reviewed by
LOLA SPARKS
Dear Reader,
Yes, yes, you're wondering where we reviewers have been--but let's skip that because I need to tell you where Joanne Baldwin of the Weather Warden books has been. It's nowhere good, let me assure you of that.
Thin Air finds Joanne naked and wet and amnesiac-- as the end of its predecessor, Firestorm, promised it would. Some part of me dreaded this book, Reader! I am not a fan of the amnesia storyline. Thus, Thin Air was not an easy read for me. While it moves along just as breezily as the prior five novels in the series, this book stumbles and provides a detour the series didn't really seem to need. Joanne wakes up naked in a forest, having no idea who she is, or what she's been doing--and certainly no clue who the hunky guys with her are. She also doesn't understand why folks are trying to kill her, or what she used to do for a living.
Unfortunately, we as devoted readers DO know these things, and it makes for a long trek down a familiar road as Joanne is reacquainted with everyone she knows and discovers that her dead daughter is not so much dead as just the new Earth Oracle. And Joanne? Well it turns out she gets another super shiny power in this volume, one that seems to have been hinted at for a while. It's not enough that she can control the weather, but now she gets the same triple power shot that Lewis has. Pretty soon, not even a silver bullet will stop her, which disappoints this reader.
And? In addition to the amnesia plot, we get another of my favorites--the evil twin. A demon takes on the appearance of Joanne to wreak havoc in her name--in both her personal and professional lives. Naturally Joanne's beloved David is fooled for a while, so while we already have the low-level lust simmering between them as Joanne tries to remember exactly what they shared, we also get the angst when David realizes he has been fooled.
Nothing in this book surprised me, Reader. While I enjoyed it for the most part, it still feels like a path we didn't need to go down. I'm disappointed in Joanne's new powers and have all fingers and toes crossed that she does not become any more like Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake. I'm not a fan of the all-powerful heroine--because once you go there, what's really left?
The next Weather Warden book, Gale Force, is due this fall. I'll be there--but I may be reading between the fingers covering my eyes…
Yours between the covers,
Lola
