Monster Hunter Alpha

To preface, I am a mother to a 5 month old girl so beside for my family there are 2 things I truly value in my life; my coffee, and my sleep…and this book has messed with both.

Larry Correia wrote this book to be so interesting that I, knowing full well that my daughter never sleeps later than 7:45, was forced to read till 4am. As a result I drank triple the amount t of coffee the following day and finished my coffee before my fresh order arrived in the mail. Basically because this book was as interesting as it was I was force to live on 3 hours sleep and drink *gasp** instant coffee for three consecutive mornings.

To Larry Correia I ask; have pity on me. Write some boring books

This review is for the series as a whole, because I don’t want to write a review for each of 5 books. Lazy, I guess. Bottom line, I loved this series, and can’t help wondering how Hollywood has missed out on the chance to make these stories into a series of epic films, like the Rings stories. One warning, though; you need to be the kind of reader who can suspend your disbelief for the sake of a good story. The characters are interesting, and much more complex than usual for tales of monsters and mayhem, and the firearms details were clearly written by someone who knows and loves guns. If you’re seriously anti-gun in your politics, you’ll want to skip the descriptions of the weapons and move onward, but if you’re interested in tech, you’ll appreciate the details. This is a series about monsters set in modern America. That means it’s weird and fanciful, so don’t buy the books if you’re one of those folks who can’t stand to read about events that “just couldn’t happen”. However, if you’ve got the imagination for it, and love a great story, these books will knock your socks off. Good hunting…

I just recently purchased this book (and the rest of the series) for a re-read since it has been several years since it came out and I read it the first time. The story holds up even on a re-read. Sure I know whats coming, somewhat, as it has been about 5 years since the first read. But even so, the story and characters are compelling and as the series progresses Larry Correia becomes more polished as a writer.

That said. They story is a bit of change of pace as it focuses on Earl Harbinger as the lead and pretty much ignores the rest of MHI. But it still has plenty of gripping action, interesting character development, monsters, world building (development), MCB, and monsters. Larry does a great job in telling this story, part of Earl’s story, that helps flesh out his character and gives the reader greater insight into why he’s fairly unique in MHI world.

Monster Hunter Alpha is the third book in the Monster Hunter Series by Larry Correia. This book (and the series as a whole) is the John Wick of books. It may not have won any fancy literary awards, but it was some of the most fun I’ve had with a book in months. It’s got action, humor, mystery and romance that doesn’t make me roll my eyes.

*POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD*

In this outing, we leave Owen Zastava Pitt behind and follow everyone’s favorite ass-kicker, Earl Harbinger. Harbinger leaves his team behind and travels to a small town in Michigan to square off against an old nemesis. Once there, things unravel quickly and become a lot more complicated as multiple parties converge on this small town with their own agenda, including a sleazy government agent and a rival monster hunting company. Each of these parties start out as parallel storylines that converge and intertwine as things get messy. And finally, we’re also given a view into Harbinger’s past through his journal. At the beginning of every chapter, we have a few pages that detail parts of Harbingers past, from his beginnings as a werewolf to his role in the Vietnam War.

A lesser writer would have great difficulty juggling the various plot lines, but Correia handles them with ease. Each plot line is interesting, well-written and memorable. I especially enjoyed the antics of the rival monster hunting company as they sink in over their heads very quickly. It’s all extremely entertaining.

A minor nitpick is that practically every female character is simply different versions of the same ass-kicking, amazon warrior woman. They’re all tough, strapped and ready to kill. Besides a few superficial details, the female characters in the series don’t feel all that different from one another. However, this isn’t to say that Correia sucks at characterization. Correia excels at giving most of his characters distinctive and nuanced personalities and this continues in MHA. The government agents, the rival monster hunting corporation, Harbinger’s nemesis all have enough backstory to make them feel alive without bogging the reader down *cough cough* Stephen King.

I wish I could say more about the novel and the characters but that will likely spoil the fun. It’s much more fun going into the novel without knowing too much ahead of time. Just buckle in and enjoy the ride because it’s a fantastic one.

4.5 out of 5 stars

This is the 3rd book in the series. I bought it because I loved the first 2. I didn’t even bother to read what it was about. I really enjoy how the author is taking an in depth look at all the characters and giving Earl his own story. It’s nice to have some of the background filled in that you have wondered about in the first 2 books. The introduction of new characters and the exploration of morality is always nice. Sometimes there are just things you can’t reason with…but MHI’s vision of trying to, is always a good approach when possible. The characters try to find the best in everyone and every monster…sometimes you just can’t…some things are just pure evil, even in real life….

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