Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

"Joanne Baldwin is a Weather Warden. The Wardens Association has been around pretty much forever. Some Wardens control fire, others control earth, water or wind - and the most powerful can control more than one element. Without them, humanity would be wiped off the face of the planet. But now Joanne is on the run from another kind of storm: accusations of corruption and murder. Her only hope is Lewis, the most powerful Warden. Unfortunately, he is also on the run, having stolen three bottles of Djinn and become the most wanted man on earth. Joanne must find him, and find him fast, as some really bad weather is closing in..."

Ill Wind is the first book in the Weather Wardens series, and honestly, I wasn't sure if it was going to be all that interesting. It sounds pretty good, but so much about the weather? I wasn't sure. So glad to be proved wrong! I loved this book, it's pacy and fun, with a serious side and good characters.

In some ways, this is mostly a long car chase across America, only the girl in the car is being chased by a storm. And some pretty nasty people who believe she killed a powerful Warden and would like to see her dead for the mistake. The back story, why she's running, why she's going to Lewis for help, how she met various other characters, are told in flashbacks that work surprisingly well. It's hard to make flashbacks work in a book, particularly several of them, but here they fit perfectly, breaking up the drive and fights with the weather well.

Joanne is pretty funny, but she is a little all over the place. She claims not to get close to people, but she seems to have feelings for all the good men in this, and falls in love within minutes of meeting one of the men. And she does fall in love with a car when she's meant to be running for her life too. But that's more funny than anything else. I find her love of fashion and fast cars a really good mix that's not often found. Overall, I really like her character, and I'm looking forward to getting to know her better.

All the information about the weather, how it works, and how the wardens work, is given in bits and pieces, not all thrown at you at once, which again works really well. It's not nearly as detailed as I'm sure it could be, so it's simple enough to follow, yet gives you a good insight in to it. The premise behind this series is a bit of a fresh breath of air in a genre dominated by vampires, shifters and various other minions of hell, and it works really well. The book is pacy and has some good twists that you (mostly) don't see coming. The ending was a little bit odd, but not in a bad way. It will be interesting to see where it goes in the next book.

Overall, a great fun read. I've already added the rest of the series to my 'must buy' list. 4/5 stars.