Tangled Threads (Elemental Assassin series Book 4)
M**S
Tangled Threads by Jennifer Estep
Tangled Threads by Jennifer Estep4th book in the Elemental Assassin series. Urban fantasy. Best read as part of the series.Gin is the target of a new assassin in town. She must juggle the threat while protecting Bria, Finn, Owen and the rest of her collected family. Mab Monroe still wants the Spider dead.Fight of good over evil? Giants, desperation, beatings, freedom and killings. It’s a complex world where Gin fights good, while being kinda bad.I mostly listened to the audio version. I got lost a couple of times because of the dream sequences which in the print version are shown in italics. The repetition of background info is a bit tedious.Overall a good continuation of the fantasy series.
R**R
I know there is a better story in there I’m just waiting to get to it.
3.25 girlfight StarsMy enjoyment of this book increase by about 25% from the rest of the series. Reason 1 for that is that I stopped listening to the audio for this. It’s not that the narrator is bad, she is actually pretty okay. But there is a ton of repetition EVERYWHERE and since I’m reading this I can eyeskim most of the rehashes and recaps of every little thing. It feels like there is about 25-30 unnecessary pages of the stuff.The second reason is Owen. I like him as the love interest. He is new to dating an assassin, but I think he is doing a pretty good job of it.*** “What was wrong with giving Gin a key?" he rumbled. "It's not like I could keep her out of the house, even if I wanted to. I thought a key would make things easier, make her feel like she was really welcome here. This is the first time that I've dated an assassin. I don't want to piss her off” ***There relationship jumped kind of fast and I maybe would have liked a little more build up to it….but still Owen is a good guy and I like their dynamic.The third reason I liked this a little more was the female assassin that has come to town to kill ‘The Spider’ or Gin or both. I love a good girlfight.There are still some of the same pitfalls in this that there have been in the other books of the series. Mainly an overabundance of recaps and rehashes are the worst offenders. The other thing I wish Estep would move away from is using Rape as the main fear and plot driver. Seriously does every single bad guy have to want to rape Gin, her sister or some other hapless female in the story. There are other ways to create tension and fear and I’d really like it if Estep explored some of those. I’ve really lost count as to how many giants, dwarves and vampires just want to run around raping every female character in the book.The final show down with the assassin was pretty cool but these are starting to feel a little formula driven.I know there is a better story in there I’m just waiting to get to it.
A**E
Tangled Threads
This series just keeps gaining momentum, and that has me so nervous for when it finally hits its peak! Tangled Threads is another intense addition to the series! Gin has officially declared war on Mab Monroe, the woman who killed her mother and sister. For the past two weeks, since the end of Venom, she's been picking off Mab's men one by one. But now there's a new player in town: another assassin, Elektra LaFleur. Miss Monroe has contracted her to take out the Spider and Detective Bria Coolidge. Elektra also agreed to a side job to take out Gin, since she doesn't know she's already on her hit list. Merry Christmas!Tangled Threads is even more action packed than the previous three books! Gin is up against her toughest opponent yet. Elektra is a rare elemental who has full strength control over electricity. She can fry you and turn your body to ash without breaking a sweat. How can Gin compete with that? Well, it's not easy, but of course she has to think of a creative way to use her stone and ice powers. The fights had me nervous, because even though it's obvious that Gin survives (there's 8 more books!), the same can't be said for her sister, who I've been dying for her to tell the truth to!I really don't have much to say about Tangled Threads that I haven't said about the other books. It's a great, fast paced read, and I was never bored. Although there is a definite pattern to the plot which I hope gets broken soon. I liked the plot, but I'd hate for this series to become purely formulaic. I'm also getting a bit annoyed at all of the recap. It's great when you have to wait between books, but reading them back to back? Just get to the new stuff already!
A**M
Loved this book but ...
I've been reading the books in this series back to back and up until this book I've loved them and kept downloading them one after another on my Kindle. Before I downloaded this book I read a review of someone saying they loved this series but hated this book so much for its repetitive writing that she stopped reading it. I loved the previous books so much I took no notice and downloaded this book regardless. I got up to 47% of this book and literally almost stopped reading it. I felt like I've read almost half of the book already in the previous books and I found myself flicking past pages to get to the story and I'm so happy I did because I loved the other 50% of it but just disappointed it took so long. Now I want to download the next book and am wondering if I have to skip past another 47% of the exact same things to get to the story.
C**N
Getting closer to Mab
This is the 4th in the elemental assasin series. Gin Blanco, aka the Spider (as she reminds rather too often) is getting ever closer to her arch nemesis Mab Monroe. Start with Spiders Bite, then Web of Lies then Venom. After polishing off various associates of Mab's in previous books, most notably Elliot Slater, Mab has hired another assesin to take Gin out. There is a cat and mouse chase as the two female assasins challenge each other whilst Gin helps those in need of protection, gets to know her baby sister Bria better and moves on her relationship with Owen - oh god he is so much better than that sanctimonious idiot Donovan Caine from the first 2 books. The theme in these books is elemental powers wielded by certain protaganists. Gin can wield both stone and ice magic and hence is very powerful. other elemental powers are fire and air and others have offshoots like metal and electricity. There are also giants, dwalves and vampires in this world although its the elemental powers that take central stage. As one other reviewer commented there is a little too much repetition and rehashing of the story and I wish Jennifer would have a little more confidence in her readers recall. However Gin is a great heroine, brave and noble and sexy and not afraid to kill those in need of killing which is a good trait for an assasin. Roll on the big confrontation with Mab!
S**N
Ooh yes
This is book four, what an excellent series! J.E does not disappoint, it's the same high standard of writing as the other books. I love the Gin Blanco character & how she's developing mentally throughout. With her eyes set on the terrific antagonist Mab Monroe & bringing down her organisation. Mab has an ace up her sleeve and it's going to take all her skill & support from her growing number of friends to come out alive. Loved the Electra character, she's deliciously evil & very powerful, no cardboard cut outs in this book.Gritty, with a superbly crafted world, I just got sucked in & lost from the first page to the last. J.E gives a sneak peek into book five very cruel taster because we all have to wait for the outcome! All I can say is great series, recommended, our favourite assassin does not let you down!
L**A
More of the same...
The one in which Gin gets gets closer to Owen and Bria, and Mab puts out a hit on Gin... Getting tired of the repetition, and I'm finding it harder to suspend disbelief, but there was a fair amount of action, so will keep going for 1 more in the series, to see how Gin manages Mab.I kind of see that Estep might want to clue in new readers but its beginning to spoil the reading experience. Not much more to say really. Quite literally more of the same.
M**S
a good book
This book mostly focuses on Gin's feelings towards those around her and her changing and new feelings for Owen.Although this book was good, its getting more and more annoying that she is always recapping in how people are attached to Gin or how their powers work or how her parents died. Do we need it in every book?Its nice to see Gin and her sister reconciled and that they both now have blood family along with adopted family.Despite all the recapping its still a good series to read.