Elemental Assassin

#2504.11 in the official ranking · full ranking

Books 19 books Status Complete 2010–2021 Reading commitment High Jennifer Estep Last reviewed 2026-11-06

Overview

Elemental Assassin is an urban fantasy series by Jennifer Estep, published by Simon & Schuster's Pocket Books from 2010. It follows Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who controls the elements of Ice and Stone and also runs a barbecue restaurant, the Pork Pit, in the fictional Southern city of Ashland. The city is home to giants, dwarves, vampires and elementals of Air, Fire, Ice and Stone. The main line has 19 novels, from Spider's Bite (2010) to Last Strand (2021), alongside short stories and a short story collection. The author says she hopes to write more Gin adventures eventually.

Urban fantasy · For Adult

Core Canon: Reading Order (19 works) counts toward ranking

Elemental Assassin Jennifer Estep

Cover	Work	Year	Internal chron.	Canon	Rating
	Spider's Bite; Pocket Books, January 2010	2010	1	core	3.88 (35,563 ratings)
	Web of Lies	2010	2	core	4.10 (23,574 ratings)
	Venom	2010	3	core	4.16 (23,314 ratings)
	Tangled Threads	2011	4	core	4.14 (20,231 ratings)
	Spider's Revenge	2011	5	core	4.19 (16,401 ratings)
	By a Thread	2012	6	core	4.17 (13,732 ratings)
	Widow's Web	2012	7	core	4.17 (11,756 ratings)
	Deadly Sting	2013	8	core	4.15 (9,830 ratings)
	Heart of Venom	2013	9	core	4.19 (8,718 ratings)
	The Spider	2013	10	core	4.05 (6,391 ratings)
	Poison Promise	2014	11	core	4.18 (6,504 ratings)
	Black Widow	2014	12	core	4.25 (5,794 ratings)
	Spider's Trap	2015	13	core	4.16 (4,772 ratings)
	Bitter Bite	2016	14	core	4.23 (4,223 ratings)
	Unraveled	2016	15	core	4.19 (3,641 ratings)
	Snared	2017	16	core	4.21 (3,094 ratings)
	Venom in the Veins	2018	17	core	4.20 (2,524 ratings)
	Sharpest Sting	2019	18	core	4.21 (1,991 ratings)
	Last Strand	2021	19	core	4.32 (1,612 ratings)

Nineteen novels following the assassin Gin Blanco in the city of Ashland.

Quick answers

• How many books are in Elemental Assassin? Elemental Assassin's Core Canon is 19 books.
• What is the reading order for Elemental Assassin? Publication order, starting with Spider's Bite. Full list and years in the Core Canon table above.
• Is Elemental Assassin finished? Complete (2010–2021).
• How much reading does Elemental Assassin take? High reading commitment (estimated from 19 Core Canon books).
• How is Elemental Assassin ranked? #250 in this site's official ranking, based on 203,665 reader ratings across 19 Core Canon books. See the full ranking for how this is calculated.

Why is it ranked #250?

Ranked #250 in the official ranking.

• Average reader rating of 4.11 across 19 core books.
• Backed by 204k reader ratings.
• Uneven reception: its books range from 3.88 to 4.32.
• 0.01 behind #249, Bridei Chronicles.
• Below the top-10 average of 4.46.

How the ranking works →

Why explore this universe?

Highly rated · 19 books · Complete · 204k ratings · Ranks #250 overall

Good choice if you want a long-running urban fantasy universe that's already finished, so there's no wait for the next book.

Reading order

Publication order (19 Core Canon books)

1. Spider's Bite (2010)
2. Venom (2010)
3. Web of Lies (2010)
4. Spider's Revenge (2011)
5. Tangled Threads (2011)
6. By a Thread (2012)
7. Widow's Web (2012)
8. Deadly Sting (2013)
9. Heart of Venom (2013)
10. The Spider (2013)
11. Black Widow (2014)
12. Poison Promise (2014)
13. Spider's Trap (2015)
14. Bitter Bite (2016)
15. Unraveled (2016)
16. Snared (2017)
17. Venom in the Veins (2018)
18. Sharpest Sting (2019)
19. Last Strand (2021)

Documented internal/story order

1. Spider's Bite (2010)
2. Web of Lies (2010)
3. Venom (2010)
4. Tangled Threads (2011)
5. Spider's Revenge (2011)
6. By a Thread (2012)
7. Widow's Web (2012)
8. Deadly Sting (2013)
9. Heart of Venom (2013)
10. The Spider (2013)
11. Poison Promise (2014)
12. Black Widow (2014)
13. Spider's Trap (2015)
14. Bitter Bite (2016)
15. Unraveled (2016)
16. Snared (2017)
17. Venom in the Veins (2018)
18. Sharpest Sting (2019)
19. Last Strand (2021)

Awards (verified)

• No awards found for this universe.

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Official resources

• Official site: Elemental Assassin

Research details

Ranking metrics: weighted average 4.11 across 203,665 ratings on 19 Core Canon books. See Why is it ranked here? above for the full breakdown, or the full ranking.

How do we know this?

Admission: Canon Extension: 13 universes from the candidate register (El libro de Nobac to The Broken Blades); 6 candidates ruled out accepted 2026-11-06

Sources: (see source tier definitions)

• Jennifer Estep official site Tier 2
• Simon & Schuster Tier 2
• Rising Shadow Tier 2

Last reviewed: 2026-11-06

Rule: Core Canon = the 19 numbered novels from Spider's Bite (2010) to Last Strand (2021); short stories and the Stings and Stones collection are not core.

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