David Weber's A Beautiful Friendship

The best way to follow up a super serious post about a graphic novel covering an important subject is by reviewing a Science Fiction novel about treecats.

Or sumfin'

Listen, this blog is a work in progress and sometimes it gets messy.

All of this to say that I recently read David Weber's novel A Beautiful Friendship. You purists out there may be tempted to point out that I did it because I was going to a meet up with a couple local chapters of The Royal Manticoran Navy: The Official Honor Harrington Fan Association. You may even be right. The fact remains that I helped plan the outing and I picked out the book (along with my buddy/Commanding Officer David) so neener, neener, neener. I read it. I loved it. And, put bluntly, who needs purists anyway?

So, right, the book...

This is the third time I've read the thing, and the first time I've reviewed it. My excuse is because this book is so old that I read it twice before I started my blog in 2015. No system's perfect, right. Better late that never?

I mean...

Yeah, the book.

A Beautiful Friendship is part of the Star Kingdom series which is in and of itself a part of the Honor Harrington universe aka the Honorverse. I've been following these books for about twenty-ish years now, going back to right around the time I met my ex-wife and before I had kids. My oldest is eighteen now. Suffice it to say that I'm a huge fan.

A Beautiful Friendship is a prequel leading back to the origins of the Star Kingdom (later Star Empire) of Manticore and also of the Harrington clan's beginnings as citizens therein. Stephanie Harrington, our heroine and all around likeable young girl, is on a quest to find something to do. Her family has recently immigrated to the SKM after living on a much older, more settled planet with a larger population, more forms of entertainment and people her age who aren't boring. The planet Sphinx is largely still wild with a small contingent of humanity on the planet, trying to make their way and build something.

Enter Stephanie who, quite frankly, is everything I taught my daughters to be; strong, smart, proud, tough and brave. She has a bit of that teenage brashness about her as well but that makes sense because she's a teenager. So when human settlers start reporting that celery is being burgled from their greenhouses (Sphinxian winters last a long time) she is intrigued. When celery starts disappearing from the Harrington greenhouse, she sets out to find out who or what is doing it. And what she catches on camera...

Fans of the mainline Honorverse books all knew what I was when they read the word "celery." What she discovers is the first treecat known to humanity. And when she finds out it has and uses a net made of local fibers, things start to get interesting. Treecats aren't the first sentient species known to humans, but there haven't been many and she's a kid. She's also afraid her parents will find out that she snuck out after dark, in the rain...

As adults we sometimes forget how badly it sucked to have to listen to parental instructions about everything. As parents, we know why they were necessary but that doesn't change the fact that we hated it. Weber does an awesome job of putting us back in that teenage mindset, wanting to do more than we're allowed to and frustrated because we can't. Of course, Stephanie is a Harrington and doesn't lack for personal initiative. She's also quite a bit less disciplined than her more famous descendant and finds ways around rules. 

Seriously, I had to pull out my copy of Better to Beg Forgiveness and make sure that it was indeed written by Michael Z. Williamson and not David Weber, because little Ms. Harrington lives that philosophy to its fullest. And, if it gets her in trouble from time to time, that just makes the whole experience more fun. Every story needs conflict after all.

I don't want to spoil too much of the book, but this isn't just a book about Man(girl) vs. Nature or Man vs. Parents. There is some serious villainy here and some more subtle danger emanating from pretty much everywhere around Harrington. She deals with it with equanimity for the most part. Stephanie Harrington is a girl who can keep her cool during a crisis. She's the kind of person I'd want along with me if I were doing something requiring guts and a calm mind, even if I might wish for a person with a bit more life experience.

There is a lot of really cool stuff here about the first few humans who bond with treecats, becoming almost the equivalent of a Treecat and their spouse. It's pretty cool if you've been following the series for a long time and maybe even cooler if you haven't. Those of us who are familiar with Honor and her treecat Nimitz take certain things for granted. Having read the later books, I know how smart treecats are. I'm used to the fact that they can bond with people and some very clear indications of the psychic abilities of treecats and their utility are listed in the later works. 

If you haven't read those books though, a lot of it will come as a surprise. It's a voyage of discovery for Stepanie, her treecat Lionheart and indeed the entire human and treecat species. No one had a way to anticipate what was possible before Lionheart accidentally bonded with Stephanie, and the world takes a weird turn afterward because neither one of them know what to expect, either. As experienced readers we know some of what's coming, but even then, not all of it and the human element in the book leads places I never expected it to go.

A Beautiful Friendship was one of the first books I managed to get my hands on and read after my divorce in 2012. Times were rough then, and it helped me get through a pretty rough time. It's a lot easier to enjoy it this time and I'm glad I took the time to reread it. The writing hasn't changed but I have. This is exactly the right type of book to read if you need a quick distraction from life to make you feel better. People are surprised when they find out that I didn't turn to drinking or drugs when my depression got bad. It's thanks to writers like David Weber and books like ABF that I'm not stuck in lifelong drug/alcohol rehab. If a pick me up is what you need, hie thee off to the bookstore and pick yourself up a copy. If not, buy one anyway. It's a good book regardless.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Carry Nets

A Beautiful Friendship
David Weber
Baen Books, 2013

A Beautiful Friendship is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

A Beautiful Friendship

Happy Golden Anniversary Dungeons and Dragons

Once upon a time, long ago, a cousin of mine who probably wouldn't admit it anymore introduced me to a game called Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, a game which was then in it Second Edition. It was a game that had everything a young man could ever want: Dragons, Dungeons, Gold, Fighting, Dice...

It was an adventure that never had to end because, once you were done with the current adventure, you could queue another one up. When I got tired of my dwarven fighter/mage/thief I could switch to playing my elven bard or my human paladin (which I _on no level_ fudged the rolls to make, unless you count reality) and off I would go in pursuit of more treasure, or that one annoying twit that kept arresting people and wanted to know what happened to the magistrate's amulet and why someone said they thought they saw me wearing it. (And that NEVER HAPPENED. Now, had someone said they saw it in my backpack, that may have been a different story.)

Now, if you were in the  mood to be pedantic (and if you're reading this, you're most likely a geek, a nerd, or both) you may be tempted to point out that my introduction to the game Dungeons and Dragons wasn't really my introduction to D&D overall. I had loved the cartoon when it was on Saturday mornings, even if I thought the Dungeon Master was a little creepy. But honestly, who wouldn't? I kind of still do.

And it didn't stop there. I discovered the various game world box sets: First Greyhawk, then Spelljammer, Forgotten Realms...

I could go on. The really important part is that the box sets led to books. I was introduced to The Dragonlance Chronicles by my friend Jeff Cauldwell, and I fell in love with the world of Krynn and fantasy literature in general (IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, JEFF!!). My sister grabbed me one of the Greyhawk novels for Christmas one year. The Dark Sun novels were freaking painfully amazing and gave me flashbacks to the Thomas Covenant novels. Then came Spelljammer and it's take on space travel. OMG DUDE!!! Trek/Wars in D&D. I was in love.

And then came the Dwarven Nations trilogy. I have a serious love for the dwarven folk and, while I enjoyed Flint Fireforge (and named both D&D and Everquest characters after him) the reason I'm writing a dwarf centered novel, the reason I'm reading an unrelated series about dwarves now, and the reason I started the last campaign I DM'ed in a dwarven town was really The Dwarven Nations Trilogy. I love the little buggers. Hardworking, no-nonsense taking, and yes, I am one of THOSE McCoys (if you don't believe me ask a Hatfield) never giving up, stubborn asshole, and orc skull splitting dwarves are the most bestest things about fantasy fiction. 

Wait what?

You disagree? You're wrong. Dwarves are objectively the best thing that ever happened to fantasy anything. There is no counter argument. 

But I digress.

As usual.

Digression is, however, my strongest skill as a blogger.

Anyone who reads fantasy fiction and hasn't read R.A. Salvatore's Forgotten Realms novels needs to have their head examined while they're wandering off to the bookstore to grab copies. Start with Drizzt Do'Urden and then head over toward Cadderly the cleric afterward. I haven't reviewed the books here because it's been a long time since I read one, but they are magnificent. What's more, the Forgotten Realms are extremely popular in not just Salvatore's novels, but in pretty much everything D&D that takes place in digital form: Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, even Tiny D&D Adventures the old Facebook app before the Google Play store was a thing. And, of course, for pretty much all of the D&D movies. 

I know I'm in the minority in that I loved all four of the movies. I know that most of you would disagree. I know that the first three movies basically felt like bad B movies. I've also sat at more than one gaming table and I have to say that most of those tables couldn't even aspire to be B movies. 

And the thing with D&D is that it doesn't even matter which form you prefer. Someone else out there loves it as much as you do and they'll be happy to discuss it with you. I've seen it happen. Two geeks sitting next to each other not knowing each other and all of a sudden someone mentions painting minis or playing video games and two hours later they're best friends talking about stuff they've done in the game. I have personally walked up to someone reading a copy of a D&D novel at the library and started a conversation. She was cute, too, only I was married at the time. (But if you're reading this, I'm divorced now!) It happens.

And listen...

I'm not here for the Edition Wars. I've never played Basic D&D regardless of what color the box was. I started with Second Edition, but my buddy Pat (RIP, brother. I told you that shit was bad for you.) had a first edition copy of Unearthed Arcana and it never really occurred to us to convert anything. I've played Third Edition, missed Fourth, and have played and DM'ed 5e. It's time for the proverbial "every edition has its strengths and weaknesses" routine, only I'm not going to bother. Play what you like. Leave others alone and, if you're not a dick, you can sit at my table.

The crazy part is that D&D is not just a game either. It's a creative outlet. The first worlds I created, I created for D&D and for the Palladium Fantasy Role-Playing Game (First Edition). If you can read through all of the various subclasses and/or kits and can't come up with a new twist on an old trope (even if it's just by tweaking something there) then I can't help you. It's all there. And if it's not there, you can create it.

That is why, in my opinion, the greatest of all forms of D&D is the homebrew edition. Why? Because it's all about a DM, their players, and what works for them. I've never seen the sheer volume of homebrew that I see in D&D anywhere else. Even if you play modules, I can pretty much guarantee your group is home ruling SOMETHING at your table. The Rules at Written have been trampled over so many times that it's laughable. I LOVE THAT ABOUT THEM.

Oh, right. Podcasts. I forgot the podcasts. That's probably because I don't listen to them because I suck and you should hate me. Or sumfin'. If my cousin Hallie finds out I haven't watched/listened to Critical Role she's probably gonna kick my ass. I'll get around to it at some point. Probably. I should probably watch/review a season of something at some point. Someday. When I get the time. But never mind me. I know a lot of people love them and that's what matters.

Oh crap, I forgot the art. I love the art. Larry Elmore is basically the greatest artist ever to pick up a paint brush but there have been a whole bunch of amazeballs fantasy artists and a lot of them have made D&D related artwork. And then there are the magazines...

Listen, I've gotta work in the morning. I need to end this here.

And yes, I know the whole gaming license thing made some people mad. Wizards retracted all the crap and fixed the problem. Everyone is back to making their money again. It's all good. Let's all move on. 

Roll those dice. Have fun storming the castle. Kill the dragon. Loot the horde. Whine to your DM because you can't afford full plate at first level. But fire it up folks and let's lay some D&D. Thank you, Mr Gygax for the endless hours of fun and fellowship your creation has provided. Here's to hoping it lasts at least another fifty years.

Some Dungeons & Dragons related merchandise is available for purchase at the links below. If you click the links and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

Player's Handbook

Dungeon Master's Guide

Michael Z. Williamson's That Was Now, This is Then

(Welcome to Day Two of Jimbo's Memorial Day Extravaganza! Today we're featuring Michael Z. Williamson.  Mad Mike seems to think I know how to do math. He's done five years in the US Air Force, three years in the Army National Guard, twelve years in the Air National Guard, then another two in the Army National Guard and another three in the Air National Guard. I think. Any mistakes are mine.  He deployed for the Mississippi flood in 1993 and for Operation Desert Fox in 99, as well as Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2008, retiring as a Technical Sergeant. His army MOS was Untilities Equipment Repairer (52C30) and his Air Force MOS was Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration.

He got to play with some construction equipment and some small arms. 

He's married with a total of four kids from two marriages, three cats and some livestock.He is also the proprietor of sharppointythings.com and michaelzwilliamson.com, to go along with The Sacred Cow Slaughterhouse

 

Being a book geek (and I think I qualify, what with having a blog about books and all) there are few better feelings that finally getting a chance to read a book that you've been waiting on. You all know what I mean, right? It's a rush to finally crack that spine (okay, open the file on your Kindle, but work with me here, okay?) and get to readin'. It is, however, better when that book is everything you wanted it to be.  So when I got to read That Was Then, This is Now by Michael Z. Williamson, I was both excited and happy. That's a powerful combination. And if you're reading it a little late because you didn't realize that it had released, that's your bad, or mine, as the case may be. 

Those of you who remember the first book in the series, A Long Time Until Now, will find all of their old friends back, if not always for a long time. Some of our friends have decided to stay home this time. I can't say I blame them. As much fun as these books are to read, living them might not be the most enjoyable thing ever. Living in the dim, dark past isn't always all it's cracked up to be. Personal lives are a thing too, and not all of the old crew is still in the military, so they can't be ordered to go. All this to say that, if someone is missing, it makes sense that they're missing.

Of course, we have a couple of additions to the team as well. Both are females that have their Ph.D.s and neither has my phone number. The former is fine. The latter would be unacceptable if they actually existed. Ya'll need to stop hogging up all the brainy chicks. Anyway...

This time we're headed back to grab another squad that got stuck, and things didn't go so well for them. They didn't have the skills that the first squad had, and they've been there longer. Things are pretty grim. But not everyone wants to go home, and their reasons, while not always admirable, make sense. And that leads to one of the cruxes of the novel.

When is it okay to take people's lives over and tell them what to do? If someone has established a life in a place where they are welcome and doesn't want to leave, do you have the right to drag them away? What if they're being there could cause problems for someone else later? What if you want to kick the dude in the junk for the reason he wants to stay? Does that have any bearing?

And, without getting too far into spoiler territory, I think I might just kick that dude in his junk if I ever meet him. Seriously. Read the book, you'll get what I'm saying. Fortunately, dude doesn't actually exist so I get to stay out of prison, but some things I just don't countenance. Ick. Not that he's portrayed as a hero or anything, but still. Then again, it's something that comes from the real world, so I get why it's here.

Military conflict with the natives of the time they've gone back to is part and parcel of the series. It's about what you'd expect. Williamson has a knack for showing the adaptability of literal cavemen in the face of technology they can't match, too. It's not a situation where the primitives give up and it's not to a point where they do something stupid either. Certain situations lead to conflict and always will. They do their best with what they have and they don't waste their lives. I'l take it.

I want to take a camping trip with the gear they get to take to the past this time, too. Seriously, every year when I do this (at least for the last few after I got a better idea of how to do this right) I send the authors a questionnaire so I can do their bio, and I always ask about what cool toys they got to play with while they were serving. I frequently hear about a lot of cool stuff, but I've never heard about ANYTHING that comes close to some of the field gear the Bykos (not the Cogni) have.

All of that aside, That Was Now, This is Then was a very human novel. The speculative element is there in the technological sense but, honestly, Mad Mike does one of the best jobs about really getting things down to the people and emotions that I've ever read. I'm guessing dude has some education (maybe formal, maybe not) in psychology, sociology and anthropology. I have a bit (freshman level classes I took in college but I got A's in all of them) and I'm seeing some things in here that look awfully familiar. Williamson has considered things in early societies that most authors would miss. Kudos to him. 

I'm also a fan of Williamson's take on time travel. Too many times it's something that's either taken for granted (Dr. Who) or at the very least one hundred percent accurate (Back to the Future) but that doesn't really make sense in a lot of cases, especially with what, for the Bykos, is new technology. Things get wonky and they don't always go right. Longer gaps in time are less precise, it all makes sense. It's consistently inconsistent. I like that. Too much science fiction makes technology infallible. That is clearly not the case here. 

There is an obvious opening left for a third book. I've heard rumors that we'll see it, but nothing seems to be confirmed at this point. While I can't make any guarantees, I really hope to see more soon, because there is too much awesome here for this series to die early. If it comes, you'll get a review here. If not, I will personally stick my bottom lip out so far that I step on it. Test me if you think I'm playin'.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Stun Guns

That Was Now, This Is Then

Michael Z. Williamson

Baen Books, 2021

That Was Now, This Is Then is available at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no additional cost to you.

The Romanov Rescue by Justin Watson, Kacey Ezell and Tom Kratman

 

There have always been times in history where things didn't go the way they should have. Sometimes it's a matter of luck. Sometimes it's a matter of bad actors. And sometimes, sometimes, one or two moments can lead to the slaughter of millions. One of those moments happened in Russia in 1918. The Bolsheviks, led Vladimir Lenin, seized power from the Russian monarchy and, as Leftist governments always do, proceeded to slaughter millions over the next several decades while simultaneously subjecting anyone who voiced an unapproved opinion to at least Cancel Culture and possibly imprisonment. But here's the thing: It didn't have to be that way. And The Romanov Rescue by Tom Kratman, Justin Watson and Kacey Ezell shows an attempt by Tsarist elements within Russia to end Communist rule only months into their reign with the only symbol that could have been adequately used against them; The Romanovs, Russia's royal family.

There is a lot to The Romanov Rescue and I loved the complexity of it.  The authors gave us interpersonal conflict, military conflict, lots of challenges to solve, plenty of action and just a touch of romance. It's all there. The characters feel real. The conflicts that started the mess contained within the pages (IE World War I and The Russian Revolution) both actually did exist and seem to be, as far as I can tell from my limited research into both, dead on. (Now some history professor is going to read this and argue with me about the spelling of a city's name when the original name was written in another alphabet. You only think I'm joking.)

Something that you can appreciate in a tome like The Romanov Rescue is that all three authors are military and this is, like most Alternate History, a work of military fiction. Tom Kratman and Justin Watson are both retired Army officers and Kacey Ezell is a currently serving Air Force chopper pilot and a Major, last I heard. I get complaints from military people on occasion, upset about the lack of a true military feeling in works of fiction written by people who haven't served. You will not have that problem here. These are people who have been there, done that and gotten the t-shirt. When you crack this bad boy open it's going to be the real deal.

It occurs to me that I'm kinda because I didn't review this book for my annual Memorial Day event, but I suppose I should just get over myself.

Something I really like about The Romanov Rescue is that it's not just a shoot 'em up novel. I mean, you get some combat, but there's more to it than bullets and  blowuptuations. We get a good look at what it was like to plan and train for an operation at the end of the Great War. From the construction of ranges, to feeding the troops to finding horses and donkeys to haul stuff around while keeping them healthy and on and on we see the real side of things. Yes, the troops who do the shooting are important but so are the people who get them the guns and the bullets to shoot with. The authors have done a terrific job of making sure that all gets in here. That's not to say that the book bogs down. We get to be in on a few of the discussions and get a solid idea of what's needed to pull the mission off, but we don't have to watch all the paperwork get filed.

I spoke a bit about interpersonal conflict earlier, but TRR features a lot of inTRA personal conflict too. Some of the characters aren't sure about their assignments. Others think their assignments might be changed in a way they find objectionable. It's part of the life and it's in there. It also adds a lot to the characters because members of the military, regardless of whose military, are not simply automatons that follow their programming. They are actual flesh and blood human beings with likes, dislikes and qualms. Yes, the physical challenges are real. The mental challenges are no less real.

It feels weird typing thins, but I'd recommend The Romanov Rescue to any military historian out there. It's not for the works scholarly value but for what it reminds us all of: That people who serve in the military really are people. That's a point that frequently gets lost in historical writing where, at best, you might talk about one or two generals as individuals. Reading something like this every now and again is both a brain massage and a reminder to keep those people in mind. Oh, and war does make for strange bedfellows. I'm just sayin'.

The action sequences tend to be short, sharp, and violent and that's just how I like them. Some of the action takes place as part of training and functions as both entertainment and a warning that training to do dangerous things is in and of itself frequently dangerous. A bit of overt gun-geeking does take place, but in a book about a military operation, it fits. We need to know what the troops are using and how it works. If I actually enjoyed the discussion well, the point of reading the book was to enjoy it, right?

In short, I'd recommend The Romanov Rescue to anyone who likes to read things that are fun and interesting. I mean, if The Scarlet Letter is your thing, I don't see TRR as being for you. Dull and depressing have their place in classrooms, but I like to read things that I enjoy. I found someone I could root for (and if you're not a fan of feudalism I get it, but they were fighting Communists.) I found a group of villains I could root against. I got to spend some time with some people I'd love a chance to meet, if only they actually existed. Then again, I wasn't surprised. I've loved both Kratman and Ezell as authors for quite awhile now and, if this was my first experience with Watson, I think he at least lived up to the company he was in and, from me, that's high praise indeed.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Flashbangs

The Romanov Rescue
Justin Watson, Kacey Ezell and Tom Kratman
Baen Books, 2021

The Romanov Rescue is available for purchase at the following link. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small percentage at no extra cost to you.

Eric Flint's 1632

 

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Ok, so maaaybe I'm a guy who grew up in Detroit, but has family in West Virginia, and maaaybe I've squeezed the trigger on a pump shotgun a few times. It's even possible that I've played the odd wargame in my life. I even grew up listening to my dad tell stories about a cave in that happened in a coal mine when he was kid and "a bunch of crying women." (Yeah, I came by my "that guy" streak honestly.) So, it's entirely possible that I may have a few more reasons than some people to love Eric Flint's 1632 and that most of them have nothing to do with how easy it is to type the title. (I am, after all, pictured in the dictionary next to the term "man, lazy".) 

 Still and all though, it's a book worth buying and reading, even if there are a whole bunch of other books that come afterward some of them with amazing co-authors (I originally read 1632 because I wanted to read 1633  due to the fact that David Weber's name was on the spine and I don't read out of order if I can help it.) and it's probably going to want you buy all of those and read them too...

Look, if you didn't want an enabler for your Speculative Fiction habit you wouldn't be here. 

Anyway...

 One day some cool stuff is happening and the totally fictional town, well sort of totally fictional town of Grantville, West Virginia and next thing you know - hey presto!- the town and all of the people and things in it are transported to Germany in the year 1632. If you're familiar with that time and place then you're familiar with the problem here. If not, that puts them in the middle of the Thirty Years War and surrounded by the fighting. It's not a friendly place. It is, however, a good place to be armed with a modern firearm if you happen to have one.

This book has it all. It's got action and adventure. It's got romance. It's got sex. Heck, there's even a nerd who gets laid. Seriously. There's even some politics. Actually, there are a LOT of politics because a town full of modern-day Americans who aren't in modern-day America anymore have some things they need to deal with. That could have been a problem for me because, put bluntly, I have about as much in common with a self-avowed Communist politically as I have with an alien from the planet Zargon, where voting rights are determined by how often you bud to create another Zargonian.

And yet...

Flint, unlike many of his co-religionis..  errr... fellow Marxists, is actually not in a hurry to throw the bill of rights away. Yes, I really mean that. If you're really interested I can send you something I wrote about it. Anyway, there's a lot of it. Flint's stereotypical conservative is kind of a douche, and Flint appears to be as unwilling as any of his fellow leftists to admit that the right actually does differentiate between legal and illegal immigrants,  but hey it's his book and honestly there are a lot of other things going on. It doesn't really detract from the book for more than a second or two. 

 Honestly, I think the part of 1632 that I like the most is that the government is so small. Even in a town of only a few thousand, it's not the top down society envisioned by most Leftists. The government doesn't try to control everything. Part of that is because the people running the government are smart enough to know that they can't and therefore don't try and that puts them ahead of at least ninety-eight percent of today's Democrats. A certain amount of government is necessary, even if it is a necessary evil. Too much is just evil and Grantville doesn't have the layer of bureaucracy that modern governments are so enamored with. That's why it works.

More important is the society that is built and the way it's done. Even Flint's far left radical finds herself forced to compromise. This is a good thing. It's inevitable and it's realistic. I talk about this a lot but it's something that I think has to be in good fiction: Flint's characters have realistic and understandable motives. Now, the reader my not always AGREE with the motives of the characters in the book but  you can tell why they do what they do.

Yes, Flint's people are people and they live a breathe on the page. There are three young guys in particular who, aside from their love for motorcycles, remind me a lot of myself at the same age. Mike Stearns is a man who I could respect even if I wouldn't agree with everything he does. His wife Rebecca is a scholar's scholar and a woman I have a lot of admiration for. Mackay, the Scotsman, well...

My family is actually Clan MacKay so maybe I'm a bit biased here. I'd still buy him a beer if he actually, like, you know, existed. The thing is that it almost feels like he does.

As the guy with the history degree, I have to point out that what Flint wrote matches up with what I know about the time period in which the majority of 1632 takes place. Granted, I'm not all that familiar with the Thirty Years War as I do mainly US history starting at around the mid eighteen hundreds, but it all works. His depiction of the standard battle tactics of the day is sound. The nobles in the books are all legitimate. He admits to creating a German town that never really existed but 1632 _is_ a work of fiction after all. I also believe that he may have read a book or two about World War I tactics and the effects of machineguns on massed troops, but what do I know?

But for the most part, 1632 is really just a rollicking good time. This is a story that moves from beginning to end and never drags. It's one of those "UGH, STOP GIVING ME RUNS!!! I'M TRYING TO READ AND I DON'T HAVE TIME TO MAKE MONEY RIGHT NOW!" kind of books. That's why I finished it for the third time on my one day off after working seven in a row and why I felt compelled to blog about it. Now go forth and read it!

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Pump Shotguns 

1632
Eric Flint
Baen Books, 2000

1632 is available for purchase at the link below. If you click the link and buy literally anything from Amazon, I get a small cut at no extra cost to you.

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.

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.

David Weber's Uncompromising Honor

(First, the disclaimer: I am a member of The Royal Manticoran Navy, which is the official fan club of David Weber in general and The Honorverse in particular. My judgement may be a bit skewed here. Then again, when isn't it?)

The World's Most Awesome Girlfriend (TM) hit me up on Facebook Messenger one day to ask if there were any Baen books out that I hadn't had a chance to buy and/or review yet that I wanted. This was a couple of weeks before Christmas. Now, being The World's Most Awesome GF, she's usually really good at figuring out what to buy without my input, but I was happy to provide it this time. I immediately replied "Latest Honor Harrington" because I had just woken up and could not for the life of me remember what the title was before having sucked down any caffeine. About twenty minutes later I looked it up and remembered that it was Uncompromising Honor.

I'm glad I did too, because this was a really good book. It seemed to have a manufacturing defect though. Once I picked it up it wouldn't let go of my hand. Seriously. It's almost like this inanimate object didn't understand that I have responsibilities I need to attend to and that I had to get moving out the door and off to work. Maybe Baen should have named it Uncompromising Attention Whore instead of Uncompromising Honor. I mean, it just wouldn't leave me alone.

Now, to be fair, this one did start off a bit slower than I probably would have preferred. It takes a moment to get up to speed. David Weber's book, particularly in his Honorverse and Safehold series, do tend to be a bit on the talky side. Usually that's a good thing because it's how Weber keeps us informed on what's going on with his massive and far flung universes. This time though, I'm wondering if an action sequence at the beginning of the book wouldn't have spiced things up a bit and drawn the reader in a bit sooner.

That's not to say there's no action in the book. I remember one particular passage that lasted for a good chunk of the book and had my eyes glued to the pages. It was definitely an action sequence and a bit gut wrenching. I loved it though and not just because it was an awesome action scene. Weber did something in that passage. He is simply the best at it, bar none.

Something that a lot of authors of military science fiction, and both other forms of military science fiction and non-fiction forget is that militaries have histories and traditions that go farther back than just the people they're writing about. When Hal Moore was ordered to form an air cavalry unit to fight in the Vietnam War he asked for the same designation that the Cavalry unit that fought at the Little Big Horn had. Thus was the Seventh Cavalry reformed. They damn near go wiped out like their namesake too, but that's a subject of its own book and movie. My point is that these traditions do exist. They're real and the memory of what has gone before is a source of inspiration for the current generation. Weber gets that and he weaves it so well into his narrative that the story wouldn't work without it. Weber was once a history major at the graduate level and he has obviously done some serious research into the way that real militaries work.

Like pretty much every other Honorverse novel, Uncompromising Honor is a war story. In war people die. Something else Weber does very well is exposing us to the sense of loss of those left behind. A lot of authors of fiction will show the reactions of the rest of the unit when a warrior passes. Any work of military history includes at least one table of casualty figures. What often gets left out is the cost to non-combatants, at least in a non-financial sense. Weber gets that and he makes sure to let us see the other side of the conflict.

I, of course, am a huge fan of the strong female protagonist, and Honor Harrington will kick your ass. That's if she decides not to shoot, nuke or drop a kinetic energy weapon on it. I hear that she's pretty good with a laserhead too, and that's not just a weird 80s insult for nerds. She's more than that though. Honor is both a mother and a warrior. She has to deal with the problems faced with many of members of the US Military have to deal with in the real world, planet Earth, circa 2019. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. She still has the edge that she's always had. There's just so much more to her now. I wish I could force all of the people who talk down about "military fiction and its cardboard heroes" to sit down and read Uncompromising Honor. They might actually learn something.

The only truly bad part of my experience in reading this book comes from my own stupidity. See, when I have a book made in honest to God Dead Tree Format, I have a tendency to flip to the end and find out how many pages are in the thing. I've done this since probably the first time I read a book that had chapters. THIS time though, I noticed that there was an afterword. Now, the whole point of an afterword is that you're supposed to read it AFTER you read the book. I know this. I'm college educated. I read it anyway. I am -officially- a dipshit for reading the afterword first.What I'm saying here is that if you buy the book (and you should buy the book) you should not read the afterword first because there's stuff in there that you don't want to know about until after you read the dadgum book.

Uncompromising Honor is, I think, the 25646464654654654564465456th book in the series. I may be exaggerating slightly. At any rate, the Honorverse is a huge series with multiple complex relationships and you really need to start it at the beginning, with On Basilisk Station.  You'll thank me.

Bottom Line:  4.5 out of 5 Laser Heads

On Basilisk Station
David Weber
Baen Books, 2018


Uncompromising Honor is available for purchase at the following link:



And, since I mentioned them, We Were Soldiers Once... and Young and  We Were Soldiers are available at the following links as well:

David Weber's On Basilisk Station

(Before I even get started: I am a huge fan of this writer and this series. I am, in fact, a member of The Royal Manticoran Navy, the fan club of all things set in the Honor Harrington universe. My recent re-read of this book was because I had joined the TRMN and gotten nostalgic.You may find yourself questioning my objectivity while writing this review. I assure that your suspicions are well founded. Then again, if it wasn't a good book, would I really be a fan?)

Once upon a time I worked at a Super K-Mart in Warren, Michigan. There I had a friend who WOULD NOT STOP telling me what an awesome author this David Weber guy was and how I ABSOLUTIVELY, POSILUTELY had to read his Honor Harrington books. Like, since I was a science fiction fan, I had no choice whatsoever. He pretty much redefined the phrase "overenthusiastic pain in the neck." The thing was we had zero authors that we read in common and I was skeptical. I did my best to ignore him.

Then one day I found myself at the mall (Oakland, if you're local) with my then-girlfriend (now ex-wife) and she decided to detour into a shoe store. Being me I gave the battlecry of all real men who refuse to be mistreated in such a way (Uhh... Honey? I think maybe I'll head over to the bookstore. If... That's okay?) And trudged off in search of a good time and aiming to misbehave.

I then checked over the work of my favorite authors at the time and found zero new books by them. I had narrowly avoided the hell of the shoe store in vain. I was going to die of boredom anyway. But then I remembered that I had to look at my friend the next time I went to work and figured I might as well pick up one of those Harrington novels.. Only, uhh.. Which one was the first one again? I had no clue. I'm not too sure he had mentioned it.

So I walked up to one of the cashiers and asked her if she knew what the first book was. She got excited. "Oh, my dad and my brother both love those books. The first one is On Basilisk Station and it's right over here." She actually took me by the hand and led me to the book. That makes twice that a woman has done that. The other time was when I first found out that The Lord of the Rings existed. ( I was the only geek in my house. These things happen.) So, yeah, I bought the book and took it home. That was a damn good decision.

On Basilisk Station is the kind of book Space Opera fans spend their entire lives looking for. It's that good. Our main character, Honor Harrington takes command of her first cruiser (she had commanded a destroyer "off screen" previously) and is as excited as all get-out. Things, however, don't go as planned initially and well...

Life gets interesting, in the sense of the ancient Chinese curse. This is Honor Harrington though. She could lay down and die but she doesn't. Seriously, reading Honor was good prep for my eventual divorce because I could use those books to remind myself that no matter how much life sucks it's possible to keep on keeping on. This is just the first lesson but it's a good one.

As things start going wrong, we not only get to see how Honor reacts to it, but we get to see how her subordinates react as well. Making a crew run right isn't always easy and it's harder when things start to suck. Honor gets that, Weber gets that and On Basilisk Station centers around those conflicts. Don't get me wrong. There is violence galore and ugly doesn't begin to describe some of it, but at the end of the day this is a book about people. To me, that's what separates a great work from a merely good one.

Listen, Star Trek in all it's iterations (except possibly ST:DIS which I haven't watched because I don't have CBS All Access) contains a large amount of Social Justice, but it's not a Social Justice show. It's a show about people and the liberal parts of the agenda come through story and not sermonizing. The History Channel show Mail Call was awesome and it was, in theory about questions regarding the military but it was really about R. Lee Ermey (RIP Gunny) and the people he was working with. Yes, SF in particular and especially Space Opera features cool widgets and big ships and lots of traveling, but dammit it's the people who make it fun. Weber gets that.

And, of course, not everyone is a hero. I can think of one particular character in On Basilisk Station that I would dearly love to strangle. Believe me when I say that there is no more deserving person. Fortunately, he's fictional and so I won't end up in jail but that dude irritates me.

Of course a good story is more than just a conversation between two people and Weber gets that too. On Basilisk Station never stops moving. It starts with a promotion and a blow-up and finishes with a bang. There are no boring moments here. This thing never drags. It never lets up. It's freaking captivating. I sat down yesterday to read a couple chapters before I jumped in the shower and ended up reading over four hundred pages and finishing the book and oh, by the way, I knew how it ended. Thankfully, I'm a Lyft driver so I didn't get myself in trouble for starting late.

I have no complaints about On Basilisk Station. One that I have frequently heard, though, is that Honor is too good at too much, but I'm not sure that's the case. She's simply a quick-thinking woman who gets stuck in bad situations and has to find her way out somehow.What some see as competence, I see as refusal to fail. Feel free to disagree if you must, but I calls 'em as I sees 'em.

Bottom Line: 5.0 out of 5 Energy Lances (even though they're non-canon now)

On Basilisk Station
David Weber
Baen Books, 1992

On Basilisk Station is available for purchase at the following link:

Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International

I think we've all had the boss we didn't like and got sick of putting up with. Maybe we've even gotten a major ass-chewing that made us wonder if our boss was a werewolf. I don't know of a single person, myself included, that has ever thrown said boss out of a window in order to save our own lives. Well, unless you include Owen Zastava Pitt, protagonist of Larry Correia's Monster Hunter International. Owen is a bad man and a hardcore survivor. An encounter with a boss who tries to eat him is merely his introduction into a shadow world where monsters exist and so do the people who fight them.

I'll be honest here and admit that I've read this book many times and felt like writing about it. I've been a Correia fan since not long after Baen published this and have followed him ever since. If this review comes about a bit fanboyish, well, guilty. That much being said it was this book that my fandom of his work was based on and believe me, he's earned it. If I hadn't been hanging out on the Baen's Bar site and seen it talked about repeatedly I never would have picked it up. That's weird because once I got it I couldn't put it down. It's that good.

The world of MHI is well conceived and executed.  There are monsters. The government knows this. The government has both worked with and banned monster hunting in the past. At the moment, they've just eased off the ban and now Monster Hunters International (the corporation is recruiting) decides to sign on a big, smart, gun geek of an accountant. The story centers around Owen's recruitment, training and early missions.

Owen is discovering a whole new world around him, based in ours. This works well because we learn about Correia's world as Pitt does. There is no need for the vaunted info dump. Correia Heinleins his details in a manner that keeps us all interested and tells us what we need to know. This may honestly work better because Pitt is at the beginning of his career as a Hunter and leans heavily on those around him. He's smart enough to know that he needs help and as he gathers whatever information he can from whatever sources we're learning as well. This is something I struggle with in my own writing and I refer to this book occasionally to try and steal his techniques.

The amount of things that can go wrong on a monster hunting mission are apparently endless and the pace of this book is relentless. Whether it's personal problems between the Hunters, the pursuit of a beautiful woman or actual outright violence there is always something going on. There was no chance to get bored, no time when I suddenly remembered that I needed to get the laundry done. There may have been a time when I showed up late to my ex-wife's mother's house for dinner because I lost track of time reading but I refuse to confirm or deny those accusations. I enjoyed the pot roast that night though.

Correia is a Certified Firearms Instructor and his book reads that way. As a gun owner myself, although not an expert to the level he is, I want to slap some authors for the obvious mistakes they make with firearms. That is not a problem here. Correia knows his stuff and he very obviously enjoys sharing his wealth of knowledge. This is a good thing. I like reading about guns that work like guns actually work. If he jacks with his ammo a bit to make it kill monsters that's good. He mixes monster mythology with firearms reality really well.

Pitt's reactions in the book are pretty much what you would expect from a heterosexual male. I would know, I am one. This has bothered some people who were offended when he noticed how pretty a given character was and actually, GULP, thought about it. This may not be the book for people who are fill with liberal butthurt about men who like women. I will say this though: If this woman was half as hot as she sounds in the book I would have been thinking about it as well. Why? Because that's what straight males do. Julie, the extremely attractive female in question, is also an extremely good shot herself, partial owner of the company and one of it's leaders. She is by no means only her looks as some have alleged but, well, men are men and they notice these things. It makes sense and, given later developments, it needed to be there.

This is the first book in an ongoing series and it sets the scene well. We're introduced to the threat from the past, the threat from the deep past and a bunch of new ones to boot. I don't know how much time Correia spent planning out his entire series while or before writing this book but I'm guessing it was a bunch. There's too much in her that leads to well into what's coming for it to all be happenstance. He did it with malice aforethought and he did it well.

Correia's views of government are fairly apparent as well. The government Hunters, the Monster Control Bureau, are a bunch of overconfident, insufferable pricks out to keep everything under their own jurisdiction. They want to keep the private companies out of the way to do the job. They're well trained to fight human opponents but not to fight monsters. They have more resources and accomplish less with them. That sounds like government to me too. One solution fits all and we can handle everything with no innovation is the standard Washington response to everything.

I do have one complaint about this book: Correia is a big guy, a gun nut and a retired accountant. Pitt is a big guy, a gun nut an accountant and a Hunter. I hate to use the phrase Mary Sue, but uhh... well... umm... Pitt's an ENTERTAINING Mary Sue? Seriously the character is a lot of fun with plenty of complications and everything but yeah. It couldn't be any more obvious. Pitt even uses some techniques used by real life competition shooters. Correia has shot competitively. I struggle to find a different way to put that but there it is. That much being said, this book still kicks ass.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Silver Bullets

Monster Hunter International
Larry Correia
Baen, 2009.

Monster Hunter International  is available for purchase here: