Weather Warden Books

Having just finished the Weather Warden series by Rachel Caine, let me just say.... Mother Earth... I promise I will recycle, I will never wear furs and my next car will be electric. Please don't kill us all.

I enjoyed the Weather Warden books, but I'm kind of glad that I'm finished with them. I get way too attached to characters. Attached to the point that I feel anxiety for their troubles. And Joanne Baldwin faces an over abundance of troubles of apocalyptic scale. Seriously. Apocalyptic. The only book in this series that did not have the characters scrambling to save mankind from extinction was the first, Ill Wind. And the shit hitting the fan was still pretty staggering. This series is like Buffy on crack. In kind of a good way. It's just that unlike Buffy who had a whole season to get her ducks in a row, Joanne's just got the space of a single novel, and she dies a lot more. Yes really. Girl could teach Buffy how to come back from the dead better next time. This all sounds kind of crazy, and it is. But I read it with a kind of frenzied glee.

I like that the author ties her magic system so intrinsically to the earth's energy and balance, and her version of the Djinn, sometimes bound to the Wardens in slavery, sometimes waring against them, or working with them. The lore is refreshingly different from most other fantasy series out there. Less than fighting against an evil mastermind, bent on senseless destruction, the Wardens and the Djinn are fighting for survival against the earth itself... And She is fighting for survival against us. It puts natural disasters in a whole new light.

Over all, I give this series 5 toes.

So Silver Bright

The cover reveal for So Silver Bright by Lisa Mantchev was today! I am in love with the cover art for this series. They are all exquisite, just like the books themselves. <3 I recommend them at work all the time.

The Theatre Illuminata books are nothing short of bewitching. The first book was hand selected for me by a friend at the book store. With the book in my hand, it was love at first sight. I took it home that day, and finished it that night. Or maybe the next morning. But the point is that I didn't stop until I reached the end, and then I wanted more. The plot is refreshingly original, and that's a feat considering it is largely cast with well known characters from a host of famous plays. Lisa Mantchev brings them to life and allows them to tell us who they really are backstage.

Bertie, the heroine, is what I like to call "the Anti-Bella." She is strong of character and not prone to whining. She dips her toes in romance but has the sense to hold onto her sense of self, and her dreams.