Review: Undone - Rachel Caine

"I was one of the Old Djinn, the First Djinn, who came before any human walked the earth.  I was a spirit of fire and air, and Ashan cast me down to this heavy, crippling flesh..."

Once she was a powerful Djinn.  Then Cassiel defied her ruler, Ashan, who tore her very essence away, and reshaped her in human flesh as punishment.  Forced to live among mortals, Cassiel has found refuge among the Weather Wardens - whose power she must tap into regularly, or she will die.

Cassiel earns her keep by assisting the Earth Warden Manny Rocha on his missions - which she finds much easier than coping with the emotions and frailties of her human condition, especially her growing affection for Manny's brother, Luis.  But when Cassiel encounters a malevolent force that threatens the Rocha family, she discovers that her perceived human weaknesses may be her greatest strengths...

Outcast Season Series:
Undone
Unknown
Unseen (Feb 2011)
Unbroken (Feb 2012)

Visit Rachel Caine's Website for more information.

Review:
Cassiel is one of the Old Djinn, the more powerful Djinn who came before humans walked the earth.  She was one of the most powerful but when she refused to follow Ashan's orders he cast her away.  Stripped of her powers and trapped in human form Cassiel is forced to go to the Weather Wardens for help.  She needs to access their power regularly to sustain herself or she will die.  She is partnered with Earth Warden Manny and finds it easier to help him with his missions than she does to deal with her new human body and emotions.

Undone is the first book in Rachel Caine's Outcast Season series which a spin off from her popular Weather Warden series.  Being a massive fan of the Weather Warden series I was really looking forward to getting started on this series - I was expecting a fast paced thrill ride and Rachel didn't disappoint me. 

I loved getting to find out more about the Djinn by looking at the world from Cassiel's perspective.  She is one of the Djinn who had never chosen to take human form so her new body is a strange experience for her.  She has never had to deal with humans before so everything is very new to her - she doesn't know the rules and is still learning how her body works.  I really enjoyed her interactions with Manny and his family (his daughter Isobel is adorable) and watching her opinion of humans start to change as the story progressed.  I mustn't forget to mention Manny's brother Luis - the sexual tension between him and Cassiel was great & I'm looking forward to seeing how things may develop between them in the future.

It was nice to see Jo, David and Lewis (from the Weather Warden series) make an appearance although this was brief and only at the start of the book.  To be honest although I liked the chance to see them again I'm glad they didn't feature more prominently in the story as it would make it too easy to get confused between the 2 series.  I think you could probably pick up this series even if you've never read any of the Weather Warden books although that is a series I would highly recommend to those who haven't tried it yet.

Undone was a great start to a new series, it had me gripped from the very beginning and took me through a full range of emotions from tugging at my heartstrings to making me laugh out loud.  My one minor complaint would be the cliffhanger ending.  I think anyone who is familiar with Rachel Caine's work will know by now that she is a master at leaving you desperate for more and Undone was no exception.  I have already ordered book 2 (Unknown) but I'm not too sure what I'll do with myself between reading that and the long wait until Unseen is published next year.  Perhaps I'll finally make a start on the Rachel's Morganville series while I wait!

Source: Library

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