Sunday 14 December 2014

Total Eclipse by Rachel Caine

Total Eclipse (2010) (ROC)
Rachel Caine
Grade: A-
Genre: urban fantasy
Sex scenes: mild
Source: own
Weather Wardens: (1) Ill Wind, (2) Heat Stroke, (3) Chill Factor, (4) Windfall, (5) Firestorm, (6) Thin Air, (7) Gale Force, (8) Cape Storm, (9) Total Eclipse
Romance RBC 2014: A book with magic 

Joanne Baldwin used to be one of the Wardens’ most powerful assets – able to control the Weather, Fire and Earth – but her powers have come at a cost. In a world where a select group of gifted individuals have the ability to manipulate the earth’s elements in order to control natural disasters and save millions of innocent and otherwise ignorant lives, Mother Nature is striking back. The human race has damaged the world beyond repair and Mother Nature is beyond angry. Harnessing the Djinn’s power for her own, forest fires are destroying huge swathes of land, oceans are putting countries under water and in the midst of everything, the human race is becoming desperate …



Having exerted their powers too far, Joanne and husband Djinn David have now lost their abilities and are helpless in the face of Mother Nature’s fight back. Sent on an expedition to communicate with the Mother via the Oracles, they are up against a ticking time bomb as the poison that is seeping through the earth is wreaking havoc in its wake: stripping powers from those who have they and bestowing magic on those who least expect it … whether they manage to stop Mother Nature or not, life on Earth will never be the same again …


This series has been something of a commitment: nine books of a hair-raising, nail-biting, emotional rollercoaster ride as Joanne and David are forever torn apart and reunited as Warden and Djinn politics keep trying to dictate the boundaries of their relationship. Reading Total Eclipse after a four year hiatus from the series only served to remind me that Joanne and David are one of my favourite couples, for reasons that I’m not entirely clear about. They have their cute-sy moments but work just as strongly independently of each other, as when they’re together.

Who knew that a whole series about the weather (amongst other things) could be so sexy? The Wardens are literally wardens of the earth’s elements and up until a few books ago, the world wasn’t aware that they even existed. Now, as Mother Earth is retaliating, normal citizens are panicking and parts of the world most affected are in an apocalypse-like state. It’s hair-raising, on-the-edge-of-your-seat stuff and nobody writes cliffhangers and tension quite like Rachel Caine.

This is without a doubt, a confusing series. The Wardens alone are a confusing, messed up bunch, not to mention the Djinn and their various abilities and politics. So when I recommend starting at book 1, Ill Wind, it’s really for your own good. The Weather Wardens is a series worth investing in and so if you’re going to try, then you might as well do it right. Rachel Caine manages to pack a hell of a lot into nine fairly slim books and so I have a feeling that I’m going to be revisiting the series in 2015 to reacquaint myself with everything that’s happened. I hope that you enjoy the series as much as I have – an end of an era.

Image courtesy of Rachel Caine.

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