Reviewed by Alexander
TITLE: Hell for the Company
SERIES: Brimstone Books 1
AUTHOR: Angel Martinez
PUBLISHER: Mischief Corner Books / Angel Martinez
LENGTH: 2 hours, 2 minutes
NARRATOR: Vance Bastian
BLURB:
Shax, the demon prince of thieves, has reconciled himself to exile. He has a grand time careening around the galaxy as a high-end, intergalactic purloiner of pretties. Everything’s going just fine, thank you very much. All right, fine, the anti-gravity cows are a bit problematic and some of his buyers are bad for his health, but he manages until he comes across an injured angel in a psychedelic alien jungle.
He only rescues the wing boy for his golden feathers, but what Shax doesn’t know about angels could fill an intergalactic encyclopedia.
REVIEW:
I had some idea as to what to expect from Hell For the Company, demons, for example, but I got more as Shax and Varrin were not only demons, but also space brigands. This odd combination of sci-fi and demons/angels had the possibility of being just too strange, and yet it worked. To be honest, when the floating cows were introduced, I felt the story take on a “Hitchhiker’s Guide” vibe, and as a huge fan, I eagerly delved into the story.
I found that Shax had a great sense of humor, and the by-play between Shax and Varrin showed a good friendship and solid relationship. One area that didn’t feel quite right was the relationship between Shax and the angel, Ness. They seemed to get along well, considering they come from two very different worlds, and as a team, they seemed to work, but as far as the show of emotion, and the romantic connection, it felt too fast for me.
To begin with, I found that Bastian’s pace is a bit fast, which was especially noticeable between chapters, and his narrative voice sounded a bit flat. Fortunately Bastian brought good characterizations to the table, which balanced out the performance. I actually found Varrin’s voice to be the best of the bunch, truly sounded like a crusty demon, as opposed to Shax, who had a much smoother voice that suited that he is a Prince of Thieves demon. I also liked how Bastian treated Ness’ voice, the soft spoken, sweet angel. Overall, a good, solid performance, and a very good choice for the story.
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