Jennifer Estep’s Venom is the third book in the Elemental Assassin series. After killing Tobias Dawson in Web of Lies, Gin thought her problems were over. She had helped Violet Fox run an evil coal tycoon off her property, killed a privileged thief, and ended the turbulent relationship naïve Donovan Caine. But, like the awakening of her ice magic, many of these events had consequences that echoed throughout Ashland. After meeting Mab Monroe at a party, Gin realized who killed her family and vowed to rain vengeance upon Mab’s empire. After the murder of Jake McAllister at the aforementioned party, the Fire Queen is personally trying to his killer, hunting down suspects one by one. After Donovan Caine fled Ashland, he was replaced by Bria Coolidge, Gin’s long lost sister. But even as complicated problems pile onto her plate, there are still new issues that require immediate attention: people who require and immediate end.
Badass Gin Blanco is back with same sarcastic personality and hidden heart of gold from the previous installments. While most of Gin’s problems in the Web of Lies were related to other people, she has a personal interest in many of Venom’s conflicts. Gin’s little sister is a cop who just arrived in the city, a new good cop in a rotten department. She is kickass, takes names, and desires to defend the innocent no matter who that puts her against. As Gin tries to decide how to approach her sister, she also must protect her and keep her out of the way of her less than legal deeds. Another conflict is the violet eyed Owen Grayson who has a habit of showing up when Gin is on a case. While Owen is both sexy and persistent, Gin is done with men who don’t accept her for who she is and needs to decide how she will tackle this budding relationship. Finally, there is the overarching assassination. By killing Jake McAllister, Gin unintentionally caused problems for a someone she has come to know well, so she originally takes another free job out of guilt. She soon realizes that the only way to accomplish it is by making herself a target for Mab’s wrath.
Venom is another great installment in the series. Once again, the book is fast-paced from beginning to end, making an easy book read in one sitting or binge read over a couple days. Unfortunately, the faster you read it, the more you notice the repetition. While it is less prevalent than in Web of Lies, a person doesn’t need constant reminders that Gin carries five knives on her person, nor that Finn drinks coffee, or that her gray eyes like to stare at Owen’s violet. While the recaps of previous books can be helpful if you haven’t read the past installments in a while, recaps of previous chapters can quickly get annoying.
Jennifer Estep also has a tendency to repeat character traits among her villains. A number of her male villains are serial rapists and murderers. While rape and the threat of rape are horrendous things that establish a character as vile and repulsive, there are other ways to do it: Case in point, Mab Monroe. Mab Monroe is evil and sadistic. She tortures, manipulates, and outright kills people, but she doesn’t rape them. There are multiple ways to establish someone as repulsive and it would be nice to see some variety.
Thankfully, her supporting cast is starting to provide some of that variety. While most books with paragon like protagonists have an equally kind-hearted supporting cast, Gin Blanco lies in a moral grey area, allowing her supporting cast more diversity in morality. Some like Eva and Violet are near perfectly kind souls while others are not afraid to do some dirty work to get what they want. This moral diversity is enhanced by the fact that each character has his or her unique traits. While some are one dimensional (like the villains) many have multiple facets and act like real people. This can be a pleasant breath of fresh air compared to some novels that pride themselves on boring characters.
In addition to good characters, Jennifer Estep’s humor is also great. Gin’s sarcastic voice and dark humor make this series a fun and entertaining read. I give this 389 page book 4 stars.
Elemental Assassin
In this world. humans share society with elementals. dwarves, giant, and vampires. Elementals have control over one of the four elements: Ice, Stone, Air or Fire. Some have power over offshoots like water, metal, and electricity. Vampires suck blood, giants are distinguished by their strength and height while dwarves are known for their lack of it.