Tag: Brimstones stories by Angel Martinez

A MelanieM Audiobook Review: Shax’s War (Brimstone #3 by Angel Martinez and Vance Bastian (Narrator)

Rating: 5 stars out of 5

The boys desperately need a vacation. With the not-quite-ill-gotten gains from the Frog incident, Shax takes the Brimstone’s crew to the exclusive resort planet, Opal, for some much needed rest and relaxation. The resort has everything a demon prince and his crew could want, but an incident on the Trauma Ball court sends Ness stalking off in anger and sends events swiftly spiraling out of control.

Shax will need every bit of his cunning and his legendary luck to save his Ness as he’s drawn into a web of criminal experiments and…pink hedgehogs?

I’ve been  following the unusual crew of the Brimstone since the first story, Potato Surprise, and have seen each tale bring more layers to each character, more additions to the Brimstone crew, and each novel becoming increasingly complex and potentially heartbreaking.  Shax’s War really is the pinnacle of the series to date.  Martinez takes a moment of downtime for the crew and escalates it into a flight of sheer terror and heartbreak as well as a ship of horrors for one.

When I read it in 2014 when it was first released (this series and author are must reads for me) this story put me through the wringer.  Angel Martinez can create characters like Shax, his fallen angel lover Ness, Verin, cowboy Corny,  the ship’s IA Ivana Cockatoo, and among the new additions Leopold.  Every single one able to grab at your heart, letting you connect deeply to their lives and situations.  And what situations and adventures they manage to get themselves into.  But nothing like what occurs here within Shax’s War.

Some of the scenes are not for the squeamish. Beings treated as organ donors while alive will do that.

Luckily a rescue will put an end to that horror.  But it’s there, so be warned.  This is a white knuckle ride all the way, fear and love for these characters will be driving you through listening to the audiobook in one clip, much as I did the story. Vance Bastian again does an outstanding job with this variety of characters from the gruff Verin to the improbable pink hedgehog Leopold and everyone inbetween.  He brings Shax to life with the fear and desperation ringing in his lines as he searches for his love, the horror of the ship and the pain as the demon begins to crack up under it all.  Such an amazing story and Vance Bastian brought  out new elements I hadn’t noticed before when I read it, highlighting new aspects of the story by his narration making me appreciate it all over again.

If you’re new to this series, start at the beginning and see how the Brimstone got it crew.  You can get it all in a collection.  Then you can look forward to new stories as they arrive.  I hope the author is not done with the crew yet and there are more galactic adventures to come.  I can hardly wait for both the books and the audio versions!  I highly recommend them both.

Cover art is a little jarring.  I really don’t think that’s Leopold.

Sales LInks:  Mischief Corner Books | Amazon

Audiobook Details:

Audible Audio Edition
Listening Length: 4 hours and 30 minutes
Program Type: Audiobook
Version: Unabridged
Publisher: Mischief Corner Books, LLC
Audible.com Release Date: June 29, 2017
Whispersync for Voice: Ready
Language: English
ASIN: B073DGQ7DG

A MelanieM Review: Brimstone: Demon Owned & Operated (Brimstone #1-3) by Angel Martinez

Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5

Brimstone Owned and Operated coverDue to circumstances completely within his control, Shax, the Demon Prince of Thieves has fled, er, emigrated from Earth to seek his fortunes out in the galaxy. With his faithful friend, Verin, by his side, they acquire a gently used ship with a drag-queen AI.

Hell for the Company: Brimstone 1
Everything’s going just fine, thank you very much. All right, the anti-gravity cows are a bit problematic and some of Shax’s buyers are bad for his health, but he manages until he comes across an injured angel in a psychedelic alien jungle.

Fear of Frogs: Brimstone 2
While Shax recovers from a near fatality, his shipmates have taken the initiative and found them a lucrative cargo run. Shax is horrified to find out what sort of cargo. Unfortunately, he’ll soon discover that a healthy fear of frogs doesn’t prevent frog-driven disasters.

Shax’s War: Brimstone 3
The boys desperately need a vacation. With the not-quite-ill-gotten gains from the Frog incident, Shax takes the Brimstone’s crew to the exclusive resort planet, Opal. What could possibly go wrong?

I  met Captain Shax and his demon friend… childhood buddy…what have you, Verin, in their Brimstone prequel, Potato Surprise.  That wildly told tale gave us the particulars as to how they fled Earth and demon family (sort of), how they got their hands on the hastily renamed ship Brimstone with its lively IA Ivanna and took to space on all sorts of misadventures.  It had bawdy humor, lots of hot sex, wildly imaginative beings and some unexpected angst.  And I loved it.

So of course I searched immediately for more.  And found Brimstone: Demon Owned & Operated (Brimstone #1-3) by Angel Martinez, three Brimstone stories in one from Mischief Corner Press.  I was overjoyed and plowed right into the novels eager to see where Shax, Verin and the Brimstone went next.  It was quite the journey, a little slow at times, but that last story, Shax’s War?  That’s the one that kept me up thinking and so thrilled that I read this collection.  That’s a 5 star slam bang right there but I’m getting ahead of myself and the Brimstone crew.

Putting all three stories under one title actually makes a huge amount of sense because  of one element that runs through each story.  At the start of the first story, its just Shax, Verin, and the IA Ivanna, in the mid-sized spacecraft renamed Brimstone. When Shax and Verin fled from his demon Uncle (plotting a new war with Heaven), they left everything behind, including his minions which he kind of loved (not that he would admit it), their palace, family (not that they liked them mind), and just everything.  Now its just the two…er, three of them, alone in space.  And sometimes they’ve found that a very lonely proposition.

In each new story, one of the main plot threads is that a new member or members of the crew comes on board and becomes family, replacing the one that Shax and Verin fled/left behind.  How I loved that aspect of this story.  Its subtle and I can’t believe I just said that where one story has pages of frog sex.  And it shows how much heart these tales have (even if one has the hearts being ripped out of the bodies…you are warned).

Hell for the Company: Brimstone 1.  Rating:  3.25 stars.

I  liked this story.  Two words make it kind of magical.  Floating cows. Five make it hilarious.  Cow pies from the sky. Its also where Shax meets his fallen angel lover, Ness.  I was slow to warm up to Ness, both as a companion to Shax and as a member of the crew of the Brimstone.  By book three, I had forgotten I ever had those thoughts, but here in Hell for the Company, they are large and looming.  I can’t figure out why, could be I’m just not a fan of angels but this is my least favorite story.

Fear of Frogs: Brimstone 2.  Rating:  4.25 stars

Fear of frogs, frog sex. All hilarious.  Put your emotions in guffaw mode here.  What is the one thing the Demon Prince is afraid of?  Yep, that would be frogs.  I won’t spoil how Shax and the frogs come into  contact but its a doozy as are the after effects.  Because they lead us directly to the next, last and my favorite story of them all, Shax’s War. And yes, another compadre is added to the Brimstone when Verin finds love.

Shax’s War: Brimstone 3. Rating: 5 stars

Parts of this story are downright gruesome, unexpectedly so given all the other stories that have come before.  I thought there would be some humor, and there is.  Some lovely thoughtful moments and wild hijinks, all that’s here too.   But some of the painful stuff? No, I didn’t expect to read elements of that here.  But there is also a reason for its inclusion.  Up until now, we’ve seen several sides of Shax.  The one that loves his “pretties”, the thoughtful one, the loyal one, and so one.  But never this one.

“You think I’m a nice, civilized demon, don’t you? Fussy, arrogant, unwilling to get my hands dirty.” 

That was Shax about to prove to a villain that the opposite of that was true, that he is the Demon Prince after all, something we haven’t seen up until now.  There are multiple points of view, a wild chase, nefarious goings on, more than a few stomach churning scenes (don’t worry, the worst of it happens “off stage”), more action and suspense than anyone could hope for  and get.  Plus a lot of demon sex, which includes bdsm scenes (spreaders, you name it).   Shax’s War is one wild ride.

At the end, Shax has a crew of beings the like of which is quite wonderful, well on their way to being family.  Shax and Verin each have found their long term loves and Ivanna is happy.  Life is pretty darn wonderful on the Brimstone.  I wonderful what next adventure is coming for them.

I love this crew and their stories.  I highly recommend them all.  I believe Potato Surprise is free at Mischief Corner Books.  Check them all out now.

Cover art by Freddy McKay.  I like the cover, even if that’s not my idea of Shax.  Where’s all that gorgeous auburn hair?

Sales Links: Mischief Corner Press | Amazon | Buy It Here

Book Details:

300 pages, ebook, paperback and Kindle editions
Published July 25th 2014 by Mischief Corner Books, LLC (first published March 28th 2014)
ASINB00M4ZHQI8
edition languageEnglish
seriesBrimstone #1-3

Brimstone: