TERMINAL PEACE - Jim C. Hines



Somehow I missed the first two books in this trilogy, but if you're going to come to a series late, reading the ending is the way to go.

Marion “Mops” Adamopoulos is a janitor. She and her crew were trained to clean spaceships, not to fight battles. But a war is on the rise and Mops and her crew are in the thick of it, fighting not only for themselves, but for all of humanity. This is one time they don't want to get flushed down the toilet.

I really like a good, humorous scifi story and it's been awhile since I really got a good laugh while reading some good scifi (Adam Christopher's Raymond Electromatic Mysteries series a few years back, and before that we're probably talking Spider Robinson or Ron Goulart). Seriously ... janitors stuck fighting a war with aliens? It's a great set-up and fortunately author Jim C. Hines develops it well.

The cast of characters are really delightful. They're funny, unique, and very easily identifiable. Typically I would say that I really prefer the character driven novels, but despite a delightful cast, this doesn't feel like a character-driven story.  Rather, it's a circumstance-driven story that relies on these specific characters to make it work. It's a small distinction, but I do believe this is a case where all the parts come together and none of them would be strong enough alone to pull it off.

I got the story quite easily - all the background info needed is supplied gently through the course of this book, but I do think it would have been really good to get more information on the background of the characters. While I don't feel I'm missing anything vital to the story, I do think I'm missing a little depth to them and it's likely something I would have gotten through the course of the other two books.

Looking for a good book? You could read Terminal Peace by Jim C. Hines as a solo book, but I wouldn't recommend starting here. Based on this volume alone, this looks like a fun series to read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for n honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Terminal Peace

author: Jim C. Hines

series: Janitors of the Post-Apocalypse #3

publisher: DAW

ISBN: 9780756412807

hardcover, 336 pages

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