Ill Wind by Rachel Caine
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Sometimes coming in with lowered expectations can pay off. This was just barely one of those times.
Rachel Caine writes up many a figurative storm in Ill Wind. The narrator’s voice is chatty and forthright without grating on my intolerance for women who spend too much time thinking about clothes, shoes, cars, and how hot they are. Well…maybe it grated a little.
Somehow the Djinn were at once not explored enough and also made too human to retain their mystique. The first sighting of the Djinn was exciting, I couldn’t wait to see the dynamic play out. I would have liked to know more about their history with the Wardens (and the history of the Warden’s themselves), maybe more exploration/exploitation of that thorough list of rules at the beginning.
I also wish Joanne had been given a bit more present to contextualize her past. A lot of info was dumped about her and then never mentioned again. Honestly, I could have run wild with her speshul snowflake childhood stories and the whole learning to control the weather stuff. But then, maybe spinning the story out wouldn’t have worked, given the entire thing is structured around a very unlikely road trip/car chase. Unlikely given the lack of sleep she mentions frequently,, the number of times she has to stop (the woman drinks a lot of coffee, you’re tryna tell me our delicate flower doesn’t need frequent pee breaks?), and the gratuitous liberties Caine takes with the geography of the United States.
Lastly, I’d have loved to have seen more of Lewis in the present day in this book. Granted, now I plan to read all of them to see if there is more of him to come, but I am curious to know what his deal is. Also I get the feeling that since every man ever is in love with this chick (no idea why, she’s in this perpetual state of emotional and physical unavailability, re: lightning} the fact that she was with both her mentor, the Djinn, and him at some point would have raised eyebrows. And now she’s dead. I mean…the possibilities, man.
I don’t know, you go through the whole story telling me this chick wanted to succeed in her career and be promoted and self actualize because she’s SOOOO powerful, and then you kind of kill/superpower her. Frankly, I was reminded of the Twilight series. She was a lot more interesting than Bella, though weirdly into similar things like old cars…and she goes and gets “saved” by being turned into a superhuman creature. Been there, read that.
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All in all though, despite its flaws Ill Wind was a decent beach read. Lots of explosions and bad-ass weather manipulation, explained in technical detail. Bad geography, but what are you gonna do.