Venom in the Veins (Elemental Assassin 17), by Jennifer Estep

Gin fears someone is gunning for her friend, and chairman of Ashland’s biggest bank. But Gin, the assassin known as The Spider, doesn’t sit back when someone she cares about is under threat.

 
But when she learns the mysterious and deadly Circle are involved, she wonders why - why would they be invested in this? Gin needs to know if she’ll ever hopes to take on the force that killed her mother

Of course, as an assassin, Gin has left some orphans in her own wake… and when confronted by one of those Gin has to face that the pain she lives with every day is also something she has inflicted on someone else

I have to say, in some ways Gin is the worst assassin there is. Sure she always kills her mark but she is kidnapped by her enemies and tortured like every single time. There has to be a better strategy for killing people than being kidnapped by them and then managing to stab them as you escape. This is not a sensible tactic and, honestly, it’s kind of tired at this point - I mean this is the 17th book and we have these torture porn scenes in almost every book. It feels just overdone now.

Especially since Gin is supposed to be so powerful and so scary and lethal. Can we see

that? I mean, all her magic, all her skill with knives - there was never even any real reason why the big bad in this book would be that big or bad. She has no great super powers or great training - we could have had an enemy

I don’t think it even fit with this book. The whole conflict of the book up until the inevitable kidnapping, was finding out what the enemy wanted and protecting Mosely from her attacks. It was even about letting the big bad show her hand and trying to discover what she wanted what she was doing and why the Ominous Circle was involved. And that was interesting and really different- because for most of this book we were in that investigation phase and there was never any real question of whether Gin COULD kill the bad guy, so much as whether she’d have to. Or, perhaps, whether the enemy would give Gin a reason, or an excuse, to do so. Because Gin isn’t a bad person - and there’s a whole interesting conflict there on whether Gin, the assassin, can hunt someone down because she’s PRETTY SURE the bad person is bad, even if she’s not entirely certain. Because she is the good guy and she can’t just kill people because she thinks they’re bad. Apart from anything else she’ll be very very busy in Ashland

And this all worked - and most of the book is interesting and even a little different because of that. Why is the Circle involved. What does the big bad want, why are they supported and can Gin protect Mosely and continue her ongoing investigation into the big bads that ultimately killed her mother. Ongoing with that and Gin’s personal issues these worked really well together We didn’t need another “aargh, I’m captured and tortured” moment or Gin nearly dying to take down her target AGAIN.

Kiss of Frost (Mythos Academy #2) by Jennifer Estep

Gwen Frost, with her unique gifts is just beginning to learn her place in the world, and the magical training academy and their long historical war and her special legacy within it and Nike’s champion.

Of course epic history doesn’t change day to day life - including being pulled into the parties that characterise Mythos Academy and her complicated relationship with Logan, the very sexy Spartan warrior.

And into this complexities steps an assassin - someone is out to kill Gwen and there is no shortage of enemies who may want her dead

There’s some fascinating concepts in this book. I like the idea of many many supernatural warriors inheriting divine powers. I like the diversity of their powers. As an massive mythology buff I love the idea of the gods underlying this whole conflict and world building. Norse, Greek and more? Of course I’m into it… though I do rather think the world building rests a lot more on “the Greek gods. And Loki. Because”. I think that because may be because someone looked for an archetypical trickster among the Olympians and realised “all of these fuckers” was the best answer (yes, Dolos of course -but still the Greeks were pretty much all tricksters to some degree in the same way many of the Norse gods moonlighted as warriors)

The whole concept of the school is one I’d be a lot more interested in if it were actually developed a lot more: because instead of seeing all the mythology, history and training we get a lot of partying and Gwen disapproving of said partying because raaah.

We also have Daphne who is a much more interesting character with layers, managing to embrace the partying culture of the school, be “girly” and pink, be a computer geek and being a super strong warrior.

And I do like a lot about Gwen - she has some excellent challenging of the classism that completely permeates the school. I also like to see a character with psychometric powers who doesn’t considered themselves cursed - and even appreciates the knowledge and secrets she learns. There are some excellent foundations to this story

But what was built on this story I have trouble with

I have a lot of trouble getting past the decisions that Gwen makes in this book. No matter how much she wants to prove herself the kickarse warrior like the other students, I find it bemusing that Gwen, who has not been raised as part of a warrior culture, would decide that multiple attempts on her life are totally something she should keep to herself

I would find it bemusing, if she had been raised by a warrior culture, and knowing what is at stake after the last book, that she would consider it appropriate not to tell anyone of the literally murderous threat on campus

Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy #1) by Jennifer Estep

When Gwen’s mother died she was claimed by the Mythos Academy. An Academy that teaches young, magically gifted warriors to be ready to fight Chaos as has been their solemn duty for centuries

But Gwen, with her powers of psychometry and no magical history or culture felt very out of place among the affluent, strong and powerful valkyries and spartans of the Mythos Academy

And never did this rift loom so large than when one of their class is killed and her war torn peers seem to not even care. It’s left to her to investigate and find the actual truth

I can’t even begin to review this book without addressing the great big elephant in the room and the problem is it underpins a lot of the whole book.

A core concept of this book is that the magical kids in this school are have magical gifts based on the mythological, legendary warriors of the past. This works for the valkyries with their super strength. And the Amazons with their super speed. But then we have the Romans, Celts and Spartans… these are actual people? Also I question why your legendary super-warriors for men are actual historical people. While your magical warrior women are mythological? I don’t think it’s intentional and there’s no actual sense that there’s a magical divide between men and women: but I think it kind of sends a weird message that awesome warrior women are… well… fictional… while awesome warrior men are historical.

But then there’s Gwen. Gwen’s magical gift is psychometry - she can touch things and get sensation and images off it. Her mother and grandmother also had psychic gifts like this. And they are called Gypsies.

Argh, no. First of all that word is not neutral, it’s a slur used to denigrate, demean, insult and perpetuate no small number of myths against the Romani people. And Romani are not legendary, mythological or even historical people - they’re an ethnic group, a highly discriminated against ethnicity that faces incredible amounts of persecution as well as really damaging stereotypes. One of which is this pervasive fortune teller/woo-woo depiction - this is damaging

Snared (Elemental Assassin #16) by Jennifer Estep

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.

Nice Guys Bite (Elemental Assassin #15.5) by Jennifer Estep

  

The foreward of this book says it’s for Silvio fans. Which was a hook for me because I’ve been desperate for Silvio to be developed in this series for some time.

Silvio is an interesting concept – the admin support for the criminal empire. The PA for the mob boss. A man – well vampire – who lives in a city that is so corrupt and so overtaken by criminal gangs that it needs its own bureaucracy.

And Silvio has been such a blank slate for a long time which is a shame and deeply problematic. He’s a skilled administrator who likes order and values Gin –but that’s not exactly a personality, it’s a series of quirks that just make him useful to Gin. Which is basically what we see of him – an admin assistant who is there to, in Gin’s words “mother her” without actually having anything in the way of his own life.

This was a chance for us to see a lot more of him, his memories, how he feels about working for Gin. Also what it means for him to be a vampire, what blood he drinks, how he gets it, how he feels about that. This series often treats the various creatures that inhabit the world somewhat casually – “Fred is a Giant”, “Latoya is a Dwarf” without much looking through the eyes of them. So seeing Silvio talk about his blood drinking, think about it and relate to it is an interesting expansion not just of him but the entire world.

This story gave Silvio a relationship, opinions, nice quirks like his sweet tooth and generally made the first steps towards turning him from a random extra who existed to serve into an actual character.

I do have issues though. Firstly, my issue is that this is a short story. Silvio has, since his introduction, been a blink-and-you-miss-it LGBT inclusion, as well as a Latino character (though we do have other latino characters as well) There are several books with Silvio in them which you can read and you won’t realise he is a gay character at all. So this definitely needed expanding and developing to actually make his inclusion more than the very thinnest of tokenism – but this doesn’t do that. This is exactly what we talked about in our post of Quite Portrayals of minorities. Rather than having Silvio’s relationships, sexuality and character development happen as part of the main plot line, it’s relegated to a side-book, a short story, a fluff piece that has no real connection to the main plot line. More, the story is even set up so Silvio doesn’t tell Gin, Sophia or anyone else what happened so they will never bring it up again. Sophia, Roslyn, Finn, Owen all had major books devoted to their personal storyline and trauma – and the whole cast were involved in it. They reference it because of that (I am currently reading Snared in which Gin refers to Sophia’s past as a perfect example)

Silvio’s story has been put in a short story aside from the main plot, ensured it’s completely separate from the other characters and generally has the feeling of box ticking; like “damn we’ve only had one LGBT character in 18 books and short stories (just the ones I've read - there are several short stories I haven't. Which is kind of my point, I'm not the only one who doesn't read short stories for series), and single mentions don’t cut it any more” so this book is released and lo, problem is solved. Now Silvio can go back to “mothering” Gin as her gay latino assistant while having no story or life of his own all without a single ripple in the main plot line.

Unraveled (Elemental Assassin #15) by Jennifer Estep

When Finn inherits a western-themed theme park it is an opportunity for the gang to actually have a holiday – certainly necessary for Gin who is extra stressed trying to find out the truth behind the Circle

Of course, this was a resort owned by Finn’s mother and Circle member and generally not a pleasant person – and the Circle is fully involved in the resort – inevitably the Spider has to take care of business.

Two books ago I said that I was concerned with this series of books becoming very very repetitive. We had the same pattern coming up over and over again and it was starting to feel dull even if it was also extremely fun.

Last book helped reassure me and this book well and truly sealed my hope this is going somewhere new.

Sure, we still has Gin, the Assassin, killing bad people who really needs to be stabbed in the head. But previously this had a repeated pattern: a big bad would appear, they would attack Gin, she’d be terribly beaten. She’d then limp back to Jojo, be healed, make a plan and promptly murderise the big bad.

But this book doesn’t have a big bad per se. We have a powerful, dangerous woman who is dangerous for reasons beyond having big shiny dangerous magic (which is a really nice change from the rest of the books – we’d have dangerous women but they’d usually be dangerous because of shiny magic, not combat skills like Gin). But she’s not the big bad. She’s not the main focus. She is there – but the main enemy is Tucker. And not as a dangerous threat, but as a representative of the mysterious and sinister Circle. The tone of book has changed a lot. We don’t have a single big bad like Mab Monroe, nor do we have random killers of the week – we have a mysterious shadowy cabal that needs investigating, discovering and manoeuvred around.

Along the way we have good ongoing issues with Finn and his mother- but they’re touched on but not gone into too much depth because we already did that in the short story

Unwanted (Elemental Assassin #14.5) by Jennifer Estep

This is a short story in the greater Elemental Assassins’ Series and I think it’s one that does an excellent job of hitting the balance of what a short story should be: i.e. it’s not compulsory to understand or follow the greater series, yet at the same time it does a good job of enriching the greater series

There are some things I really like about this story

I like that it looks at the ongoing effects of a traumatic experience, it shows that someone cannot be betrayed and tortured without it having lasting damage on their feelings and emotional well being.

I really really really like that we look at collateral damage. This is a series that has piled up many many many many many many oh gods so many bodies. Now we do see a lot of grieving families who then turn to Gin and ask her to slaughter a whole lore more people in the name of justice

And along the way she, her friends, her allies, her enemies, have killed a small nation worth of Giant guards. Seriously, the gravediggers union is probably lobbying to ban giant guards just because 80% of all the bodies they have bury are these huge muscly giants. But since Ashland is the most criminal city in the entire world

So seeing one of them have a funeral? Having grieving families? Actually seeing a human cost to the endlessly disposable bodies hitting the ground? I like that – I like that a lot. I think it’s vitally important to truly depict this world and what is happening. Especially if we want to consider the ethical problems Gin faces or the danger that the city faces from the criminal gangs controlling the city.

Bright Blaze of Magic (Black Blade series #3) by Jennifer Estep

Lila has worked with the Sinclairs to disarm the Draconis, doing their utmost to sabotage the rival family’s master plan to take over Cloudburst Falls

And it works – but not enough – when the Draconis move it only leaves them with a few slim bargaining chips to try and stave off destruction – and for Lila to finally have a reckoning with the murderer of her mother.

I love this series and I really like this book – or I tried to. I tried really hard, because there are a lot of elements of the book I really love. But there’s also a major issue – the plot.

My issue with this book is the plot requires just a little bit of unreasonable character stupidity.

The whole big dramatic moment of this book is that the Draconis are planning an attack against the other families – and we know from the very beginning of the book that the attack is imminent.

We also know that all the families are apparently going to gather with minimal guards and no weapons. All conveniently in one place and unarmed. When do we think the Draconis will attack?

Why, after this of course! I mean he’ll show up to the UNARMED GATHERING and play nice and then wait a few weeks and then attack. When everyone’s in their own secure compound with armed guards… right?

Surprising the whole cast, the Draconis attack during the unarmed party. That doesn’t even count as a spoiler because anyone with a slight ounce of intelligence should have realised this. Really really should have realised this.

Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassins #14) by Jennifer Estep

Gin Blanco has a new enemy. Deidre, Finn’s mother. Unfortunately she’s not just powerful and dangerous – but she’s also very very very good at manipulating Finn’s desperate emotions. Which means Gin has to play nice

She’s not very good at it. And definitely not a fan. Sometimes it’s easier when you just have to stab someone in the face.

I said in my last review of an Elemental Assassin book that this series has become very very formulaic (not bad, because I love the formula, but still) following the same basic pattern

Gin: *cooking BBQ*

Big Bad: Rawr, I am big bad and will control all Ashland and it’s improbably huge crime rate despite the Spider’s habit of stabbing everyone in the face which would suggest I’d be better off going somewhere else.

Gin: I will find you Big Bad and stab you in the face!

Big Bad: no because I have awesome powers! Super duper rare awesome powers like the last 10 face-stabbed people who tried this.

Gin: Oh no! *is captured/tortured/despairs*

Gin: Wait, past 50% of book! Escape time! See you, Sugah, bless your heart, belatedly remembered southernism. And I remember I have super powers! And Awesome friends!

Awesome friends: Yo!

Jo-Jo: *Cure Major Wounds*

Gin: Now I stab you in the face!

Big Bad: Aaaargh *is stabbed in the face*

Gin: *Makes dinner*

When I finished this book, my first thought was that we’d finally broken the pattern! And then realised that I was being, perhaps, a little optimistic there. I mean we have deviations but that same basic is there – super powerful enemy appears, we have the original set back and then the come back of awesome

So, it’s not exactly not following the same formulaic pattern. And a lot of the twists – with Deidre being Finn’s long lost mother, are somewhat repeating the same patterns we saw when Owen was dealing with Salina (which the book even gives a nod to).

However, while there are a number of similarities still, the pattern itself is disrupted by a whole lot of revelations towards the end of the book. And the introduction of a new big bad. Ok, since Mab Monroe died there have been a number of big bads brought in to replace her (including her daughter) and has followed the same pattern only briefer. But this book introduces an antagonist that is a concept, an organisation rather than a big bad scary elemental who is scary because of their big, bad scary powers. More, this affects the whole structure of the city, everything that Gin has done and everything she is part of.

In general, it feels like this book is bringing in a series reboot, a different focus and a change from the current pattern of repeated powerful one shot enemies. While we have a lot of similarities here, we can see the change of direction – we’re going somewhere new from here, or I hope so

Dark Heart of Magic (Black Blade #2) by Jennifer Estep

It’s time for the Tournament of Blades, the annual celebration where all the magical families of Cloudburst Falls send champions to compete for the hefty cash prize (and, more importantly to the families but not for Lila, the prestige). It’s a major tourist event and there’s no way it can’t go ahead

Even if one of the competitors seems to be trying to kill the competition.

Both Lila and Devon are competing for the Sinclair family, giving them a double motive to win – and to stay alive and find out who is behind it.

This is the second book in the series and I think it is an excellent next step. This book took the story above and beyond the first and helped banish some of the parallels with the Elemental Assassins Series that I found so strong before. This book took the excellent foundation of the first and expanded it and cemented this book as its own.

I’m honestly kind of frustrated with this review because all I really have is a lot of well deserved but somewhat vague praise.

I love the world building, it’s very original with the combination of noble houses who run this town, each of them controlled by magical people all vying against each other, a modern setting and a range of monsters lurking around the fringes of a tourist trap. I like the combination of both the dark danger hiding behind every corner and the bright, shiny exterior which is all welcoming and kitsch for the tourists. It’s a wonderful juxtaposition, the pageantry with the lethal politics lurking just under the surface.

I love the protagonist Lila, with her endless love of bacon and her complicated relationship with the family. Her conflict about being both part of the Sinclair family and outside of it is excellent. Her conflict over whether she can trust the head of the family, whether she can really get invested in it and whether she can really establish any connections there. Her conflict is very real as she both wants to protect and help the family but still feels she needs to be ready to leave at any time and all of this is linked to her complicated memories of her mother who was both loyal to the Sinclairs – and died because of that loyalty. On top this we have her life as a thief, her habit of keeping her head low and hiding and now she’s very much thrust into the lime light, drawing lots of attention and being really uncomfortable about it. This past also comes with an experience of being poor – so even when in two minds about the Sinclairs, their wealth and the comfort she lives in now are not things she can step aside from. I like how well this is down, Lila never feels like she’s greedy or grasping – she feels exactly like what she is, a character who knows poverty and is unwilling to dismiss the security of wealth. She’s a character with a lot of interesting and very real conflicts about her.

Spider's Trap (Elemental Assassin #13) by Jennifer Estep

When a bomb nearly destroys her friend Phillip’s boat while Gin is negotiating a deal on board between several underworld leaders, Gin naturally assumes that she is the target. After all, becoming head of the underworld (however reluctantly) has hardly reduced the number of attempts on her life

But sometimes not everything is about Gin. And when she realises that one of those bosses has a difficult and dangerous past – a past Gin herself was involved in – it’s clear she isn’t the target. Of course, that doesn’t mean Gin won’t feel responsible – or feel the need to help. Whether her help is wanted or not.

There’s an issue with this book – and this series – that I find myself a little torn over. In this book, Gin is driven to fight a big bad guy because he is a terrible abusive arsehole hunting someone down and she just can’t bring herself to say no to anyone in distress. The big bad has Super Special Magical woo-woo that is either a) very rare or b) very powerful. They fight, Gin does badly for a while and then comes up with plan, goes in and stabby stabby killy killy. Job’s a good ‘un to Jo-Jo’s for healing (because the fight will involved Gin apparently losing and being terribly injured for some portion of the fight before the big triumphant end where Gin fights back and/or the victimised person manages to lend help that tips the scale so they can be directly involved in their justice).

Right, that, right there? That’s the plot for pretty much every book in this series, even more so for every book after Mab’s death and the lack of any particular meta-plot afterwards. This is the 13^th book in the series and it’s not just following the same theme – it’s following the same formula. The basic plot elements, story progression, everything is pretty much the same

We have the opening attack. We have some flashbacks from Gin’s past. We have the initial defeat. We have the injuries. We have the working with her team for a solution. We have the unique power (acid, lightning, vampire soul draining, water, etc etc). We have her leaning on her friends but them not taking up too much page space and then we have the victory. It’s the same very rigid, very narrow formula.

But I do enjoy it. And I think there are several elements of this series which are excellent with it. We have a hero who is extremely powerful and skilled but who, despite all that, continually relies upon her support network and friends to get the job done. I like that she doesn’t do everything alone, that she is close to her support network and that includes other women (gasp!) and family! (who are not all dead tragically – well except her parents of course). I like the little snippets into the past that her dreams bring. I like her interactions with her friend. I like that she manages to bring down the big bads with intelligence rather than just awesome gnarly power (which also being immensely frustrated that she never seems to use her power in anything like an effective manner).

I like the pacing of the book, I like how the story develops, I like the balance of character interaction, victory and defeat. I like how the fight scenes unfold and how they’re described. I like Gin’s cooking and how much that matters to her and is an important part of hr life. I like her signature patience and how that has been developed throughout the series. I like her mutual respect with Sophia, Jo-Jo and her sister which has developed nicely over the series. I like her relationship with Owen and how, though he’s always there to back her up, he never tries to take over or “protect her”. I like that there are other powerful figures in the world, including powerful women, who are not evil nor part of Gin’s fanclub

Cold Burn of Magic (Black Blade Series #1) by Jennifer Estep

Lila tries to stay under the radar in the magical town of Cloudburst Falls. Her mother’s death when she was caught between the feuding magical houses drove that lesson home long ago

Not that she keeps her hands clean – she’s a thief and a very very good one. She’s also very handy with a blade and more so with her powerful magic – but even then she needs to keep that quiet; powerful magic is another desirable trait the magical families will target her for.

But she can’t close her eyes when an attempted assassination happens in front of her – and finds herself inevitably drawn to the Sinclair Family – and in the sights of the powerful Draconi family.

Having read Jennifer Estep’s Elemental Assassin series and generally being a huge fan, I was eager to pick this one up.

What struck me was that this book is very similar to that series. In both cases we have a corrupt system largely controlled by supernatural organisations/families/houses/criminal enterprises that have little or no respect for the law which they pretty much own. We have lethal protagonist who have lost most of their family to the cruelty of this organisation (and are carrying around great bucket loads of angst because of it). They are dangerous, lethally skilled and have a super-special, super-rare woo-woo that makes them even more dangerous though they generally keep it hidden. They don’t play by the rules, are a rogue, even a criminal but have hearts of gold and have to do what’s right even if they know it’s not exactly sensible

There are a lot of parallels and the general style of writing made these two series seem very similar in so many ways

And that’s not a bad thing

No, really. I love the Elemental Assassin series, I’m not going to complain about another series that has a similar tone and brings many similar elements from a setting I love. That’d be like playing a game, loving it then not wanting to play any games that are similar. I loved the series, I will probably love any series that is similar to it.

Of course, that works so long as there are sufficient original elements to the new series – after all, “similar to” and “complete copy” are very different things. And this book does do that – the magic system is very different, the world setting with the monsters lurking in the corners is really fun with added little sinister darkness to the background. I like that the threat here doesn’t just come from the corrupt organisations, but lurking in the corners are the lethal monsters of legends ready to pounce on anyone who doesn’t know the old stories, the old fairy tales; it’s a nice creepy addition. The protagonist also approaches this corrupt world from a very different angle – working much more within the system and having a much more business-like approach rather than the family approach that characterises the Elemental Assassin Series

Black Widow (Elemental Assassin #12) by Jennifer Estep

Gin was waiting for Madeline Monroe, daughter of her nemesis Mab Monroe, to strike – it was almost a relief when she finally did so after so much waiting.

But she didn’t expect her to strike with lawyers and health inspectors and crooked cops. And she didn’t expect her to strike against her friends and family as well.

This is an entirely new threat – and one more dangerous in many ways  than anything she has faced before.

After the last book I was conflicted – I was both excited about the Elemental Assassin series getting back on track with a new big bad and a new meta arc to pursue while at the same time leery that the new big bad – Madeline Monroe – was so much like the last big bad that we were going to tell the same story arc a second time. So I went into this book both full of hope and wariness

And hope won out. First of all, the attacks Gin faced were radically different from the kind of attacks that Mab through at her. Madeline doesn’t fight head on – she’s a planner, she’s cunning, she’s a schemer. She uses the organs of law and corruption to her own ends to attack Gin with paperwork, red tape and bribeable officials. She attacks Gin through a system she has constantly ignored and disdained and she attacked Gin through her friends.

It was a completely unique threat and something that brought a whole new lens to Ashland. We had always known the city was corrupt and, in some ways, it was almost ridiculously so – but it worked. This dark, gritty, incredibly corrupt setting is the perfect backdrop for Gin as an assassin – she works as a moral character because there’s not even a pretence of a justice system in this city. We got to see that this book through the lens of that corruption being directed against Gin, not just as a passive force refusing to do this job, but actively used as a weapon bringing down the vast power of the bureaucracy against Gin in a way she can’t just fight with her magic and weapons.

In many ways this makes Madeline a terrifying enemy – far more so than her mighty magic – her ability to plan, always thinking three or four steps ahead, always having a plan b or a plan c made her far more of a threat to Gin than any previous enemy with powerful magic and a large army of goons.

It also means Gin fights back in a more involved manner than just “I will sneak in and stab it until it does.” Instead she was very very cunning which I appreciated a lot

I also really liked that while Madeline did target Gin’s friends, we didn’t have the inevitable “oh you would all be better off without me” angst scene that is almost compulsory in Urban Fantasy. Gin knows how valuable she is to her friends, she knows she matters to them, she knows that their being targeted isn’t her fault – for that matter, after the events of the last 11 books, she knows they’d all be dead without her. More, she involves her friends in her plans to turn the tide because they are integral to her life and her success. Gin isn’t a lone hunter and she’s better for that – she has good friends, excellent friends, who have skills and capabilities that match Gin’s and are fully worthy of (and get) her respect.

Poison Promise (Elemental Assassin #11) by Jennifer Estep

Gin is tried. Tired of the killing. Tired of the fighting. Tired of trying to survive. And when one of her employees finds herself in a whole lot of trouble in the crosshairs of one of the more dangerous crime lords in the city, she has to wonder just how far this is her duty to fix?

But Bria is also deeply involved and Gin can never abandon family. Even when that family is being reckless, foolish and perhaps more dedicated than she should be.

When Gin killed her nemesis in Heart of Venom it was clear we were going to have some books of transition. Gin getting used to her new reality, dealing with the fallout, dealing with some personal stuff, spending some time on the other characters and generally transitioning into a new story arc

Which we did. But Heart of Venom was book 5, Poison Promise is book 11. That’s an awful long time to transition. The other books did everything I said – but in general the series was beginning to falter and become boring – as I mentioned in my review of The Spider.

This book started and we had not one, but two enemies with weird powers (which seems to have been something of an attempt to keep the last few books interesting), I expected the worst – another random assassination of the week book; not bad, but still leaving the series floundering

But no! This book is the start of so much more! I hope anyway

Yes, we seem to have turned a corner on several issues. Firstly, and most obviously, is the new big bad coming to town. I am a little leery because the new big bad, as introduced, feels far too much like the last big bad. I know that makes for great symbolism, but I also hope there isn’t going to be too much rehashing.

The second major change is Gin’s own attitude and awareness. There was a lot more focus on not just Bria but on the conditions of Southtown. Southtown is desperately poor with virtually no opportunities that are not crime related – the only people we know who have managed to escape life in Southtown have resorted to dangerous or criminal enterprise (or both) to do so. It’s their only option. The police have given up on the area, the crime boss openly rules the area and it’s all very grim. I particularly like how we’re repeatedly forced to see the grey in all the characters – like it would be easy to see Troy as an abusive drug dealer or Coral as an addicted kidnapper – but both were forced by desperate circumstances into the lives they lead. Both did terrible things, both faced terrible consequences if they failed to do those terrible things. This was their lives in Southtown, a place with no options. It’s a really good class analysis.

And for much of the series this has been seen and accepted. Some got out (like Rosalyn and Catalina) but most didn’t and the characters – and Gin – accepted this as something they couldn’t change. This has an interesting parallel with how Gin has dealt with the constant attacks by various crime bosses trying to prove themselves. She has accepted this with the same fatalism, she has to fight them, she has to save herself, and then move on. Her daily life now includes fighting for her life. She can’t change this.

The Spider (Elemental Assassin #10) By Jennifer Estep

After Gin receives a mystery gift, she tells Own about one of her first assassin jobs – and a job that she screwed up royally. Too young, too emotionally connected and too hasty, it was the job that truly forged Gin into the Spider she is today.

This book had a lot of good in it. It was nice to see Gin’s development as a character and as an assassin and nice to see her training. It was particularly good to see her training not just in the basic physicality of being an assassin – actually killing people and knowing how to fight - but also the hard lessons in the mindset of an assassin.

I’ve always thought it was odd that Fletcher’s sobriquet was the “Tin Man” because he had no heart when he was clearly a, well, “ethical” assassin, as much as that is a contradiction in terms, with strict rules about who he killed and why, rather than just taking the money and getting the job done. In many ways he acts as a vigilante hero in a town where the police are unfit for their purpose. But this book made it much clearer and more sensible – how even being ethical means not getting emotionally invested or distracted. This, along with Gin’s signature patience, is shown through the mistakes Gin makes as she personalises the pain of her target’s victims and consequently rushes in without due care and attention – or research.

It added some nice backstory to Gin and just fleshed the whole process out a little more as well as emphasising the qualities that make Gin a good assassin above and beyond most.

But as far as the series goes I have to say I’m losing interest a little. It’s a shame because I love this character and I love this world – but there’s a limit to how many times you can do they “Gin has to kill someone, look she has” and make it original. To be fair, each book has introduced different elements and they were good books in their own right – but the first half of the series had lots of drama and intrigue and meta with us learning about Gin, learning about her life and her ongoing quest to defeat her nemesis. Which she did in Spider’s Revenge. Since then there have been 5 more books and 2 novellas in the series and no knew meta. It’s not that the books are boring by any stretch and we did cover issues that added to Gin’s world: Sophia’s past, Owen’s past, Gin and Owen’s relationship drama, her relationship with her sister Bria, and now some insight into Gin as she was learning her trade as an assassin – but we’re spending all this time developing the characters for what? Because it feels like the series ended on the 5^th book and then just kept going. It’s all background with no foreground.

Heart of Venom (Elemental Assassin #9) by Jennifer Estep

Gin is trying to have a fun day out with her friends, at the spa with a whole lot of food (and a whole lot of chocolate) when assassins, kidnappers and thugs interrupt things. Life as the Spider, the most lethal assassin in the corrupt city of Ashland, means never having a day off.

But this time the thugs do not focus on Gin, they focus on Sophia, one of Gin’s closest friends. The demons in her past have finally caught up with her; kidnapping her and imprisoning her where she had escaped so many years before.

Of course, these kidnappers don’t realise who they’re dealing with – and how very loyal the Spider is to her friends.

So many things I love about this book – and most of them I have covered so many times in the series. I love Gin, I love the world and its diverse elements that create a truly unique feel. I love the fight scenes and how they’re laid out. But there are also several elements to this book that put it above most of the series.

One thing I really liked about this book is Gin only gets incidentally beat up – and most of that from random blows in fights and her taking a nose dive off a cliff. There’s no prolonged torture/beating scene of Gin (albeit some witnessed of Sophia) that leaves her a complete wreck (there are times when things try to beat her – and find that it doesn’t do a lot with her Stone magic) which made me feel a little more comfortable. Apart from anything else, Gin is an awesome, lethal assassin; I don’t expect her to get out of any situation unscathed but I don’t expect her to have prolonged “Gin gets tortured” scenes every book either. It felt a little torture porny and I was glad to see it skip this book.

I also liked that Gin used her magic so overtly. My old complaint about this series is that Gin is supposed to be the most powerful elemental ever (or one of them) but she very rarely uses that power, even when faced with other elementals. It was frustrating. So I loved to see her just doing her epic thing and taking down small armies with her power

In fact I loved the whole epic of this book. I know that overpowered characters can be hollow – but Gin has had 8 books to hone her power and skills, how nuance et al. Sometimes it’s nice to have a character who is just unassailably awesome. Shallow of me? Maybe, sometimes I just like to see someone who kick’s arse in epic fashion. I especially loved her embracing her notoriety. People knowing she’s the Spider is a constant source of aggravation to her these last few books, but it’s nice to see her turn that into a source of power – to look at enemies and announce that she’s the Spider and how dead that makes them.

But Gin is more than that – yes she’s deadly and powerful – but she’s also intelligent. She didn’t just run into a gang of men and show off her powers and kill them all – she used strategy, she used tactics, she used the terrain and the vulnerabilities around her. She’s not just a terrifying fighter – she’s a clever one.

And she’s a clever one with friends – good friends. I love how Gin has built up her network of friends and supporters since the first book. I like that all of them have had sufficient backstory and attention paid to them to have their own storylines, their own personality and their own characterisation. I love that it doesn’t just say “Gin loves this person and is loyal to them” but we’ve seen the reason for that loyalty, the reason for that connection and the shared history between her and the people in her life. So I really liked that this book explored Sophia and Jo Jo more since they’[d been background characters for so long, integral parts of Gin’s life, but never with any real explanation as to how they joined her circle. It felt like a completion, making sure every one of the people around Gin were fully realised as people.

Kiss of Venom (Elemental Assassin #8.5) by Jennifer Estep

Owen and Phillip are having a guy’s night out in the club – but Owen’s having a hard time letting go and enjoying himself with his head fully absorbed in how badly he messed up with Gin – which only gets more depressing when Gin and Bria come to the club for their own night out

With so much regret to mull over, it’s almost a relief when Owen hears a couple of assassins planning to take Gin down. The least he can do is try to keep her night undisturbed.

In some ways, this is exactly the kind of short story I want in a series that is this established – something to give me an insight above and beyond the standard plot, taking someone else’s point of view other than the protagonist I’ve seen over and over again, getting their perspective on things that maybe will show the events in a different way from what I’m used it. After all, the series is 8 books long, not including short stories, it’s good to hear from the characters who follow Gin around, see what their version of events are especially since Gin has had personal conflicts with just about everyone.

So opening the book and seeing Owen’s point of view was a big plus to me. Especially after everything that happened in the last few books with his ex-girlfriend and then the action at the Rotunda and trying to make up with Gin.

And because of that, I was very very very tolerant of recapping. Even if there was a lot of recapping – and oh boy is there a lot of recapping – because if you’re going to get someone else’s point of view on past events then you need to look at those events again.

But… Owen doesn’t exactly have an informative or deep point of view; about the only new insight I gained was his regret of all the years he lost with Phillip, the friend he cast aside because of Salina’s lie. Other than that?

Woe! I let Gin down! Wooooe!

Woe! Bria hates me because I let Gin down! I deserve it. Wooooe!

Woe! I am such a bad person!

Woe! Gin hates me – and she totally should!

Woe! A woman flirted with me and Gin saw and now she’s hurt! Woe, I’m a terrible person!

Woe! I treated Phillip like shit for years because I’m a terribad person! Woe!

Woe! I let my sister down! Because I’m a terribad person! Woe!

Woe! My extreme depression is now ruining Phillip’s night! I’m the worst person in the world! Woe!

Woe! I didn’t tip the waitress enough! I’m scum beneath her shoes! Woe!

Carniepunk Anthology

By: Rachel Caine, Delilah S. Dawson, Jennifer Estep, Kelly Gay, Kevin Hearne, Mark Henry, Hillary Jacques, Jackie Kessler, Seanan McGuire, Kelly Meding, Allison Pang, Nicole Peeler, Rob Thurman, Jaye Wells

When I first saw this anthology I leaped to request it – so many of the authors included in it are the authors I already read and already love, a collection of stories by them was definitely something I was sure I’d be able to devour in seconds, loving every word.

I preface the review with this to make it clear that my expectations were very very high – perhaps too high given my oft mentioned dislike of short stories. This left me feeling a little disappointed.

Firstly, on the book overall I was impressed by the unity of theme, short story compilations by different authors can feel very disjointed as you are buffeted from epic story to laughing comedy to heart wrenching tragedy that makes them almost impossible to read in one sitting because they’re so different.  While the writing style of this book was, obviously, very varied the overall theme not just of Carnivals but of something sinister, dark and something pretty creepy was generally well maintained throughout. I don’t know if it was intended or if the authors just find carnivals as creepy as I do – but nearly every story had a strong sense of the creepiness, the alien and the outsider about them that helped keep the whole book together as a coherent whole which I appreciated.

In terms of the stories, the ones by the authors that drew me in were very much their style, but also nothing special and didn’t form much of a useful addition to their own stories:

Kevin Hearne’s The Demon Barker of Wheat Street, was a fun ride with characters I’ve come to know and love. Atticus, Oberon and Granuaile are always immensely fun romp around a Carnival, fighting evil with humour and flair with odd moments of depth and emotion to it that so characterises Kevin Hearne’s work; it’s good but not his best, lacking in style or real relevance to the world he has…  if you’re not a fan of the series already you’re going to be a little lost reading this one – and a little Spoilered as well, which is a bad choice for a short story, I think.

Jennifer Estep’s Parlor Tricks, is much the same. If you know her world and her characters then it’s a great read, a nice continuation and nice to see Gin in some semi-downtime. If you don’t know her world then you’re probably going to be more than a little lost as the full weight of her massive Ashland world is thrown at you. As a fan and a current reader of her series, I enjoyed it while still feeling I wouldn’t have missed anything if I hadn’t read it. That’s a good thing in the sense that I don’t want my series to depend on me tracking down anthologies, but bad in that I left the story feeling I hadn’t gained anything.

Seanan McGuire’s Daughter of the Midway, the Mermaid and the Open, Lonely Sea, surprised me in that it didn’t seem to be related to any of her actual series. While I liked this story, I also felt that it was the only one that didn’t fit the overall theme of the book, though I quite liked the subversion of finally presenting the Carnie’s point of view and taking their otherness that had been so pushed through the rest of the stories and making that a strength rather than the sinister nature that had been pushed so far. It was an excellent close to the book.

Notable others were Painted Love by Rob Thurman, it was the first story in the book and did a very good job of setting up the dark and sinister theme; the fantastic and the other, the evil and the cruel, the hidden threats as much as the hidden wonders. It was an excellent choice for the first story. But, as far as the story itself goes, it didn’t work for me. It had a nice twist ending but to make that work it forced a lot of character interaction that didn’t make a lot of sense and some very stilted descriptions. The story also had an over-wordy, over-introspective style that I’ve never particularly cared for. It did really set up the sense of the other – in ways that go beyond the simple supernatural creatures we’ve already known - and definitely laid the groundwork for the creepy, the evil and the sinister

Deadly Sting (Elemental Assassin #8) by Jennifer Estep

 

Dragged by Finn to an auction so they can paw through the remains of Mab’s estate, Gin is predicting a boring night (certainly more boring than dress shopping with added fun mugging).

A boring night that quickly becomes slightly nightmarish when she sees her sort-of-ex-Owen with another woman on what may be a date.

Thankfully relationship issues are rapidly overruled by a new threat – art thieves with guns, bombs and a willingness to shoot hostages.

The Spider just can’t have a night off.

In have to say, I wasn’t that thrilled with this story. I mean, the action was well done and well written as usual, I love these characters and the setting was intriguing. It had action, it had excitement, it had this wonderful world I love.

But it came down to being “Gin goes somewhere, bad guys try to rob it, Gin stops them.” I actually had trouble writing a summary that wasn’t just one sentence. I kept waiting for the whole museum robbery to end and us to move on to the main plot now the prologue has finished until I got to 75% in and I realised, wait, this is actually the whole story. There’s no real twists, no grand revelations, there’s a couple of side issues taking up a tiny amount of room, but that’s about it. It’s a linear, simple, action story.

I mean, it’s good at that. The fights scenes are excellent and there’s a wonderful bit of stylistic writing in that Gin often stops and watches her prey for a long time before actually acting. It can be really frustrating reading because you’re urging her to move and she isn’t – but she is the Spider, renowned for her patience and that was really brought home in this book; just how patient she is, how long she is willing to wait for the ideal situation. Except… someone was actually bleeding to death while she was being this patient. Great stylistically, a bit less so in terms of fitting the situation.

And I liked her flashback with Fletcher, giving another sense of who she was and how she became who she is – but also the ruthlessness that has been instilled into her. I liked it, it would have been great character development for… someone who wasn’t Gin. Sorry, but while I loved so much of it, the idea of Gin getting the job done no matter what, even if it meant using a loved one as bait, doesn’t quite gel with how she’s acted towards her extended family.

I’d also quite like her skill as an assassin be showed by her not getting hurt in a battle rather than her constantly being severely beaten before getting magical healing – less kamikaze Gin and more skilful, awesome Gin.

Having said that, I think it’s a real mistake to look at any of the Elemental Assassin’s series in terms of individual books – this is one of those series that works incredibly well as a collective whole. The pacing of the series, the way each book is presented as its place in the series and general development of the series are all extremely well done – looked at as a whole the writing and organisation is incredible, some of the best I’ve ever read.

Review: Widow's Web by Jennifer Estep, Book 7 in the Elemental Assassin Series

Gin has almost settled into a routine, albeit one dogged still by amateur assassins trying to prove they’re more deadly than the Spider. That is until Philip Kincaid, crime boss and one of the contenders for Mab’s old throne, comes into her BBQ restaurant to hire her. Not as an assassin, but as a caterer.

Of course, nothing’s that simple and when a deadly Elemental assassin tries to kill Kincaid during the party, it’s only Gin’s actions that save his life. From there it takes only a little while to discover Kincaid’s shared history with Owen, her lover and Eva. And Salina

Salina, Water Elemental, deadly, manipulative assassin and wannabe underworld boss. And Owen’s ex-fiancée. A lethal killer who wants Owen back, who wants revenge for her father’s death and is willing to destroy anything in her path. A tough call for Gin to bring down – and preserve her relationship with Owen.

After the last book, I wasn’t really ready for another relationship drama. We’d just finished with Gin and Donovan Caine last book, I wasn’t up for having Owen then deal with his ex. I did think it was handled well, Gin was jealous without being unreasonably so. Gin disliked Salina but, again, she had reason to dislike her. It could have been a lot worse, it really could. And there were several moments when I cringed and expected it to be worse. I expected Owen to ignore or downplay what Gin told him about what Salina did to Eva. I expected Owen to defend Salina more than he did. I expected there to be a lot more “get your hands off my man” moments. In short, I expected a hot mess, and didn’t get it. There were uncomfortable elements – Owen wanting to go easy on Salina, Owen defending Salina, Owen assuming the best about Salina – but none were excessive or beyond what I would expect. I still wasn’t happy with the love triangle, but it didn’t dominate. Ultimately, Salina’s past relationship with Owen was a complicating factor, but the main reason was that Salina was dangerous, that Salina is trying to kill people - people who don’t deserve it.