by Rachel Caine

Roc, November, 2005.
Paperback, 342 pages.
ISBN: 045146057X

Rachel Caine has had a tumultuous few years, to say the least. An incredibly talented Weather Warden, Rachel was one of the legions of Wardens who can control the elements and use those powers to protect humanity from the worst storms, fires and other natural disasters. They can't stop the storms entirely, but without their help, humanity would have been wiped out long ago. In the course of her job, Rachel has been attacked, killed, reborn as a Djinn, and now is restored to her human status. But she's not allowed to manipulate the weather anymore, because the Weather Wardens are very unhappy with her. So she's stuck in a job as the weather girl at a third rate TV station in Florida, playing the straight man to the obnoxious weather forecaster who is far too accurate in his predictions to be totally human. Perhaps he's getting a little magical assistance from somewhere?

While she's enduring the humiliations of her new job (such as being doused with water on air as a punchline to a joke), Rachel is hit with two more problems: her divorced, down on her luck sister moves in with her, and her Djinn boyfriend is unintentionally draining what's left of her power as he fights not to turn into a monster as a result of injuries he sustained during their last adventure. As Rachel deals with these personal calamities, she also ends up right in the middle of an impending magical war that could wipe out humanity once and for all.

The Weather Warden series is one of the best urban fantasy series on the market today. Rachel Caine writes with a hard-edged sophistication and humor: her characters are complex and interesting and the dialogue really crackles with wit and humor. If you like bold and funny heroines, inventive plot lines and dialogue that sparks and crackles like a lightning storm, the Weather Warden series is a must-read.

Windfall is available for purchase on Amazon.com

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This review was published in the December-January, 2006 of The Internet Writing Journal.

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