Spider's Revenge (Elemental Assassin, Book 5) by Jennifer Estep

 

Spider's Revenge is a whirlwind of a book. The plot did not take a straight line reaching the end -- there were a lot of left turns, a few swan dives, and Gin was too close to this to be the normal stoic Gin with endless patience.

It's the same Gin, but the tone of the book is a lot different than previous books. That is neither good nor bad, just an observation. This is personal, and she can't be as coolly detached as she normally is. 


Here's the blurb:

Old habits die hard for assassins.

And I plan on murdering someone before the night is through.

Killing used to be my regular gig, after all. Gin Blanco, aka the Spider, assassin-for-hire. And I was very, very good at it. Now, I’m ready to make the one hit that truly matters: Mab Monroe, the dangerous Fire elemental who murdered my family when I was thirteen. Oh, I don’t think the mission will be easy, but turns out it’s a bit more problematic than expected. The bitch knows I’m coming for her. So now I’m up against the army of lethal bounty hunters Mab hired to track me down. She also put a price on my baby sister’s head. Keeping Bria safe is my first priority. Taking Mab out is a close second. Good thing I’ve got my powerful Ice and Stone magic—and my irresistible lover, Owen Grayson—to watch my back. This battle has been years in the making, and there’s a good chance I won’t survive. But if I’m going down, then Mab’s coming with me . . . no matter what I have to do to make that happen.

The previous books have been building up to Spider's Revenge, if you haven't read the previous four books then I don't think you'll want to start with this one. 

As for the writing elements:

• The plot should be predictable, since we all have a general idea of how it's going to end. And it sort of is predictable, but... not. There are enough surprises and twists to keep you on your toes until the very end.
• Pacing had some issues, but nothing too major.
• Prose and dialogue were excellent. Beautiful.
• Character development is a funny thing. The Gin we see in Spider's Revenge is not the same Gin we've seen in previous books. But as I said earlier, this is personal, and that puts her off of her game. At first it bothered me, but the more I think about it, the more I appreciate it. Also, Gin does grow emotionally in this book, as do a few other characters.
• World-building is consistent with previous books in the series.

I was concerned that the previous books have led up to Spider's Revenge, and (based on the blurb) wondered where the series would head once this plot arc was finished. Never fear, Ms. Estep has a plan, and we see the seeds of where things are heading. I'm anxious to see how she makes things play out when By a Thread comes out in February. 

• Book Rating: Spider's Revenge: 9 of 10
• Series Rating: 10 of 10

And finally, for those who can tell I wanted to say something but were holding back, I need to put this into spoiler text: We want revenge to feel good, but it rarely does. Especially when it has been an all consuming part of your life for a long time. When you finally have your revenge, it's often a let down. I appreciate that the book takes us into those feelings honestly, and even has Gin explore the feeling a bit, after the fact. She realizes that for so long killing Mab had been her focus, and now she is without a focus. It's a good book, but it left me feeling a bit melancholy. Things are not over, not by a long shot, and I look forward to the next book. (Select the spoiler text to view it.)

You can read blurbs and excerpts for the books in the Elemental Assassin series at Jennifer Estep's website. 

This series is one of my five most favorite series. I highly recommend it.

1. Spider's Bite
2. Web of Lies (May 25, 2010)
3. Venom (September 28, 2010) 
4. Tangled Threads  (April 26, 2011)
5. Spider's Revenge  (September 27, 2011)
6. By a Thread (Feb 28, 2012)

Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin, Book 4) by Jennifer Estep

 

I adore Gin Blanco. Yeah, sure, she's an assassin. Assassins kill people, and that's generally considered to be a bad thing. But Gin has her own code of honor, and she's different. And besides, she's retired now.

If you've been reading this series then you know that there is going to be a final showdown between Gin and Mab at some point. If you haven't been reading the series then stop reading this review and go read my review of the first book in this series.

As for whether the much awaited showdown happens in this book... let me just say that the title of book five in this series is going to be Spider's Revenge. But that's okay, Gin is still building her own strength, and getting her own house in order before she deals with Mab. And a lot of that happens in Tangled Threads.

Here's the blurb:

I’d rather face a dozen lethal assas­sins any night than deal with some­thing as tricky, con­vo­luted, and frag­ile as my feel­ings. But here I am. Gin Blanco, the semi-retired assas­sin known as the Spi­der. Hov­er­ing out­side sexy busi­ness­man Owen Grayson’s front door like a ner­vous teenage girl. One thing I like about Owen: he doesn’t shy away from my past — or my present. And right now I have a bull’s-eye on my fore­head. 

Cold-blooded Fire ele­men­tal Mab Mon­roe has hired one of the smartest assas­sins in the busi­ness to trap me. Elek­tra LaFleur is skilled and effi­cient, with deadly elec­tri­cal ele­men­tal magic as potent as my own Ice and Stone pow­ers. Which means there’s a fifty-fifty chance one of us won’t sur­vive this bat­tle. I intend to kill LaFleur — or die try­ing — because Mab wants the assas­sin to take out my baby sis­ter, Detec­tive Bria Coolidge, too. The only prob­lem is, Bria has no idea I’m her long-lost sib­ling … or that I’m the mur­derer she’s been chas­ing through Ash­land for weeks. And what Bria doesn’t know just might get us both dead …

A few things happen in Tangled Threads that I've been waiting to see. Plus, we get a piece of jaw dropping information towards the end of the book. Not a cliffhanger, just information we didn't have before.

My one complaint? All of the murmuring that happens. It bugged me enough that I went back and did a search... and someone murmurs 42 times in the book. Some of the murmuring fits, but some of it just made me wonder why she wasn't speaking up at that moment, why she felt the need to murmur. It sounds like a petty thing to complain about, but it pulled me out of the story somewhere around 30 of those 42 times it was used.

As for the writing elements:

• The main plot was good if a bit predictable. Still, predictable or not, it was a good step towards Gin learning more about her own powers.  The plots that are part of the series arc had some interesting twists and a few nice resolutions. Or partial resolutions.
• Pacing was mostly good but had a few minor issues.
• Prose and dialogue flowed nicely with the exception of the murmuring.  
• Character development continues to have depth and interest and make you feel as if you know the characters.
• World-building is still exceptionally well done.

I'm torn on what to rate Tangled Threads. I've rated every book so far in this series as a 10 of 10, but I think Tangled Threads is going to get a 9 of 10. It's still a very good book, but just not quite a 10. The series rating is still easily a 10 of 10.

• Book Rating: Tangled Threads: 9 of 10
• Series Rating: 10 of 10

You can read blurbs and excerpts for the books in the Elemental Assasin series at Jennifer Estep's website.






1. Spider's Bite
2. Web of Lies (May 25, 2010)
3. Venom (September 28, 2010) 
4. Tangled Threads  (April 26, 2011)
5. Spider's Revenge  (September 27, 2011)

Venom (Elemental Assassin, Book 3) by Jennifer Estep

 

Venom is one of those books I've been not-so-patiently waiting for. I am not so much like Gin when it comes to patience. Gin was originally given her symbol, her rune, because of her patience. Spiders have to be patient - they have to weave their web with attention to detail so it will hold up against whatever flies into it, then they must sit at the edge of the web waiting for their prey, and then they must wait for their prey to get sufficiently bound in their web before they finally make their move. Gin is good at that, laying her web, making her plan, and then slowly and carefully executing her plan.

Books one and two in the Elemental Assassin series introduced us to Gin, let us fall in love with her, and then told us her history. We've also met Mab, and we've met some pretty powerful elementals who aren't anywhere near as strong as Mab. We know that eventually Gin and Mab are going to have to duel it out, and that when it happens it has the potential energy behind it to take down half of the city.

But until that happens, Gin is going to continue working in the shadows, like a Spider.  Before I go much further, here's the blurb:

It’s hard to be a badass assas­sin when a giant is beat­ing the crap out of you. Luck­ily, I never let pride get in the way of my work. My cur­rent mis­sion is per­sonal: anni­hi­late Mab Mon­roe, the Fire ele­men­tal who mur­dered my fam­ily. Which means pro­tect­ing my iden­tity, even if I have to con­ceal my pow­er­ful Stone and Ice magic when I need it most. To the pub­lic, I’m Gin Blanco, owner of Ashland’s best bar­be­cue joint. To my friends, I’m the Spi­der, retired assas­sin. I still do favors on the side. Like rid­ding a vam­pire friend of her over­sized stalker—Mab’s right-hand goon who almost got me dead with his mas­sive fists. At least irre­sistible Owen Grayson is on my side. The man knows too much about me, but I’ll take my chances. Then there’s Detec­tive Bria Coolidge, one of Ashland’s finest. Until recently, I thought my baby sis­ter was dead. She prob­a­bly thinks the same about me. Lit­tle does she know, I’m a cold-blooded killer … who is about to save her life.

Yes, you read that correctly. Gin's sister Bria comes to town and joins the force as a detective. Someone had to take Donovan's job once he left, right?

Venom is an E Ride, taking us on several emotional rollercoasters as well as a whole lot of physical rollercoasters in the form of action scenes and fight scenes. 

Donovan forced some of the "good vs bad" discussion into previous books, and now Gin's memory of Donovan continues to make her think of things the way he would have. Venom gives us a whole lot more of Owen Grayson though, and I have to say that I like him so much better than Donovan.  I think we see Finn more in this book than in any of the others, and we also get plenty of the Dev­er­aux sisters. We even get a bit of a peak into how Sophia cleans things up. I have a feeling that what Gin learns about that is going to come into play in a future book. Some of it felt like pretty strong foreshadowing to me.

And I want to talk a bit about the runes. I love the way Ms. Estep weaves the runes into the story, and the way she helps us learn more about the characters by hearing about their rune, their symbol. Mab's is a sunburst, fitting for a fire elemental. And we know that Gin's is a spider rune, you can see it on the Venom cover in place of the O.  Take a look at them side by side. Basically, the two most powerful elementals in town have runes that are similar in shape, while being so very different in every other way. Mab is flashy, Gin works in the dark. Mab is a social creature, Gin can be when it's needed, but prefers not to be in the limelight, so to speak.  The runes show these things. Different yet similar. I wanted to point that out because it's the easiest way to explain the attention given to detail, and the way that symbolism is used. The world-building in this series is very well done.

The plot was perfect. It was a plot that was entirely wrapped up within this book, but that sets the stage for the next book (and probably a few books after that, as well). No cliffhangers, but I can't wait for the next two books.

Pacing was also well done. Some books are nonstop action and the pacing wears you out with the action. There were enough places where the characters had to stop to plan, or to regroup, or to wait for the next step, that this wasn't the case with Venom. There is a lot of action, but it is well paced.

Prose and dialogue are also skillfully written. Character development is as well crafted as the worldbuilding. I am attached to these characters. I am invested in what happens to them.

I think that's all of the writing elements: plot, pacing, prose, dialogue, character development, and world-building. Each of them with very high marks.

I have one teeny tiny concern about future books, but I'm not sure how to say it without a possible spoiler, so I'll hide it in spoiler text. Gin appears to be setting herself up as some sort of Batman, or even (heh) Spiderman. Well, not herself, but her alterego, The Spider. She owns a barbecue joint by day and saves the town at night. It's not what she set out to do, but taking out Mab's people and then taking out Mab will help wipe out so much of the corruption in Ashland, and like Batman's Gotham City, that is certainly what the city needs. Gin isn't doing it for the city, she wants to take out Mab for personal reasons, but the end result is still going to make her appear as a superhero. I love this series, it is rapidly becoming one of my favorites, and don't want it to turn into something that resembles a Batman story. (Select the spoiler text to view it.)

And now, something I loved. First, let me say that Ashland is a fictional city set in the area where Tennessee, Virginia, and North Carolina come together. I had some friends who used to live in Mountain City, so I'm familiar with the general area. I've also spent a ton of time in Knoxville, Gatlinburg, and Asheville, though I live more in the southern areas of Tennessee. I have seen bits of Bristol in Ashland, and some things that remind me of Asheville. Once or twice the descriptions have evoked visions of Knoxville, though I'm not as sure of that.  I love her descriptions of the way the city is nestled in the mountains, and her descriptions of the mountains and the terrain. Much of that truly does remind me of Asheville.  In Venom we have some of the action happening on the Delta Queen, which is currently based in Chattanooga. I've actually spent a bit of time on the Delta Queen in the past couple of months, and while I didn't recognize all of her descriptions (she does take license to change things when needed for the story, which is okay), I recognized enough. Very cool.

I've given both Spider's Bite and Web of Lies  a 10 of 10. Venom easily gets a 10 of 10 as well, which means the Elemental Assassin series is also at a 10 of 10.

• Book Rating:Venom: 10 of 10
• Series Rating: 10 of 10

There was an excerpt for Tangled Threads  in the back of Venom, and it looks like Ms. Estep has a few more curve balls up her sleeve. I believe that the current story arcs are supposed to be resolved in five books, which means the next two books are going to be quite a ride.

You can read blurbs and excerpts for the books in the Elemental Assasin series at Jennifer Estep's website.






1. Spider's Bite
2. Web of Lies (May 25, 2010)
3. Venom (September 28, 2010) 
4. Tangled Threads  (April 26, 2011)