Thin Air: Book Six of The Weather Warden Series [Mass Market Paperback]

First of all, it took me about three hours to get through this book. That's short even by my standards.

The good: Continues where Firestorm left off, lots of action, and an overall well-paced read. There was little lag time, and Ms. Caine makes her characters very interesting. I actually care about them. We got some cute backstories, more info on Venna (Alice, the Djinn), and the final reunion of Joanne with the Wardens (the constant on the run from everyone including her former employers was getting a bit old). The idea was fresh, at least to me, in that chunks of the story were told from the point of view of memories; it was a creative idea. The Sarah storyline was handled in an interesting manner, I'm curious how it plays out later on. It kind of came from nowhere, but provided an intriguing twist.

The mediocre: There are times where I scratch my head and go "huh?" at some of the events in this book (and others in the series). The "evil twin" concept didn't work too well for me, it just feels cliche. The storytelling keeps this from being too much of a negative, though.

The bad: There is always a bad, and in this case it's that Ms. Caine is falling into the LK Hamilton mode of deus ex machina. How convenient that the now-deceased Imara is the new Earth Oracle. How convenient that this results in Joanne getting Earth Warden powers at just the right time. How convenient that she is now the second most powerful person in the world. And how convenient that the Djinn who like her break away from the Djinn who mostly do not. It's things like this which bug me. Does Joanne need more powers? She is a take-no-grief character who started out as a Weather Warden, died, became a Djinn, was reborn, gained Fire Warden abilities, has several Djinn actively assisting her at every turn, and is now an Earth Warden, making her only the second triple-threat to exist. I hope Joanne doesn't go the way of Anita Blake and find new powers in every book. She doesn't need them, she is an amazing character all on her own.

Reviewing "Firestorm" I said I would probably pick up the sixth book in the Weather Wardens Series if I could read to Chapter Two. I managed to do that and to some extent, "Thin Air" has restored my faith in the series.

The story opens with a woman awakening nude and freezing in a forest. A man comes to rescue her, she knows this man as Lewis, but she doesn't know her own name or whether this man is friend or the person who put her in her current predicament.

Ooooh, that's a very good start!

Unfortunately, we spend a lot of time in that forest with person after person showing up that the woman doesn't recognize between her bouts of near freezing.

Yes, our Mystery Girl is Joanna Baldwin, and to add to the confusion, she's now got Earth powers to add to Weather and Fire. Her friends have cleared up Jo's concern over her amnesia--someone stole her memories, but where did she get the new gift?

Pretty quickly, the plot thickens. Someone killed her daughter, Imara. Joanna's got a demonic doppelganger fully equipped with her memories who's convinced the Weather Wardens she is the real Joanna and setting them against her. Her sister Sarah and boyfriend, Eamon, come into the fray. Ultimately, Jo's got to stop her Evil Twin before something dire happens--whatever that something is and her only ally is the djinn, Venna, a little girl who looks like "Alice in Wonderland" and is probably closer in reliability to the Mad Hatter.

"Thin Air" is an action-packed ride. The usual Jo Baldwin cross country car chase epic moves from forest to desert to the East Coast. Of course, she's got a souped up car and some interesting companions like always.

The format is the same as the other Weather Warden novels. A lot of readers have problems with varying story arcs within the text, which to some extent, you'll all agree is a lot like real life.

"Thin Air" is better than "Firestorm" in that it leaves fewer questions unresolved, but if you're looking for a fantasy series with stand alone components---this series is not it.

We also get to see some hope for a character I've been following with interest for a long time. That's one of the best things about Caine's novels--you really have a chance to get involved with her people and you're wanting to see their lives come out all right.

While "Thin Air" isn't precisely my favorite or the best in the series, it's back on track with the original stories that I totally loved. I definitely will be anticipating the next book in the series.

Rachel Caine writes really well. Her books are a joy to pick up; it's difficult to put them down (try digging into a Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey and putting the spoon away...). That's the good news.

The bad news is that this series is drifting. What started as a solid trilogy has now reached it's 6th book and promises not to stop. That's fun if you're really into Chunky Monkey. If you're into a good story, at some moment you'd like to see the end and move on.

Joanne has lost her memory. In the process of finding it back, we're reacquainted with almost everyone we've met so far. Personally, I'd like to see a story move forwards (not backwards).

In short: a really enjoyable book. But the continued milking of this series is threatening its quality.
My advise: bring it to an end. Start up a new series on the Djinn.