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Spider's Bite (Elemental Assassin, #1)

Jennifer Estep

Start date: January 1, 2017

Finish date: January 31, 2017

Discussion: Challenges: What's the Rush

Why we're reading this: Part of our group series (re)read: Elemental Assassin …more
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Challenges: What's the Rush

* 2025 Series Read: K.N. Banet's "Jacky Leon"
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last updated Aug 17, 2010 11:14PM

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Aug 30, 2010 AH rated it really liked it

Shelves: own, zzread-feb2011, first-in-series, urban-fantasy, vampires

Urban fantasy books are often saturated with the kick ass, snarky heroine, the requisite love interest, the paranormal creatures, cool weapons, and the evil bad guy or gal. Yes – this book has all that, but it felt like it had more. Set in the corrupt town of Ashland, Tennessee, Spider’s Bite has a dirty, gritty feel.

Gin Blanco is known as The Spider, a female assassin. She is extremely good at her job and is well compensated for her skills. Gin has standards, a kind of moral code. She does not Urban fantasy books are often saturated with the kick ass, snarky heroine, the requisite love interest, the paranormal creatures, cool weapons, and the evil bad guy or gal. Yes – this book has all that, but it felt like it had more. Set in the corrupt town of Ashland, Tennessee, Spider’s Bite has a dirty, gritty feel.

Gin Blanco is known as The Spider, a female assassin. She is extremely good at her job and is well compensated for her skills. Gin has standards, a kind of moral code. She does not kill children or the innocent.

I liked the originality of this book. While there are vampires in this book, their abilities are not really expanded upon, except that they seem to heal quickly. There are also giants and dwarves. There are also people that can control elemental magic – from air, fire, stone, ice, etc. Gin is an elemental. She has the ability to use stone and ice magic. While stone and ice are not the most powerful elemental magics out there, it is hinted that Gin has some extraordinary powers. I would have liked to have had more information on these elemental magic practitioners – How did they get the magic? Were they born with it? Can they learn it?

The world building in this book was intriguing. Basically, it felt like our world but with paranormal elements. Gin lives in a corrupt city which is policed by a corrupt police force. Even the organized crime elements felt like a paranormal mafia.

Our heroine Gin Blanco comes from tragic circumstances. Her family died in a fire, leaving her homeless. She is “found” by Fletcher, who gives her odd jobs in exchange for food. She later becomes an assassin and Fletcher acts as her handler. I found Fletcher to be a most interesting character, even though he was not around for most of the book.

I liked all the people that surrounded Gin. Finnegan Lane (Finn), Fletcher’s son was a wonderful character. I so wanted Gin to be his love interest, but it was not happening. Finn was a great supporting character.

I had trouble believing the attraction between Gin and Donovan Craig. I did not like the way that Donovan treated Gin. I found that his character fell flat for me because of his condescending attitude towards Gin, even though he was alive because of her.

The villain was especially evil and scary. I enjoyed the mystery of figuring out who she was and I was pleasantly surprised when I had guessed wrong. I loved the ending and it made me rush out to find the next book in the series Web of Lies.

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Sep 11, 2010 Mariya rated it liked it

Shelves: urban-fantasy, magic-users

I thought that Spider's Bite was very original and unique. The story was very intriguing and kept my reading. The story is about a woman, Gin who is an assassin. Her family was killed when she was younger and was taken in by Fletcher, owner of the Pork Pitt. He raised her to be strong and capable and also was the one to train her to become an assassin. In the story, Gin gets a job and this one has a very high pay and Gin could retire after this job. But the unexpected happens when she to double I thought that Spider's Bite was very original and unique. The story was very intriguing and kept my reading. The story is about a woman, Gin who is an assassin. Her family was killed when she was younger and was taken in by Fletcher, owner of the Pork Pitt. He raised her to be strong and capable and also was the one to train her to become an assassin. In the story, Gin gets a job and this one has a very high pay and Gin could retire after this job. But the unexpected happens when she to double crossed. And Gin will not rest until she finds and kills the one who betrayed her.
Gin is our heroine in this story is very strong and capable but I feel as an assassin she doesn't have any feelings like some of my other favorite heroines does. But I think farther into the book we see her bring those out. I think that Gin has been through a lot. I don't know what I think about our heroine being an assassin quite yet. I know that she does NOT kill innocent people, only the people who deserve it. I don't mind her being an assassin, but it just seems like she is so cold most of the time. But I think that she has grown since the beginning of the story, like most heroines seems to do. Finn is Fletcher's son, and he is so funny. I think he is one of the reasons I really liked this book. He is always talking about woman, clothes, and money. He is a riot. Great character.

We also have Gin's love interest, Detective Donovan Caine. At the beginning I admit that I was drawn to Caine and liked him a bit, but throughout the book that changed immediately. I found that he was a constant jerk to Gin. I liked him, because I thought that he would be a little more kind to Gin. I feel like he is so slow at figuring things out too. But I think that Gin needs a love interest that can appreciate the woman that she is and truly loves her for her. I mean she has been through a lot. Gin does not like killing, but it is something that she has to do to survive. But again, I do understand Caine, saying that she is an assassin and really does not know that much about Gin except for the fact that she is an assassin, so I will see how the relationship between them develops in book 2, Web of Lies.

I thought that the world was very interesting with elemental assassins existing and the role vampires play. I also loved that this was very action-packed. I enjoyed the mystery, action, suspense, and the little romance. The ending had a cliffhanger that left me guessing what would happen next. I really enjoyed the book and I will continue the series to see what is in store for Gin. ...more

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Apr 18, 2012 Karen rated it really liked it

Shelves: paranormal, new-author, first-in-series, challenge-shelf-2013

Four stars for action, three stars for overuse of guilt and phrasing, three stars on love interest, four stars for characters, three stars for world building, and so on. As a series debut, it gets the 3.5 star benefit of the doubt bump up as I'll be reading forward to the next book. Loved the secondary characters and I can't wait to see more of them while hoping Gin shakes some of her angst as the series matures. Fun read with a few speed bumps. ...more

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Aug 29, 2010 Cat rated it really liked it

Really enjoyed this book. I liked the amount of action and the main character kicks ass. There is just enough history given on her background and I like the other characters alot as well. I have ordered the second on in the series and am looking forward to reading it. Theres some hot sex scenes too . I liked it.

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