The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Mother Cat Defends Kitten, Racks Up Impressive Body Count

Posted on | August 18, 2019 | 1 Comment

— by Wombat-socho

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy! *ahem* I can honestly say that I haven’t fallen in love with an MHI book so hard since Monster Hunter: Nemesis, and oddly enough, the two books have a fair amount in common. Neither has Owen Pitt as the protagonist, and in both of them, the protagonist is pretty much on their own, without the aid and assistance of their well-armed compatriots. Monster Hunter: Guardian is Julie Shackleford’s story, and happens simultaneously with Monster Hunter: Siege, so Owen and Earl and the rest of MHI (as well as pretty much every elite monster hunting company out there) are on Novaya Zemlya attacking the City of Monsters. So here Julie is, pushing papers, bored out of her mind, something comes up…and her entire world goes sideways. Aside from being a new mom, Julie’s the Guardian of a hideously powerful artifact, very badly wanted by some evil beings, bad enough to kidnap Julie’s baby Ray and make her an offer – hand over the artifact, and Ray gets returned safe and sound. Of course, nothing is ever that simple or easy, since evil beings are notorious for welshing on their promises, and Julie takes off for Europe in pursuit of Brother Death. But she’s not alone in the hunt. She’s got Mr. Trash Bags in her pocket and a very angry, very rich, and very vindictive dragon providing her with all the help money can buy. Unfortunately, she’s also got the European equivalents of the Monster Control Bureau on her ass, and the unwanted “help” of her mom, the master vampire. Orphaned necromancer Lucinda Hunt and some of her hapless minions also make an appearance. I’m very happy with this latest addition to the MHI series, and I think you will be too.

One of the Loyal Readers sent me an interesting collection by G. “Doc” Smith, Cats of War, which is an anthology of stories about warrior cats – in space, encountering humans for the first time; in history, retelling Spartacus’ rebellion; in alternate history, where Americats fighting the Ratzis recover a captured general from a brutal concentration camp; and in a fantasy tale where bagpipes are a literal weapon of war. They’re all well written, and I can honestly echo Artemus Ward here – if this is the sort of fiction you like, then these are the sorts of story you will like. Decently priced at $2.99 on Kindle.

I picked up the second volume of Tomohito Oda’s Komi Can’t Communicate this week, and the saga of her quest to make one hundred friends continues as we get to see some of her classmates…who are not exactly normal, to say the least. Oda does a great job keeping it light and humorous; in other hands, the plot might have gone sideways into horror very quickly, especially in the chapter where one of her (female) classmates develops an obsession with her and kidnaps her friend Tamano, who most people feel is far too normal and colorless to be the friend of someone so gorgeous and aloof. It’s significantly cheaper on Kindle, and I daresay aside from the beautiful cover illos you won’t be missing much since this is a plain black & white manga.

Loans of books, donations of books, or cash to buy books are all welcome.


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Category: Books

Comments

One Response to “Mother Cat Defends Kitten, Racks Up Impressive Body Count”

  1. I need to find less boring titles. – Dark Brightness
    August 19th, 2019 @ 3:17 am

    […] the meantime, there is a good review up for the latest Larry and Sarah Monster Hunters Book. On the to read list: I read instead the first Liberation Wars anthology from Kratman’s […]