Reviewed by Amanda on
I think it’s well-known that I am a big fan of knowing secrets and getting my questions answered. I don’t like it when my characters hold out on me. We get a hint of Gin’s past in Spider’s Bite, and are teased further in Web of Lies, but everything we’ve learned culminates in Venom. Where Gin has always been careful not to draw Mab’s ire previously, the situation changes in Venom. Getting my answers and having the Mab story arc furthered (with a boom) went a long way in my enjoyment of the third Elemental Assassin book.
But it is the characters that keep me coming back for more and really shine in this series. I love Gin, the hard-ass assassin with a heart. As the series progresses, Gin has opened up to become more than just a successful killer with the patience of a saint — or a spider. And yes, we got to see more Owen, who is definitely a much MUCH better fit for Gin. We see it before Gin does. Thankfully Owen doesn’t know when to quit. Finn is fun. Sophia is…intriguing. Thus far into the series, she has been relatively enigmatic, though Gin has hinted repeatedly that there is much more to Sophia than meets the eye. We learn a few very interesting bits of information about Sophia in Venom, and I suspect we’ll learn even more in Tangled Threads.
The stories that Jennifer Estep weaves are fantastic. The descriptions and explanations get us inside Gin’s head and experience and see the world the same way that she does. My only complaint is the repetitiveness of some descriptions of characters, and how they are used almost verbatim between books. Characters’ eye colors, Finn’s chicory coffee, silverstone knives, Mab’s runes, etc. I’m choosing to attribute this repetitiveness to the fact that I’m reading the books back to back, though I can see how it can very easily get irritating.
Reading updates
- Started reading
- 9 October, 2011: Finished reading
- 9 October, 2011: Reviewed