Winter’s Web (Elemental Assassin #17.5)

Our girl Gin can never catch a break. Not even when shes trying to enjoy a renaissance faire. Gin was gonna try and have a good time, but as soon as she arrives Gin thinks theres something fishy going on… some sort of scheme. Owen and Finn would call her paranoid, but shes hardly ever wrong.

So I really liked this short story, obviously, but one thing I really liked about it was the unexpected plot twist! It was pretty cool!

(spoiler redacted)

I also love that they all went dressed up to this thing…

—
What are you supposed to be again? I asked.
Finn lifted his chin with pride. I am a court jester, ready to entertain the masses with my charming wit, amazing skills, and dashing good looks.
—

Gin on the other hand, was a pirate queen assassin… her words not mine. Lol. But I loved it! I really liked that we got a little scenery chance from your usual setting. Ive never been to a ren faire myself, so it was fun to experience it vicariously. Especially when it had a ton of action! I love that about Jennifer Esteps work… even though they are shorter stories, she always manages to pack them full of action! She always has cool fights, and because this one was at a ren faire, it had a little extra fun and flare, which I really enjoyed. It was a lot of fun! And it was a nice, short read to tide me over until the next book comes out.

And of course, some Easter Eggs!

—
“Darrell was into ren faires the way people in Bigtime were into superheroes or the folks in Cloudburst Falls were into monsters.”
—

A short story, 17.5, in the Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series and revolving around Gin Blanco, a barbecue chef, an assassin, and queen of the Ashland, North Carolina, underworld. If you’re interested, there is a chronological listing of the Elemental Assassin books on my website.

“Winter’s Web” also appears in Amanda Bouchet’s Seasons of Sorcery anthology.

My Take
It’s all from Gin’s perspective as Estep uses first person protagonist point-of-view, as Gin scrambles to figure out what that itch signifies.

Now, I always enjoy finding out what Gin is up to she’s dangerous, she’s kind, and she cooks a mean barbecue and she’s too cocky this time. Characters are more interesting when they’re rounded, and that includes having a weakness…god knows, it’s good to find out that Gin is not superwoman, that she’s willing to assess her weaknesses and make changes.

And Gin does need help desperately…and Estep lets her off easy. And lets us down with that dorky Celeste. So what if the pirate queen is a character at the faire. It doesn’t mean she has to be this lame!

I suppose it might have been necessary (in Estep’s mind) to keep this short, but a few more pages wouldn’t have hurt to develop Celeste’s animosity a bit better.

And Estep could have wound things up with that dinner she makes Owen at the end. I do love the descriptions of Gin’s food. I’m always hungry when I read this series! It would have been much better than that gratuitous sex scene at the end. Talk about a throwaway…

The Story
Costumes!? How ever did Gin get talked into donning a costume for the Ren Faire? And Finn wants to know how they got talked into volunteering!

The Faire starts off innocently enough, but something seems slightly off about the cheery atmosphere and costumed characters. Maybe Gin’s being paranoid, but she cant help but feel like she’s trapped in someone elses icy web and that they dont want her to leave the Faire alive . . .

The Characters
Gin Blanco’s powers include Ice and Stone, which she uses in her night job as an assassin, the Spider, and unexpected head of the underworld. By day she runs the Pork Pit, Ashland’s premier barbecue palace. Finnegan Lane is her too-smooth foster brother who is dating Gin’s sister, Detective Bria Coolidge. Fletcher Lane was Finn’s dad and had been Gin’s mentor in the assassin game.

Owen Grayson, a wealthy businessman whose elemental power is Metal, is her significant other; Eva is Owen’s younger sister.

Jolene “Jo-Jo” Deveraux is a dwarf who uses her Air power in her beauty salon. Rosco is her basset hound. Sophia Deveraux is Jo-Jo’s sister who prefers the gothic side of fashion. She works for Gin at the Pork Pit, and after hours, she uses her Air power to help Gin get rid of bodies. Detective Xavier is Bria’s partner with the Ashland PD. Silvio Sanchez, a vampire, is Gin’s personal assistant. Stuart Mosley is a a dwarf and the owner of First Trust Bank which employs Finn.

The Winters Web Renaissance Faire is…
…a biannual event sponsored by the Ashland Renaissance Players. Darrell Kline is one of the players as well as an accountant at Owen’s company. Princess Penelope is one of the Faire’s characters, as is Pirate Queen Celeste who is amazing with her twin swords. Arthur, Lancelot, and Galahad are some of the giants costumed as Celeste’s bodyguards.

The Circle is…
…a secret society responsible for much of the crime and corruption in Ashland. Its leader is Uncle Mason Snow. Hugh Tucker is Gin’s personal nemesis and the Circle’s vampire enforcer.

The Black Rook is a new enemy of Gin’s while Jonah McAllister is an old enemy.

Eira Snow (Gin’s mother) and Annabella (Gin’s sister) were murdered. Their father, Tristan, had died young.

The Cover and Title
The cover is chilly in its blues, white, and lilac. A close-up of the beautiful hilt of a sword catches the attention, a spider web in white radiating outward from the hilt, as the wrought iron gates open behind it. The background is an elongated radial gradation of glowing white behind the sword’s hilt out to deeper and deeper blues. The text is mostly in white from the info blurb at the very top with the author’s name just below it. The title is below the sword’s hilt with the first word in white and the second in a gradation from white into lilac. At the very bottom is the series information that also informs us that it’s a novella.

The title refers to the trap lying within “Winter’s Web”.

I love Jennifer Estep. Have since the first time I picked up the first book in this series (which by the way was back before Kindle!). I have also never given her a 1-2 star review, and I won’t do so now. I admire her abilities too much to ever do that.

However, and this is a big however, this book shouldn’t have been written. It was unnecessary and felt as if she ran it off quickly just to get it out of the way. Which she should never need to do. I don’t know what the hurry for a novella was, but next time she should just bow out. She shouldn’t write just to write. She’s much too fine an author to hurt herself like this.

All that being said, I do still love Gin and will most definitely continue reading everything Jennifer Estep comes out with in The Elemental Assassin series. Because even at her worst she still rates 3 stars. Not many authors have that claim to fame.

Maybe not your best, Jennifer, but that’s ok. Everyone is allowed one boo boo. This one is yours. Now we can look forward to your next Elemental Assassin knowing it will be great!

I cannot believe it.. The first genuinely BAD book from Ms. Estep. Less than1 hour to read, and the writing itself was comparable to the essays of a third rate hack; for examp!e – ‘she ran, ran, ran as fast as she can’… This is how far Ms. Estes has sunk -she seems to have hired out her books to an aspiring third grade author. This book’s plot is childish, the writing is childish and the lone ‘adult’ scene was childish as well. NOT RECOMMENDED! AVOID IF POSSIBLE! WAIT FOR A REAL J. ESTEP BOOK! WASTE OF MONEY AND TIME!!!

A novella starring the incomparable Gin Blanco and her merry band of FInn, Bria, and Owen in costumes at a Renaissance festival. But nothing is carefree or innocent in Ashland as Gin soon finds out.

Princesses and pirates, swashbuckling and swords are all a lure for something more sinister.

A quick read with all the humor, kickass fighting, and dark fun, this reader expects from the one of Jennifer Estep. She never disappoints.

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