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| Heat
Stroke (Weather Warden book 2) by Rachel Caine check out website: www.penguin.com and www.rachelcaine.com and http://www.livejournal.com/users/rachelcaine/
All of the pre-death stuff having happened in last year's 'Ill Wind', most of Joanne's traumas should have been out of the way for 'Heat Stroke'. Aside from the whole being dead thing, of course, but hey, a girl can't have everything. What she can have now that she's a Djinn is a nice pair of strappy lime-green Manalos at her disposal. Assuming she can remember them, along with her clothes, every time she materialises.
But, sadly, being an all-powerful Djinn isn't all it was cracked up to be. Not only does she have most of the problems she had as a human Weather Warden, but now she has to learn to deal with all of the Djinn issues, too. The main one being to avoid being forcibly stuffed into a bottle/lamp at all costs, because you can never quite be sure what the person holding said bottle/lamp will ask you to do/get you to wear. All it takes is one nasty encounter dressed
in a PVC French maid outfit for Kevin the teenager (seriously making me wonder
if the author has ever watched Harry Enfield...!) and Joanne is thoroughly off
the idea of Djinn-hood. Having to obey Kevin's sadistic, homicidal Evil-Bitch
stepmother and fellow Warden Yvonne, though, is worse than anything Kevin could
dream up. Oh, not to mention the end of the world approaching. Again! 'Heat Stroke' takes the lead from the preceding book and presents a neat, stylish and very witty addition to the genre, all wrapped up in a narrative voice to die for. Joanne being addicted to fast cars, Manalo Blahniks and Ralph Lauren's summer collection (except the Capri pants, for some reason) probably suggest more of a chicklit influence than is strictly true. Like Kelley Armstrong, another strong new author in the
'girlie' end of the fantasy scale, the 'Sex And The City'-inspired trappings add
colour and camouflage to the bigger issues deftly woven through underneath, plus
a dollop of sweet, sexy romance. Never let it be said that the characters gets
let off easily or that books like this should merely be categorised under 'fluff'.
Not with writing this strong and such an effective dark streak underlying proceedings. The trump card 'Heat Stroke' holds, besides a wise-cracking heroine worthy
of Buffy at her best, is the fact that the weather is a magic system that can't
be cheated. There is another magic system in play - the one the more elemental
Djinn tap into - seeing the weather manipulated on both a literal and metaphysical
level lends weight and credence to the talent Joanne has been dealing with all
her life. Managing to be hugely entertaining and highly informative
in terms of the weather-science stuff, it's mainly just a really good read. Did
I mention it was funny? Added to such neat touches as an epilogue listing all
the music the Rachel Caine played whilst writing the book and an author website
that expands on the mythology nicely and it doesn't take much to win me over again. It's perfectly possible to read
Book Two without having read the first one (you even get a snazzy 'story so far')
but you'll probably get more out of it if they're read in order. With the good
news that the series has been commissioned up to book five, it looks as though
we're off to Vegas next time around. Can't wait, personally. Jennifer Howell
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OTHER REVIEWS - August 2004
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Joanne isn't exactly having a good week. Despite having
the ability to deflect a hurricane without even thinking about it, she's been
infected with a demon mark, chased halfway across the country by her own employers,
fallen for a really cute guy who isn't what he seems, betrayed by her best friend
and that was all before she died, got turned into a Djinn and showed up at her
own (very tasteful) funeral...
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