The fifth book in the “outstanding” (Romantic Times) Elemental Assassin fantasy series featuring Gin Blaco, who by day is a waitress at a Tennessee BBQ joint, and by night is a tough female assassin.
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.
As the title suggests, Spider's Revenge finally delivers the epic battle between Gin and Mab that we have all been waiting for. But before we get there, Gin has to go through a few more rough patches. The opening chapter jumps right in and sets the tone for the rest of book as Gin obsesses over how to get to Mab, whether she survives it or not. Her focus is so absolute that she forgets about some other tools at her disposal: her friends.
The repetition really bothered me in Spider's Revenge, more so than in the previous books. I just wanted to get on with the inevitable face off of Gin and Mab, but much of the first half is recaps of the previous four books and beyond. For some of these things, it was at least the fifth time reading them. Probably a lot more, since some are mentioned more than once in all of the books. It disrupted the pace of the plot, because after each action sequence, there would be a lull filled with recap.
However, Spider's Revenge was still an excellent read! It's obvious what the outcome is going to be, but there were some surprises in how it gets there. There were times when I wanted to yell at Gin for some little mistakes that she made. I was sure her compassion was either going to save her life or end it. It certainly added to the tension.
Now that Gin has gotten her ultimate revenge, where is the series going to go from here? The end of Spider's Revenge seems to suggest that the Spider is back is business, which means more dangerous missions for Gin, and more fast paced plots for us!
