Ill Wind: The heart-stopping urban fantasy adventure (Weather Warden, #1)

by Rachel Caine

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 but Joanne and her classic Mustang are racing hard to find him - because there's some bad weather closing in fast.

• ISBN10: 0749010363
• ISBN13: 9780749010362
• Publish Date: 7 February 2011 (first published 2 December 2003)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: GB
• Imprint: Allison & Busby
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 414
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

ll Winds is the first audiobook in the Weather Wardens series. All are available in ebook, print, and audiobook format. In this urban fantasy we meet Joanne Baldwin, a powerful weather warden. When we meet her, she is running from a storm and headed to Lewis, the one person she thinks can help her. It appears Joanne has been demon marked and accused of murder.

The tale is an action packed road trip with unusual weather, threats and Djinn. Woot!

Rachel Caine is a masterful storyteller and she quickly pulled me in. We learn on the open road as Joanne wrangles her Mustang and picks up a hitchhiker named David.

Through flashbacks, we get Joanne’s history and that of the Warden council. We learn about the different elemental wardens like fire, earth and weather. We gain insight into why she is seeking Lewis’s help, about her friend Star and the warden Joanne is accused of killing.

As first in series, Caine did a stellar job of introducing us, setting up dynamics between characters and allowing me to form favorites.

Dina Pearlman nailed Joanne and did a wonderful job giving voice to the other characters. The audiobook was produced in 2010 and shows it. The sound quality isn’t up to par from voices fading and background noises. We’ve come a long way since then. I plan to continue on audio since I enjoy urban fantasy in this format and will slowly pick them up. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[Angie]

Ill Wind is another book that's been sitting on my TBR for nearly a decade, and I probably would have enjoyed it more back then. I still enjoyed it, especially at the end, but it feels dated and I've certainly read better Urban Fantasy. This one is unique though in that it does lean heavily on meterology. And I am a sucker for combining Science with the Paranormal.

Joanne is a weather warden. She controls air and water, which essentially means that she controls the weather. Other wardens can control earth or fire. When we meet Joanne she's being chased by a storm and we have no idea why. She's looking for some guy named Lewis and again, we don't know why. In fact, we don't find out anything in regards to the plot until about 2/3 in. Which is only three chapters, since they're all 70+ pages each.

The majority of this book is flashbacks and most of them aren't even relevant to what's happening now. We get Joanne's dating history from her first kiss to losing her virginity. We're told all about her parents' divorce, her mom's new man, and a trip to Disney World. Yet, we still don't know why Joanne is running, why she killed a man, and why she thinks this other man can save her.

The plot does deal with an interesting twist on demon possession. I liked that a lot, once it was actually discussed. There's also Djinn which are pretty interesting, and they're actually the only reason I'm interested in reading the next book. I think now that all of the world set up is out of the way, and we know Jo, the sequel should actually focus on plot. At least, I hope so.