Ill Wind: Not brain food, just a guilty pleasure

Ill Wind by Rachel Caine

Ill Wind is the first book in Rachel Caine’s urban fantasy series Weather Warden. The book stands well on its own and doesn’t have any of those nasty cliffhangers so often found in fantasy series, but it still keeps you interested in what happens in the next book.

Ill Wind starts in the middle of the action and I was impressed with the first chapter because Caine seamlessly juxtaposes the present with flashbacks and keeps readers on the edge of their seats. This world’s magic system is also original and, thankfully, Caine manages to narrate an exciting tale to accompany it.

Ill Wind has a lot of elements that identify it as an urban fantasy but without overdoing it. There’s romance in the book (albeit a predictable one) but unlike, say, Laurell K. Hamilton, the indulgent sex scenes are kept to a minimum.

One element Caine manages to capture well is dialogue. Her characters have distinctive speech patterns and you feel they’re people with personality rather than simple plot devices. As far as language goes, they’re easy to get into and pretty much appeal to anyone.

The Weather Warden series may not be brain-food reading material, but if the rest of the books are as enjoyable as Ill Wind, they could fulfill my guilty pleasure reading needs.

FanLit thanks Charles Tan from Bibliophile Stalker for contributing this guest review.