Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsAwesome! A Very Fun Read!
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2021
Finally! Monroe Doctrine Volume 3 is out! Firstly, I’m currently at the tail end of a ten month Deployment, and I intentionally scheduled my hurry up and wait pre-inspection of my room today. Knowing that “the man” is never on time when it’s on your time. So rather than sit on my butt and do nothing but wait. I pre-ordered MD III, knowing it would drop while I’m doing nothing.
So, the second I got the notice it was delivered to my kindle I dove right in! What I already like about this book is it jumped into action. We’ve gotten the high level political intrigue in the first two books, but this one takes us into the jungle and immediately “gets after it!” What I continue to love about this series is how it gets down in the dirt with the guys on the ground. As far as I know this is the first fiction series that actively uses MARSOC, I’m a former Marine and seeing MARSOC as a main character more so than SEALS (sorry frogmen) is awesome!
I don’t know if Rosone and Watson have a crystal ball but all too often there are eerie similarities to what’s going on in the world today and in their books. I’ve seen some comments/reviews of books one and two about the naval combat scenes not being “realistic”, I’ve been a huge fan of submarine fiction for a couple of decades and the best authors of that genre DiMercurio, Buff, Henrick et al will tell you. It’s fiction. Aaron Amick a cold war sonarman on the Los Angeles Class boats will tell you, nine out of ten times when a sub fires a torpedo, you are just dead and don’t know why. That doesn’t make for good fiction. So what Rosone and Watson do in volume 1 & 2with the Texas, Chinese Type 095s, German, Italian and Asian boats is just good fiction. They take us into those boats and make us feel the tension. Each time I got to a new chapter and it wasn't the Texas I had a brief mental tantrum.
MD III, picks up where MD II left off. I did have lots of questions, but I found that the book takes me where I really wanted to go. I mean the title is Monroe Doctrine, so what is going on in the rest of the world with the War against the CCP is tangentially important, the main action was intended to be in our back yard and I’m glad it largely stays there. I like that they take time to develop the plot and move it in a lot of different directions but keep it accessible. I was hoping to see some of my favorite characters from books 1 & 2, but a few I’d forgotten about made an appearance so that made it a good read. That just keeps me wanting more. This was a quick read for me waiting for my room inspector. I don’t want to give spoilers, but the Archangel scenes are pretty damn cool!
What I like most about this series and book III is the continued evolution of the authors as writers. I’ve been a fan of their work for a couple of years and have read all their previous work. This series is light years ahead of their “Red Storm” series. I read this book very quickly, but I found myself pausing to google the tech in the book as well as taking notes. I’ve got questions Mr. Rosone!! The last chapter was great, I read it twice because part of me doubted what I’d read, I had to make sure. I absolutely loved this book; it was not just good writing it was a lot of fun. A nice escape from the boredom of my base in Kuwait.
