I had to demote this volume’s ranking from its siblings for a couple of reasons. First, it starts off with an architectural blunder so great that I just couldn’t move past it. I’ve been letting her house descriptions slide so far (even though I wince at them for the most part), such as Owen’s “modest” mansion being “only” four-stories. But this one starts with Gin scaling Mab’s fifteen story mansion. Yep. FIFTEEN. STORIES. That’s not a mansion, that’s a hotel. The freakin’ Biltmore’s not even that tall. Oh, and the dining room’s on the sixth floor. ‘Cause that makes sense. Not. And she gets there from a second story roof. Sooooo…there’s this tiny, low roofline and then a sheer, 13-story wall? How can you possibly make a roofline work with those numbers?? That’s right, you can’t. I get the point, that Mab’s supposedly built this crazy big house to show how all-powerful she is, but come on—let’s have it make sense, at least.From there, we get a repetitive spiral of angst over Gin’s two failed attempts. I was actually starting to wonder if we were going to get a plot point that someone was magically messing with her emotions, they were so out of character and overblown. Then a lot a repetitive angst over Gin’s compulsive need to do everything on her own and everyone else’s assertions that they’re backing her up whether she likes it or not. All that leading up to the epic duel. I’m not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand, I appreciate that Estep didn’t drag the big bad confrontation out for a ridiculously long time (I’m looking at you, Carrie Vaughn, much as I love you), but on the other it still feels pretty quick, and therefore a bit anticlimactic. It just leaves me wondering where we go from here. Gin just takes on big scary guy of the week as she continues her vigilante work cleaning up Ashland?All that said, I still appreciate the cold-blooded practicality that Gin applies to all her confrontations with the bad guys. There’s none of that bleeding-heart, maybe-I-shouldn’t-kill-so-much morality hitting our Spider. Try to set up her sister? You’re dead, buddy. Harsh as it is, it really is refreshingly different from the majority of the urban fantasy leads out there who only kill when forced to. Even Anita Blake went from rock-hard Executioner to “only when I have to”. The fifth book in the Gin Blanco series finally puts to bed the underlying story arc of the Spider vs. Mab Monroe. Although I didn't mind this particular continuing plot I am glad that it is finally at a close and am looking forward to what is in the future for a retired (semi-retired?) assassin. The romance is minimal in this book but well played out as Gin and Owen's relationship continues to build. To tell the truth the relationships between Gin and her entire makeshift family moved forward in this book which I enjoyed. My only complaints are the unnecessary repetitions. Estep does a remarkable job of recapping what has happened in previous books for those just jumping on the Gin bandwagon (why would you do this? Go back and start at the beginning!) However, for those of us who are extremely familiar with the series reading that Mab Monroe super heated Gin's metal rune melting it into the palms of her hands, oh, 5 times....is a bit much. Overall this book was an exciting addition to the series and at this point I hope they remain this good because I look forward to many many more Elemental Assassin books. Plus I can't get enough of Owen.
What do You think about Spider’s Revenge (2000)?
finally got annoyed enough with all the problems to put this series away unfinished.
—princessgs24
love the book cant wait to see what the next book brings
—shiri123456
I know I read this pretty close to the release date
—iqkitty
