Week ending 5 Feb 2011

Amazon.com

• On the Hunt (Anthology) (Showalter, Butcher, Andersen, Knight)

Barnes and Noble.com (gift card)

• Visions of Magic (Regan Hastings)
• Darkness Dawns (Dianne Duvall)

Audible.com (Not pictured) (credits + sale)

• Persuasion (Jane Austen/Anne Flosnik)
• Ill Wind (Rachel Caine/Dina Pearlman)
• The Convenient Marriage (Georgette Heyer/Caroline Hunt)
• The Secret History of the Pink Carnation (Lauren Willig/Kate Reading)

Ill Wind

Back: Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. Usually, all it takes is a wave of her hand to tame the most violent weather. But now Joanne is trying to outrun another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. So she’s resorting to the very human tactic of running for her life. Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful Warden. Unfortunately, he’s also on the run from the World Council. It seems he’s stolen not one but three bottles of Djinn — making him the most wanted man on earth. And without Lewis, Joanne’s chances of surviving are as good as a snowball in — well, a place she may be headed. So she and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him because there’s some bad weather closing in fast.

Comments: Joanne is a lot more powerful than she believes herself to be. She’s good at what she does and just does it. She accepts an offer from one of her bosses to help him with a special project of his. Unfortunately, it’s not what she was expecting and now she’s on the run, accused of murder and infected with a demon. Lewis — or any Djinn — is Joanne’s only chance of survival: The demon cannot overpower a Djinn. Joanne believes that all Lewis would have to do is order one of his Djinn to remove the demon, and one of her problems would be solved.

If it were only that simple.

The underlining theme of the book is the choices people, and Djinn (free ones anyway), make and the consequences of those choices. When she realize that foisting a demon on a Djinn is just as wrong as infesting another human, Joanne refuses to take the easy way out. To Wardens, Djinn are tools. When bound together, Djinn and Warden powers are enhanced and they can control the most powerful storms, earthquakes, and fires. But bound Djinn have no choice when ordered to do something they find ethically wrong. It takes an encounter with an unbound Djinn for Joanne to realize that they are living creatures with feelings and concepts of right and wrong.

This book is almost non-stop action, as Joanne tries to out-run storms and the Wardens. Since I read the blurb for Heat Stroke before I finished the book, I knew how this book would end. But that didn’t distract me from the story. I really loved the concepts of the Wardens and I’m looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Started: 26 April 2008
Finished: 4 May 2008

LOVED IT !!

Rating: