Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge by John Ringo and Larry Correia

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Wow. I'm like embarrassed to say that Ilike, totally just read this. Like, OH MY GOD. Like, I'm so amazed that it took this long to like read something written by like two of my favorite like authors. I can't believe that I like, didn't get to it SOOOO much sooner. It's like crazy. Like what? Oh, I'm totally talking about Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. It's like the coolest thing ever, okay? What, I'm supposed to tell you why? Like how does that work? Like I have to do the work here? Like how is that fair?

Ok, so it's totally set in the Eighties. I'm so old that I like, totally remember the Eighties so it was fun.

And like, I totally hate valley girl so I'm like, totally gonna stop writing that way OK?

I'm glad it's okay. I was starting to annoy myself. I know one girl who used to speak valley girl and she drove me crazy. (OH MY GO-ODD!) I'll spare the rest of you the hassle. Although, honestly, if you've read the book then you know why the valley girl. If not, you'd best find out. I mean seriously.

Listen, this is my blog. I get free books from people that want their stuff reviewed. I started this thing to feed my reading habit and save money simultaneously without having to give my books back. It was a good thing. For the rest of you, I'm assuming that you've also got  book habits (otherwise why would you be here?) and don't get free stuff from people that you then owe reviews to. (But if you do, let me know because I want to check your stuff out.) I don't always have time to read stuff from my favorites because I'm often reading something that I was given. Most people don't have that problem. (But it's free books, so is it really a problem?)

Anyway, if you like the same kind of books that I do, and I'm assuming you do, then these guys should be two of your favorite authors too. I mean seriously, Correia has created one of the coolest Hidden World universes of all time. The Monster Hunter International milieu is amazing. It's like an action flick crossed with gun porn with just a dash of competence porn, this is the universe to be in. The characters in the book seriously do hunt monsters and they really do know their stuff. Usually.

And, of course, John Ringo is best known for his ability to write action as well. His Black Tide Rising series is epic. His Legacy of the Aldenata series is awesome. Those aren't even my two favorite of his series. My favorite one is his Council Wars series, only it didn't sell enough for him to keep pushing them out. I blame all of you. I bought the whole series in Dead Tree Format and own the first three on .mobi.

To say that I was geeked to read this is an understatement. I couldn't wait to get this thing home and rifle through it at high speed. I wasn't disappointed. Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge is a high speed thrill ride. I mean, we go from place to place and fight to fight with almost no break. Things go bump and then they go boom. In spite of all the action, it's not just an action book though.

Our main character is a medically retired Marine named Chad and he's on a mission from God. He means that literally. Despite that though, he's not exactly a pure soul. As a matter of fact he seems to have a thing for the ladies. A very strong thing for the ladies. I guess you could say he's hornier than a devil. Combine "horny" with "sent by the Almighty" and you get a weird mix for sure. That's okay though, because it sure is entertaining.

Fans of the MHI universe will also be familiar with a character named Milo. Milo plays pretty heavily into Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. I really liked that. We don't get to see as much of him as we should in the main stories, so it's good to see some backstory for him. And if you love guns then you can't miss Milo. That's his thing. Milo is my guy. Oh, and if you like Agent Franks, he's here too. And really who doesn't love Agent Franks?

The villains in the book tend to be what they always have been: Everything from any mythos anywhere on the planet and anything else that the author can cook up. That's the great thing about MHI in general. You never know what's coming next because the hunters never know what's coming next. That creates a high amount of suspense and keeps you in the book.

It took me less than a day to get through Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. For me, that's fast. I couldn't put this one down. It's always fun to see a collaboration between two of my favorite authors, but it's even better when it's two veteran authors. A lot of the collaborations I've read, especially from Baen, have been between an established author and a relatively new author but this time around it's two mature, established authors. You can kind of feel the difference. I'm sure it made the publisher happy because both authors already have huge followings, but it made life good for me too.

Of course, this is the first in the Monster Hunter Memoirs series and I haven't read any of the rest of them because I always read a series in order. I can't wait. I knew this was going to rock and I wasn't wrong. There is a lot more to explore. And I do mean explore. I don't even know if the Memoirs series has the same main character throughout or if it's a series of memoirs of separate hunters. I'll be headed either to my local book store or to Kindle as soon as I can so I can find out. I hope to see you there.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Webbed Victims

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge
John Ringo and Larry Correia
Baen Books, 2016

Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge is available at the following link. If you click it and buy anything on Amazon I get a small percentage at no cost to you.

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