Hank, Kinda
Overall a good read. I was a little surprised at the foul language. It's mild in comparison to many other books, but it's so out of character for Hard Luck Hank that it was distracting & mildly disappointing. One of the things I've always liked about HLH is that it could make me laugh & keep me interested without resorting to gratuitous foul language. And several of the characters belittled each other so much, in excess of what was necessary to the story, that it became frustrating. Since Hank was sent to planet Belvaille, the love of a dysfunctional family that was present on space station Belvaille is missing. Delovoa is but isn't Delovoa (throughout this story i kep thinking how psychopathicDelovoa really is & how someone needs to kill him for the benefit of the universe), Garm is but isn't Garm, MTB is but isn't Delovoa, and Hank is but isn't Hank. We hardly see Zzzzzo (probably mispelled, the Kelvin Kamigan). And the oft repeated switching between 3rd person and 1st person POV was confusing & took away from the story.
For the last few books It seems as if Campbell has been lost and trying to find the HLH zone, or maybe experimenting with new formulas. Like when Coke became New Coke. That didn't taste nearly as good as the original. And neither does this new HLH. It's still good, just not as good as the original. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
That being said, it's still a good read (maybe a better listen, as long as Liam Owen is narrating), & worth buying.
I enjoyed Fourth Quadrant, but I miss Hank the mutant Antankian thug and his dysfunctional family of Spacestation Belvaille.
Anyone know if the whole HLHseries is available in hardcover? I'd love to have a hardcover HLH series in my personal library but can't find them anywhere.