Gale Force (Weather Warden, Book 7) |
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List Price: $7.99
Our Price: $7.99
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Roc
Average Customer Rating:   
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PRODUCT DESCRIPTION
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.6
EAN: 9780451462237
ISBN: 0451462238
Label: Roc
Manufacturer: Roc
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 320
Publication Date: 2008-08-05
Publisher: Roc
Studio: Roc
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Editorial Reviews:
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Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin is on vacation when her Djinn lover, David, asks Joanne to marry him. She’s thrilled to say yes, even if some others may be less than happy about it.
Unfortunately, Joanne’s pre-marital bliss is ended by a devastating earthquake in Florida. And she can’t ask David and his kind for assistance. Because the cause of the quake is unlike anything Joanne has ever encountered—and a power even the Djinn cannot perceive.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Really deserves 3.5
Comment: Joanna Baldwin, our favorite weather warden is back! Here's the good news, she and David are getting married. Bad news..... there's a group named the Sentinels who are anti-djinn and out to get her w/ a vengeance. Finally we get to see Jo and Dave in a relaxed setting (for a while anyway). Imara is involved in this installment but I'd like to see more depth into her character. She could be an exquisite storyline, but Rachel never seems to put more thought into the character but drops her name every now and again. I did find a bit of inconsistency w/ how the Djinn can be enslaved and also Jo's own enslavement w/ the demon mark. Further, Bad Bob's character was a train-wreck of inconsistency w/ him dying or not dying, being a demon or no demon; there was no clarity there. Kevin seems to be maturing, Lewis is always Lewis and Rahel is still as complex and dangerous as ever. I find the whole concept of bringing stable antimatter on earth extremely interesting. I also like that the Wardens and Djinn decided to go public. Although there seems to be a bit of confusion w/ this book, I'm still looking forward to the next installment.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Serial fatigue has set in...
Comment: A lot has already been said well by the previous reviews. But I guess I need to add my wish that Ms. Caine consider wrapping up the storyline on the main characters here and move on. From the blurb at the end of my copy, it sounds as though the next warden/djinn book is going to focus on new players. Great idea, but some satisfying closure is still overdue for Joanne and David. Midway through Gale Force, I thought this would be the book to do it. Instead, I found myself almost irrationally ticked when I reached the end and found that indeed it was not.
I've never related well to Joanne as a character/heroine, but I love the world she inhabits and the people who surround her in it. That's why the earlier Warden novels work so well, I think. Not only are they incredibly rich in characterization, but the plots were timely -- echoing with an eerie relevance to many serious issues about nature, society, humanity, and current events and trends. (And no, not talking about fashion either.) Much of that depth and complexity seems to have been lost, and I wonder if Ms. Caine is as tired of the main players here as I am becoming. The number of negative comments about David alone in the reviews for Gale Force is an ominous sign of a breakdown not only in characterization, but in the communication between author and reader.
This series peaked for me with Chill Factor and Windfall (3&4). I felt Firestorm worked well enough, and though Thin Air required more perseverance on my part, it still had a few new things on offer. Gale Force was not what I expected, and not in a good way. The sequence where Joanne and Jerome Silverton unearth the dead djinn was the closest I came to that Old Feeling, and it was lamentably short.
Of course, there's a rhythm to good serial fiction, but the danger comes in turning too formulaic. With this series, we've already been through the obligatory pregnancy arc, the amnesia arc, the persistent love triangle arc, and now the "resurrected big-bad" arc. And with a near-total lack of resolution at the end, I might add.
Again, I'd love to hear about new characters in the old universe if that's what it takes to get back to the inspired storytelling. But it's time to give Jo and David a rest. Even Harry Potter got his HEA from Rowling after seven phenomenal installments. I've got room in my heart for one more with Joanne, but after that, no matter what Caine does, I'LL be taking the breather...
Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the best....
Comment: I have read every book in this series and am constantly checking Amazon for anything new, and pre-order as soon as I can. This series is really different and requires a little more imagination on the reads part - but it's worth the extra brain cells. Read them - read them all.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Rest stop please
Comment: I'm surprised Jo hasn't fallen into a coma from complete exhaustion. There is never any time to stop and actually allow the characters to really communicate with one another. It's all about which impeding disaster is occurring at the moment and how Jo, as usual, will save the day. We, the readers, are constantly being hit...let us take a breather!
I like David. He's a good guy. But I fear that I just don't enjoy his relationship with Jo anymore. And one of the main reasons is because they've barely spent any time together in the last 2 books.
And David is constantly being portrayed as all knowing. Almost like a perfect beautiful God that I can never truly feel or connect with. So when he does show his "humanity", I just don't buy it.
I have to say that I like Jo and Lewis together better. I'm glad to see that many other readers feel the same way. There is something about their interactions and Lewis in general that feels more real, emotional and passionate.
Unfortunately it seems that the author has set it up for David and Jo to end up together in the end. Still, there is a lot of unfinished business between Jo and Lewis. I expect this to be addressed down the road. And I hope the author puts this series to rest sooner rather than later. It's time.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not her best work
Comment: I love the Weather Warden series, each book left me wanting more and I liked all the characters. I say liked, because after reading Gale Force I'm starting to really dislike David and in turn I want to hear less of Joanna's story. I've always liked David and Joanna, but this book made it really hard for me to root for them. David seemed selfish and a horrible leader to the Djinn. If I was under his command, I think I'd probably jump ship.
The ending was okay. Yes there was a cliffhanger, but I didn't mind it so much, especially with what happened before that. A character does kick the bucket and I didn't really feel anything. I liked the character, I just wish there was a little more build up to their death, in this book, that would make me feel a little sad, or at least feel something.
One thing I did like is while Gale Force does follow the same formula as the previous books, Caine does an excellent job at keeping each story fresh.
I'm looking forward to the next book in the series, but sadly, Gale Force didn't do anything for me.
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