Book Review - Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

Book 1

A girl and her car. When I turned 16 my dad bought a ‘69 Camaro…Convertible…Stock…prettiest shade of blue (Bright Blue Met. 71 for those in the know) you have ever seen. He bought it so his baby didn’t drive a shit-box. I love my dad!

I mention this because Joanne has a ‘71 midnight blue Mustang that she loves like a baby. If you have never driven a Muscle car I pity you. There is NOTHING like it. Cars today just don’t have the personality or raw power that they did then. And Joanne needs power. She is a Weather Warden, part of the Warden Association, a group of individuals who specialize in some of the Earth’s greatest elements. These Wardens have been around since forever, trying to keep Mother Earth from killing her unknowing passengers. There are three types Fire, Earth and Weather. Weather Wardens manipulate the weather to the benefit of mankind. Hurricane Andrew? Killed 20 Wardens and stripped the powers of at least 10 more. There were hundreds of Wardens working to control the storm, a storm that seemed to have a hunger, or a purpose. Imagine how bad it could have been without the Wardens.

But the Wardens don’t work alone. They have Djinns at their sides to be used as a source of power, kind of like a superconductor. They must obey their masters. But the Djinn are not slaves, and as it is said “the Djinn are children of fire…Fire serves no one forever. It is always ready to burn the hand that it warms.” So to explain in a nutshell, really powerful folks use demented almost all powerful beings to try to save the human race. But that isn’t the only faction. There are demons.

Aren’t there always? Demons are actually more powerful than Djinns, and they want access to our world in the worst way. Luckily for us they leave a mark on anyone they touch. Unluckily Joanne has the mark, through no fault of her own. All the girl wanted was the perfect bathing suit and a killer tan, is that too much to ask? Did I mention the dead body? Or the fact that Joanne killed her boss?

So we have one girl on the run; Wardens and Djinn acting as bounty hunters; lightning acting like Precision Attack Air-to-Surface Missiles every time she tries to leave her car. Friends who treat her like enemies, Enemy’s that may or may not be on her side, Delilah (her Stang…) isn’t feeling so very good. She has no clothes, no tampons and is wearing heals. What is a poor girl to do? Stop for a hitch hiker of course, but such a pretty hitchhiker…a girl has needs you know. And then things get interesting.

Perhaps not as interesting as drag racing down 128 at midnight in a 69 Camaro Convertible…stock, vs. a 1973 GTO, 1980 Corvette and a 1970 Chevelle…but that my friends is a story for another day.