| Title | : | Monster Hunter International (Monster Hunter International, #1) |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0741444569 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780741444561 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 557 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2009 |
It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. On the other side are the people who kill monsters for a living. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit.
It’s actually a pretty sweet gig, except for one little problem. An ancient entity known as the Cursed One has returned to settle a centuries old vendetta. Should the Cursed One succeed, it means the end of the world, and MHI is the only thing standing in his way. With the clock ticking towards Armageddon, Owen finds himself trapped between legions of undead minions, belligerent federal agents, a cryptic ghost who has taken up residence inside his head, and the cursed family of the woman he loves.
Business is good... Welcome to Monster Hunter International.
Monster Hunter International (Monster Hunter International, #1) Reviews
-
Previously three stars *(1)
Turned out to be an engaging read, and I'll definitely check out the next book in the series. The first person point of view is told by an unusual hero; a large, "ugly," now scarred accountant who was raised in family that emphasized guns and survival skills. As such, his language is straightforward, but not so simplistic that I was bored. Flashes of humor and modern references kept the voice fresh, making me feel like although he took situations seriously, he also saw the humorous side. A Twilight reference made me laugh but may end up dating the book. It was also nice in the way his voice engaged me into Owen's point of view; the introduction to the world of monsters, the love of guns and his growing competency in fighting monsters.
The overall plot involves confronting one of the ultimate evils that abound, and while there isn't much mystery surrounding the final confrontation, there were a few twists along the way that had me surprised. Correia does a good job of making the ultimate evil frightening, especially when using Owen's psychic connection to give insight into C.O.'s megalomania. The secondary romantic plot was unsurprising in development or resolution. It was a little surprising to me to find it in such an action oriented book, but at least is remained secondary and didn't dominate Owen's thoughts or the storyline.
It felt a little Hollywoodish when Hard to top that for the final fight. Still overall-very fast paced read that I didn't want to put down.
(1) Stars removed on 05/14 due to author behavior regarding the Hugos, liberals and generally being a lackwit. His latest blog is ranting against the campaign to raise awareness about the abducted schoolgirls, as well as mocking the men involved in the anti-pedophile campaign. Plus there's the whole effort to destroy the Hugos by "getting underrepresented white minority conservative writers" 'represented.' (2).
Summary of Correia's early efforts to get himself nominated for a Hugo, and transformation into the Sad Puppies group:
http://www.jimchines.com/2015/06/pupp...
If you are an anonymous poster who joined goodreads this month (whatever month that may be), have no personal details, or no reviews on this site, you can take your opinions and put them in an appropriate place--your own review. In other words, move along. I will delete your nonsense.
BTW,
I also down-rated all his other books I read. For your trolling convenience:
#2:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
#3:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Hard Magic:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
(2) Update 10/19: My link to Correia's site was broken, so I took it down. I also checked back in to see if there's been any character development, as we like to say re books. No. Not in the least. Rating stands. -
At first glance (say at the title) anyone would probably take this book to be basically "brain candy". And they'd be right....but sometimes you find some really good brain candy. While this book is openly a little on the "hokey" side...it's an excellent read. I enjoyed this book immensely.
I was looking at the time for something light and had this book recommended to me by a stranger while browsing the shelves in Books-A-Million. (Okay, so I talk to people I meet in the fantasy isles in book stores....not smart I suppose as it could be the next big name serial killer...but so far they've been "nice" people. Of course, now that I think of it there's always some neighbor who says, "he was such a nice, quite type.....") Anyway I'm glad I took his advice.
I make it a habit not to ruin books for you by revealing too much about them "but" here you will follow the main character from his rather jarring introduction to the fact that "monsters" (lycanthropes, undead, gargoyles, and a lot of others.) really do exist (and the fact that the government goes to great, and even bloody lengths to keep that quiet) through his development into a professional "monster hunter" who takes part in a struggle to save our world. (It seems someone is always having to save the world doesn't it?)
A comparison? I'd say if you like the Jim Butcher Dresden books you will likely enjoy this novel... A modern urban fantasy drama with a strong streak of sardonic humor. It doesn't take itself too seriously yet maintains the sense of serious events. You know, heroes who can look death in the eye and crack a joke.
I originally gave this book 4 stars...in retrospect, I've decided to up it to 5 stars. This is an enjoyable, re-re-re-readable book. I looked forward to the sequel (which was good but not quite as good as this one) and also snapped up the third (which I think I may like even a little better than this one). These are good books and while there are others I like better...still with only 1 to 5 stars to use, I think I need to go with 5.
Highly recommended.
By the way allow me to digress here. I am somewhat astounded at the amount of literary snobbery I have run into here. I've read comments from those who say things such as they are embarrassed to admit they have read a given book or series, or plan to read said books. Why? Is it impossible to enjoy "brain candy" and still appreciate "deeper" (or what the literati perceive as deeper) fare? I love this book as I love the Dresden books and some other lighter reads and couldn't care less what others think of the fact that I enjoy them. I would say that if you are so concerned about what others think that you won't read the books you enjoy (or at least you won't "admit" to it) that in itself may be a deeper problem than choosing to read something for "fun". -
I picked this book up in Texas when one of the folks in the bookstore recommended it to me.
If I were forced to give you an elevator pitch, it would be something like this: "Imagine Dresden files if you removed all the magic and replaced it with guns...."
That's not a really accurate description, mind you. Elevator pitches never are. But there's an element of truth to it as well...
Looking online, I see that I'm not the only one to make this comparison. That irritates me a little, but at the same time, it means I might want to discuss the similarities and differences a little more, in order to prevent confusion and potential unhappiness.
Similarities: It's urban fantasy. (There are supernatural creatures in the world, and there are people trying to keep them under control, mostly by blowing them up.) Very good action scenes. A hint of mystery. Written in first person.
Differences: The Dresden files starts off small, with Harry trying to solve murders and occasionally fighting a monster or two. The series slowly builds over many books until Harry is dealing with huge world-shattering events.
Monster Hunter takes the more standard path. Many monsters, armies clash, and there's an Apocalypse averted at the beginning of the first book.
And there's nothing wrong with that. As I said, the action is good, the world is interesting. But if you pick this up looking for the slow burn of the Dresden files, you're going to be disappointed.
Another difference: these books tend to be a lot longer than the Dresden Files. I'm guessing maybe twice as long. So depending on your taste, there's either going to be more to sink your teeth into, or they might feel like a bit of a slog. (They didn't feel that way to me.) -
Larry Correia is a fat balding man with a shitty goatee. Why is this important? Because in Monster Hunter International Mr. Correia has based his hero, Owen Pitt Zavablahblah, on the interesting personage of Larry Correia. Let's examine the similarities. First off, our hero, Owen, begins the story as a seemingly mild mannered accountant. Now let's just flip to the about the author page at the back of the book.., oh look Mr. Correia is also an accountant, weird. Owen is also a gun nut and participated in shooting contests. Hmm, it says here Mr. Correia is a gun nut and shooting contest competitor. Owen is a dumb ass cracker who spews retarded right wing ideologies, and while it doesn't say as much in the abut the author paragraph we can surely deduce Mr. Correia shares this trait as well.
The book reads like a sixteen year old's wet daydream. The characters and premise are as thin as paper and equally as dynamic. The juvenile nature of the writing is embarrassing. Not saying I expected anything high prose from a book called Monster Hunter International, but I thought it could at least be fun. unfortunately the fun gets sucked out by the author's attempts to promote his stupid simplistic political ideologies. You would think the author would feel a little shame at asking us to partake in his corny fantasies of himself as a superhero monster killer.
Please be advised that this book is not for "yankees" either. Owen reacts to the first character we come across that isn't from the south with the line, "I wanted to beat him up and take his lunch money". He was also apparently upset that this character was well dressed and had his hair combed. What a meat dick.
If you are a dumbass cracker read this book. -
Actual rating: 3.784579612 stars. And a quarter.
The crap shall not be cut in this one.Sorry.Consider your little selves warned.
This book has a whole lot of stuff working against it:
① The author is widely referred to as a right-wing nut, lackwit, conservative asshat, misogynist and homophobe.
② Other reviewers mention that this is nothing but a pro-gun, anti-government and an
urban fantasy for the Tea-Party/NRA effort.
③ The main characters apparently suffer from Severe Gary Stu and Mary Sue Syndrome (SGSaMSS™).
Had I known all this, I probably wouldn't have bothered with the book. But I only heard of the author's antics when I was halfway through the book. And having a bloody shrimping good time. Which doesn't happen every day in my line of work (I'm a DNF Graveyard caretaker). So you know what I did? I said to my little self, "fish this shit, I'm enjoying the fish out of this book and don't want to know what a fishing fish the author supposedly is." And I kept on reading. According to some, this means I am naught but a
dumbass cracker. Oh, well. My murderous children have called me worst names, so I guess I'll survive. Besides, I have pincers and an exoskeleton, which makes me a super special kind of dumbass cracker and stuff, so I can't complain.
Now about the pro-gun, anti-government thing. Yes, there are guns in this book. LOTS of gun. Guns aplenty. Guns galore. And also copious amounts of guns. So bloody shrimping what? There is a luxuriant overabundance of deathly guns and deadly weapons and lethal ammo of all sorts in the action/adventure genre, and it never seems to be a problem. I mean, I never heard anyone complain about the
Ice Station arsenal. And believe me, there was enough hardware in that book to nuke my subaquatic kingdom twice over. At least. So what's the deal here? Because this is UF, the characters are only supposed to agitate magic wands at the enemy or something? Oh I'm sure my boyfriend
Sandman Slim would LOVE that . Then there's the anti-government thing. This is most outrageous, really. I mean, the government agents in this book are scumbags! Total shock! Utter dismay! Complete consternation! Such anarchist thoughts should be outlawed and their vile propagators slightly slaughtered! I mean, it's not like this has been one of the most overused tropes in books and films and series and stuff fordecadescenturies or anything!
What else? Oh yes, the SGSaMSS™. Sorry, what? You can't remember what this stands for? Sigh. It's Severe Gary Stu and Mary Sue Syndrome! You gotta try and keep up, my Little Barnacles! I have enough problems with my grey cells as it is, I really can't afford to use them as backup for yours and stuff! But I ever so slightly digress. So. Some People of the Erroneously Wrong Opinion (PotEWO™) seem to think the MCs are ridiculously and most exasperatingly perfect. Hahahaha. Seems to me the PotEWO™ haven't read as much UF crap as I have. Nothing like an ever-multiplying herd of flawless twenty-something nitwits to broaden your horizons and stuff. Besides, it's not his fault if Owen (the resident Gary Stu) is a gloriously multitasking, ugly accountant who happens to be super gifted at killing things dead. Besides, besides, I'm pretty sure ugly accountants can't be Gary Stus. I mean, no offense to my ugly accounting decapods, but I personally like my Gary Stus super hot and full of doe and with an awesome job like, I don't know, family fortune management or something.
As for our Mary Sue heroine (real name Julie), she has the audacity to be kickass and clever! She wears glasses, too! The nerve! And she dares renovate her family home all by her little self, no manly man needed thank you very much! Pretty sure no real, less thanaverageMary Sue woman could do that. It obviously takes a fictionally perfect character to know the difference between a hammer and a battery powered hand drill. It is, after all, a truth universally acknowledged that women can't DIY for shit. Because, they are, you know, women and stuff. And quite logically, you know, completely useless and stuff. Ergo, Julie is way too accomplished and therefore a Mary Sue. QED and stuff.
Now that I have quite brilliantly demonstrated why ① ② and ③ had no bloody shrimping effect on my reading experience, let's talk about how boisterously fun and merrily entertaining this book is. Wait, first I have to admit something most unwillingly: some parts of the book are painfully loooooooong. I mean, the fights and battles are super cool and stuff but they are also painstakingly and vigorously detailed. Had I been reading the ebook I would have probably done the Skim Skim Skim Like a Maniac Dance (SSSLaMD™) but I listened to the audiobook so I just set the reading speed to 1.25x and tada, muahahaha and stuff. Oh, and by the way, the weapons and ammo descriptions are pretty deadly, too, but there's a big bad gun (yes, that is obviously the technical term for it) called "Abomination" so that's pretty cool and no that doesn't have anything to do with anything but I just thought I'd bring it up you're welcome and this sentence is over and you can resume breathing now.
No problem. My pleasure and stuff. I'd no idea bananas looked so good on barnacles, by the way.
So. Where were we? Oh yes, the boisterously fun and merrily entertaining stuff. Also known as the Stuff I Should Have Mentioned at the Very Top of My Review but I Would Have Hated to Put You Out of Your Misery So Soon So I Didn't You're Welcome (SISHMatVToMRbIWHHtPYOoYMSSSIDYW™). So. So. So. And so. This book. There's tons of kickass action and excitement and lots of stuff going on and, you know, stuff. And most villainous villains. And surprises aplenty. Also, blood and gore (aka Yum and Yay). And cool spoiler spoiler spoiler stuff. There's a whole bunch of diversely colorful and colorfully diverse secondary characters, too. And stupendously stupendous monsters. Practical training partly consists in beheading corpses (pretty sure
Lady would approve). Some people commit suicide by accountant *shudders* There are malevolent conquistadors. And tentacles. Also, hahahahaha. And the mostest gloriousest elf queen ever is in residence. She is wonderfully grumpy, a Wheel of Fortune addict on disability, has 5+ chins, and wears bunny slippers. I am in lurve. Anything else? Sure. Orcs are heavy metal fans and dance pogo during family reunions. Ha. Also, Friendly Fernando. And ancient triangular 🦐 crustaceans 🦐 Nuff said and stuff.
➽ And the moral of this Yes the Author Might Be a Scumbag According to Some but I Bloody Shrimping Enjoyed this Book Anyway So Judge Me All You Want I Don't Give a Stinking Fish and Stuff Crappy Non Review (YtAMBaSAtSbIBSEtBASJMAYWIDGaSFaSCNR™) is: NO this story ain't no Nobel Prize material but YES it is pure, undiluted, mindless fun that—quite miraculously—didn't end up in the DNF Graveyard which quite obviously makes me want to dance the night away so please bear with me for a minute or ten or twenty. Thank thee kindly.
My outfit is pretty hot, huh?
· Book 2:
Monster Hunter Vendetta ★★★★
· Book 3:
Monster Hunter Alpha ★★★
· Book 3.5 (short story):
A Halloween Public Service Announcement from MHI ★★★★
· Book 4:
Monster Hunter Legion ★★★★
• Book 4.5 (short story):
Tanya: Princess of the Elves ★★★★
• Book 5:
Monster Hunter Nemesis ★★★★
• Book 6:
Monster Hunter Siege ★★★
• Book 7:
Monster Hunter Guardian ★
[Pre-review nonsense]
Sometimes all a girl needs in life is a whole lot of no-nonsense action-packed action. And a whole bunch of monstrous monsters. And villainous villains. And a somewhat awesome clique shooting and hacking at things.
Yes, this is me before I became nefarious and started breeding murderous crustaceans. I didn't have pincers back then (in case you hadn't noticed).
➽ Full Well this Was Slightly Entertaining and not Completely not Enjoyable and I Might Even Maybe Perhaps Possibly Consider Continuing with the Series Crappy Non Review (WtWSEanCnEaIMEPPCCwtSCNR™) to come. -
I'll say first as a disclaimer that I am Libertarian, pro-gun, and anti-big government. I'll say second that if there's one thing I do not want in my fantasy literature, it is a pro-gun, anti-big government agenda. I read books to get away from the depressing realities of life, not to wallow in them, and this book is one big, smelly wallow.
On the face of it, it's about a man who is 200 lbs. of pure muscle, a genius, an accomplished martial artist, a competent amateur gunsmith, one of the best sharpshooters in the country (with any type of gun you care to name), and who managed to get a Master's Degree in accounting or something in just four years of college after winning one too many fights in an underground fighting ring.
You know, I was going to go further into it, but that pretty much sums it up right there. If that sounds fun to you, you might actually like this book. The characters are all pretty shallow, the narrative is constantly throwing government incompetence and pages-upon-pages of gun rhapsodizing in your face, and the action scenes are punctuated with some of the most cringe-worthy one-liners I've ever been subjected to.
Basically, this book is what would happen if Jim Butcher became a conservative survivalist and decided everybody needed to know it through his fiction. -
OK, this book was such a beautiful mayhem : such a fun read , i mean guns and monsters and more guns! whats not to like ? right ?
I dove in expecting the usual slow burn of urban fantasy but this book started with a high note and ended with a big bang, man : I enjoyed every word of it .
You have to be a certified gun nut to fully appreciate the full spectrum of the firearms mentioned in this novel ... Anyway it was very cool for a first book ,i will definitely read the next one : cheers. -
4.5 stars. The description on the back of the book is a very good compass for gauging whether you will like this book. If you like LOTS and LOTS of monsters and other supernatural creatures and LOTS AND LOTS of guns combined with a tone that is very similar to the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher then I think it is fair to say YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK. A super secret "private" agency that hunts down and kills monsters (for rich bounties paid by the government)...what's not to love. Just about every monster you can imagine (and some you can't) makes an appearance in this book including (1) the standard B-MOVIE MONSTERS like vampires, wights, ghouls, ghosts, zombies, werewolves, loupgarous (super werewolves); (2) MYTHICAL CREATURES like elves (very creatively shown), pixies, orcs and wargs (yes, think LOTR), the Wendigo and gargoyles; (3) LOVECRAFTIAN MONSTERS (i.e. the Old Ones and eldritch creatures) and (4) MONSTERS I HAVE NEVER HEARD OF like Luskas, skunk apes, swamp sasquatch, giant shrieking lizards, Humboldt Folks, Aswangs and Lindworms.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!! -
WOW!! What a thrilling ride into the urban fantasy realm!!
What would be the worst thing that could happen to you if you threw your boss out a window from the 14th floor of your office building?! Probably lots of prison time in the real world, but in the fantasy world you would get recruited by Monster Hunter International if you found out your boss just happened to be a werewolf!
Our hero of the story, Owen Zastava Pitt, freaked right out of his mind when he saw his boss transform right before his eyes into a furry, fanged, growling werewolf that was looking at him hungrily from across the room. One minute, Owen is talking to his boss and the next minute, Owen is in the fight of his life with the fanged monster.
Owen does get banged up quite a bit (who wouldn't after tangling with a werewolf) and lands in the hospital with injuries galore. When Owen wakes up he not only has the FBI trying to find out what happened, he also has a corporation wanting to give him a job offer to come work for them at Monster Hunter International . Owen finds out that werewolves are not the only creatures that exist as there are plenty of monsters that are roaming around, including vicious blood sucking master vampires, including a vampire called "The Cursed One".
Owen along with other recruits have to endure all kinds of training to become a professional monster hunter and from this point on in the story, the book literally escalates into high geared action continuing through the whole book to the end.
There are all kinds of weapons and guns imaginable between the pages of this book with the author going into extensive detail describing each weapon as it is being used by the hunters. The action is continuous from one chapter to the next and the monsters within these pages do not stop causing havoc for the hunters.
Non stop action, smoking hot weapons, snapping and snarling monsters, hunters fighting for their lives, this book packs a wallop of edge of your seat, nail biting tension from the beginning of the book to the end! Also there are more books to read in this series which I will be reading in the future.
New author for me and new series to explore means non-stop action for me all the way to the end of the series. This book definitely deserves five stars! -
Amazing! ALL the monsters! ALL The action! ALL the fun! Loved the main character Owen and all the supporting cast. Terrific read. One star docked because it was also sooo long. ALL the words!
Recommended if you like excitement! -
Read this book years ago.
Really liked it. Lots of fun and stars. I became a fan. So did my husband. Between the two of us, we gave Mr. Correia lots of our hard earned money.
Then the author decided he wasn't content writing books - he has to spew his political commentary across the genre and destroy the Hugos.
And his "fans" have been attacking a respected friend recently.
So, no more buying books by this author.
I can no longer enjoy his work. His words and actions and the actions of his so called fans have tainted everything he has created and left only destruction in their wake.
I'm saddened but it is life. -
I wrote a review shortly after this book was available on Amazon. However that review disappeared from Goodreads.
This a great book full of action, humor and wry observations of life. I didn't think that Owen's reaction to meeting a werewolf was quite right. A normal person would experience far more surprise and shock. Mr. Correia knows that too. Owen is not a normal person. Which is good or this would be either a very short book or in need of a new main character. Who wants to read a book about normal people? Normal people would not hunt things that go bump in the night...and kill them. Now that makes an interesting book. -
"We're walking in the valley of the shadow of death, but we shall fear no evil! Because evil is about to get a stake put through its black heart because we are the baddest mother-fuckers to ever set foot in the valley!"
Ooooooh, yeah!!!!
What a unique, crazy, exciting world Larry Correia has created! Monster Hunter International, the first book in his Monster Hunters International series is fast paced, funny and, at times, poignant. Vampires, shifters, ghouls, demons, ghosts, gargoyles... this book has it all, and then some. A mix of paranormal, fantasy, and suspense, with a smidgen of romance - there's never a dull moment!
I am so looking forward to the next in the series, Monster Hunter Vendetta.
Thank you, Bean, for turning me on to this author and this series. What a wild ride it is!!! **hugs** -
Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia and narrated by Oliver Wyman is a great book in the series. Plenty of action, adventure, interesting characters, monster fighting, monsters on the team to battle evil, humor, a small touch of romance, and a great plot that kept things crazy fun! I really enjoyed the various creatures and characters!!
The narration was spot on with emotions and the variety of voices! Great job! -
My #4 favorite read of 2013
Yes! Yes!! Yes!!! 5 Stars
Wowza! Hang on to your pants and shield your eyes because monster gore is flying everywhere! If you would rather hug your vampires or believe your ghouls are just misunderstood, this is not the book for you. Changes are, the you will be splattered with ichor while MHI blows the head off the monster you are attempting to reason with. While there are a few minor things I didn't like about the book, I was engaged overall and have enjoyed the experience more than most books this year. This is not your average Urban Fantasy. Monster Hunter International is not a group of Wizards pitting their power against the power of evil. Instead, MHI is a group of mercenaries killing monsters for money. There is no magic involved, just good old fashioned "shoot first, ask questions later". If you ever wondered how many rounds it would take to kill a master vampire, look no further.
Plot summary
After learning his boss is a werewolf and subsequently throwing his werewolf boss out of a 10th story window, our MC Owen Z. Pitt, is recruited by MHI. We learn what it takes to become a monster hunter, the training and the absurd number of guns available to one. Over the course of his training, we learn of a great and ancient evil ready to take over earth for another dimension(sure, this is hardly a new concept but how many ancient evils are ten thousand foot crustaceans?) Owen learn he has an inside track into the mind of the "cursed one", an evil being who is the catalyst for the ancient evil. In between, scores of zombies and vampires and a few other monsters are sliced, diced, impaled, beheaded, vaporized, burned, bullet-riddled, crushed, exploded, flayed and at least one was run over by a car.
The Good
Explosions and monster gore. This is largely the plot and the draw of the book. If you have ever wanted to explore the many ways to effectively kill the undead, you really should read this book. There is non-stop action. The opening chapter feature a rather exciting man vs. werewolf battle. After page 1, the stakes are continually raised, the monsters get bigger and the guns and explosion even bigger.
I found it enjoyable to read an urban fantasy that was not dependent on magic. There is little discussion about the origin of monsters other than to say some are caused by virus contracted by bites. I would categorize this more of a monster western. Our cowboys are MHI in the grand American tradition of "Guns are our birthright, so lets shoot some d@mn monsters!" (There may be no such American tradition, but hey, I'm Canadian and we love to make stuff up about you Americans :)
The book is filled with vibrant and interesting characters. We learn at least a portion of most of the backstories and the characters are more than one-dimensional.
Overall, the book grabs you by the gonads, tosses you into the action and doesn't let you go until the last page. ( That does sound rather uncomfortable, but trust me, its more enjoyable than it sounds)
The Bad
There were a few things that bothered me. I do not know why the author could not use the occasional contraction for I did not enjoy the pervasive use of formal English. Seriously Larry, use a contraction. Here are few to choose from, "don't", "didn't", "can't", "won't". These were gun toting, monster hating rough and tumble good guys. The occasional contraction give a feeling of realism in the conversation and the writing. This may not have bothered me as much if I hadn't (see what I did there) been listening to the audio book. I heard "cannot", "did not" and "do not" so often that it began to grate on me.
In all first books, there is a large world to build and backstories to be told. The author occasionally fell into the trap of telling and not showing. There were a few instances where the info dumping was simply told to the reader and took away from the story.
Regardless, I enjoyed listening to the book so much, I had to give it five stars regardless of these minor issues.
Audiobook Notes
A+ narration. There was a wide variety of voice and wide variety of yells and screams. The narrator did a commendable job doing both men and woman voices. There was nothing to complain about as this is one of the best audiobooks to which I have listened.
Content Advisories
It is difficult to find commentary on the sex/violence/language content of book if you are interested. I make an effort to give you the information so you can make an informed decision before reading. *Disclaimer* I do not take note or count the occurrences of adult language as I read. I am simply giving approximations.
Scale 1 - Lowest 5 - Highest
Sex - 2
The sexual content was minor in nature. There was a love story that played a minor role in the book. This resulted in a few kisses and longing looks. There was one scene that was a precursor to sex scene but the act was "interrupted". Lets just say, there were guns involved. There was no sexual content that would make your grandmother cover your ears or eyes.
Language - 4
I have to say that it might be possible this rating should be higher. There was a significant amount of adult language in the book. It ran the gambit from the mundane to the highly creative. The majority of the adult language occurred during intense battle scene and during monster attacks. Admittedly, when I am engaged in the action, I am less prone to notice the adult language. Regardless, there is significant use throughout the book.
Violence - 5
Uhh.... Yes....there is bit of violence.... It might be easier to say what scenes did not include violence. The book is all about killing monsters and kill them in a variety of creative ways. There is monster blood and gore flying left and right and occasionally human gore. At times the descriptions are graphic but rarely fall into what I would consider to be "horror" or gore with the intent to disturb. This gets a 5 because of the pervasive violence. If you do not like guns and violence, steer clear of this book. This rivals a Matthew Reilly on body account in AA type novels. -
DNF'ing at 45% which is painful and disappointing.
Not rating this on policy. (I.e. I don't rate DNF's unless the issue is really bad...).
The first 40% of this book was engaging, amusing, and had real laugh out loud moments. However, it's becoming repetitive. I'm losing interest and really starting to not care what happens next. The action is too relentless, and it's the same issue that got me with Matthew Reilly, and Michael Anderle's books. Actions great, but it needs to be contexted within a character driven framework to win my attention.
Without characters to care about there is no reason to read. I'm left with the suspicion that I'm watching someone play with their action figures, and that these characters have as much emotional depth as little bits of molded plastic.
BOOM!: Edit 05 May 2020! It only took me 6 months to comprehend the problem. I now know precisely why this dies for me, and why it dies where it does.
It's the Villains!
The MC is fleshed out, and quite a reasonable and relatable MC, with an amusing and entertaining tone as narrator. However, the villains are card-board cutouts with targets on the front. As interchangeable as the paper targets on a shooting range.
This story died for me during an attack of giant stone gargoyles. They were all the same, all completely impersonal. Indistinguishable from a natural disaster. They seemed to be little more than an assassination attempt on the MC and his friends with not much else going on.
The Gargoyle encounter was preceded by a flashback for the 'big bad,' who is dressed up as cruel, callous, power-hungry, evil guy - and nothing much else...
There's no visible nuance in the bad guys.
If the bad guys 'don't matter,' defeating them is no more personal than putting out a house fire. A good thing to do, but - it's an impersonal threat.
For me - it's a deal breaker.
I'm really glad I read this book because it taught me something really important about how I see villains.
End Edit
Just not for me (unhappily, because the first third was excellent). -
As a Jim Butcher fan, I have seen Larry Correia's name crop up a number of times as a recommendation. Hard core urban fantasy with lots of blood and guts and gore. Sounds good, right?
Much more gory than Jim Butcher, I must say. Possibly even more gory than Ilona Andrews.
But it was really fun. Another first person POV but at least the protag isn't a paranormal PI. He starts the book as an accountant. Then he becomes a mercenary who also happens to be a hero.
The author is clearly a gun-nut and he has a little something to say about every model of gun or ordnance he references but that's part of the fun. Did I always know what he was talking about in regard to weapons? No. But I don't always know what the doctors are talking about in the books I read, either. I just enjoy the rhythm of the expertise. ;)
Owen Z Pitt is a guy who was pretty much meant to be so much more than he's chosen to be at the beginning. He's huge, at least 6'4" and 300 pounds. He's a pencil-pushing accountant who knows his guns and knows how to fight hand-to-hand, which really helps when his boss shape-shifts into a werewolf right in front of him. This incident brings him to the attention of Monster Hunter International and his destiny.
This is a long book -- more than 700 pages -- and it's not available in e-book. But it's also published by Baen so you're not contributing to any agency shenanigans when you buy. (ETA: It actually is available in e-book but only from the Baen website)(ETA2: it is now available through Amazon as well, but I think Baen sells it without DRM ... or something.)
I've already ordered the second book in the series (there are three so far) and I'm looking forward to getting to it. If you like politically incorrect urban fantasy with lots of action (there were at least 3 scenes that were worthy of being the climactic action sequence in another book), some decent laughs, and a tiny bit of romance, this book might just be for you. -
P.S. Outspoken view ahead 😱😛
This was the absolute BOMB - like literally!! MHI is a total kickarse, slice and dice, mow them down with everything in the arsenal, visceral, kill fest of all things bad and creepy crawly. The novel starts out with the most exciting, action driven and yet hilariously funny introduction to our main character. A hulk of a man with the worst father/son relationship EVER, but one that ultimately gave him the skills to be invited to join the infamous Monster Hunters International. And I mean seriously, who hasn't thought of throwing their boss out the window ..... from the 14th floor?!? 😂😂😂
With a cast of characters featuring the mercenary, the weird and the plain dorky (yep - that's our main character for you!) and a host of nasties to dispatch posthaste this is one action filled extravaganza that leaves you totally spent by the end.
And now the bad bit ...... cause this novel would seriously be a 5 if it wasn't for the following reason. I know it might start a shitstorm for some of those from the U.S. and I'll say now I'm not entering into any arguments, so the haters can go and hate somewhere else.
I realise the author is a complete gun NUTjob (and leaves me questioning his mental health given some interviews I've read) but coming from a country that is not gun infatuated and does have some control measures, I found the wanton worship and ensuing flagellation in relation to guns with a capital G REALLY off putting. I'm all for a bit of blow the baddies away in my books and movies but I stop short at wanting to hear the drooling and fervent masturbation every time the author gives technical details and specifications for the armoury used!! Gun porn is not my thing and personally I think it detracted from the smooth flow of the story. -
Actual rating: 3.5 stars.
This book won me over from the very first sentence. As a result my initial rating was higher but after having some time to think things over I lowered it. You see, there were a lot of things that bothered me about Z and his attitude towards life in general but they were swept away by the constant action and violence. Because of the way things are in my life right now the excessive violence and killings provide a much needed way to vent my frustration.
Z's right wing attitude and obsession with firearms makes him a difficult character to relate to. The rest of the cast has similar problems but overall they're a cute bunch and it's fun to spend time with them. However, I wouldn't like to be anywhere near them in real life XD
The second thing that made me lower my rating is the utter predictability of the story. Sure, it's a nice story but you can see what will happen from a mile away and after awhile it gets tedious. Still there were enough original concepts that make me want to read the next book and eventually I will. I just have no clue when I'll have the time. -
This book is perfect for it's niche audience, which apparently is the southern redneck libertarian male juvenile gun nut.
I confess I had mitigating circumstances when I bought this: There were time constraints. We had a coupon expiring that day, and we had a loyal doggie sitting in the car outside. -
3.5 stars. Another author/title to add to my "guilty pleasures" pile. Loads of fun to read, very much like the Dresden Files books in that sense, so fans of that series will feel right at home especially if you're looking for something slightly less dark and just a bit more humorous.
A few nitpicks though -- the cheese is strong with this one (some parts and lines are enough to make me cringe) with cliches littered all over the place. Stuff like the main character falls in love at first sight with the heroine, and then you find out she already has a boyfriend who just HAPPENS to be the handsome and arrogant douchebag who was giving our MC a hard time. There were lots of other similarly overdone plot points like that, but I will refrain from listing them lest I reveal a spoiler.
And if only the author would spend as much time developing his characters as he spends describing the details of guns and other weaponry... -
I'll write a proper review later, but this was so much fun to revisit ^__^
I did notice some interesting things though, that I might touch upon in the review 🤔 I'll put it in spoilers ^__^
- - -
Okay then, guys and dolls, let's try and review this good and proper, or, as good and proper as can be expected from me, which I suppose isn't very well, my track record being taken into consideration, but here goes none the less...
First off, I love this series, I think it's a lot of fun, I'm not too fond of the zombie parts of the series, but what can a girl do?
I know a lot of people find the author's opinions and blog posts offensive and insensitive and they don't agree with his political views, I have not read those specific posts but I have a general idea of what the reviewers were talking about to dislike the author so much and I understand why, but I still really, really like this book....
I read it the first time in 2013, and then again in 2014, and then not again until now when the 6th book in the series has come out... And listening again with fresh ears, I noticed some things that I didn't realise the first couple of times...
Point the 1st - There is actually quite a bit of foreshadowing in this book... I didn't realise that when I read it the first time or the second time... 🤔 Also for later books, if one pays attention, which I thought was quite clever... ^_^
Secondly - For a genius, Owen is remarkably thick... It is astaunding to me how unobservant he is...
And C - I don't know if it is Owen's descriptive vocabulary that is limited, or if it's Larry Correia's, but the times I have heard the word "beautiful" in this book? I don't even know, man... xD I would have thought he'd at least have thrown in the occasional "gorgeous" here and there, but no, sadly not...
But besides those three little points, it was good to be back in the beginning again, there were so many Golden Moments, but yea, there were also some really bad ones too ...
I'll be the first to admit, I don't know much about modern American history.... I've repressed much of my memory from my time in school and growing up because I wasn't happy, plus from what I _do_ remember it wasn't much of a focus point in history class, our teachers focusing more on our own country's history...
From what I could gather, it seems to me, from the timeline, this book takes place maybe in the beginning or mid-2000's, like 2003-2005... That's what I would guess, at least.... Maybe 2003 at the latest...
Okay, I think it's probably best to wrap it up here, I'm beginning to ramble more than usual, please disregard the comment about the timeline, that's more for my own personal use and notes ^__^
Thanks for reading this far, if you in fact made it this far.. xD I'll start Vendetta tomorrow, methinks.. I'm re-reading all the books before reading Monster Hunter Siege, although I already have that one queued up in Audible ^__^ -
Loved it!!! I liked the characters, the story, everything! The characters were total bad asses but they weren't perfect and that's ok :) the story was very interesting and kept my attention. This book contains the best prep talk I think I've ever heard. I was ready to get a really big gun & battle axe and charge those mother fuckers! Omg Slappy! I couldn't believe it and the elves were so hilarious. Listen to this (audio) book!
-
Lots of non-stop action, odd monsters, & bullets. Owen is a good hero; tough, big, & one hell of a shot, but goofy around the girl he wants. He's not all that good at several important things like walking quietly or hearing well. It makes him more believable. That's the case with most of the characters. They each have some fun quirks & more depth than I expected to find in what is basically a comic book novel. No graphics, but that same sort of tongue-in-cheek, suspend-all-belief, & just-enjoy-the-trip story.
I normally HATE books that go into long descriptions of firearms, but Correia actually makes it work pretty well. In some cases, it's a humorous element, but in others it's deadly serious. He seems to know his stuff pretty well, although he stretches reality awfully far sometimes.
The world is quite nifty. It's ours - odd, but true in so many ways. Sometimes it's just odd. I LOVED the supernatural critters. No sparkly, sweetheart vamps here & a new twist on some I thought I knew.
The only complaint I had with the book was that it was too long. Some might wish for more, but my sense of humor has a short fuse. Although the quality of the story never went down, actually ramped up in excitement & suspense, my enjoyment began to flag about half way through. Too much of a good thing - like getting to the end of a really good, big, sweet pie. Still 3+ stars & while I have the next book, I'm not starting it any time soon. -
Three and a half stars,
rounded up to four. For now. I'm waffling on it.Finished waffling: 3 stars.
I'd intended to read this before long ... I heard nothing but raves about it, but wasn't at all sure what to expect. Whatever that was, this somehow wasn't it.
I very quickly began to understand some of the raves from friends – the first-person-POV Hero, Owen Zastava Pitt, sounded very much like a couple of them. The main resemblance lay in the fanatical devotion to guns.
Not a devotion I share. Guns don't kill people … bullets kill people… Poor innocent maligned guns.
I could put aside my lack of interest in guns for a reasonable amount of such content. However …
"…On this one I mounted an adjustable ACE stock, with recoil pad of course, FAL pistol grip, holographic sight system, EOTech in particular, night vision compatible. Full rail system, so you can mount lights or IR illuminators, or as you can see here, a Tula 6G15 40mm grenade launcher, front-loading, single-shot. The barrel has been cut down to twelve inches, modified choke, gave it the Vang comp treatment also so the patterns are good and tight and recoil is softer. I modified the trigger group, so top position is safe, middle is full, bottom is semi. I've got the gas adjusted so you are looking at about 700 RPM on full." He was speaking my language.
All … righty then. He's not speaking my language. Nor, you know, English. I recognized a couple of words in there … some I recognized but not in that context. And there were big chunks of that throughout.
I can't even tally the number of complaints I've read (or written, in one case) in reviews about the expenditure of words on clothing – or, in the very specific case of Tolkien, trees. I continue to be startled by the sheer viciousness of some of the complaints about how stupid and boring Tolkien is because he describes trees. I'm going to try not to be quite so vicious as I complain about Larry Correia's gun fetish. It does, of course, make sense in context (just as the pastoral descriptions in Tolkien make sense in context): Owen was brought up using weapons of all sorts, and now lives and works among people whose lives depend on how creatively they can kill something. Guns are integral to the plot. I get that. But for the first time I empathize with people who are bored by Tolkien's trees: my God it's stultifying to suddenly find oneself awash in triggers and gauges and sights and maker names I've never heard of. The only gun I ever want to see or hear described again is
Vera.
Otherwise … it was a fast read (partly because my eyes skimmed over large chunks of "OMG GuNnZ!" text). It was fun. Sometimes: there's one apocalyptic scene which is in no way fun. It was funny, sometimes. It broke with some stereotypes (intellectually I like what Correia did with Elves and Orcs, although it's a bit too symmetrical; viscerally, I hate at least half of it), but hewed to some closer than I've ever seen: the week during which this book mostly takes place makes Harry Dresden's average case look like a Waikiki vacation. I saw Owen's place in the overall picture coming chapters and chapters before the Big Reveal. The Big Bad was evil for the sake of being evil ("I can rule the world! So what if it's destroyed, it'll be mine!") – although the Good Guys were honest about being in it mostly for the money. It was fairly predictable ("Natchy Bottom is the worst place evar, avoid it at all costs!" … "We have to go to Natchy Bottom"); there's a lot of telling-not-showing (Owen gets himself reduced to a bloody pulp yet again, and mentions that it hurt); characterization was a bit shallow in places ("I love my boyfriend! But I love you more, and he's not here anyway") … but it was entertaining. -
Reviewed by:
Rabid Reads.
I was shopping around for an fun author / narrator combo because nothing on my listening pile appealed to me at the time, and this audiobook was only $1.99 after downloading the free Kindle edition which made the cost vs reward a no-brainer. MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL was clichéd to the max with a hero that was made for the job, a similarly perfect female love interest, and Larry Correia dedicated more pages to describing the weaponry than to developing the characters or the world, but bottom line—I was wildly entertained!
This novel really was ridiculously excessive, so if you want a little more substance with your laughs then I’d suggest you try THE DRESDEN FILES by Jim Butcher instead. The humour is comparable, James Marsters excels as the reader, but the writing isn’t obnoxiously implausible. This story was complete, there were no cliff hangers, and it progressed from Pitt’s first encounter with a monster to him staving off the apocalypse as a full fledged member of MIH which was again a huge leap, yet also in all likelihood because the author didn’t know if this would become a series.
I really enjoyed Owen as a protagonist; he was fearless, a bit of a show-off, and brimming with snark which is a trait that I LOVE, especially when I’ve opted to go the audio route. The blurb describes him as an “average guy” when the only thing commonplace about him was his job, and even that was by design. After being a competitive marksman, bouncer and cage match fighter in his youth his goal was to pick the most boring profession possible, thus a CPA. The romance between him and Julie was also super stereotypical, however it fit in with the rest of the overkill.
Listening to the sample clip of Oliver Wyman was enough to hook me into signing up for 23+ hours. His macho tone was exactly what was needed for this three-hundred-pound lead, and he varied it enough so that it was clear when the first person POV was in internal monologue or external dialogue mode. The cast was fairly large, and Wyman made sure to work the accents to assist readers with keeping everyone straight. Even his female voices were good which is saying something because as a general rule the majority of male narrators struggle in this area.
MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL was so absurd in its hilarity that it was irresistible. -
I thought I knew what this would be before I even looked at the first page. Yet another want to be Dresden book. Something to quickly read, enjoy, and forget about afterwards. Well it took me completely by surprise. I loved it.
Great take on the world of urban fantasy. Wonderfully choreographed action. Characters I actually cared about.
I recommend this book to fans of urban fantasy and fantasy. Any horror fans, especially if you're the type who has to watch every made for Sci FI movie. Fans of action. Anyone who watches the show Fringe, or used to watch X-Files. Any Lovecraft readers? Yup, you too. Just read it if you haven't yet. Okay? You won't be sorry. -
For personal reference: asshat response on the Hugos
http://monsterhunternation.com/2014/0...
