Monster Hunter Guardian

Image of Monster Hunter Guardian (8)
Author(s): 
Release Date: 
August 5, 2019
Publisher/Imprint: 
Baen
Pages: 
352
Reviewed by: 

Once you open the cover, be prepared for an evening to disappear like a werewolf with a portal ring.”

Monster Hunters Unite!

The latest book by bestselling author Larry Correia is another collaborative work, this time with award-winning author Sarah Hoyt and is the first stand-alone story for Julie Shackleford, descendant of the founders of Monster Hunter International and wife of our usual hero Owen Zastava Pitt.

Set in the same time period as Correia’s last novel Monster Hunter Siege, this is a rollicking good time that begins with the very first page and doesn’t let up until the final scene.All of these books are like huge bags of caramel corn, you just dive in and before you know it, it’s the end and you want more.

Correia makes no grand claims of literary fame, noting from his very first book that his two favorite things in life are guns and B-grade monster movies, yet he has taken these passions and turned them into a publishing juggernaut gobbled up by legions of fans. He has built a world and backstory with both a sense of whimsy and some serious research into the surprisingly varied numbers of evil creatures that exist in myth and legend. Let’s face it, these books are engaging, fun, witty, and totally unserious, with just enough tension and plot twists to keep the reader surprised until the very end. They also contain a marvelous cast of characters, both humans and monsters, friendly and hostile, that make  you cheer for the heroes and wish doom upon the villains.

The plot in the book is marvelously done by Hoyt, weaving in clues and breadcrumbs to the climactic confrontation with the evil creature that steals Julie Shackleford’s toddler son. This is, of course, a big mistake, as she tracks him down with the tenacity of a bloodhound and the firepower of a Marine squad, using all of her instincts and training as a monster hunter and a mom to confront rogues and scoundrels while receiving some unexpected help along the way.

Readers of the series will be glad to see many familiar characters show up, but mostly this is Julie Shackleford’s book, and Hoyt leaves no doubt that this is a heroine who has dealt with nasty creatures her entire life and she is perfectly comfortable dealing with them as well as treacherous humans. The pages fly by until the conclusion which ties up several plots points, but leaves others open for the reader to ponder and no doubt sets up the next book in this bestselling series.

Just in time for that final summer read, this is another swashbuckling adventure into the world of monsters and creatures and the Hunters that keep us safe from them. Once you open the cover, be prepared for an evening to disappear like a werewolf with a portal ring.