Ah, Rachel Caine. What can I say that I hadn’t adequately covered in the intros to my eight previous reviews of her books? Well, she had a leopard tortoise named Shelley who passed away recently; apparently it was the cutest tortoise on record, who gave Ms. Caine sorrowful looks when her food dish was empty. Ms. Caine has been under attack by wasps recently; I think she managed to get them under control enough that she could continue writing. She tends to write books in furious blasts; by watching her little counter, I’ve seen evidence that she can write well over 10,000 words in one day. Also, she lives somewhere in Texas; I do very much hope that she wasn’t much affected by the recent meteorological phenomena.

Joanne Baldwin is still a Weather Warden, although sort of on the outs with the whole organization. After surviving a hurricane in Florida, she keeps her friend Cherise (from the previous book) with her (partially for her car) and goes straight to the Weather Warden headquarters in New York City. There, she realizes that the entire organization is in a shambles; they grudgingly accept her because she’s very powerful (even more so after a stint as a djinn; see book 2) and knows more about the situation than anyone else. Apparently Mother Earth is awakening, and it’s not pleasant. Due to her connection to the djinni, Jo is able to find out a little bit more about what she needs to do to save all of humanity. But will it be enough?

Car and fast-beginning fans will be very happy to know that this book starts with Joanne (and Cherise) in a Mustang, on the road. They’re driving fast and furious and getting caught by random weather happenings; the book literally starts with Jo battling a tornado. The rest of the book is just as fast-paced as most of the previous volumes. Poor Jo really only seems to get rest when either someone else is driving a car (generally very quickly) for her, or she’s actually lost consciousness. (I exaggerate, but not by much.) I wouldn’t really want to be her, although of course it’s exciting to read about her life. I’m not sure that I’d want to be around when she finally has the big crash, though!

Overall, I think this novel, combined with parts of the last one, advances the overarching plot more than previous volumes. Yes, there was always something going on under Jo’s immediate adventures, but at first Jo really didn’t know what was happening; second, she was too busy fighting for her life in several different ways; and third, there were almost always things more important than figuring out what’s really going on with the Wardens and the djinni and their interactions. Here, and towards the middle-to-end of book 4, it’s front-row center a good deal of the time. There’s a secondary plot that spans both of those books, too (about Jo’s sister Sarah), and a lot of fast movement and big, scary weather problems, so readers won’t really notice the shift from the personal to the universal (or at least global), or if they do, it will feel so natural that it isn’t a problem.

I still like Jo; I’m sure all readers like David. The new (or new-ish) characters in this book include Cherise, who’s still delightful when she’s around; Emily, who is a cranky hermit-like Earth and Fire Warden — a good addition, but not always pleasant; Imara, who is of course wonderful and has lovely interactions with Joanne; and Eamon, who frightens me a good deal of the time. Overall, though, Ms. Caine certainly knows how to spin a good yarn with an exciting plot and characters who pop, even when described in only a few words. I’d definitely recommend it to fans of the series; it’s not a good place to start at all. Definitely go back to book 1 (Ill Wind), although I’d say if one can get one’s hands on copies of all seven of them at once, it would probably be the best idea. 4/5 stars.