, it's back on track with the original stories that I totally loved. I definitely will be anticipating the next book in the series.

Rachel Caine writes really well. Her books are a joy to pick up; it's difficult to put them down (try digging into a Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey and putting the spoon away...). That's the good news.

The bad news is that this series is drifting. What started as a solid trilogy has now reached it's 6th book and promises not to stop. That's fun if you're really into Chunky Monkey. If you're into a good story, at some moment you'd like to see the end and move on.

Joanne has lost her memory. In the process of finding it back, we're reacquainted with almost everyone we've met so far. Personally, I'd like to see a story move forwards (not backwards).

In short: a really enjoyable book. But the continued milking of this series is threatening its quality.
My advise: bring it to an end. Start up a new series on the Djinn.

It was interesting reading a book that is number six in a series that essentially starts the story over in many ways. I admit I didn't go back and read any of the other 5 before starting this latest offering of Ms. Caine, and so basically entered the book as amnesial as the main character. This does mean that I may have lost some of the undertones, but I also think it helped me come into the story with a similar sense of faint familiarity for the characters, yet without being able to unroll their entire history from memory.
Her writing style continues to entertain, and I still like her heroine [as well as some of the sidekicks]. Ms. Caine is clearly trying to keep her style fresh, and hasn't dipped too far into the romance side of what has become an interesting paranormal story on its own. Good work, and a good continuation.
Perhaps the best thing I will comment on is that Ms. Caine is still ptting together books that have a story that is encompassed by the book. Yes, there is a larger arc going on, but there is still a story that starts on page 1 and ends with the back cover. This one is far closer to violating my preference for one book, one story, since it starts where the last one left off, but there are still resolution points, and things happen within the story.

This book was a bit of a disappointment to me. It just seemed repetitive. Sought of like a replay book for those who haven't read the previous books. The book picks up from the end of Windfall where Jo has lost her memory or rather someone is trying to erase her existence; starting with whipping out her memory. Next, comes the long recap, which I hate! (I know I'm not the most patient person in the world but I do hate repeats) Somehow Lewis and Dave catch-up to Jo before she freezes to death; from being lost and naked in some forest. The adult demon we met in Windfall, coincidentally now wants to become Jo and is hell-bent on taking Jo's place. Jo's sister Sarah and Eamon are a match made in hell. I hate to see Sarah not have progressed and is still as pathetic since we first met her in Windfall. I am so disappointed about the situation with Imara. Why did they bother to introduce us to her in the first place? After we barely get to know her, now she's some oracle? What a waste of a good character. I pretty much sped through this book. Hopefully the next in the series, Gale Force will not disappoint. Anymore installments like Thin Air and I'd have to stop reading the series. Very few series are 100% perfect but this book was a total let down.

This is a much better book than its predecessor! The story moves along at breakneck speed and there are lots of unexpected twists and turns along the way. The memory-aspect of the book is done well, and Rachel Caine's method of revealing bits of Joanne's past by delving memories out of other characters' minds let's us see Joanne Baldwin in a new light, as others in the cast see her.

Good action, strong story line, and believable dialogue make this a winner.

I stumbled across the first book in the Weather Warden series by accident. I plowed through the first 4 in 2 days. Luckily, the wait wasn't long for #5. The wait for "Thin Air" seemed like eons. I read it the first day it came out and wanted more, so I read the series over from the beginning. This is a tightly written group of novels. Each book builds on the one before it, so it is best to read them in order.

Thin air started where Firestorm left off. When Joanne wakes up, she is alone, freezing and has no memory. Lewis comes to her aid, but she doesn't remember him and has no idea if she should trust him. All of the tragedies she experienced in the previous book are forgotten. Without giving any spoilers, Jo ends up fighting everyone for her life. People she trusted no longer trust her.

If you like Kim Harrison, early LKH and Kelly Armstrong, you should enjoy this series. Rachel Caine's Weather Warden series is on my 'buy and read the day it comes out' list.

I've enjoyed the unique, intriguing, and well-written Weather Warden series from the beginning and wholeheartedly recommend this series, as well as Ms Caine's other series (Red Letter series: Devil's Bargain, Devil's Due; Morganville Vampires series: Glass Houses (Book 1), The Dead Girls' Dance (Book 2), Midnight Alley (Book 3)).

Unfortunately, Thin Air is a little bit of a let down from the other books in the series, even though this book starts off with a blast, and the action rolls on from there pretty much without a stop. The excitement of learning how Joanne has come to lose her memory and why spurs the reader to continue reading. Along the way, we see much more of the interaction among the Wardens, among the Djinn, and even between David and Lewis and the perpetually sulky teen, Kevin. All of which is good.

So why the disappointment? you ask.

The notion of the evil twin, as also commented by other reviewers, is a long-established one. That's not to say old ideas can't be given new life, of course. Alas, Thin Air doesn't really take the idea and run with it. In fact, once I read how and why the evil twin came to be and its purpose, I was strongly reminded of the shapeshifter in Patricia Briggs's book When Demons Walk. The creature in Ms Briggs's story had essentially the same reasons for why it did what it did as the evil twin in Ms Caine's book.

In addition, while I was overjoyed to discover the resurrection (so to speak) of a character, I wasn't so enamored of what that brought: Joanne's new power. That did seem somewhat convenient.

The one true twist was the entire scenario involving Eamon and Sarah. I confess I was never a big fan of the these characters (well, yes, of course that's the point; what I mean is the reappearance of these 2 unlikable people seemed out of the blue and didn't appear to serve much of a purpose except to throw a wrench in the works and to showcase Joanne's new power), but it looks like we'll be seeing more of them next. I'm hoping both Sarah and Eamon will be dealt with in a somewhat permanent manner.

The ending events of the last book were absolutely horrible emotionally. Ashan, the leader of the djinn who are against humanity killed Imara and completely wiped away all of Joanne's memories in an attempt to destroy her as well. This was all done in retaliation for stopping his plot to destroy humanity. In the beginning of this book Joanne wakes up naked in the snow with no knowledge of who she is. She is rescued by Lewis and David, but that does not go very smooth at first since she has no idea who they are. She reluctantly decides to trust them since they do seem to be helping her. Much to their surprise they realize she is now manifesting a new power category, earth. Lewis is the only other person who has manifested all three powers, so her new power really scares all of them as they do not know what it means. Joanne has always been powerful, but this takes it to crazy extremes and will make it interesting to see where it leads.

While trying to get back to warden headquarters to try and find out how to restore her memories, she runs into a demon who looks just like her. The demon has stolen her missing memories and idenitity, and if Joanne isn't careful she will lose everything to it. Joanne's position in the wardens is not something you would want a demon to have access to, as it would give the demon the means to cause a great amount of damage.

I cried so hard when Imara died. Even though she was only she was only around for such a short time, she was such an important part of Joanne's life. She had to make the heart wrenching decision to chose all of humanity over her daughter. It almost is a good thing Ashan stole Joanne's memories because I don't know if she could ever really forgive herself for choosing to not save her daughter, let alone function with that pain. At least for now she doesn't remember any of it, so the potential anguish at least isn't preventing her from going after the demon.

I almost didn't want to read this book because I didn't want to see and feel Imara's absence. Although it was really heartbreaking at times, I am glad I read it. The ending of this book gave a little bit of relief, but things are extremely tenuous at best. It wouldn't take much of anything to make everything come crashing down. I'm sure the next book will show even more craziness being thrown at Joanne, and luckily she has the new earth powers to help support herself.

OMG!!!! Go back to book one in this series. Do not start here. Rachel Caine is wonderful. This series is great - I love all the characters. It has been enjoyable watching them evolve. Hurry and read them all the next installment comes out soon.