Top positive review
4.0 out of 5 starsCousin Oliver doesn't ruin Bloodlines
Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2021
Monster Hunter Bloodlines Review
I have only seen a few good reviews of Bloodlines yet other than the “Yea its great” Or “boo it sucks.”
So, here are some thoughts with paragraphs and stuff.
First this is the 8th book in the main Monster Hunter series and the 12th monster hunter book released with many short stories in other places. That is a lot of monster hunter material in a lot of different locations. In my option you can get by having only read through monster hunter books 1-6, but it would help if you had read at least the first Monster Hunter Memoir’s book so you know who Chad is and his relationship with the other characters. Better if you read all 3 but the first(Grunge) should be enough for you to know and hopefully like Chad because if you don’t like Chad you’re not going to like Sonya who is the most unlikable thing in this book.
Sonya, like all new characters that are introduced in the middle of a ongoing series starts out super competent and then becomes worthless until the plot demands she not be worthless anymore. I think it's ok for characters to make bad choices which she does a lot. But when a character starts out highly unlikable it’s hard to make up that difference in the course of a single book. Looking at Grant Jefferson his butt-headed nature in the Book 1 of the series still paints my view of him 8 books in.
The other big negative on Bloodlines is that it is by far the shortest book in the main series. The Monster Hunter books have been getting shorter with each installment. Compared to the first book in the series this book is about 55% of the length of Monster Hunter International. The thing that is disappointing about that is much of the action, while well written and staged, all goes on for around 100 pages fighting one monster to quote Owen “I’m not kidding.” That is almost 1/3 of the 324-page(Amazon says 336 that is wrong) length of the hard cover. The Derkavac which is a tough mofo, but his fight feels like it’s just dragging on by the end. And there are a few other major action set pieces. So, if you want lots of action this book has it but for my money I would like more of a quiet time in between getting to know the characters, its clearly a balance and Bloodlines feels off in the direction of action.
Despite the length of the book and the amount of time fighting the Drekavac the book is well set up, it has a strong internal logic and moves the overall story of the series forward. I think the last 1/6 of the Bloodlines is by far the strongest part of the book and by the end most of the sins are forgiven with the promise of what is to come.
Siege/Guardian felt like the end of the first part of the series and Bloodlines feels like the start of a new story arc. All returning characters are great. Mr. Correia seems to have found the line with Owen of not making him a jerk but still a loudmouth who has no respect for authority. Earl, Gutterres, Stricken, Franks and Coslow all carry their weight and continue to be great characters. Stricken is at his best in the series here in Bloodlines, he a evil joy to read.
Final rating 4 of 5 stars best Monster Hunter book in the series since Nemesis, I read most of the book in one sitting. It's a fun and fast read.
