Heat Stroke

Heat Stroke (2004) Rachel Caine

Heat Stroke is the second book in Rachel Caine’s Weather Warden series. Joanna was killed at the end of the first book, and is now adjusting to life as a djinn. Unfortunately for her, her adjustment period is not going to be long, and is turns out to be incredibly unpleasant.

When I finished the first book in the series, Ill Wind, I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about the series. There was an awful lot of boinking–more than the story seemed to deserve–which somewhat offset how much I enjoyed the story. But it wasn’t bad, so I decided to give Heat Stroke a try.

First things first, there is still a lot of boinking, especially in the first part of the book. The boinking combined with the fact that this was my travel/waiting room book, meant that things were slow going at first. But being my only reading material in a waiting room or while waiting for the PRT means that I am willing to be quite lenient about a book, and put up with a lot more than I would otherwise. And as with the previous book, once I got into the story, the reading got easier, and I eventually took the book out of my jacket pocket to find out what happened.

I also found Joanne a little more likable in this story than I did in the previous. She adapts quickly to her new life and surroundings, and when she discovers that there are problems, she doesn’t sulk or mope (too much) but does what she can to solve her problems. That helped this book a lot.

That’s not to say that there weren’t things that bothered me. There was still a lot of boinking, much of which I found somewhat annoying, since I was more interested in learning how she was going to do with all the changes. The other thing that bugged me was her extreme fascination with fashion. To say that I really couldn’t care about her clothes and her shoes would be an understatement. So her going on and on about shoes was both boring and annoying.

But this book did have one major failing: the story was not resolved, and the end of the book was simply an opening for the next book in the series. So despite the fact that I liked the resolution that was there, I was really annoyed by the lack of a satisfactory conclusion. Nothing makes me madder than a lack of a satisfactory conclusion.
On the bright side, I found the fantasy portion of this book more satisfying than in the previous book. Because Joanna is learning to become a djinn, we learn, along with her, how magic works.

If you read Ill Wind then you may want to check out Heat Stroke. As long as you don’t mind a lot of boinking.
Rating: 6/10

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