Heat Stroke: Weather Warden, Book 2

She gives an informative review at the begining and get right into the story. It is for each book to stand aloneenjoy the story great story. Fast cars, Magic, no graphic sex, great characters, a unigue plot, and of course love.

I liked the first book in the series. I like the main characters. I like the different take on urban fantasy: magical weather wardens rather than the standard vampires, werewolves, etc. However, I just didn't think this story was well plotted, and I don't think Rachel Caine thought hard enough about how the magic in her world should work.

It just seemed like she was making stuff up as she went along. Which she was, of course, but with a top-of-the-line author, it doesn't seem that way. I think that in the best fantasy and science fiction, the author figures out in advance how the magic or technology in their universe works, and then creates a story within that framework. But in this story it seemed like she would reach a problem point in her story and she'd think to herself, "Okay, I'll make up a new rule here." Most of these rules seemed arbitrary and merely there to create a problem for the heroine. Most of them are not explained in any way. They don't seem to fit into a logical magical world. There is just a mishmash of rules that don't relate to one another. Here are some questions I had as I read which the author does not answer. Where do djinn come from? What does a bottle have to do with enslaving them? Why are they so easily enslaved and why can't they avoid it? Late in the book it is mentioned that many djinn have gone on to "another plane of existence." If it is so awful being an enslaved djinn, why don't they ALL go on to this other plane? How come they are more powerful after they are enslaved? What are the blue sparklies? Where do they come from? Why are they dangerous? If ifrit are so dangerous to djinn, why didn't they make Patrick get rid of his? After they find out what Patrick has been doing for his ifrit, why isn't he punished?

And the heroine makes the wrong decision so many times that I wanted to pull the author's hair out. You know the old horror movie cliche--they hear a sound coming from the darkened room. What should they do? They definitely should NOT go into the dark room. So what do they do? THEY GO INTO THE FREAKING ROOM! That's about the level of the plotting in this book. I will give one concrete example from the first chapter of the book. Jo was killed at the end of the first book. Should she go to her own funeral? No, she shouldn't. It's very dangerous--both to her and to her lover. So what does she do? SHE GOES TO THE FUNERAL. And the whole bit with the psycho stepmother and the psycho stepson: should she kill either or both of them? When they are asleep should she wake them up? What about this? What about that? Whatever the question, be certain Jo will make the wrong choice.

So should you try this book? Maybe. If you read the first book in the series and REALLY liked it, give this one a try. This book has received many positive ratings, so you won't be alone if you like it. But if you were hesitant after reading the first book, maybe you should just let it go. I don't think I'll be reading any more of this series.