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David Hooper #2
Resistance
A dragon brings down the Vice President's plane, a monster army is camped outside Omaha, and an empath demon springs an undercover operation in New York.
New Orleans was just the beginning. New and different demons are breaking through all over America, and Dave Hooper has a new enemy with more guile and guts than the celebrity superhero, still stumbling in his role as Champion. While his agent fields offers for movies and merchandise, Dave is tasked with ending a siege in Omaha, saving his friends and deciphering the underrealms' plans to take over the earth.
As an ancient and legion evil threatens to destroy mankind, Dave has to decide what kind of man he wants to be and the nature of his role in this new world. He may not be the hero humanity deserves, but he's the only one we've got.
New Orleans was just the beginning. New and different demons are breaking through all over America, and Dave Hooper has a new enemy with more guile and guts than the celebrity superhero, still stumbling in his role as Champion. While his agent fields offers for movies and merchandise, Dave is tasked with ending a siege in Omaha, saving his friends and deciphering the underrealms' plans to take over the earth.
As an ancient and legion evil threatens to destroy mankind, Dave has to decide what kind of man he wants to be and the nature of his role in this new world. He may not be the hero humanity deserves, but he's the only one we've got.
336 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2015
71 people are currently reading
344 people want to read
About the author
John Birmingham
79 books1,175 followersJohn Birmingham grew up in Ipswich, Queensland and was educated at St Edmunds Christian Brother's College in Ipswich and the University of Queensland in Brisbane. His only stint of full time employment was as a researcher at the Defence Department. After this he returned to Queensland to study law but he did not complete his legal studies, choosing instead to pursue a career as a writer. He currently lives in Brisbane.
While a law student he was one of the last people arrested under the state's Anti Street March legislation. Birmingham was convicted of displaying a sheet of paper with the words 'Free Speech' written on it in very small type. The local newspaper carried a photograph of him being frogmarched off to a waiting police paddy wagon.
Birmingham has a degree in international relations.
While a law student he was one of the last people arrested under the state's Anti Street March legislation. Birmingham was convicted of displaying a sheet of paper with the words 'Free Speech' written on it in very small type. The local newspaper carried a photograph of him being frogmarched off to a waiting police paddy wagon.
Birmingham has a degree in international relations.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews
March 16, 2018
Well...the adventure goes on. Dave is still a jerk, I know he can't help it but there you are. He's a jerk and we might as well say so.
After becoming a hero (super-hero?) and a TV darling Dave really hates that he has to stop his partying and go back to fighting monsters.
Inconsiderate monsters.
But things are still changing and the monsters have their own agenda...I mean just because they're monsters doesn't mean they can't think, plan, have feelings...enjoy really disgusting foodstuffs. Let us not be monsterphobes...do they not have feelings...do they not bleed as we do...oh well no their blood is a bit different. But come to think of it they will eat each other as well as us.
Anyway the story is progressing, sort of. This might be called "Horor-Humor".
Enjoy.
After becoming a hero (super-hero?) and a TV darling Dave really hates that he has to stop his partying and go back to fighting monsters.
Inconsiderate monsters.
But things are still changing and the monsters have their own agenda...I mean just because they're monsters doesn't mean they can't think, plan, have feelings...enjoy really disgusting foodstuffs. Let us not be monsterphobes...do they not have feelings...do they not bleed as we do...oh well no their blood is a bit different. But come to think of it they will eat each other as well as us.
Anyway the story is progressing, sort of. This might be called "Horor-Humor".
Enjoy.
May 27, 2017
This actually sucked compared with book 1 which I loved the crassness of. It was taken too far in this book and it just became a bit OTT and ridiculous. I get that it's a book about monsters and it's gonna et a bit corny anyway but the whole worldwide fame in the grip of an assualt on humanity it ludicrous. I hate books with heaps of pop culture and celebrity references. For me it dates a book beyond all redemption and ruins the story.
I don't particularly want to read book 3 but I will eventually because I want to see what happens with the new Karen character and whether they ever get Emmeline back.
I don't particularly want to read book 3 but I will eventually because I want to see what happens with the new Karen character and whether they ever get Emmeline back.
June 1, 2015
First off, this was a disappointing DNF (30%) for me. I really thought I'd like this, especially based on the "Kevin Hearne/Jim Butcher" analogy hype, but it's not at all similar.
Second, don't take the 1-star rating as meaning it's bad. I'm sure for the right person it's actually quite clever and entertaining, but I didn't enjoy most of it (there were a few moments, and characters - Boylan springs to mind), nor did I find it funny.
In short, if you don't like what a friend calls "stoner films" - you know, like Bill & Ted, or those where much of the humor relies on crude language and sexual humor, and a 14-year old boy would find it great - you're not the target audience.
Disclaimers out of the way, I'll give you what review I can.
It starts like a regular spy thriller, though not with the civilised approach of classics from Fleming or le Carré, and quickly devolves. There are some clever moments, and I do like the more realistic touches of actual life with superpowers, but Dave definitely suffers from egomania. It got a little better once I got past the drunken fratboy scene near the beginning, and the political jockeying began, but then I realized most of the male characters seemed to be stuck at a mental age of about thirteen.
So it's not a *bad* book, it's just not the type of book I enjoy.
Final disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Second, don't take the 1-star rating as meaning it's bad. I'm sure for the right person it's actually quite clever and entertaining, but I didn't enjoy most of it (there were a few moments, and characters - Boylan springs to mind), nor did I find it funny.
In short, if you don't like what a friend calls "stoner films" - you know, like Bill & Ted, or those where much of the humor relies on crude language and sexual humor, and a 14-year old boy would find it great - you're not the target audience.
Disclaimers out of the way, I'll give you what review I can.
It starts like a regular spy thriller, though not with the civilised approach of classics from Fleming or le Carré, and quickly devolves. There are some clever moments, and I do like the more realistic touches of actual life with superpowers, but Dave definitely suffers from egomania. It got a little better once I got past the drunken fratboy scene near the beginning, and the political jockeying began, but then I realized most of the male characters seemed to be stuck at a mental age of about thirteen.
So it's not a *bad* book, it's just not the type of book I enjoy.
Final disclaimer: I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
August 28, 2025
Three stars again for book 2. It is just as bad as the first, but I can't stop reading. To the point I have started book 3. Dave has the personality of arse**le. He is completely misogynistic, but I find it funny. Clearly, I am not a normal woman, and I should be offended, but I'm not. I need to know what is going to happen with Dave and the Monsters. Again it is so bad, it is good. This author loves a filler. I think all 3 books could have been one book if their wasn't so much setting of the scene or so much talking of crap from Dave.
March 17, 2015
The second novel to feature rig engineer turned superhero monster slayer Dave Cooper, Resistance is another darkly funny, action packed fantasy adventure from Australian author John Birmingham.
Dave is enjoying his celebrity, in a typical Dave-like manner, after the defeat of the Hunn but the breach in New Orleans was just the start and now the Hunn are boiling up from the underworld realm all over the globe, eager to reclaim their dominion.
There is no getting away from the fact that Dave is a dick, and his basic nature is unchanged despite becoming a superhero. In Resistance he is confronted with his new responsibilities as the only man able to translate the intentions of the Hunn but he manages to alienate almost everyone when he makes the wrong choices.
Like Emergence, Resistance is a fast paced, entertaining read, hilarious, action - packed and unfailingly politically incorrect.
I'm looking forward to Dave's final adventure in Ascendance
March 26, 2015
Look, it was all right. I mean, I inhaled it, so it was clearly a book I could tolerate....
Shit, way to not damn with faint praise.
If you can read garbage like Jim Butcher or any of the urban fantasy books with edgy, tattooed women with mystical powers and an unlikely melee weapon on the cover, you will probably be into this. I'd like to think Birmingham is taking the piss a little out of those books.
What I really want is a sequel to Stalin's Hammer. Turns out I like genre books that suddenly become 70s era paranoid american spy thriller movies. Cf The Last Ringbearer.
But did you totally see how I ripped on an entire market of long running genre series like a snob while reviewing this kind of lightweight, tawdry trash. S'ok, Birmingham is not exactly about the litz, he'll forgive me and probably discard me from the 10,000.
Shit, way to not damn with faint praise.
If you can read garbage like Jim Butcher or any of the urban fantasy books with edgy, tattooed women with mystical powers and an unlikely melee weapon on the cover, you will probably be into this. I'd like to think Birmingham is taking the piss a little out of those books.
What I really want is a sequel to Stalin's Hammer. Turns out I like genre books that suddenly become 70s era paranoid american spy thriller movies. Cf The Last Ringbearer.
But did you totally see how I ripped on an entire market of long running genre series like a snob while reviewing this kind of lightweight, tawdry trash. S'ok, Birmingham is not exactly about the litz, he'll forgive me and probably discard me from the 10,000.
March 18, 2015
Not quite as good as Emergence, I felt too much time and effort went into describing Dave as a douche, hopefully this was to lower our expectations from him, so that in the next book he shine's like a hero.
March 7, 2018
Didn't finish, couldn't stand main character
May 10, 2015
Book one in this series was a solid 4 stars for me, but this one took a nose dive downward in the ratings. As long as there was enough good Dave and redeemable Dave in the pages I liked the character. This guy I didn't like at all. Dave has finished vanquishing the monsters who came Above in New Orleans through the broken capstone and has made his way to Las Vegas. If you continue reading past the behavior of this creep in that city, you will make it out into the desert outside Omaha where more monsters are in need of being destroyed. Along the way Dave adds to his entourage a personal attorney who, of course, only has Dave's interests at heart. By the time this book ends I have no idea where creepy Dave will be heading and I don't really care. Unfortunately, I've committed to reading the final book in the trilogy.
If you are offended by profanity and vulgarity, be warned this second book has even more of those than the first. I think the author was trying to win some prize for Most Usage of the F Word in a Book of Approximately 400 Pages. I think he won that accolade hands down.
I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley.
If you are offended by profanity and vulgarity, be warned this second book has even more of those than the first. I think the author was trying to win some prize for Most Usage of the F Word in a Book of Approximately 400 Pages. I think he won that accolade hands down.
I received an e-ARC of this novel through NetGalley.
January 3, 2017
These books aren't for everyone. Dave Hooper is not very likable. Think of him of as an ass-kicking anti-hero with immaturity issues. I wanted less Dave the jerk and more Dave the monster killer, but this is a good continuation of the series.
September 23, 2015
Apart from a total dickwad for a protagonist, this is a great read.
I loved to hate Dave, and the mythos Birmingham has created here is wonderful.
I loved to hate Dave, and the mythos Birmingham has created here is wonderful.
November 16, 2025
Half-way through - Dave gets superpowers but learns life-lessons very slowly. His magic makeover made him irresistible, but maybe not to readers. After all, we’ve had this same behaviour through one novel already by this point. Then add in the gore and body fluids and truly disgusting enemy. Very gross and teenage boy, but there’s nothing wrong with the world-building or writing. It may all boil down to whether you like anti-heros - I’m not that keen.
Further along - It seems the grossness level went up a notch in the second book for a while, but it may just be that I reached super-saturation. Hopefully our hero will evolve some and redeem himself? I have my doubts, but I don’t want to have to find another book, so I read on…
Ok, finished and the last part of this novel seemed better, although no redemption for Dave yet! Probably because it was the stuff that moves a story forward, rather than torturing us with how horrible Dave is (although there was a little of that). I do want to find out what happens but not sure I can do it… I’d rather get the next novel in The Cruel Stars Trilogy, which was great.
Further along - It seems the grossness level went up a notch in the second book for a while, but it may just be that I reached super-saturation. Hopefully our hero will evolve some and redeem himself? I have my doubts, but I don’t want to have to find another book, so I read on…
Ok, finished and the last part of this novel seemed better, although no redemption for Dave yet! Probably because it was the stuff that moves a story forward, rather than torturing us with how horrible Dave is (although there was a little of that). I do want to find out what happens but not sure I can do it… I’d rather get the next novel in The Cruel Stars Trilogy, which was great.
May 14, 2017
Volume 2 of 'Dave Hooper vs the Monsters' did what was advertised on the packet. A fun airport novel read, chosen because I wanted something quick and pretty think free to pass the time.
John Birmingham continues to troll right-wing gun nuts and nazis with his hero Dave Hooper. Dave is suitably politically incorrect, a dickhead and a misogynst plus nervouse about teh gays, but strangely, understands his faults. Sadly, the target demographing is unlikely to discern these subtlties.
Given that the actual threat of monster armies from other dimensions vs modern armies - even given their superhuman strength and ferocity - would end with mechanised warfare 1000, monster zero, Birmingham comes up with an intersting twist to move this enterprise into a third volume. Let us say that it is an inventive usage of the 'eat brains' trope.
And even the 'Chekov's Russian Agent', revealed in the prologue, and seemingly forgotten throughout the action, is duly reference in the climax and cliffhanger.
John Birmingham continues to troll right-wing gun nuts and nazis with his hero Dave Hooper. Dave is suitably politically incorrect, a dickhead and a misogynst plus nervouse about teh gays, but strangely, understands his faults. Sadly, the target demographing is unlikely to discern these subtlties.
Given that the actual threat of monster armies from other dimensions vs modern armies - even given their superhuman strength and ferocity - would end with mechanised warfare 1000, monster zero, Birmingham comes up with an intersting twist to move this enterprise into a third volume. Let us say that it is an inventive usage of the 'eat brains' trope.
And even the 'Chekov's Russian Agent', revealed in the prologue, and seemingly forgotten throughout the action, is duly reference in the climax and cliffhanger.
May 11, 2017
The world is still standing. Kind off from Dave's last adventure. The military around America is all hands on deck killing these monsters including the latest... wait for it... Dragons. Well they don't last long. There's the usual monsters and a creepy thing that kind of reminds me of a wraith bug. (See Stargate Atlantis). So creepy, that sucks out people's brains for intelligence and becomes a stoner like thinking. And with all this going on Dave is on a mission to track down a woman who is deadlier than he is... with the same superpowers to match... My moneys on the woman.
October 24, 2018
Superhero, Dave, really grated on me in this second book - misogynistic, patronising, impetuous, self-absorbed, disloyal, a total jerk. I thought he would continue to redeem himself like he did in the first book, instead he totally went backwards. Most of the book seemed to concentrate on Dave being a pig and doing dumb things, with very little action or plot movement. I can totally relate to the people who said they did not finish this book, there are no really likeable characters. I am now really unsure about reading the third book - things had better improve a lot.
March 15, 2017
I really need a different rating system. It's well written and paced so it gets 4 stars. I can see the appeal but it's just so blokey and Dave our anti-hero is such a wanker (which is the point and I get the irony) that it would not be a book I would read if left to my own devices. It's a compromise book for listening to in the car with my spouse on a long car trip. We listened to the first one together and we will listen to the last one together and I'm really glad this is only a trilogy.
July 12, 2018
Was looking forward to reading this one after the first one. Was a bit disappointed. Dave was really annoying although I realize he was supposed to be. Didn’t particularly pick up until close to the end when it took a bit of a different spin. Enough to make me want to read the third and last instalment. So not bad.
September 27, 2019
An excellent follow up to the first book and contains some good twists. While it's not the Empire Strikes Back emotionally it is fighting wise. Definitely hope the series finishes strong and maybe it will continue on like MHI.
June 25, 2020
Enjoying the perks afforded a champion monster-slayer in Las Vegas, Dave, after making a deal with the devil, must face off against an opponent unlike any he has ever faced--a ravishing Russian spy with a few superpowers of her own.
October 7, 2022
I have not enjoyed reading this book at all. I have no idea how Dave became what he as this is the first and last book that I will read by this author.
Not sure where the idea of dragons invading earth and eating people came from and I love mystery, but this is far too far off the planet....
Not sure where the idea of dragons invading earth and eating people came from and I love mystery, but this is far too far off the planet....
September 2, 2025
again I love this series Dave is a great anti hero. I love the addition of another person like Dave is a great idea. But I also love how different the horde have become a little funny in parts. but also some serious parts also
January 30, 2017
dnf. i love monster stories but i didn’t like the chars at all. i was hoping book 2 would be a better version of book 1, but it didn't happen.
March 4, 2017
Book one grabs youbhghe b
January 21, 2018
Dave is a hero now, to the whole world. So how do you act when you're a hero? Best go get yourself a good agent.
January 28, 2018
BRILLIANT!!!!
March 23, 2018
again pretty much what you'd expect but has some interesting concepts that are explored.
April 7, 2018
A monster killing romp, with government double dealing…as you would expect.
June 12, 2018
Dave does both better and worse in this one, but that's pretty much how Dave is.
Cliffhanger at the end, not cool John.
Cliffhanger at the end, not cool John.
October 12, 2018
These books are like doughnuts from a service station. Delicious in the moment but kinda vacuous and regrettable, yet I can’t stop myself.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 94 reviews