Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge

By: John Ringo, Larry Correia

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 12 hrs and 21 mins

Publisher's Summary

Two multiple New York Times best-selling authors team up to expand Larry Correia's Monster Hunter universe!

When marine private Oliver Chadwick Gardenier is killed in the marine barrack bombing in Beirut, somebody who might be Saint Peter gives him a choice: Go to heaven, which, while nice, might be a little boring, or return to earth. The Boss has a mission for him, and he's to look for a sign. He's a marine: He'll choose the mission.

Unfortunately, the sign he's to look for is "57". Which, given the food services contract in Bethesda Hospital, creates some difficulty. Eventually it appears that God's will is for Chad to join a group called Monster Hunters International and protect people from things that go bump in the night. From there, things trend downhill.

Monster Hunter Memoirs is the (mostly) true story of the life and times of one of MHI's most effective - and flamboyant - hunters. Protips for up-and-coming hunters range from how to dress appropriately for jogging (low-profile body armor and multiple weapons) to how to develop contacts among the Japanese yakuza to why it's not a good idea to make billy goat jokes to trolls.

Grunge harkens back to the Golden Days of Monster Hunting, when Reagan was in office, Ray and Susan Shackleford were top hunters, and Seattle sushi was authentic.

©2016 Larry Correia and John Ringo (P)2016 Audible, Inc.

This Abomination Broke My Heart

What would have made Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge better?

If Larry Correia had written it on his own.

What do you think your next listen will be?

A re-listen of the previous MHI books so I can remember how good this series can be.

What does Oliver Wyman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Oliver Wyman is a wonderful performer and has always done an excellent job with the MHI books.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge?

Pretty much everything with and about Chad.

Any additional comments?

I am a huge fan of the MHI series but I was very disappointed with this book. One of my favorite things about Larry Correia's writing is his character development. The characters of MHI and The Grimnoir Chronicles are awesome and developed to the point where you feel like they're real people. The characters in this book were not. The main character is annoying most of the time and I wasn't able to get on his side. He spends a good portion of the book whining about his mother who is supposed to be someone you hate, but is so one dimensional I found myself rolling my eyes whenever she popped up. Larry Correia has always written amazing, strong female characters (even the villains) and I was disheartened to see that in this book all the other female characters are merely plot devices for the main character; someone for him to sleep with or think about sleeping with. Also, for this to be a MHI book, there is very little monster hunting taking place. The main character spends so much time talking about how great he is that he doesn't really have time to tell about the cases he has worked. With respect to both authors, I hope this partnership is short lived. I would love to see Mr. Correia write more MHI.

24 of 25 people found this review helpful

My first in the monster hunter series

This was not a very interesting book. The main character was very one demential and so full of himself, that it was a constant distraction from the book. The entire storyline of monster hunting sounded like it would be fun, and I will probably try a different one that Larry Correia wrote alone.

I think the reader did a good job on this book considering he was being paid to read such drivel. I hope to hear him again in another book soon.

55 of 59 people found this review helpful

Disappointed

I love the MHI series. This one, not so much. I really got tired of Chad's sexcapades. It would have been much better if the authors would have built the Lt. Shaw and Chad relationship. The book just kind of wandered. Not as good as the previous books.

19 of 20 people found this review helpful

Not good

I had to fight the urge to just stop listening to this book. At the time, I just didn't have anything else to listen to, so I kept going. My hope for some climatic pay-off died along with some 2-dimensional side character.

16 of 17 people found this review helpful

Oof!

Have you listened to any of Oliver Wyman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Wyman's narration is the only good thing about this abomination.

Any additional comments?

Loved the MHI books. The main character in this book is the whiniest, douchiest a-hole I've ever endured. It seems unlikely that the author was trying to write a character that would make me root for the monsters but if he was and I have completely misunderstood this book, bravo.

16 of 17 people found this review helpful

Good premise, but....

Lead character is neither likeable or relatable. So much repetitive posturing and preening. Larry Correia's books are generally fantastic, but this one missed the mark. Hell it missed the target completely.

14 of 15 people found this review helpful

wow, that was terrible....

(this review is from Jim McCann)
I've listened to a dozen+ Larry Correia books via audible... have loved most, essentially liked all enough to buy the next one.
Monster hunter is not my favorite of his series (well, it's my least favorite) in part because the narrator is not in the same class as the guys doing hard magic or any of his other books, and imo the stories are not in the same class.
But this book was truly not good, and is almost certainly the last MH book that I buy.
The worst part is the hero, a pale imitation of the most embarrassing d&d character (hey, I liked d&d!) created by your most socially awkward high school friend. You know, the character created via cheating on attribute rolls and very transparently based on Batman.
Yuck, that was a very, very bad audiobook....

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

Wow. Horrible.

I love the MHI books. This new character is absurdly a Mary Sue. In addition, the whole Japanese flavor is so stupid it hurts to hear. The stories are boring. Further when Chad testified before the Senate committee, I laughed at how poorly worded it was.

This character is just so two dimensional. I mean, after a couple years of working for MHI he is testifying on behalf of MHI to the Senate? He is pretty much acting like the leader of the whole shabang. Earl hopefully murders him.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

Not up to par

I have read all of the MHI books and loved them all! Unfortunately, this story was a disappointment. This first half was very entertaining...the second half was not.

13 of 14 people found this review helpful

not as good as the others

Toooooo much time spent on grandizing and talking about how spectacular the main character was/is...and too little time on Monster Hunting. As always, the narration was great, which was probably the only reason I made it to the end of the book.

12 of 13 people found this review helpful

great series

Very much enjoyed this (Grunge) and the second book (Sinners) which left quite a few questions unanswered, however, having just gone onto the writers blog I see that there will be a third and last book in the series which I hope will answer the queries in my other review. It seems the last book 'Saints' will be released in July 2018. :)

Love the narration by oliver wyman, really grabs your attention. There are some very funny one liners and laugh out loud moments in both books.

Overall, I have enjoyed the series of monster hunter books and hope they will continue

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

loved it

Well written and engaging story with plenty of detail even when you don't want it :-)

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Good story

Good story with some good laughs and some really interesting story telling well worth listening to

0 of 1 people found this review helpful