Fortune of Fear Book Review: Money, Mayhem, Romance, and Outrageous Satire

If you’ve made it this far into the series, you’re already on the wild roller coaster that is Mission Earth and this book is the first major twist in the series. When money and love go wrong, the story gets good and I loved it. So let’s dive into the story and talk about why you definitely need to read this Fortune of Fear book review.

Jettero Heller and the Atlantic City Mission

Just as the plan starts actually making progress under the careful supervision of Jettero Heller, he discovers that the mission is in financial trouble and needs to find a way to save everything. The mission to save Earth from itself was on the line and its officer decided to take this issue into his own hands. After long enough to learn the basic traits of Earth, the Voltarian officer learns that one thing makes the world turn and he needs to get it fast if he wants his mission to succeed.

Instead of the ways that most people would come up with to get money moving, Heller heads to Atlantic City. His skills and abilities work perfectly and he quickly begins to win big, but winning has a price. He manages to win so much money that the Mafia who controls the casinos start paying attention. This leads to even more chaos and hijinks as another organization begins to work against him.

Inside the Mind of Villain Soltan Gris

Soltan Gris is in a similar situation when it comes to the lack of money, but his plan to get money was even more insane. He decides to use his body as a tool to get the money he needs to accomplish his mission. Despite the taxing and confusing plan that goes wrong more times than I could count, he still works to interfere with Heller’s mission. This leads to a wild and twisted adventure that doesn’t go exactly as planned.

The two main characters’ missions cross intentionally and by accident leading to even more fun and twists. A major one of these is the return of Jettero Heller’s first love, Countess Krak. Despite years of working in the darkest dungeons of the Coordination Information Apparatus on Voltar, she proves that she still can be a woman that Heller can fall in love with. Unfortunately for Soltan Gris, she also knows exactly how to deal with him.

Science Fiction with a Sharp Satirical Edge

Now that we’ve talked about some of the high points of the plot, let’s talk about how much fun it is to read this satirical science fiction novel. If you’ve seen any of my other reviews on Epic Indie or read the novels I’ve written, you know that I tend to enjoy my sci-fi dark, but this series is definitely one of the exceptions. The heavy satire that fills this story is so heavy that it’s almost more important than the plot itself and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

One of my favorite things about reading an L. Ron Hubbard novel is how easily he can break down the world around us and point out the flaws and anomalies in it. Whether he does it in a more serious fashion like we see in Battlefield Earth or Buckskin Brigades or the more humorous satire we see in the Mission Earth books, it always seems to hit well. His skill at pointing out the pain points in the world is something that I rarely see in other authors and it’s worth noting.

Mission Earth is probably the most blatant he ever was with this. During this series he calls out almost every major government agency from multiple nations and had fun using them as the brunt of the joke. The almost lampoonish humor combined with the very real critiques make for a great balance that is wildly enjoyable.

Understanding the Villain of the Story

The other part of this series that I really enjoyed was how deeply you get to understand the villain of the story. During this series you spend as much time with Soltan Gris as you do Jettero Heller, giving us a chance to keep track of both missions. We also get to understand why Gris is who he is and what motivates him to act the way he does.

In a lot of the stories I read, the primary villain is some faceless being far from the story, pulling the strings of the world. This can lead the story to feel much bigger than a single struggle that we’re privileged to. There isn’t an issue with these types of stories, I love a lot of them, but getting this deep into the mind of the villain is a twist that I deeply enjoy. And to make it even more fun, he isn’t on a redemption arch, he’s just an evil guy.

If this sounds like a story you might enjoy, make sure to check out Mission Earth Volume 5 today. It’s definitely a series that I enjoy recommending to someone who likes a fun sci-fi story with loads of twists and enough humor that you’ll have to be careful where you read it. Laughing at this story while waiting in line at the DMV can be a little awkward.