Review - A Fine Mess by Angel Martinez

One of Shax’s enemies may be dead, but there are still a few others out for the demon’s head. However, he, along with the rest of the crew, are tired of running and decide to take on their enemies. It’s a risky endeavor, especially with the latest members of the “crew” being a group of young children rescued from one of the people now carrying a grudge against Shax and his friends.

In this [probably] last book of the Brimstone series, many of the plot arcs from the many books get resurfaced and tied up. As this is a very long-running series (I read the omnibus of the first three books back in 2014), it’s definitely a bit difficult trying to remember all the bad guys that Shax, Verin and Ness have crossed paths with over the years.

The combination of science fiction space opera and fantasy creatures still works well, thanks in large part to the rather tongue in cheek approach. There are few, if any, real laugh-out-loud moments in the book, but there are enough touches of humor to make what could be a rather dire plot a little more palatable. The story is effectively a series of capers, some involving just the crew while others bring in a much larger cast of characters. For such a short book, there’s a lot going on, but it has the effect of resolving most of the plot lines that have stretched through the entire series.

“A Fine Mess” is available from Amazon.