Monster Hunter: Guardian by Larry Corriea and Sarah Hoyt

 (Author's note: I have been informed by one Mrs. Sarah Hoyt that I should not be paying for anything I blog about. I'm not saying she's wrong. I'm just saying that I wanted to read this and then I wanted to tell you all about it and well...

I was walking down the street one day and some dollars fell out of my wallet and when I bent over to pick them up there was a book laying on the sidewalk. If it just so happened that it happened to be something she helped write, how could that be my fault?

That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

 Oh, and I don't review covers but, as an old-school GI Joe fan, I can't help but look at that and think "SWEET BARONESS PIC!!!! Uhh... oops.)

 

 

It's not my fault okay, I mean except for the part where it IS my fault, but it's not, right? But I MAY have a small confession to make. It's POSSIBLE, just possible you understand, that when I first picked up a copy of Monster Hunter:Alpha I was a bit disappointed at first. It's not that it was a bad book. It was an awesome book. It's just that I had kind of come to think of the Monster Hunter series as being the story of Owen Pitt and when the main character was not him...

Poor little Jimbo got his world rocked. I mean seriously, it was weird. Of course I kept reading and I loved it, but for a guy like me who really just bought it because of the author and the series and hadn't read any snippets or anything..

Yeah, I got junk punched.

Of course, we've had another novel since then starring Agent Franks from the Monster Control Bureau so maybe it should come as no surprise, especially with her picture on the cover, that the star of Monster Hunter: Guardian is none other than Mrs. Julia Shackleford-Pitt, wife of Owen Pitt, heir to the ownership of the Monster Hunter International company, super-sniper and all around tail-kicker. Seriously, I wouldn't cross Julie if you paid me. I'm not kidding. She's not only a phenomenal long-range shot, she's also super loyal and able to overcome her fear of just about anything. Oh, and she's no stranger to using violence to complete her mission. 

Those who follow me here at Jimbo's know that  I love a strong female protagonist, so it's no wonder that I loved MH:G. Julie is the kind of woman that we can follow anywhere and when someone takes her infant son it's ON. She'll do what she needs to get him back and she's not particularly worried about what that is. If she ruffles a few feathers in the process of getting little Ray that's just too bad. And well...

I mean...

That's a LOT of feathers, but at least they're not MY feathers. So it's okay right?

And it's weird because, although the Illustrious Mr. Correia does have children, he's nobodies mother. Hoyt is though, and this is a story written from the point of view of not just a world beating sniper, but a mother. Listen, I've got kids but it's different for dudes. We've got a different hormonal balance and different brain chemistry so we don't think, feel or act like a woman would in most situations. I'm not saying that's a bad thing or that anyone is doing anything wrong. It's just a fact. So, while I can definitely see moving Heaven and Earth to get my kid if someone stole them, it would be different for me emotionally.

Hoyt nails the differences, probably because she actually is different. Everything Julie goes through feels right even though it doesn't match with what I would go through. So I'm sold, even though I'd probably be more rage and less pain. It makes sense. 

Julie also learns some things about herself that the rest of us have been wondering about as well. I don't want to give up more than that and it's probably too much anyway. The fact remains that there is something she needed to know that we needed to know. What it is makes sense in a weird sort of way. And if you don't do weird, you don't do MHI, so I know you'll love it.

Of course, in an MHI book, you expect more than just the emotional stuff and Hoyt and Correia deliver. There are the usual gunshots and explosions. There are some truly bizarre things about. We're not really sure what all of them are, but that's good. You never know what might show up again later. An old villain resurfaces for the eight hundred and ninety seven millionth time and it's good to see them, even if Julie is a little less than happy about it. Maybe especially since Julie doesn't like it, because what fun is a story where the characters run around happy all the time?

It's obvious that Correia put in his time on the novel as well because, while Hoyt can do the weird and uncanny as well as anyone in the business, there is no one who can gun geek like Correia. And there is some gun porn here. Not as much as you would get in some other MHI novels, but definitely enough to keep an MHI fan happy and scratch that itch. I get it too. Sometimes you just need a cool firearm to get you through your day and keep you going strong. 

One thing that was really interesting to me was that part of MH:G takes place in Portugal. Hoyt is an immigrant from that ancient land and it's really cool to see how she compares her new homeland (she is now an American citizen) with her old one. Oops. Spoiler alert? Part of the story takes place in Portugal. I'm not going to say what happens there though.

There are fairly constant references to the MHI novel before this, Monster Hunter Siege. They're not all pervasive though, and a knowledge of MH:S, while a good thing to have in general, is not necessary to understand or enjoy the events in Guardian. Suffice it to say that Julie is worried about some people she hasn't talked to in a long time, including her husband. Given the fact that they're off fighting it should be fairly obvious why she's worried. That's all you need to know. That's unless you WANT to read the previous book, which is an awesome read as well. 

Other than that though, pull up a chair, get a barrel of Cheez-its (HOOOON!) and enjoy the only existing collaboration of the International Lord of Hate and the Beautiful, But Evil, Space Princess.  You'll thank me later. Of course, if this is your first MHI book *GASP* your wallet will hate me when you feel yourself compelled to buy and read the rest of the series, but I'm here for you, not your wallet.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Auctions

Monster Hunter Guardian
Larry Correia and Sarah Hoyt
Baen Books, 2019

Monster Hunter Guardian is available for purchase at the following link. If you click it and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Suzanne Collins's The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

Suzanne Collins is an amazeballs author. I mean that seriously. It took me longer than it should have to start reading the books (Not my fault. By the time they were on my radar, I had heard that they were just like Twilight. I tried Twilight. I can't do it. Bella is everything I teach my daughters not to be and I can't read a series with a MC that I have no respect for.) but I saw the first movie with a girl that I knew and I was hooked. The books are even better. Some people will hate on Ms. Collins because she writes in first person present tense. Some people can kiss my butt. I get so sucked into Collin's writing that I forget to eat. I'm a three hundred and seventy pound man. I NEVER forget to eat. I often eat when I shouldn't. But when I get locked into one of this woman's books, as they say on the streets of New York, "Fugetaboudit." She has kept me up all night a few times too. That probably makes her evil on some level, but this is the kind of evil that I fully condone.

I was, however, kind of hesitant with The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.Why? Because it's the story of President Snow from the original trilogy and that guy was a villain's villain. I mean, who wants to read about a dude who slaughters children as part of his job? But then, I mean, it was Suzanne Collins and my oldest daughter did love it and...

Well...

I caved, okay? I'm not proud of it but I totally gave up my inhibitions and through myself face first into the book. I'm glad I did though, because I had been acting like a total turdface. Listen, this is a good book if you just like... read it. It also helps if you think of the character by the name Coriolanus Snow (his full name as given in Ballad) as opposed to President Snow.

What Collins has done here is two things:

1.) She kept in mind the single most ubiquitous thing about every human being and their mindset: We are all the hero of our own story. From the outside looking in, what Snow will do later (and, indeed, some of what he does in Ballad) is evil. But to him, it's a necessary evil. The Hunger Games trilogy depicts Snow as an evil man, doing what he wants. Ballad not so much. Here we see a young man (or maybe boy is a better title) doing what he has to do because he has to do it.

and 

2.) The Greatest Harm is Often Done with the Best Intentions. Seriously, the Hunger Games terrorized twelve Districts full of people. It's how they're kept in line. It's how society continues and, honestly, what are the rights of people as compared to the rights of society? Snow is, in short, a believer in the Social Contract. And like many other followers of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (that's the guy who wrote the actual book called The Social Contract for those of you who don't have degrees in history) he simply believes that killing people is an acceptable way to enforce it. I mean it worked for Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot right? And, I mean, seventy five years of The Hunger Games killed a lot less people than the Reign of Terror in France, right? And that was, after all, the first massacre conducted due to Rousseau's teachings.

At any rate, in his own mind Coriolanus is working for the good of all and to prevent another war like the one that ruined his family, destroyed his country and killed his father. I mean, it was a really bad time not just for Panem but for Coriolanus personally. He went from seeing his father on TV and leading parades to being raised by his grandmother. It couldn't have been easy. 

And that's the magic of The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Collins has taken a man that I hated and turned him into a sympathetic character that I could root for. I never would have believed it possible but she did it. The Snow in this book is really a guy you can root for. Once you understand his intentions, what he's doing becomes, well, not admirable but at least understandable. After all, as badly as life sucked in the Capitol during the war, the Districts got it worse. Of course, it helps that she shows Corio as being capable of loving another human being. That's not the impression I got from the original trilogy.

Of course there's more to Ballad than just that. The story revolves around the Tenth Hunger Games, long before Katniss Everdeen and her time in the arena, or even her birth. And it's weird to say this, but it's kind of cool to see how small the games were when they started. The arena is small and not all that well equipped. Muttations are not really a thing yet. The same arena is used every year and it is not in good shape at all. The Games are not very popular and there are no such things as sponsors or betting yet.  These Games are similar to the Games that Katniss played in some ways, but they're so much smaller. It's almost eerie.

There is plenty of good, old fashioned violence to keep a fan of the original trilogy engaged as well.  There is action both in the arena and outside of it. It wouldn't be a Hunger Games story if someone didn't get it in the neck at some point and that's what happens here. I mean, we all know that only one of the Tributes is going to make it back to their District. I'm not going to reveal who it was, but that remains, well...

Not the same because this time it actually is only one.

But that's neither here nor there. Seriously, go buy the book and read it. Then come back and thank me for recommending it. This is some seriously good stuff.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Worrisome Essays

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes
Suzanne Collins
Scholastic Press, 2020

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes is available for purchase at the following links. If you click it and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.