Heat Stroke

Weather Warden, Book 2

By: Rachel Caine

Narrated by: Dina Pearlman

Mistaken for a murderer, Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin is hunted down and killed by her colleagues. Reborn as a Djinn, she senses something sinister entering earth's atmosphere - something that makes tomorrow's forecast look deadly.

Stormy weather: listen to the rest of the Weather Warden series.©2003 Roxanne Longstreet Conrad (P)2010 Audible, Inc

Good story Ignorant Narrator

Although the narrator was capable of voices her ignorance word meanings and thus correct pronunciation was extremely distracting. The story was even better than book one. I couldn't stop listening! I'm looking forward to book three.

Problems with both plotting and world building

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.

Less weather and more suspense than book one

I think I liked it better than book one... there is less focus on weather and how erotic it is, and more focus on developing a suspense/angst filled plot.

Are the characters over the top? Sure. But, then again, they're djinn so what do you expect? I liked the multiple story lines, and while the main 'rift' was a tad confusing (I'm still not really clear on what happened to fix this issue)... the story had plenty of suspense to keep the pages turning! It is particularly effective if you like Joanne - she gets into some pickles and it is a bit tense sometimes wondering how it will work out.

Do I like how Joanne's story was resolved? Not really but I think that was probably the only way to continue on with the series...

It is a bit of a cliff-hanger though. Not an annoying one because at the end we know what's going on with Joanne and David, but enough of one that I'm going to pick up the next book because I want to find out how they resolve this next emergency.

Overall, the narration is okay. I am not a fan of how the narrator 'emphasizes' things - it's like she's overacting from time to time - but it's not a bad narration, just a bit excessive on occasion. There is no graphic sex or violence and I don't think there was much foul language either.

Deep dive into djinn

If book 1 introduced the Weather Wardens, this book is all about the djinn. Themes of forced servitude are explored, and were written well enough that I was worried I’d have to listen to the horrid acts committed on the djinn by evil humans. While it was a suspense filled rollercoaster as threatened sexual abuse walked right up to the line, the story stayed on the YA end.

Storytelling from the djinn POVs was definitely a fresh perspective, however I had the niggling thought that much of the plot could’ve been avoided simply by the djinn talking to each other, and to Joanne.

Also, what’s with the ordinary, typically American names for everyone? Djinns named David, John, and Sarah, antagonists named Leslie and Kevin. Kevin! For all the fantasy uniqueness, the characters are almost all vanilla. Thank goodness for Ra-hel.

stubborn

once I got through the first book, the second one was better by far not as slow to get into. The character spends the entire book saying no no no no to everything everybody tells her only to find out that if she had shut her mouth and listened and tried to learn things would have gone perhaps more easily. Even if they had not gone more easily at least she would not have appeared to be an insipid moron through much of the book due to her obstinacy. as an aside, I do not understand why they don't fix pronunciation issues when recording. and I'm so tired of people using instinctual instead of instinctive. it sounds ridiculous and lowbrow. The read er needs to learn how to pronounce incorporeal and viscous. grammar and pronunciation issues when one is reading a book or bad enough, but when one has to listen to someone mispronouncing these words it is a real shock to the system when you're in the middle of the story almost like a rock hitting your windshield as you're driving down the freeway at 80 miles an hour. other than the characters stupidity throughout much of the book she is likable and she does finally get it in the end. The characters are well flushed out and I really enjoyed them. I even found myself shrinking away from the description of Kevin.ewwww. heading to the next book with anticipation.