Cape Storm (Weather Warden, Book 8)

This series is consistently good, and the last book lives up to the rest. That's all.

...And it is still going strong! Rachel Caine makes reading downright 'fun'! I wish the books lasted longer but other than that, I just enjoy this series! It is one of the best urban fantasy series out there!! Enjoy all. Karen

I was disappointed with the previous installment in this series, and thought the author was running out of steam now that Joanne and David had officially hooked up. But Caine has rebounded in fine fashion with this one! Nothing drags and there really are no lulls in the action or development of the story this time. I'd say this is the best, most exciting in the series yet.

The hurricane heading towards Southern Florida may make Katrina look like a sun shower; Chief Weather Warden Lewis Orwell knows what that storm did to New Orleans and the rest of the delta so he fears something even worse for Miami. He hijacks the cruise ship Grand Paradise and assigns his weather wardens and their djinn to sail the vessel into the open water with his goal being that the storm will chase after his unit rather than the populace on the Floridian Peninsular. Newlyweds Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin and Djinn David are on board the Grand Paradise, but obviously this is a working honeymoon. However, this super sized storm is actually the work of magic by insane former weather warden Bad Bob; his formidable power is enhanced exponentially by his amoral lunacy. The honeymooners and their comrades in weather battle the hurricane of any century while Joanne and David also struggle with the poisoning of the demon mark that infects her. CAPE STORM is an exhilarating weather warden thriller. The story line is fast-paced and filled with plenty of magical action as the lead couple is victims trying to stay one step ahead of the perfect storm, while also trying to contain the poison devastating Joanne. Rachel Caine provides another terrific tale in one of the stronger urban fantasies on the market today. Harriet Klausner

When you think of the coast of Florida, one thing comes to mind: hurricanes. Well, also cockroaches, swamps and old people, but hurricanes are in the top five. But the storms are unnaturally strong in the eighth volume of the Weather Warden series, "Cape Storm." And Rachel Caine's penultimate Weather Warden novel takes a dramatically dark turn with plenty of fatalities, some shocking twists and a trip to the dark side for her weather-warping heroine. Its a good climax to the series, and Caine literally keeps the plot twisting like a waterspout right to the end. Joanne Baldwin has just sort-of-married her Djinn lover David, but they aren't getting a nice normal honeymoon -- a deadly storm is forming off of Florida. So the Weather Wardens and the Djinn end up taking over a vast luxury liner and heading out to sea (along with whiny celebrities and rich jerks who refused to get off the boat). Then they find a Djinn whose existence has been erased -- meaning the malignant Bad Bob is involved. Of course, Bad Bob is stirring up the storm with antimatter, turning it into a potentially universe-destroying maelstrom that threatens to destroy them all. Also, the ship has some "skin"-wearing creatures that can erase Djinn. Worst of all, Joanne's demon mark is breaking loose of its constraints and swamping her true personality -- and even Lewis and David may not be able to save her. Killer crystal skeletons, demonic storms, luxurious cruise liners filled with powerful Wardens and an evil tattoo -- I have to admit, Rachel Caine can manage some pretty interesting ideas. And the first chapters of "Cape Storm" are fairly lighthearted (including Celine Dion jokes -- "my heart would not go on, not if this voyage went badly"), but with some lurking flickers of darkness. But it doesn't take long for Caine's story to blaze with black fire, especially when Jo is overwhelmed with her magical tattoo, and there doesn't seem to be any way to get rid of it. It's made all the more breathlessly horrible because of Caine's vivid writing ("the approaching black arms of the hurricane sweeping in like scythes") and warped sense of humor, which becomes downright twisted as Jo suddenly turns into a sneering, sniping, skanky monster. And it's even worse because the story is in first-person narrative. And expect quite a few shocking changes in this book, especially for Jo and David. While some of these changes are merely entertaining (they get properly married on a pirate ship by the randy captain), others will have sweeping effects in the next book. BIIIIG effects. Jo herself manages to maintain a fun sense of humor despite the ups and downs of her life (and her dubious fashion sense), but Caine succeeds in making her SCARY during the middle of the book, where her conscience gets switched off and she starts feeding off aggression and fear. And her constant battle against her mark -- even to the point of swimming in shark-infested waters -- is a powerful and seemingly doomed o