Total Eclipse (Weather Wardens #9)
Author: Rachel Caine
Published: 2010
On Goodreads
My Rating: 
Rated L for one last ride to end them all.
Mother Nature is waking up…again…and she’s seriously unhappy.
Weather Warden, Joanne Baldwin, has to do the impossible and without her powers. The world is coming to an end, again, but this time there’s no way out. The Djinn have been taken control of by her and she’s not holding back. She’s ready for a fresh start without humans.
Jo has always been the ride-or-die type and this time it may just be taken literally. With limited allies and abilities, she and her husband, David—former Djinn-, must figure out how to save as many people as possible.
Weather Wardens Reviews
What an ending. I wasn’t sure hoe Caine would end this series. I was sitting in the same boat as when I was reading the final book in her Morganville Vampires series. Just like then, this came to a sweet-bittersweet end that didn’t feel like an ending at all. Jo and David were up against Mother Nature, not that this was the first time. However, she was pretty adamant about ending the whole thing and starting from scratch. And, with no powers, the two of them struggled.
The intensity and emotional adrenaline rush of this was much like a BTVS finale. There was gasping, crying, and heartbreak. I knew there’d be struggle and loss, but it still hit pretty hard because of the revelation that came with the brutality of the losses. The world of Weather Wardens is brutal but the sheer will to fight is insurmountable.
Speaking of fight, there was A LOT. There were so many times I thought Jo and David weren’t going to make it. As the proclaimed “Chosen Ones”, I fully expected them to go out fighting. I was holding my breath far too often. These two were facing off against the biggest and baddest. The grand creator. The one that put them on the planet. So, breath-holding seemed light. Friends became unexpected enemies, but enemies became unexpected acquaintances as well.
The biggest surprise, and boy was it huge, was Kevin and Cherise getting to test-drive Jo and David’s abilities. My jaw hit the floor. I wasn’t a fan of how the abilities twisted Cherise into a shitty person, but it showcased that not everyone can handle power. She reminded me a little of Bad Bob and Yvette. It gave me shivers. The wicked comparison was spectacular, though.
Everything felt so final. I praise Caine for that. Sometimes, the end of a series doesn’t alwayss feel like an end. Yet, while this felt so clearly like an ending, it also felt like it would go on and that this was just the end for the reader. A very impressive feat. While this world feels like it goes on, it was the end of a journey for me. Talk about freaking satisfying, like an ending that pans out on the world as it enters a new era.
I could go on about the writing and storytelling. I was so enamored by all the heart-racing action and emotional rollercoaster of Jo and David and another end of the world that there was nothing to get too invested in critiquing that. Caine stayed true to the characters and the series. The pace was as fast as the Mustang Jo got to drive.
Overall
I can’t say that I’ll reread this as often as I reread MV, but I will revisit this one day. This series has had a magnificent run and I still believe it should be adapted into a TV show. It would be original and phenomenal. A lot of Urban Fantasy would make for gem TV shows. This series had incredible characters and an incredibly driven story with original arcs. This really was a great series.
Quotables:
“Well, isn’t this peculiar? The lamb caring for the wolf.” (Rahel to Jo, p. 15)
“Humanity has done stupid things in the name of its own blind survival, worse in the name of its own comfort. She’s not concerned with individuals, Lewis. She’s concerned with balance…” (David to Lewis, p. 48)
“One thing about waves; they pass. The emotion peaked, then receded, and in its wake I felt…calm. Oddly centered.” (p. 242)
“When things die, you have to let them go.” (Imara to Jo, p. 313)
More to come soon…
 -K.
Song Today? Always Know Where You Are by John Reznik.
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The Scarlet Reader 
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