Book Banter -- Chill Factor

Title: Chill Factor
Author: Rachel Caine
Length: 337 pages
Genre: urban fantasy/chick lit
Plot Basics: Weather Warden Joanne Baldwin saved the world (twice) and died (twice) but she's back (human again) as the last chance for the Wardens and a secret society to stop a teenager named Kevin, currently in possession of the most powerful djinn ever, from destroying everything.
Banter Points: Lots of kudos to Caine for creating a sustainable storyline. Rather than approaching the sequels with a "what-kind-of-trouble-should-my-heroine-get-into-this-time" mentality, it's clear after three books that Caine has a Plan for the series. That's a capital-p Plan because each book is linked to the sequel and the action keeps rising. There is resolution for each book's central plot, but that action usually precipitates what will happen in the subsequent book. The regular cast of characters is also back -- David the djinn, Rahel the djinn, Lewis Levander Orwell (formerly the most powerful warden ever), Marion Bearheart and Paul Giancarlo.

Bummer Points: Turns out, this whole series isn't out yet. Book 5 comes out in September... no date yet that Word Nerd can find for book 6. No wonder somebody coined that phrase about suspense and killing.

Word Nerd recommendation: The blurb on the book cover of Chill Factor compares Caine to Laurell K. Hamilton, but Word Nerd says Caine is better than Hamilton. Fans of the early Anita books that maybe got turned off somewhere after book 6 will like Caine because these books don't trade away the plot.