Review: Brick and Brass (Hammer and Fist: Lextalion Book 2) by Jennifer Cody

Rating: 4.75🌈

If this wasn’t such an exciting and exceedingly well written story, I’d be taking a smidge of rating points away for sheer frustration with Cody over that ending and the fact it’s probably going to be a while before we get around to finding out what happens next.

Yes, no surprise, it’s cliffhanger time again!

This whole universe is so weird and crazy that I have to look back at my notes to remember how things and Cody’s other books fit in with these stories. It’s like a madhatter’s 10, 000 pieces puzzle but cut out into insane shapes.

Thankfully, Cody gives us a recap why Lex is in a coma but mentally aware as the book opens. I had to dig through my memories about the last book for all the events as they happened, complicated as they were by a immense cast of characters, worlds accessible by portals, gods, dragons, aliens, slavers, you name it. Tied together by murders, mysteries, hellacious plots galore and the agents like Lex that work for The Inter-dimensional Immigration Agency—IDIA, the government agency that enforces the laws that govern non-humans on Earth.

So we pick up after that nasty explosion and the search is still on for Dominus, the being/person behind all the slave trafficking/inter dimensional world kidnappings and plain old horrifically bizarre goings on. His identity is unknown, as is why he’s able to make himself disappear into obscurity without a trace.

Cody has to address the blood hexes that tie a Geminatus to him so they’re unable to return to their homeland, as well as Lex being in thrall to Tor, an agent of the IDIA. A huge element itself.

But the author addresses each subject, separating them so they can have the impact and narrative development they deserve, while simultaneously being a fluid piece of the total story fabric. That’s quite the gift.

Tor and Lex especially, as it’s not just Lex that’s feeling the emotional attachment and passions of the bond between them. It’s the monsters he carries within him. And they have different opinions about Tor and the way he should fit into their lives. What a sexually dynamic and hot area of this book and one that adds to my frustration because the cliffhanger cuts short so much of the relationship follow up here , big stuff that’s waiting to happen.

Same for the Geminatus aspect. The “twin” Geminatus born on Earth get a chance to meet a Geminatus born on the planet, and it’s oddly very different and disturbing for both. This is such a huge element that it’s going to be explored in the second of the Geminatus books in the Hammer and Fist:Geminatus series.

That leaves this story with Lex’s character’s greater expansion into his background, current status, and interpersonal mingling of the beings within himself. It’s also the growth of his and Tor’s own dynamic as they search out what the curse means emotionally.

And finally, it’s the biggest threat and storyline. Who’s Dominus? Where are they? What are their plans and how does Lex stop them?

It’s mind boggling how much is dumped into this book and how well it all fits together.

The ending is shocking. There’s a character death, and then a several consecutive dramatic events that lead to one unbelievable cliffhanger.

Then an author’s note that the next book up is the second in the Geminatus series! Noooooo.

So how one goes about reading a series and they feel about multiple cliffhangers, should let a reader decide what they want to do about reading the series. Read them as then release acknowledging that there will be cliffhangers and a good amount of time between stories or wait and binge.

But one thing is for certain. This is a must read. However it’s resolved, whatever tragedy consequences or happy turns of events, however unlikely, it’s a great convoluted epic tale of worlds, gods, monsters and love.

A fabulous story.

One I’m highly recommending no matter how frustrating that ending still makes me.

Read each series in order. It won’t make any sense if you don’t.

Hammer and Fist Series

✓ Sledge and Claw (Hammer and Fist: Lextalion Book 1)

✓ Brick and Brass (Hammer and Fist: Lextalion Book 2)

✓ Inferno (Hammer and Fist: Geminatus Book 1)

◦ Gale (Hammer and Fist: Geminatus Book 2) July 2023

Buy Link:

Brick and Brass (Hammer and Fist: Lextalion Book 2)

Description:

Lex:

Of course waking up from a coma wouldn’t come easy for me; thankfully I have friends willing to fuck me back to life. Once I’m on my feet again, playing catch up on the trafficking case makes me want to eviscerate someone. I hate that I’ve lost precious time hunting down Dominus, but I’m awake now and ready for action.

With weird things happening to the portals, an Ethensian hopping realms when he shouldn’t be able to, and trying to figure out how to end the blood hex I’m under, I feel like I’m drowning in tasks and making no progress. I want to end Dominus and put Knoxville behind me; instead, I get a one-off accidental prophecy taking me straight to a battlefield I didn’t even know existed.

Brick and Brass is a 65k MM Urban Fantasy. This is the second in the series and not a stand alone. Content includes: horror descriptions and gore, public sex and sex magic outside of the romantic subplot.