Heart of Venom

Elemental Assassin, Book 9

By: Jennifer Estep

Narrated by: Lauren Fortgang

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

The hotly anticipated ninth novel in the hugely popular Elemental Assassin series finds Gin Blanco on a dangerous mission to rescue a friend.

When a terror from the past threatens Gin’s friend and body-disposer, Sophia, Gin will stop at nothing to protect her, even if it means walking straight into a killer’s trap. Meanwhile, the rocky romance between Gin and Owen reaches a turning point - can they reunite and rekindle their love? Or will the things Gin has been forced to do in her line of work as the deadly assassin the Spider keep them apart forever? Assuming, that is, she survives long enough to find out....

©2013 Jennifer Estep (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

Pretty much the same

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature.

Heart of Venom is the ninth book in Jennifer Estep’s very popular ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN series. I skipped it a while back because I’m not crazy about this series and I didn’t want to purchase it. I had the later volumes and went on. (I’ve only continued to read ELEMENTAL ASSASIN because I already owned most of the books and I wanted to report on it for FanLit.) However, a copy of Heart of Venom fell in my lap recently, so I read it. I feel the same way about it as I do about all the other books in this series, so I’ll be brief here.

Gin’s friend Sophia (the goth dwarf) is kidnapped by the man who tortured her many years ago. Gin must get her back because she has a hero complex — she sees it as her job to protect everyone she loves. So instead of asking her sister Bria, a top cop in the Ashland police force, to call in her troops to raid the bad guy’s backwoods compound, which he’s styled in a kind of Old West theme, Gin decides to go it alone. (I really can’t figure out why Bria never calls in the cops.) But of course her friends won’t let her do this alone and some of them show up to help, including Owen, her ex-boyfriend who came off looking like a real dick in the last book. Interspersed in the story are flashbacks in which Gin shows us her earlier relationship with Sophia. (These flashbacks have now become part of Estep’s usual technique in the last few books.)

Fans of the series (of which there are many) will enjoy getting to know Sophia better and they’ll be extremely happy that Estep fixes the problem of Owen’s recent assholery. Other than that, though, Heart of Venom is pretty much the same as all the other ELEMENTAL ASSASSIN books. We’ve got Gin exhibiting her mother-hen tendencies by cooking huge meals for her friends and brooding about her inability to keep everyone safe. Finn worries about getting blood on his wardrobe and car. The villain is a cliché — an Old West outlaw type, this time. The sex is predictable and boring. The prose is uninspired and repetitive. The story is simply a narrative about how Gin kicks ass and there’s no beauty, humor, or thoughtfulness to it.

Lauren Fortgang continues to do a brilliant job with the narration of the audiobook versions. Her voices are completely convincing and I like her performances a lot better than I like the stories. But as much as I admire the audio versions, I think I really am done with this series now. I’d be happy to try something else by Estep, but I’m just tired of the repetitiveness of this series.

Slow as slow can be..!!

This book drags..This story could be told in 30 minutes... No surprises, you know what coming up all the way....

Deja vu

C'mon Jen, you have milked this series long enough, same people, same plot (almost) sloppy sloppy sloppy.

Then again I hear book 10 is also just a recap. Both my wife & I have enjoyed most of the books but it is time to move on.

Finally: a team effort

After so many books where Gin single handedly defeats the big bad, this one has the whole team involved. Sure, there’s still a lot of formula parts where Gin gets beaten near to death or where Gin fails to throw down with her ice and stone magic. Yes, it’s still a lot about Gin. And I’m still annoyed by the author’s constant reliance on the plot device of men deciding to have their evil way with women. In urban fantasy books with leading men, how often are they in peril of being sexually abused? Find other ways to create conflict or tension.

But at least here the story includes Sophia and Josie’s backstories. Here, there’s an actual plan for the final battle. Here, folks like Finn, Connor, Rosalyn, and Bria contribute something towards the good fight.

Drowning in minutia

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No, it was too slow. Half way through and all we have are references to the same introspective touchy-feely past books, and one (1) event.
All her books begin this way, but this one is just so-o-o slow. I have listened to two other books trying to get through this one. I keep hoping for movement and coming back to try to finish the book.
I have read all the series, so far.

Would you ever listen to anything by Jennifer Estep again?

Her books are usually fun, move slow at first and then take off. She has built a world and peopled it with characters varied and facinating.
Sometimes she over dramatizes the main character's thoughts when ending chapters. This has become a predictable rut for her and decreases the appeal of the book.
This is probably the last book for me.

What three words best describe Lauren Fortgang’s performance?

Soft, easy-listening, southern.
I like listening, but want to hurry the story along, not hear the same sad, tired feelings found in all the previous books, again.

Did Heart of Venom inspire you to do anything?

stop reading it , maybe forget this series

Any additional comments?

I enjoy being in the world created in this series and am sorry not to have a new adventrue to look forward to.