It’s no secret by now, since this will be the sixth book of hers that I have reviewed, that I enjoy reading Rachel Caine’s books. (The other reviews are here, here, and here, for the Morganville Vampires books, and here and here for the two previous Weather Wardens books.) I also enjoy reading her blog, and I am very jealous of her new, blue, fortwo SmartCar.

Joanne (Jo) Baldwin is a Weather Warden, as you might guess; these people-with-magical-powers control the weather, so it doesn’t kill everyone at any single moment. They work with djinn, who are magical beings. Recently, Jo’s had some interesting things going on: she has been infected with a demon curse, died, been turned into a djinn, died again, and been reborn as human. Her problems don’t seem to be ending, either, because there’s a sixteen-year-old kid with someone else’s powers and a super-powerful djinn who has an issue with her causing havoc in Las Vegas. Since Jo is at least partially responsible for his current situation, she has to go fix it. Of course it turns out that the situation is much bigger than just that kid, and it even involves an ex-boyfriend.

This book starts, as do the two previous in the series, with Jo on the road in a fast car. Ben informs me that Mona, the Viper Jo drives, is not the finest example of fast car in existence (and he would know, being from Detroit), but damn, I still want one. The fast-paced driving openings are perhaps a gimmick, but they form part of why I like the series: they’re fast-paced, obviously, and exciting. There are no long, slow periods of navel-gazing to interrupt the action. Of course, there are down-times, so that the action isn’t constant, but these breathers are exactly the right length. I admire Ms. Caine’s skill in this, as I did in the previous two volumes.

While Joanne is a fan of high heels and designer couture, like most other urban-fantasy chick-lit heroines, she more than makes up for that by being, well, herself. She’s still interesting, without being contrivedly witty, and I feel that she is growing into a character who can sustain an entire series. (Which is good, since there are about seven books featuring her.) I like a good deal of the rest of the characters in the series, including David (although he’s a smidge flat, still) and Marion, who is the person who scares Jo the most in the world. She’s aptly surnamed ‘Bearheart’, and the line she walks between being sadistic and absolutely just is fascinating — as are her powers.

Again, another enjoyable entry into the Weather Wardens series. There are still four more ahead of me (if I include book 7, which is to be released in August of this year), and I look forward to reading all of them. While this volume wasn’t exactly as astonishingly good as the first volume (which was much better than I thought it would be), I’d still give it 4/5 stars and recommend it for fans of the usual: Patricia Briggs, Laurell K. Hamilton (the earlier stuff, at least), Kim Harrison, Richelle Mead, and Kelley Armstrong.