Tangled Threads: Elemental Assassin, Book 4

I have really enjoyed this series, so far. However, this book includes to much background information from previous books and the plot is incredibly predictable. One of the reasons I continued to read this series is because I was looking forward to seeing the characters grow and develop through their relationships and actions. Gin started the series as a distinct, layered and complicated character. In this book she is none of these things. In fact she loses almost any credibility as a character that she had. She is this mysterious shadowy assassin with magical powers, but is seems that by the end of the book the only person who doesn't know that is her nemesis Mab Monroe. For a shadowy assassin she doesn't do overly much to protect her secret. That being said, the one redeeming factor of the book was the whole situation with Bria and Owen. This book is about her Gin's tangled emotional threads. About her love for Grayson, love she finally accepts and about her estranged sister and the difficult but hopeful reunion between the two siblings. Unfortunately, Estep ended up getting tangled in her own writing. While the reunion was nicely done as a whole it happened 200 pages too late to save the book. Despite all that I can't say that I hated the book. I didn't find it terribly interesting or exciting and I skipped a lot of pages. In my opinion it is the weakest in an otherwise solid and intriguing series. I will read the next book in hopes that it is much better. Although it deserves one star, I'm giving it 2 based on the strength of the series and my hope for its future.

This is the fourth book in the series and I would consider this book a stepping stone in the series. This book is used to move characters into alignment for the last installment of the series - the big battle. There are changes and specific events that needed to occur before the battle and this book does those things. That's not to say the story isn't good and there are important things and changes not only for Gin, but those around her. This book is like the big training scene for any Rocky movie with a serious dash of trouble with the assassin Elektra LaFleur added in. I enjoyed the story and would not recommend it as a stand alone book, but as a continuation of a great series.

In general the basic story is fine. Not great but able to keep my attention. BUT I don't think the author reads her work because she repeats herself over and over and over AND over. One tends to roll their eyes and want to fast forward though a third of the dialogue.

I think Lauren Fortgang did a great job with some really tough material. Some of her inflections and delivery helped to diversify the complete and total repetition of every story line in the series to date at least three times in the book. I will not be getting another book by Jennifer Estep, that's for sure.

It repeats. It repeats. And then it repeats. This is true throughout the series but by this book it seemed longer, more frequently used and completely detracted from the story. We get recaps of previous books, previous situations, previous characters who aren't even related to the current story, sometimes up to three times in the same book. This is especially treacherous in an audiobook because you can't easily skip the parts and have to suffer through them. It was so distracting to the story! I can see a writer making this mistake, but where in the world are the editors?

I dislike her repetitious use of various phrases. "Silverstone knife", "the fire elemental", "my foster brother", "the Goth dwarf". It goes on and on. She substitutes these phrases for pronouns, and then will continually refer to major characters by their first AND last names throughout the book, as though we were too dense to remember them. Finnegan Lane? Yep, we know him! Call him Finn and get on with it!

There are inconsistencies galore. For example, she wears a vest stuffed full of silverstone and can use her magic just fine, but then someone puts a pair of silverstone handcuffs on her and she can't make an ice pick. It makes no sense.

The sad thing is, the plot overall isn't bad, the characters and premise are interesting and the book has a chance of being good. The world building is great, the idea of the elements and power are fine. This terrible writing prevents that from happening and I feel kind of robbed. This really could have been good but it missed the mark by a wide margin.

She really does a fine job. The accent is great and like I said, she adds some variety to the constant repetition to take away the sting. Am I repeating myself? It must be contagious.

I like the recipes Gin talks about and even used a couple. Yum! I think the dynamic between Mab and Gin is great and I like how Gin torments her. I like the character dynamics, the balance between Gin and Finn and the tension between Gin and Bria. Their reunion came in this book, but too late to save the story.

I think if I were to read any further in the series I'd do it with paper or e-books because I could skip all the things that irritate me so.

Narrator was too low key and didn't excite me when she should have. Accent was poor. Book was meant for readers not listeners. There was a lot of repetitiveness that I would have skipped in a book but actually dragged the story down as a listener. Overall, it irritated me. Plot kept me going.

Loved this series, got all four audio books at once and was done in 3 days, I just couldn't stop listening. Lauren Fortgang was a wonderful narrater, I loved her voice, make the book easy to listen too.
Good storyline, lots of visual words, which some don't like, but I do, it adds to the story for me.. As Gin, the main girl in the 4th book gets deeper into her work, shocking stories arise for her to figure out, should she love or should she not???? Will loving endanger thoses she loves??? This is a must listen, but get all four or you'll be lost..
Hoping for book 5 soon...

An okay series but the author repeats description and the narrator is very monotone so sometimes I find myself nodding off. Gin is a very inept assassin, she barely manages to scrape out of the situations she gets herself into, all without any preplanning at all on her part. She is just lucky she has an air element to patch her back up, otherwise she would have been dead long before now. On a positive note the love interest is much more interesting and likable than the first. Anyway I bought the whole series with a sale, on a whim that I would like it and as to date it is touch in go. Good enough to continue since I paid good money, but one I am more reluctant to listen to. I know that I may get negative reviews for my opinion but then again I might save someone from making the same mistake I did by buying the whole thing. Always listen to the first book before buying the whole series, even if they are on sale.

Excessive repeat background information.

I don't usually write review, almost never but this book frustrated me so much, I have to share my thoughts. The book is slightly shorter than the others in the series and half of it was repeat materials. I do appreciate author is trying to recap events giving readers a bit of background, from her last book(s) in the series but too much time spent explaining stuffs from before to the point of abusing the reader patience make me feel cheated. If a reader is that lost that need to be reminding of every single little detail about character and event, then he/she should move on to another series or go back to the previous books as after all, this is a book belong to a series. My other complaint is Gin, the main character was constantly talk about how tough and deadly she is pushing arrogant and when the actual fight happen, she is barely able to handle one or two supposedly just minions, bodyguard. How will she able to go up against the lethal assassin or the big boss when she's so weak? I feel as if the writer doesn't read her own work; either that or she doesn't know how to play up the character strength and weakness for us reader to make it clear that Gin is a strong, unique fighter but she is not quite in the big, bad guy league yet. An assassin with her status can't whine about how hard to take out a giant, for example. Her threats seemed empty when the fight sound too off balance, this has ruined the plot, the story and the book for me. The series has potential and I was enjoying my reads but I can say this is my last book. Patricia Briggs and Ilone Andrews are so much better at what Jennifer Estep is trying to do with her main character.

There is not much new to be found in here. At least 40% of the novel is spent recapping Gin's history, skills, relationships, and the plots of the last couple books too. Since I read the first three books in the series, this was annoying. ( But if you're picking up a series at book 4 - who does that?? - maybe you would like this kind of recap?? )

There are way too many 'flashbacks' - we've already read all this stuff, Ms. Estep - in books one, two and three. Why do I have to learn, AGAIN, how Gin got the scars on her hands, or how she got the Pork Pit, etc... oh, REALLY?? Mab killed Gin's family?? What!? That, and Gin goes through the same emotional 'growth' 3-4 times in the book. Yes, that's what I meant to say: there's a scene where she realizes her feelings for Owen (big emotional moment), then another, then another. The same thing happens with her sister. Either you have an epiphany regarding your feelings for someone, or you don't - but either way you don't then, 25 pages later, have the same one again. It's almost like Estep wrote the book in segments and in each one Gin had to go through the same emotional turmoil (oh, and also had to recap how she got to where she is, and how much she needed revenge vs Mab, etc).

Now that that's out of my system... once Estep is sure we're completely familiar with everything about her prior novels, Gin, and Gin's past, the book tries to pick up a plot (I'll say this happens just after the halfway mark). It had just enough plot that I finished this novel (albeit with a bit of struggle) but I won't be reading any more in this series. There just isn't enough story.

If you're looking for better read-alikes, you could try Caine's Weather Warden books, Vaugn's Kitty Norville series, or even Harrison's Rachel Morgan series. Similar settings and tone, not a bunch of recap and emotional whininess.

Nice continuation of the overall storyline however it basically follows the same basic outline as the previous books which might bore some readers/listeners.
Frankly, I was disappointed with the first fight in this book because Gin announces herself to her enemies before attacking them which seemed very unlikely given the situation and the fact that shes an assassin. Jennifer goes on and on about how Gin slips from shadow to shadow silently ... and then she gives up her chance for a surprise attack on purpose - not very likely or wise. But it sort of fits to the pattern. Gin seems to have a death wish and only succeeds with luck and the convenient late minute thought and action that saves her in the end.