Monster Hunter International

My husband has been telling me for months to start this saga. He went through the audiobooks in a blink of an eye.

I can see why he enjoyed it so much. I did too. After all, what’s not to like about a fantasy involving a great evil, monster killing, and a hero stopping an Apocalypse? It’s usually, the best recipe for a great adventure IMO.

For a gun aficionado, this series is heaven. Owen is a sharp shooter and he knows every gun that is cool out there (me: I have no idea about any of that). His dad who was in the military, taught him early on to defend himself in hand to hand combat and to become familiar with guns. Owen, now an accountant, enjoys his guns as a hobby and tries to lead a pretty dull life. This is until his boss becomes a werewolf and wants to eat him.

After surviving the attack, Owen finds himself getting a new job offer. He could return to his (boring) job or he can train and become part of the secret group called Monter Hunter International who takes care of the bad monsters who are hiding in plain sight. Yes, vampires, werewolves, gargoyles do exist and someone has to take them out. The Government knows about their existence but they don’t want the public to panic.

Suddenly, Owen’s life gets very complicated. He has a very lucrative but extremely dangerous new job.

Monster Hunter International is a cool fantasy. It has a set of very unique characters.
In regards to the romance, I wasn’t sure about Julie’s character, Owen’s love interest, but she grew on me. By the end, I couldn’t see him with anyone else.

Cliffhanger: No

4/5 Fangs

“Monster Hunter International” isn’t great literature, nor does it pretend to be, but it is a barrel (as in gun barrel) of fun where the reader has no remorse seeing the bad guys (i.e. monsters of all varieties) get wasted with virtually every weapon in modern and ancient arsenals. The fun starts where the central character and narrator gets sucked into the monster hunting business when he is forced to kill his boss who, appropriately, had been turned into a werewolf. If the attraction of seeing the fantasy of hideously eliminating a bad boss isn’t enough for the reader, then the author offers a full tour of modern armaments and their often more efficient way of taking out various mythical demonic scourges of mankind. For example, although silver bullets still work for werewolves, 81mm mortars and .50-caliber M2 Browning machine guns of the National Guard prove to be an easier and quicker way to kill off the worst vampires than the old stake in the heart. Moreover, some of the worst critters in other mythology are among the good guys in this and some of the good critters are considerably less glamorous than in other stories. One also finds out what it’s like to have a vampire, a real vampire, as a prospective mother-in-law. Author Larry Correia hasn’t created a great novel, but he sure knows how to make fiction fun.

I was really surprised at the quality of the writing, having never heard of the author before. I picked up the novels all at once since they were only available in paperback and cheap. I really enjoyed not only the story line and the characters, but really like the little side development and interactions between the characters which absolutely don’t have to be included, adding nothing to the story except to flesh out the current situation or location. But, without seeming to be contrived at all, just a natural happening for the characters.
Now, I’m huge John Ringo fan, purchased and read pretty much everything he’s ever published. This reminds me a bit of that, at least in how the story develops and the action takes place. But in a ‘nice”, “clean” way. Unlike Ringo’s ‘Kildar’ series, this has some of the same kind of action – except with monsters, not terrorists, and no S&M or really any kind of overt sexual stuff. I’d be ok with this in a middle school library.

Very fun read!

July 13th, 2018 – 5 years(ish) after my first read and I have started reading the series.

I have been a fan of Larry Correia’s writing since I first encounter these books. I have enjoyed everything that I have read by him, to include: this series, Grimnoir Chronicles, and Son of a Black Sword.

This is the book that launched his prolific writing career. I highly recommend this series to anyone who is a fantasy fan and wants a fun, entertaining, suck-you-in, action adventure. His writing is smooth and flowing so that it easy to get drawn into the story. The characters are likeable and oft times relatable, and they develop and grow throughout the series. The world building and internal “rules” that he sets in place to make the MHI universe work well throughout.

The series can be classified as “Urban Fantasy” as it is set in the modern word with the addition of monsters and magic. But it is more of Bruce Willis in Die Hard kind of action story.

An accountant/gun nut has written a book about an accountant/gun but who kills monsters.

Lots wrong here…the pace of the story for one…it feels massively overlong….you just get tired of the incessant fights with monsters that all seem to follow the same tiresome pattern..which is pumping one round after another into a creature and when that weapon runs out picking up another..ad nauseum.

You certainly will be bored, unless its your thing, with the technical explanations of the various fire-arms.

Cliche corner is never far away…our hero…a 6 foot 2 accountant with two black belts , history of bouncing and illegal fights and training in fire-arms of all kinds, falls instantly for the woman of his dreams. Shes beautiful and great with a gun. But shes got a boy-friend. Luckily hes an idiot and a coward and nobody likes him so its okay to invoke the old testosterone cliche of kicking the butt of the girls boyfriend..you know, stalking with violence.

Of course the the kick ass girls in the book are written poorly and could just as easily be boys….Julie, the love interest, describes the death of her brother I saw his intestines pulled out and he died well. I was crying with laughter at this crass macho garbage coming out of the mouth of a female character.

Ive an idea for Amazon categorise your books under an IQ rating. This one would be in the 0-80 range.

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