Book Review: American Paladin by Larry Correia
If you’ve ever wondered what the TV show Supernatural would look like with Clint Eastwood as the main character, then Larry Correia’s American Paladin has your answer. This is an epic urban fantasy with the soul of a spaghetti western, blending hard-hitting action, myth, monsters and the dusty menace of the American frontier into one relentlessly entertaining ride.
The story follows Mike Spears, a drifter, vigilante and professional nightmare hunter who moves through the modern American West taking down evil one monstrous incursion at a time. He does not seek fame. He does not want attention. In fact, most people never even know he was there. The only clues he has passed through a place are a sudden drop in violent crime, a few dead things that should never have existed, and frightened locals whispering the name “Paladin”.
Spears is exactly the kind of lead character this sort of story needs. He is tough, dangerous, capable and burdened by the weight of what he knows. He walks through a world most people refuse to see, where ancient mythologies and hostile realities overlap with our own. Correia takes the familiar landscape of the American West and twists it into something darker and stranger, a place where supernatural forces move like storm fronts across the horizon. When those worlds collide, the results are brutal. Blood-soaked ground. Vanished neighbours. Towns gutted by horrors no one dares name. Authorities either cannot help or will not admit there is anything to help with.
To make Spears’ life even more difficult, a true crime podcaster is closing in on the truth. She is getting too close to him, too close to the hidden war he is fighting, and too close to the doors between worlds that should never be opened. In the process, she draws something demonic through from another reality: a kill team of techno-Aztec operators from a deeply twisted world. If Spears is right, they are only the first sign of something much worse. An apocalyptic invasion may be coming, one that could bathe the land in blood. But before that happens, it has to get past him.
This was a book I had been looking forward to for quite a while, especially after backing the Kickstarter and speaking with Larry last year at Writers Cantina, where he told a few of us about the story while he was still writing it. I had high hopes going in, and it absolutely did not disappoint. In fact, I would already put American Paladin down as one of my top reads of 2026 so far.
Larry Correia has been one of my favourite authors since I first read the award-winning Monster Hunter International. He has always had a real talent for writing high-action stories that are fast, fun and full of memorable characters, and American Paladin delivers exactly that. If you enjoy urban fantasy, westerns, monster hunting or just a damn good action story, this is well worth checking out.
