Book four in the "Order of the Air" series, and by now we've definitely arrived at that stage where new readers probably would be confused whereas readers with the previous volumes get emotional and mystery pay offs. In any case, I've enjoyed all the installments in this captivating book series which started in the 20s, by now has arrived in the 30s and looks like it's going to continue through the 40s at the very least. It offers a mixture of air plane and supernatural centred adventures, an endearing group of characters (not all of whom are pilots and flight engineers; there's an archaelogist as well, and a fabulous adventuress who hits my soft spot for female cat burglers and conwomen.

Wind Raker takes plays mainly on Hawaii, where Gilchrist Aviation gets a lucrative offer to test a new air plane model, and where Jerry (the archaeologist) is trying to prove he can still do field work by particpating in a gig looking for proof of Chinese seafarers discovering Hawai'i before the Westerners did. So far, each volume has offered different locations (minus Gilchrist aviation headquarters), and a historical mystery in addition to the supernatural one. I have to admit the story of the Ming era expeditions, and how the riddle is eventually resolved, is probably my favourite yet.

After introducing a new ongoing big bad in the last volume, Silver Bullet, where he had still a secondary role, Wind Raker moves him more central stage and also heightens the threat potential. It's a historical character, William Pelley, the leader of the American fascists at the time, whom I knew nothing about before reading these novels; he reaches increasing creep level as the story continues. At the same time, the authors don't make it easy for themselves by presenting fascists uniformly as inomprehensible aliens whose awfulness can be spotted from a great distance. Wind Raker features a couple of German characters as well, an archaeologist named Willi Radke and some sailors from the Emden who was indeed visiting Pearl Harbor back then on a training mission. One young member of the crew, Midshipman Lorenz, is introduced in a very sympathetic fashion, you like him as a reader, and then later in the story he has a conversation with an American boy just a few years younger, Jimmi, about how their respective countries are fighting back the Great Depression and how to help people, and you start to realise young Lorenz is an enthusiastic National Socialist. (Or, to use the short term, Nazi.) I find this really well done, and far more effectively than if Lorenz had been introduced beating up a POC and yelling "Heil" while clicking his jackboots. The way the authors do it, you can see what this young man finds appealing about the ideology and yet are absolutely chilled at the same time. (Extra bonus for letting Lorenz use the word "leader" in English instead of "Führer" in German. )

The German character getting the most narrative space, though, is Willi, who becomes Jerry's first serious boyfriend after his backstory loss of Gil. Since Jerry has been mourning for Gil through three volumes and only in the last one started to have sex again, this is a very welcome development, and Willi is very likeable, though this is by no means a conflict free development - not because Willi is a fascist (he's not), but because he's practically allergic to anything supernatural (there's a good backstory reason), which, btw, makes him the first recurring non-believer-in-supernatural-events in this series. He also, like quite a lot of the non-NSDAP Germans in the early 30s, thinks Hitler & Co. can't possibly last long and that he can sit it out, or rather, travel it out as an archaelogist (one reason why he's in Hawaii). However, he hasn't emigrated, he's still a German citizen, and that makes him vulnerable, not to mention that the readers of course know how mistaken Willi's assumption of this being just a passing phase will be.

There's quite a lot of WWII foreshadowing (obviously, with the Hawaii location), and Our Heroes meet again someone they've briefly encountered in the previous volume, Beatrice Patton, this time with husband George in tow and in a more prominent role. This offers the opportunity for a crossover with Jo Graham's Numinous World series, but you don't have to be familiar with it in order to enjoy the Pattons, who become allies in foiling this volume's dastardly plan.

Alma and Lewis became parents at the end of the last volume; this time, Mitch and Stasi end up in charge of three children who were for Great Depression reasons left by their father. Parenting and mentoring is a red thread through the volume, and you can add Jerry's relationship to the younger archaelogists at the gig, and Willi Radke being Lorenz' former teacher. All of the main characters were young - and have the scars, both emotional and literal - during WWI, but now there's a next generation growing up, and I like that the series neither believes in characters losing their interest once they move on to parenting roles nor avoids the complexities of this experience. (Definitely not all hugs and laughter.)

All in all, a worthy installment in an entertaining, suspenseful and emotionally gripping series. I'm both looking forward and dreading the next volume, given what's ahead in world history for these characters I've grown very fond of...