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| 4 out of 5 stars |
Can it be? Can Ms. Estep have written an installment of the Elemental Assassin series without repeating herself ad nauseam? It would seem that she can or that an editor finally stepped into the breach. I have raised my star rating by a whole star in appreciation!
I met Ms. Estep at a literary conference this summer and I like her. But I think I know what’s going on with all the repetition in her books—she writes at a frantic pace! I think that repeating things filled out those pages in a satisfying way (and there is a belief out there that readers are distractable and need these frequent reminders to keep us on track). Plus, I think repetition is one of her methods of dealing with the world. She was on several panel discussions that I attended, and she said virtually identical things on each and every one of them. She had interesting things to say when someone could get her stirred up a bit, but she didn’t allow that to happen very often. Very self-contained, she had obviously scripted some responses and wasn’t easily shaken from her script.
This was a satisfying offering in the Gin Blanco saga, as Gin realizes that getting rid of Mab Monroe didn’t solve all of her problems. In fact, she has been outed as The Spider and now has to deal with a lot of gossip and regular murder attempts. But Gin can’t catch a break even when she goes on vacation—there’s an evil vampire making a friend’s life difficult and despite how tough Gin thinks she is, she always stands up for the underdog. The villain is a good one (i.e. evil & powerful). Wouldn’t you know that Donovan Caine shows his nose again in this book—Gin gets some satisfying closure and Owen gets to strut a bit. I appreciate Gin’s circle of friends and comrades—she’s no longer the cold loner.
I had thought to quit reading the series after this book, but I may have to amend that plan. This book was such an improvement that I think I will forge onward and see if this non-repetitive thing continues!
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