Review: Monster Hunter Vendetta

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We like our books with thought put into them. Characters in shades of gray. Plots that are epic, yet deeply personal. We like novels where the author challenges our minds, and makes us ponder humanity.

And after we have read all that, we LOVE to read books that involve explosions. And zombies. And exploding zombies. And zombie elephants. Did we already mention explosions? How about heavy gunfire?

Thank you, Larry Correia, for giving us another novel full of exploding monsters, and incredibly detailed gun-play: MONSTER HUNTER VENDETTA (Amazon).

You readers DO remember Larry Correia, right? It would be in your best interests to nod your head in agreement regardless of your actual answer. Larry has lots of guns. And he knows how to use them all. Apart from that, he is a good friend of ours, and a terrific storyteller. His first published novel, MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL (EBR Review), was completely awesome. More importantly, it was FUN. Larry is the kind of writer that if his novel doesn’t make you smile with giddiness while reading, he isn’t satisfied with his work.

With Larry’s latest novel, MONSTER HUNTER VENDETTA (MHV), we are happy to report that it is indeed full of win. Now, no one will ever say that Larry has written the Great American Novel. Why the heck would he want to? Guns and monsters are WAAAAAAY more better. (Yes, that bad grammar was intentional. Deal with it.) What Larry provides is lots of action, lots of guns, lots of explosions, and lots of fantastic characters. And we get it all at a lightening pace.

In other words: WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

MHV is essentially the consequences of the events in MHI. You know, when our stud of a PoV, Owen Pitt, thwarted a Cthulhu-esque God. An evil death cult, known as the Church of the Temporary Mortal Condition, took exception to that whole thing, and they want the Old Ones to come back and take over. Owen seems like the ideal sacrifice.

Queue destruction and mayhem.

Look, we can go on about how fun MHV is for days. It really is completely awesome. But what people don’t seem to think of when you read a book “like this” is that there will actually be some great character development. MHV’s characters are much deeper than than they appear on the cliché surface. Really, seeing the growth these characters have forced upon them, and the heart-wrenching steps they willingly take is where the book’s true pillars are found. From Owen, to Julie, to Earl… they all are distinct characters. You readers may think that Larry Correia is just blowing $%^* up, but that’s just to hide that he is actually very, very good at crafting characters.

Are there flaws? Duh. But they are all so minor, that it would annoy us more to have to even write them down. Look, Larry cheats when he writes. He refers to it in the novel. If Larry isn’t cheating, he isn’t trying hard enough. If Larry wants something to happen, he will make it happen. If he is told, “Dude, you CAN’T put Deus Ex Machina into a novel!!” he will purposely put it into the novel just to spite you. Twice. And he will make it work. He is that awesome.

It still shocks us how BIG these novels are. MHV clocks in at over 600 pages of pure adrenaline. Instead of giving adrenaline injections to patients, doctors should just beat them with MHV. It would have the same effect, and is significantly cheaper.

MONSTER HUNTER VENDETTA, like MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL before it, is worth every monster-gore-soaked penny of its cover price. Larry has again brought extreme fun back to reading.

And if you don’t like MHV, Larry will just shoot you. So there.

What’s that you say? You want to know more about Larry Correia? Well, you are in luck. Tune in tomorrow for an interview with the author.