Review: Monster Hunter Bloodlines, by Larry Correia

The eighth installment in Larry Correia's [easyazon_link identifier="B09BRC4M48" locale="US" tag="upstreamreviews-20"]Monster Hunter International[/easyazon_link] series delivers on the expected, hits you with a few plot twists, and high-fives the fans several time along the way.

The story

When you get into book 8 of anything, it's hard to summarize it without recapping everything that came before, but I'm not going to do that. Basically there's a bunch of companies that hunt monsters and collect bounties from the government, and MHI is the focal company for this series. Our hero, Owen Pitt, is now a father, and he and his wife are juggling the monster-hunting duties with their role as parents.

The main part of this book focuses on a McGuffin designed hundreds of years ago by Isaac Newton. It's a powerful ward stone that can be used to slay giant cosmic gods, like the one Owen used in a previous volume. Several factions want to get their hands on it, and this leads to a dangerous game of hot potato, running afoul of competitors and big-bad villains alike.

The characters

You've got the core characters like Owen, a chosen champion of the gods in the Eternal War; his wife Julie, a Guardian with special powers of her own; Trip, the resident geek; Holly, a former stripper who's very adept at killing baddies; Milo, the mad genius inventor; and Earl, the boss who's secretly (sorta) a werewolf.

While we get some more screen time with guys like Gutierrez of the Vatican Guard, or Stricken who was formerly the head of Special Task Force Unicorn, nobody was more interesting than Sonia Gardenier. Fans of the series will recognize that surname from the Monster Hunter Memoirs trilogy co-written with John Ringo. Yes, she's Chad's daughter, and that's all I'm going to say. No spoilers.

The world

It's our world, but the hidden side of it. We've got a Monster Control Bureau in the government, basically a subdivision of the DHS, that keeps monsters a secret from the public. Since our protagonists spend their time in that hidden side of the world, they don't hang out too much in the spotlight, though there is a fun pursuit through DragonCon where Larry gives a wink and a nod to his readers.

The politics

To the extent that it comes up at all, the politics can pretty much be boiled down to Guns Good, Government Bad, Kill Monsters.

Content warning

Correia doesn't really write sex, but he does violence and profanity on the R-level. This one toes that line.

Who is it for?

Fans of action and urban fantasy who like a lot of details in their battles. My only complaint about these novels is by the time I'm done reading one, I've got action fatigue. Correia's very thorough with writing those scenes, but they're still entertaining.

Why read it?

If you're a fan of the series, you'll see some payoffs to things that have been set up a few books ago, especially with Chad's memoirs, which I really liked. It's just good plain fun and it's nice to know there's still a series out there with something to look forward to.