Firestorm by Rachel Caine

The no holds barred, pedal to the metal pace of these books is going to be the death of me. I didn't even feel like I read this one. More like it was downloaded to my brain in a series of high-speed images and I was left to make sense of it all after the fact. In this installment, the Wardens organization is a complete shambles. Both David and Lewis have inherited unwanted leadership burdens, becoming the unwilling de facto leaders of what's left of the free Djinn and the Wardens respectively. Inextricably tied to both men and both groups, Jo finds herself stretched to the breaking point trying to maintain her loyalty and avoid dying. Again.

Firestorm also introduces the concept of the Oracles--supernatural, primal beings who serve as connections between the Djinn and Mother Earth herself. Something dark and nasty begins targeting the Oracles in an attempt to gain entrance to this world and Jo finds herself racing from one Oracle to the next trying to keep the dark and nasty at bay. I felt like Jo was left more alone than she's ever been in this book. Every side character seems to have multiple allegiances and not one of them can be trusted to Be There. Period. And honestly, I don't know if any of them deserve her. The possibility of any of these groups (Wardens, Djinn, Ma'at) co-existing peacefully is also seeming less and less likely. I have to say, though, I did like what happened at the end. Although if I'd had to wait a year for the follow-up book, I probably wouldn't be so enthusiastic about it. As it was, I simply set Firestorm down and calmly started in on the first page of Thin Air.