Gale force

Gale Force, Rachel Caine's latest installment of the Weather Wardens series, is as per usual a very fun ride, albeit with a few minor bumps. There's a little less angst here than in previous installments, which is pleasant; there are several interesting little plot developments for the world at large. But be prepared for this episode just sort of stopping rather than reaching a real resolution. This is clearly a storyline meant to span multiple volumes.

Overall, though, Caine's writing remains strong and enjoyable. It's always a good sign when I'm resentful of any distraction that keeps me from finishing up a book, as happened with this one!

I have to admit, I have slid over into the Jo/Lewis camp--which means that a book involving a big ol' subplot about Jo marrying David is a little wistful-making. Don't get me wrong: I still think David is hot from head to toe. Problem is, in seven books in this series, we have little more to go on with David than 'he's hot' and 'he's devoted to Jo'. That's nice and all, but Lewis continues to be a way more interesting character.

And it doesn't help either that Ms. Caine keeps flinging us little hints that Jo still thinks Lewis is smoking hot, too. That bit with her very vividly imagining his hands as he helps her up into the Hummer? Whuff. ;)

That said, you'd know that Jo and David can't just get married all simple-like. Where would be the fun in that? No, we get most of the Djinn pitching a fit about the idea of David opening them all up to being enslaved all over again if he's going to swear vows to Joanne. And, for bonus mileage, we get a new splinter faction of the Wardens, rabidly anti-Djinn, launching attacks on Jo and any other Wardens perceived as sympathetic to their former slaves.

The plot with the Sentinels is the strength of this book. It's a natural progression from the previous Djinn/Warden war; it's entirely reasonable that some number of the Wardens would react violently to that. What really sold this plot for me, though, was the idea that the Sentinels had gotten hold of antimatter--and that the Djinn were all physically incapable of acknowledging its existence, which made it an extremely scary and effective weapon. The explanation for this was very neat, too: that the Djinn, elemental beings of the universe that they are, are simply unable to perceive of anything that doesn't belong in our universe. Which is, after all, the whole point of antimatter. And one of the most effective scenes in the entire story is the death of a Djinn, slain by the stuff, which wipes him completely out of the memories of every other Djinn--including David. It shakes Jo deeply, and it shakes the reader by extension.

It was neat, too, that the demon that turned out to be the Sentinel leader was generating the stuff on his own, sidestepping the need to produce it via normal physical means. So I was down with that. The part about the demon that didn't quite work for me was that he was walking around wearing the shape of Bad Bob, the Warden bad guy from the very first book; that seemed less interesting to me, though it helped that it was apparently a demon in disguise rather than really Bad Bob.

I also very much liked that the existence of the Wardens in this world has been kicked up another notch. A reporter from the New York Times pursues Jo, trying to follow leads that the Wardens are working with the government--and even better, towards the end of the book, Lewis winds up outing the Wardens with a public press conference, by way of outthinking the Sentinels. That was a very nifty development and promises all sorts of interesting ramifications for the world at large.

The David/Jo marriage subplot grabbed less of my interest, honestly, though that's kind of unfair to it. Part of me is actually pleased to see a relationship in a current urban fantasy series progress to the point of actual marriage being involved. On the other hand, see previous commentary re: Lewis; I keep thinking "Jo! Hon! You're marrying THE WRONG GUY!"

However, it was pretty neat to see the wedding turned into a tactical showdown with the Sentinels. Things got a little hard to follow for me at that point, and I may have to go back and re-read that bit... but I was left with a definite hankering to see what's going to happen next. And a definite little hankering to see David have to finally surrender Jo to Lewis. Hey, it could happen! ;)

On a final note, it's worth mentioning that the hero of the soon to be coming spinoff series, Luis Rocha, makes an appearance here: look for him in the initial stretch of the book, joining Jo in investigating the preliminary rumblings of Shit About to Come Down. I noted with pleasure that he seems to be a musician, or at least that his astral form has a guitar on his back. Looking forward to seeing more of him.

Final tally: four stars!