After reading, and loving, the first two books in the To Hell and Back series, I decided to check out some more books by Matthew Hughes. The first one I grabbed was The Other. The book revolves around master criminal Luff Imbry, who stars in several Matthew Hughes short stories. I wasn’t aware of those stories before I started reading the book, so this was my first exposure to Luff. I liked the character, but the story was just missing something. Let’s check out what happened.

Luff Imbry is a con man who sells stolen merchandise and occasionally forges some antiques. When he makes a mistake by trusting an old friend, he finds himself stuck on another planet run by a group that is basically a cult. The majority of the people consider themselves The Ideals. They all look alike based off the image of their founder. Anyone who doesn’t meet their look is considered an Irregular. The Irregulars, for strange reasons, find themselves doing a traveling variety show and there is a strange link between the Ideals and the Irregulars. The Ideals don’t want any contact with any other planets, especially the one they call The Pit, which is where their little cult started before they were on the losing side of a civil war.

Luff is dropped off there and considered an Irregular. The only link to how he got there (and how he could get back is killed in a strange situation that leads a law officer to focus way too much on Imbry as a suspect. Now Imbry has to try to figure out how to get off the planet before he’s killed by the law and an old prophecy might be the way out. If only he can survive to put his plan in motion.

Overall, Luff Imbry is a fantastic, and fun, character. Since the book rests mostly on Imbry’s shoulders, a charismatic lead character is helpful. But the plot itself seems to roam all over the place and there are a lot of holes and oddities that make the book not quite as good as it should have been. There is way too much time spent on the history of the Ideals and learning about their culture. I understand why Imbry is trying to learn this (since it’s the only way to not get killed and possibly get off the planet), but I was not that interested in it. Imbry scheming and acting on his schemes was great. The history lesson about the Ideals and the Irregulars was not really worthwhile. I’d be willing to check out other Luff Imbry books, since I liked the character, but this isn’t the best introduction to the character. Mildly recommended.