Monster Hunter Guardian

Monster Hunter International, Book 7

By: Larry Correia, Sarah A. Hoyt

Narrated by: Brynne Blake

New entry in the best-selling Monster Hunter International series by Dragon Award-winning authors Larry Correia and Sarah A. Hoyt

When Owen Pitt and the rest of the Monster Hunter International crew are called away to mount a month’s-long rescue mission in a monster-infested nightmare dimension, Julie Shackleford - Owen’s wife and descendant of MHI founder Bubba Shackleford - is left behind. Her task: hold down the fort and take care of her new baby son Ray. Julie’s devoted to the little guy, but the slow pace of office work and maternity leave are starting to get to her. But when a routine field call brings her face-to-face with an unspeakable evil calling itself Brother Death, she’ll get more excitement than she ever hoped for.

Julie is the Guardian of a powerful ancient artifact known as the Kamaresh Yar, and Brother Death wants it. In the wrong hands, it could destroy reality as we know it. Julie would die before giving it up.

Then Ray goes missing, taken by Brother Death. The price for his safe return: the Kamaresh Yar. If Julie doesn’t hand over the artifact it means death - or worse - for baby Ray. With no other choice left to her, Julie agrees to Brother Death’s demands. But when you’re dealing with an ancient evil, the devil is in the details.

To reclaim her son, Julie Shackleford will have to fight her way through necromantic death cults, child-stealing monsters, and worse. And she’ll have to do it all before Brother Death can unleash the Kamaresh Yar.

It’s one woman against an army of monsters. But Julie Shackleford is no ordinary woman - she’s one tough mother!

©2019 Larry Correia & Sarah A. Hoyt (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Whaaa?

Good book, but the performer's pronunciations seem way off. And I dont think she really came off as I picture Julie. She was good as Mr. Trashbags, but Julie was too... wishy washy.

Unremarkable

Story wasn't bad, and there were some interesting ideas like the concept of an Evil Market, but the execution wasn't very enthralling. I understand that a mother is only going to obsess over her baby till she gets him back, but after the fourth or fifth reiteration of 'woe is me I want my baby' internal dialogue you start to get really tired of it. Would have done a lot better as a third-person perspective.

The reader also wasn't bad for most of the performance, but she hadn't done any research into previous performances so her pronunciation of a few names was off. Her evil voice wasn't very impressive and she struggled with the accents. Julie is supposed to be a Southern woman, but aside from one 'bless your heart' she sounded Midwestern generic.

The redeeming qualities of this story are its relative brevity, some pretty well done action scenes, and Mr. Trashbags. Seriously, everyone needs a pocket shaugguth. He's awesome. I hope we see more of him in the future.

This book is worth the credit. Just don't expect too much. It'll tide you over till Larry writes the next one.

Oh, and Larry, if you're reading this... how much longer before we see the spawn of Chad? I haven't been so interested in a potential character since Harry Dresden name-dropped Santa Claus.

enjoyable John wick type adventure

was a little reluctant when I first started and it took me a while to get used to the narrator, but as the story progressed it got better and better. I enjoyed the adventure overall.

Should have been a short story or a spin-off

If Larry Correia isn't writing anymore Monster Hunter International books, I'm probably going to give up the series. I don't care if other authors write within the world or write short stories using main characters, but the main series should only be written by the original author. This is completely a money grab with a story that is just interesting enough to keep reading.

I don't mind the narration so much because Bailey Carr has narrated stories in the universe before, but changing authors and the POV character 7 books into the series is just terrible.

Great entry in the series

Humor, suspense, horror, and a deeper delve into the world that Larry Correia has created. Loved the characters and the narrator, and now I'm sad because I'm going to have to wait for the next book.