Meh. Definitely not what I was hoping for. I don't think the author put a lot of effort into researching for her character's role as an assassin because there are big plot holes all over the place why and how Gin kills people. The asylum scene in the beginning was great but everything went downhill after that, and quickly. All of it is just messy and the reasons Gin does what she does- like NOT use any of her magic- are super super lame. This would be better marketed as a cozy mystery than a fantasy novel.... we talk about magic and everyone else uses magic but not our characters.Also, we apparently need to be told where Gin keeps her knives on her persona EVERY CHAPTER. And Gin needs to tell us how 'fuckable' every male she encounters is.... and the one she ends up with is a cookie cutter stick-up-his-ass with one of the most awkward foreplay scenes ever.... and the best part is that it is completely nonsensical and pointless to the actual story. I realize she's probably setting something up for future books, but I don't think I'm going to take part in any of them. This book left me feeling a bit disappointed.I guess it's because most reviews I've read about this series were raving. I had expected to fall in love with this book.Instead it left me feeling lukewarm.I'm not sure what was missing. Is Gin too much of a hard-ass for me? Too jaded? I'm not sure. I've read books with hard-boiled heroines before where i loved the heroine. Is it because she's an assassin? Now that's more likely. I even suspect that my dislike of another assassin character colored my opinion of Gin.Anyway: I never warmed up to Gin, which made me not that interested in reading how she gets herself out of trouble. I also didn't much care for the 'ít's lust, not love' relationship between Gin and her Caine. That I did finish reading the book had more to do with the fact I didn't have another book with me, than that I was in any way invested in the story.I will confess that I liked the writing and the world building though, so it wasn't all meh.So as you might guess I won't be continuing this series, although I think I might give Estep's Mythos Academy series a try, to see if another lead character might make me fall in love with Estep's writing.
What do You think about Spinnenkuss (2013)?
Really liked the story and the characters -- Donovan Caine's conflicted morals added a nice twist.
—kita
Imaginative concept, stereotype characters, clunky sex scenes
—vinnie
Gin is another kick ass protagonist with a messed up life.
—Yumiro
