Spider’s Bite

Spider’s Bite (2010) Jennifer Estep

Gin is an assassin called the Spider. She makes a good living, and her handler wants her to retire, but she’s not sure she’s ready–after all, she’s still young, what would she do? All of her family is dead, and the only people she’s close to are her handler (who is all but her father) and his son. She’s also a Stone elemental, but that magic has never gotten her anywhere good as far as she’s concerned.

There were several things I really liked about this story. The world building was very well done. The main character is a magic user, and there are vampires and dwarves and giants, but all of these things are simply background to the story–it’s noted in passing that someone is a vampire, but that’s rarely what’s important about the person. And because Gin rarely uses her magic, we slowly become familiar with magic in her world. By the end of the story we still don’t know the limits of Gin’s magic, but neither does she.

Another thing I liked is that almost from the beginning I thought I’d figured out a major plot point, but was pleasantly surprised to discover that I was only half right, and the part I was wrong about was the more important part. It’s good to be wrong–especially being right would have been annoying (to me).

I also like that Gin (and the other characters) believe in the importance of making sure someone is actually dead.

And then there was Gin. For someone with such a messed up childhood, she’s pretty stable and sensible.

Except…

GOOD GRIEF! ENOUGH ALREADY WITH THE SEX!

I mean really, you’re on a case. If you’re as professional as you are in everything else, why would you spend so much time thinking about BOINKING when you’re on the freaking job?! If she is that obsessed, how did she not die years ago?!

Yes, it really annoys me THAT MUCH.

However, aside from that the story really was very good. The mystery/secret was well done, the main characters were solidly done, and as I said, I loved the world building.

I just would have loved it more with out the obsession with sex.
Rating: 7/10

Published by Pocket Books.

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