This book is very honest about what it is, and I like it a lot for that. The only thing that surprised me is that the author actually took steps to make it not technically our "Wild West" with the supernatural thrown in. There was more world-building than I expected, handled in a way that makes it feel natural instead of forced that it is not the North America one might automatically expect. (In fact, I don't think I saw the phrase "North America" used anywhere?) The diversity is good, especially since historically so many westerns are all straight white men saving everyone else from themselves. In fact, the plot may be the exact opposite of that? The world is being saved from the choices of men, at any rate. (You can't possibly consider that a spoiler. It's a WESTERN.) Anyway, it's a good read, definitely recommend if you're on a western kick, like fantasy, and want some variety in your cast.

K.C. Grifant has a wild imagination when it comes to world building and action sequences. I enjoyed myself immensely whenever we got monsters and action. Thankfully there was plenty of that in the book.

However whenever the characters talked, thought or described pretty much anything I cringed. I grew up in Wyoming going to Rendezvous, cowboy action shooting and living in the country. In College I took several American West History courses. I feel qualified in saying Grifant’s characters are a portrayal of someone in a Western cartoon, or 1930’s radio drama.

Depending on what you’re looking for in a Western monster mash up this will either be amazing or annoying. For me it was like walking over a sand dune with shoes on.

Somehow I’ve never heard of the “weird west” subgenre and now it’s everywhere on my book social feed. So it goes. It’s not my usual niche, but Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger, by K.C. Grifant, looked interesting enough to branch out. I received a review copy via NetGalley.

The eponymous Melinda West is, as the title suggests, a monster gunslinger. That is, she is a gunslinger who kills monsters, not a monster who slings a gun. Her partner Lance is also her partner in life. The two of them have just about saved up enough to retire when something happens that forces them to take on one last job going up against an enemy craftier and more dangerous than they have ever dealt with. The stakes? Nothing short of the souls of Lance and Melinda and Lance’s friend.

Since this isn’t my usual haunt, it’s hard for me to compare this to other entries within the weird west. I’ve certainly read a few other entries in this, though none jumps out at me. Rather, I’ll just look at this through the lens of other paranormal fantasy stories. Let’s consider the world Grifant builds here, the characters we’re supposed to cheer for, and the success of the plot overall.

Melinda lives on a frontier known as the Edge, some kind of anomaly that spits out monsters. Most of the monsters are nuisances more than anything, yet some are very dangerous—that’s how she and Lance have made their money. Beyond this and some magic, however, the vibe is more western than fantasy, with frontier towns and gunslinger showdowns and train battles. Not my style, but probably great for other readers!

Melinda and Lance are pretty good main characters, although Lance doesn’t get much development in this book. Instead, Grifant focuses mostly on Melinda and her stubborn nature. This works really well as the moral centre of the book: at each turn, the antagonist offers Melinda a chance to surrender, and her refusal is what powers us into the next phase of the plot.

The plot overall is … fine. I really like Grifant’s writing style and how she balances exposition with suspense, slowly unspooling the mystery of the enemy behind everything. It kept me reading! However, I also wouldn’t describe the plot as all that complex.

Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger is perfectly fine fare. I already have the sequel, so I will read that soon, and it might make the series grow on me—that is often the case with these kinds of genre works. Even if it is doesn’t, I would still recommend this book to people who already like this genre.

DNF -yeah, I really couldn’t get into this story. I’ve read about 25%.. it should be exciting with the hunting, monsters but it just feels flat, like soda that lost it’s fizz. Even the characters don’t feel like anything special.
#MelindaWestMonsterGunslinger #NetGalley

Thank you to K. C. Grifant, Brigids Gate Press and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger in exchange for a review.

For fans of: Godkiller, The Witcher, Van Helsing, Red Dead Undead Nightmare, Wild Wild West, Firefly, Dark Tower Series, Supernatural (TV series)

The story opens with Melinda and Lance on the brink of retirement and you know when you're ten pages in and they're dreaming of a farm, they ain't retiring. It's by no means a story we haven't seen before; adventurers on the brink of retirement go on one last mission. It's the setting that makes it interesting. The title told me everything I needed to know about the book and I was glad to have my expectations met.

It's a short book which means the plot has to move quickly. Despite that you do get a good sense very early on of who these people were and the world they live in. There's some breadcrumbs of a backstory sprinkled throughout and you do get a full picture of Melinda and Lance by the end. There were some interesting side characters that I was sad to leave, but hope they appear in future novels.

Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger is an adventurous and pulpy fantasy western story. It's the first book in the series which shows a lot of promise and I'm really keen to read more about Melinda and Lance's adventures. Luckily we won't have to wait long for more monster gunslinger action! Melinda West and the Gremlin Queen will be out 29th May 2025. Review coming soon!

I give Melinda West: Monster Gunslinger 4 stars!

I LOVED THIS! I couldn’t stop reading!! What an action packed adventure full of killing and monster hunting!
A weird ass sci-fi western with enjoyable characters of all sorts.

The mutated monsters were creepy and a delightful twist on what we normally consider monsters. I would be terrified and grossed out by a life size scorpion or spider oozing toxic mucus 😂

The fight scenes are great too! Totally realistic and not trying too hard.

And what a cliff hanger

I came here for some pulp, and pulp was what I got for better or worse. Melinda West, occasionally and I assume purposefully, called Melinda Gunfighter in the text, is just that - Western style gunslinger who goes around shooting monsters. The setting is some sort of Wild West style prairie, but a discrete world with an edge that Melinda and her partner have happily been shooting monsters out of. But they want to retire, so cue the worst case of her life that will take her across the Edge Of The World and to the very edge of death as she fights and generally loses to monsters and demons. Its pacy, pulpy stuff but I never found the world-building all that convincing, and Melinda - beyond feeling bad about her partner and annoyed by the baddie - never really got together a proper personality for me. And because of that it was never the throwaway snack I thought it would be.

Loved the female characters. Wild West with a supernatural bent. I found the dialogue a little wooden and didn’t quite connect with the characters. Maybe more of a YA target audience. Thank you to the author. Thank you to # NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC.

This book had so much potential. The concept of gunslingers fighting monsters was really intriguing, but the execution didn’t quite live up to it. The lack of description made it hard to fully immerse myself in the world, and I struggled to connect with the characters since their relationships weren’t deeply developed. I would have loved more focus on the journey and character dynamics rather than just the conflict.

Review: This cover and story line is eerily simliar to V.S. McGrath's "The Devil's Revolver" series.

Where this novel and McGrath's series walks in tandem, is the fantasy western theme that deals in artifacts, monsters and powerful scorcerer types. It should also be noted that the MC's are almost identical in presentation (tough, tall, female, dead-eye shooters etc.). They both happen to be bound by magical artifacts as well.

While Hettie Alabama carries a possessed revolver that takes years off her life, Melinda West has been infected by a magical artifact and bitten by a dream bug. They are both following magic trails to save their respective family members and have hunky cowboys as their sidekicks. The world building is eerily similar as well.

This feels like a rip-off but the character development is divergent enough for a stand alone work.

On a side note, the Publishers Description says "When they accidentally release a demon, they must track a dangerous outlaw......." I must be missing something as there was nothing like that in the story line. A spider steals a family members soul, and they set about tracking it down to restore their Uncle/Friend. Yet "they" meaning Mellie and cowhunk, were not the instigators.

I received this ARC for an honest review.