Gin continues to try and unravel the deadly and complex
web of the Circle, the complex criminal group that rules Ashland – and seemed
to include her mother, deeply enmeshed in its coils as well.
As she learns more, it complicates the connections still
further as they learn just how deeply her mother was enmeshed – and the
relationships she had then
But even with this huge mystery to unravel, Gin has more
immediate crisis’s – a missing girl and a serial killer and not much time to
save her.
Since Spider’s Trap we’ve had a definite
change of this series. For a while I was concerned that this series was
becoming very very patterned – Gin meets a big bad who has New Big Scary Magic
and she must fight them and she gets captures/tortured/fights/nearly dies/win.
Instead as we have Tucker and the revelation of the
Circle of secret forces who control Ashland. It could have been easy to change
“random enemy with super powers” to “random circle member with super powers”
and continue that same pattern again. But it hasn’t done that
Oh we have similarities – and that’s not a bad thing. I mean I say that pattern was becoming predictable but I still liked every last one of those books. The fight scenes are amazing, the action amazing. Seeing Gin being the skilled and lethal woman she is is always amazing –and not just her magic or her fighting skills – but her assassin skills; her investigative abilities and, above all, her patience. She is the Spider and it means something – she is lethally patient. And it’s really nice to see that showcased and how her rune, her label, is more than just a cool sounding name. All of these elements are here, all the elements that made Gin Blanco a character I loved and these books always stories I always picked up eagerly.
I also like that Gin’s ultimate strength is her friends.
It’s the people she saved. It’s the circle of family she has around her. Gin is
made all the stronger and all the more powerful by Owen and Finn and Bria and
Jo-Jo and Sophia and Silvio and Rosalyn. Which is why I love that this plot,
while touching on the Circle and definitely involving the Circle, also heavily
draws upon another woman who has earned Gin’s respect, who Gin likes – and who
Gin’s compassion demands she helps. Because it’s Gin’s social network of people
she cares for, of people who will fight for Gin and support her because she’s
earned their trust and respect. It’s also excellent to see her ongoing respect
for so many women in Gin’s life. Her sister, Jo-Jo, Rosalyn, Sophia and now
Jade. Gin is not someone who hates other women, even if the signature
antagonist for so long was a woman. She has always had female friends, female
family and women in her life she’s valued.
We have some racial diversity – with Rosalyn and Xavier
both being Black (but only briefly appearing) and Silvio and his niece being
latino (again, briefly appearing and in a service role) and Silvio is also the
series’ only gay character. I don’t think his sexuality is even mentioned in
this book. We have the introduction of Ryan Colson, the coroner is Black who I
hope will be more commonly appearing. As a coroner added to the new focus on
investigation will definitely help more.
The plot is something of a twist on Gin’s normal
adventures – an actual serial killer rather than the more organised crime.
Though it also shows the darker side of this crime – with a corrupt city caring
less about the victims – as well as organised crime figures being more able to
protect their identities and cover up their predilections.
It’s also much more of a detective story. Gin is hunting
again, but the plot is less “this person is so dangerous!” and more “who is
behind this!” I won’t say it’s a very detailed detective story because I think
the bad guy is actually fairly well flagged quite early and we also get the
classic “I’m going to kidnap the good guy so she knows who the bad guy is”.
There’s also a, frankly, weird moment where Gin is spying on someone at the
beginning of the book, decides there’s nothing and decides to leave. She
stumples upon an outbuilding with suspicious stone-magic echoes and decides to…
leave it. It’s like the book pokes me and yells “SIGNIFICANT SUSPICIOUS CLUE!”
and then Gin walks away – you can’t have the character notice something to draw
MY attention to it and then have her leave.
We do get some more hints of the Circle and Gin’s
mother’s Eira and her history. It is a little more nuanced than I originally
expected – I certainly didn’t expect the big reveal. But I’m also not sure how
moved I am by it? I mean I can understand Gin’s reaction, sort of, in that her
mother was such a major figure in her life and how she was almost put on a
pedestal as some wonderful ideal after her horrific death in front of Gin when
Gin was so young. But, as the reader, I just don’t really know enough about
Eira to be that invested in whether Gin’s ideal of her is right or not. I also
can’t say I’m very impressed by Gin’s convenient dream-memories. Need a
revelation? Convenient dream time! Ok it can work because we’re delving into
areas that Gin has ignored – but it does feel awfully convenient
But what is revealed is fascinating, brings in a lot of
interesting possibilities with Tucker and Gin and the Circle and generally adds
layers of nuance and complexity to a series which is generally centred more
around awesome characters and a rather simple, direct,
stab-things-until-they-stop-moving plot line. I like this developing world a
lot. I like this whole new direction the story is taking. I like the breadth of
it, the mystery of it and the clues and reveal being the new focus rather than
trying to defeat the latest big bad with magic and knives.
And with Tucker we actually have an antagonist which is
complex and difficult with lots of wrapped up emotions towards Gin which,
again, brings another level of nuance to a story that has, in general, not been
nuanced (that’s not a criticism, not every story has to be nuanced and Gin’s
story has never not been fun – but it’s nice to see a new dimension added to a
story that has become this long running).
Gin is kidnapped but it’s not especially violent compared
to so much she has gone through – but it’s a different kind of violation which
does a good job of emphasising that, in many ways, a disturbing quasi-sexual
violation (let me be clear now that Gin is not sexually assaulted in this book –
but how she is kidnapped is intimate and disturbing besides) is every bit as
horrific as being tortured or physically abused as we have seen from Gin many
times. Indeed, it would have been easy to have Gin shrug it off because she’s
just so damn tough – but I like that this wasn’t presented as lesser. Of course
it would have been nice to have Gin go a book without being kidnapped for once.
I’ve always liked this series, but am now doubly happy
with this book – I’m happy that this series is still going strong, finding new
life, new momentum going to new places and a new focus. It works and all with
that same strong network of characaters that is the solid foundation of this
which makes it work so well.
