Customer Reviews

Undone (Outcast Season, Book 1)

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Undone is the first book of a new series from Rachel Caine. However, reader beware....you will get much more out of this book if you first read the Weather Warden series of books before you embark upon this series.

Let me say that I LOVED this book. I'm a fan of the Weather Warden series. If you've read any of that series, then you know about the ongoing struggles and alliances between the Djinn (old and new) and the Wardens (bad & good). The new series focuses on an Old Djinn who is cast out (and her Djinn powers "undone") by Ashan when she refuses to complete the task that he ordered her to complete. The Old Djinn that is cast out is Cassiel. Ashan transforms Cassiel into a human with some very limited Djinn-like powers that can only be supported by energies Cassiel draws from a Warden.

Undone is a book of twists and turns. The set-up of the book in the early chapters has many characters that you will know from the Warden series, including Joanna, David, and Lewis. Those characters introduce the situation and then spin Cassiel off to New Mexico with a Warden who accepts responsibility for watching and "training" Cassiel. As the book progresses, major characters are attacked. Cassiel must attempt to navigate her new "life" without her Djinn powers AND while under attack from "bad" wardens and an unknown force. The motives and who-done-it atmosphere of the book will keep you guessing until the very last chapter.

The book is a good introduction to the new series with a substantial hook into why additional books are required to tell the whole story. If you are a fan of the Weather Warden series, I think you will love the Outkast Season series for the in-depth look at the Djinn that is not present in any of the Weather Warden books.

The Djinn Cassiel was ancient when man had yet to appear on the earth. She is one of the Old Ones wanting nothing to do with humanity as she believes they are beneath her. Unlike David, she never lived amidst these human fleas; preferring life on the aether plane of pure energy. She is cold and treacherous even to her own kind.

Her life crashed when her Master, the newly made Conduit Ashan orders her to perform a task, but she refuses. As punishment for saying no, he changes her substance and exiles her in human form from the aether. Stunned Cassiel still needs aether energy to survive, but can only obtain it through the help of a weather warden. It is arranged that earth warden Manny Rocha will be her aether supplier in return for her assisting him with his job. The longer she remains in human form, the more she learns how to feel and that soon leads to her caring deeply for Manny and his family even his brother Luis. When tragedy strikes, instead of walking away to find a new host, Cassie and Luis team up seeking to find Manny's kidnapped daughter who Cassiel has learned to love.

Rachel Caine, weather warden writing wizard, begins a sidebar series with the outcast Cassiel that will enthrall her fans as this is an excellent addition to the growing Caine mythos. Cassiel is terrific as a haughty essence who struggles with humanization learning first hand what a human is. Her transformation is brilliant as she is UNDONE by Manny and his family. With an abduction to add suspense, this superb urban fantasy enhances the author's universe while setting up the sequel.

Harriet Klausner

I was excited when I saw that Rachel Caine was doing something aside from the Weather Warden series but still in the same universe.

This time, the reader is introduced to former Djinn Cassiel (not Cassie), who suddenly finds herself powerless and cast out from the only life she has know. Undone begins with Cassiel's introduction to Caine's well-known characters from the Weather Warden series -Joanne, David, Lewis and others. After being forced to cope with her new mortal existence, Cassiel is sent off with Earth Warden Luis to start a new life.

Undone is everything that fans of Caine's Weather Warden series -it's filled with plenty of action, fronted by a butt-kicking heroine and has enough twists and turns to keep readers interested. Caine's style is still as masterful as in the previous series, but something about Undone feels a little stilted and tired. Most likely this is due Cassiel's seemingly flat, emotionless character. While her lack of understanding humanity makes sense, it makes her exceeding less accessible (and generally less enjoyable) than Joanne. Also, since this series takes place in the same universe as Weather Warden, there is very little here that feels new. Nothing amazingly different about the world is revealed and while learning more about the Djinn was kind of interesting, it wasn't compelling enough for me that it could launch a new series completely.

Sadly, Undone made me wish for more adventures of Warden Joanne Baldwin, as well as something more original from Rachel Caine. While Caine has created an amazing and vivid universe here, it seems like it's been just a little too exhausted and could use a rest.

First of all, you can read this book without reading the Weather Warden series by Rachael Caine, but it will help immensely in your understanding and enjoyment of the book if you have read that series.

Cassiel, an Old Djinn, was cast out by the leader, Ashan, for her failure/agreement to commit a order from him. As punishment, Ashan stripped Cassiel of all of her powers and throws her to Earth as a human - but as a human who needs constant contact with a Weather Warden in order to daily "leech" powers to maintain her lifeforce. Cassiel is assigned to work with Manny Rocha on Weather Warden issues, and her change from Djinn to human is great reading. Caine did an excellent 5 star job at the beginning of this book, transitioning Cassiel from a cold, arrogant, self-serving Djinn to a member of the human race. Cassiel's bewilderment and adjustment to human ways and bodily functions is handled terrific.

When I use to read the Weather Warden books, I felt the series "jumped the shark" at Book 5, and I ceased being enthralled with them and waiting eagerly for each book. The same reasons for the dissatisfaction with that series became the reason that Undone went from 5 stars to 3 in my mind. Caine can't write a straight forward plot - her characters take off in various directions, traveling here and there at breakneck speed, at times accomplishing little except to make the plot more and more complicated - and that plot is always the same - SAVE HUMANITY. Caine can't write a book that doesn't involve either world domination, killing the human race or the destruction of the globe. So it is with the book, Undone. After the tragic kidnapping of Isobel Rocha, Manny's daughter and Luis' niece, Cassiel and Luis join forces to find her. Along the way, they come to realize that Isobel's kidnapping is part of a much greater scheme of using children of Wardens to wipe out the entire human race.

Another failing of Caine's works is her inability to write a book that does not end in a cliffhanger. I realize that it should be expected because the books are numbered as a series, which pretty much tells you that the story continues; however, some resolutions should happen at the end of each book, and they don't. I probably won't read anymore in this series. The same flaws that weaved through the Weather Warden series obviously apply here. While Caine is a very inventive and excellent writer, her inability to dampen her grandiose plots make for unnecessarily complicated schemes and at times, confusing reading.

"Undone" is set in an alternate modenern day world, that mixes Djinn (humanoid magical creatures from another plane of existance), weather wardens (human mages that enslave Djinn for a power boost), and regular humans. The main character is a Djinn who is magically turned into a human as a punishment. The first third of the book is an enchanting exploration into her adjustment to being human. Okay, mostly human. This part is excellent, solid 5-star writing, up-beat and fun and fast paced.

The rest is devoted to convincing the reader to buy a long series of sequels. It meanders and has loads of padding. The closest thing this book has to a main plot (a kidnapped child) has neither climax nor resolution. As a consequence, the book by itself is very weak at the ending and entirely disappointing, perhaps 2-stars. The problem is that the author was so obsessed with setting up a new series that she failed to make this book into something that could be enjoyed by itself.

By the end of the book, the leading characters have accomplished nothing, and are in a hopeless situation that left me feeling that all of the sequels will likewise end in a cliffhanger.

If you are a fan of the Weather Warden series, I think you will LOVE this book. I've found the Weather Warden books to be pretty good overall with some slips here and there, but this new offshoot series about Cassiel is amazingly good. I highly recommend reading the Weather Warden series before reading this book. I suppose it might be understandable without the background stories, but it really adds to the layers to know who David and Ashan are and the difference between the Old and New Djinn. Cassiel should have been an unlikable character, but Ms. Caine has a done a wonderful job of taking a pride-filled former Djinn and making her into a wonderfully sympathetic person, and the story is, no if-ands-or-buts, interesting. I can't wait for the next installment in this new series!

Cassiel's tale begins upon her ejection from her "heaven", which is in actuality, the aetheric. It is at this point, after being saved by David--the New Djinn's Conduit--that she learns she needs Wardens in order to survive. For you see, when she was banished from the aetheric, her powers were banished also, meaning she is now a human. Something she is not thrilled about.

It takes a family--the Rochas--to slowly melt her ice encased heart. But when this is finally achieved, will it be too late for her? For them? For humanity?



If you haven't read Caine's Weather Warden series yet, I strongly suggest you stop where you are and pick up those books first. Or at least, read the first one, okay? I'm telling you this now, because while you can read Undone without too much prior knowledge of the Weather Warden universe, you're not gonna know who the hell all these other characters are that are introduced in the beginning. You're also going to read about lots of allusions to past events in the other series and be like huh? And I know that some people might not be thrilled about that, especially in the start of the book. Plus, Caine doesn't delve further into these concepts as much in Undone as she does in her Weather Warden series. So, I think people might be a teensy bit confused if they start with the Outcast Season series first. Just my fair warning.

Warning aside, Caine does it again with beautiful characterization. Cassiel had me cracking up with her strange Djinn mannerisms at the start. Seriously, they were hilarious. I fell in love with her persona all over again the past two days because of that, it was wonderful.

Cassiel's thoughts really invade your own, effecting the way you view the other characters. You grow bored of a certain person when she does. Your interest is sparked when hers is with Luis. You feel a softening of emotions towards little Isabel. It's the strangest thing, because it doesn't happen often enough for me as a reader. Usually I still feel somewhat detached, but with Undone, I felt as if I were Cassiel at times.

I found that the most interesting aspect of the story was Cassiel coping with all of these new human emotions. Seeing things initially through a Djinn's perspective is a great new and interesting approach.

It's definitely worth checking out, especially if you're a fan of Rachel Caine.

This book started off a little rough for me, but about 1/3 of the way through, the story became more believable (as believable as a Djinn story can be). Cassiel, one of the Old Djinn) was cast out of the Djinn by Ashen (leader of the Old Djinn) and was forced to human flesh. Needing the power of a Warden to sustain her, Cassiel (a.k.a Cassie) is fighting for survival, and in the process, learning what it is to be human and to love and care for other humans. This has the potential for a great seiries, however, it might be hard to maintain two intertwining stories (Weather Wardens series and this series) without deluding from each other. I look forward to book #2.

First of all, you will appreciate Undone so much more if you've read the first few Weather Warden books, that way you'll have a handle on the workings of the Weather Warden world and a good idea of why there is a certain amount of emnity between the Djinn and the Wardens. Secondly, you'll appeciate Undone even more with it's fresh take on Caine's great world, especially since the last book, Gale Force (Weather Warden, Book 7), left us with a feeling of de ja vu.

There is an oddness and disconnection in the beginning of Undone, due to our seeing the world through the newly human eyes of ancient former Djinn Cassiel. Cassiel has been trapped in mortal flesh as punishment for her refusal to obey the command of the leader of the old Djinn faction, Ashan. But that sense of disconnection quickly passes as Cassiel starts experiencing the emotions triggered by her human senses, and as she forms a bond with Weather Warden Manny Rocha who volunteers to take responsiblity for Cassiel - and to provide a link to the aetheric energy that is sustainence to the former Djinn even in her now human form. Her connection to Manny, Manny's wife and child, and later Manny's brother Luis, is really what humanizes Cassiel.

But this is the Weather Warden world, so trouble abounds. And with plots and attacks threatening Manny's family - both by a gang out to punish Luis, and a group of rogue Weather Wardens - Cassiel soon finds herself suffering the pain of loss and loneliness. Of course the plot she uncovers means the fate of both the Djinn and all of the humans on Earth yet again hang in the balance (it is the Weather Warden world after all). That fate is in the now human hands of Cassiel and she is up against an enemy who is powerful enough to unmake the mighty immortal Djinn. I enjoyed Undone, and look forward to watching how Cassiel handles her humanity, her attraction to Luis, and the the threat to the Djinn as her story is left `to be continued' in Unknown.

While the part of the story this book covers is well written, suspenseful and captivating, it does the one unforgivable sin that this author has perpetrated before. The book ends as a cliff hanger. I am not reading any other books by this author. While I enjoyed her writing and stories it strikes be as the most immature form of writing to not be able to complete a story within the confines of the covers. This author is not Scheherazade I would have read her next book with out this blackmail. Great authors (think Tolkien) have managed to tell multi-book stories without leaving you in the middle of a plotline.