The World is on fire. And where are the weather wardens? Some of them are missing and some of them are dead. And once again its up to Joanne to save the world or what is left of it anyways.
Firestorm is the 5th book in Rachel Caine’s weather warden series. This series is quite a thrill ride using a unique world set up, a strong female character, interesting supporting characters and plenty of action to keep you enthralled. Warning: In this series it is necessary for you to start at the beginning and read it through, so if you haven’t read books 1-4 you may not want to read this review as it could give away plot points from the other novels.
Background: Joanne is a weather warden. These are people who can use magic to manipulate the weather. They try to keep floods, tornadoes, wild fires and all those other weather nasties from destroying humanity. But it is all a secret; no one knows that the wardens are out there protecting humanity.
Plot: As if Joanne thought it couldn’t get any worse; because, it has been a heck of a year for her, she died a couple of times, found a boyfriend only he is a djinn (genie) and lost him, only to sort of get him back, and had a child with him. She also left the weather wardens organization and now has sort of joined them again. Because its getting bad out there, the Djinn have declared their freedom from the wardens and have declared war against humanity and for the first time, and mother nature is waking up and she is mad about what humanity has done to her, the planet. Humanity has one chance to survive and that is for Joanne to talk to one of the oracles (who have a direct connection to Mother Earth (Mother Nature)) and convince Mother Nature that humanity isn’t all bad and that we shouldn’t be destroyed. That is kind of a hefty order, but if anyone can handle it, it is Joanne, if she can keep from getting killed by the Djinn who are trying to stop her. There are several Djinn who would like nothing better than to see the extinction of the human race including the second most powerful Djinn, Ashan. Ashan would like nothing better than for Joanne to fail so that humanity with disappear, therefore he will stop at nothing to make sure that she does not succeed in talking with the oracles. Meanwhile, the world is going to heck in a hand basket, all kinds of natural disasters are occurring as a symptom of Mother Earth’s awakening. Can what is left of the weather wardens keep the natural disasters in check and can Joanne save them all? You will have to read the novel to find out.
I really enjoy Caine’s writing style; she always combines plenty of action with interesting and unique characters that always keep me intrigued. She gives us the right amount of information about her world intermixed in the action that satisfies my curiosity without slowing down the plot. Her books are an easy read that move well. I have read most of her novels in one sitting.
Firestorm once again brings us some unique characters. First off we have Joanne. The girl who can survive anything it seems. She has lots of power (she is actually one of the most powerful wardens) but she is just a girl in love with fashion, fast cars and boys. She handles her responsibilities well even though she would prefer to chill on a beach. She is a conflicting and interesting character whose voice I just love. I like David, the Djinn boyfriend, we don’t know as much about him as I would like because he has been away from Joanne a lot, but I still think he will manifest as something very interesting in the later books. Lewis is becoming more and more prominent and we are learning a lot about him (he is the most powerful warden and in love with Joanne) and I am starting to really like him. He is another very powerful character who just seems normal. I also like Joanne’s new friend Cherise, the rich, fashion model-eske girl. I bet she develops more in the later books and Joanne’s Djinn daughter, Imara, is very interesting. She knows everything that David knew and Joanne knew at the time of her birth, which makes a very interesting character indeed. She was born fully-grown but has no life experience and she is also powerful which makes for an interesting combination in character. I can’t wait for her character to be more fleshed out.
Firestorm is an excellent installment to the series. I like Caine’s writing style. The world she set up is an interesting deviation from our reality much in the way of a Kim Harrison novel or a Laurell K Hamilton novel. And I love her characters. I would suggest taking along two or three of Caine’s novels on your vacation to the beach because once you read one of them it will leave you craving for more. And I for one can’t wait to read the next one.