Monster Hunter International

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 show more 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 the team all died and was brought back by a time device. 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/puppies-in-their-own-words

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.html?id=166129606&page=2
#3: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/168794744
Hard Magic: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/166129626

(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. show less

The main character is an extension of Correia and that should tell you everything you need to know about his character. Owen Pitt is a Marty Stu: a one-man super soldier that has no flaws and unrealistic abilities, is smarter than everyone and can do anything better than anyone else, too, being the chosen one according to a prophecy, a 300-pound badass, state champion heavyweight wrestler, a cage fighter, an expert marksman that also speaks six languages and has a master's in accounting to round it out. He is the posterchild for the typical NRA gun fanatic loon, espousing the ideology and rhetoric ad nauseum. This is Wish fulfillment to a T--Correia has written fanfic about himself.

There really isn't a plot; it's just monster hunters show more killing monsters with a plethora of deus ex machina moments where he turns back time to win because he can't be a loser in any fight. The narrative is thinly disguised exposition. The best part of this book was the opening chapters where he has to fight his werewolf boss and from there it was downhill into a misogynistic fantasy that incels would enjoy. That this is so highly rated is troubling. Suffice to say this the only book I'll ever read from this person. show less

Very good, for what it is - which is an urban fantasy written by a B-movie addict. There are several scenes where I was trying to figure out which video game they came from, a lot of explicit blood & gore and horrific descriptions. There's also excellent characterization, interesting setups to get them into the blood-and-guts situations, good description both in those scenes and elsewhere, and dialog that rings very nicely true. It's not horror, despite a lot of horrific enemies (was that actually Cthulu or just something along the same lines?), simply because none of them ever give up or feel it's hopeless. That's the real marker for horror to me, how the characters react. The biggest problem I see with it is that it reads at the end show more like he's setting up for a sequel - but how's he going to keep it up? I mean, he saves the world in the first story - the universe next time? (Though in fact I doubt the effects would have been limited to one world…) I actually hope he doesn't write any more about Owen. More books, oh yeah. More in that universe, sure - with Owen maybe as a secondary character. His kids, maybe? Or trainees. But this was sufficiently over-the-top that I can't see how to continue to build, or to avoid anticlimax. I could be completely wrong - Tanya Huff managed it when I couldn't see how she could in her Valor series - but I'm hoping for a different book, not just a sequel. show less

What a fun urban fantasy! It certainly turned some memes on their heads. The action was fast and furious. While there was a lot of emphasis on describing guns, that was easily skimmed if you haven't a clue what it is about.

There were certainly twists I didn't expect, but they were logical. And there were turns that I was rooting for and cheered for. It was certainly a page turner. I quickly ordered the next book in the series.

If you like urban fantasy, you should try this book. If you are a fan of thrillers or action-filled novels, this will probably interest you. If you are a fan of both urban fantasy and action novels, this needs to be in your library.

Okay, this book was pure fun. That might sound odd, seeing as I'm talking about a book that deals with killing monsters for a living, but it's the truth! I went into this book with no expectations at all, and that actually made it even better. My book club wanted something action packed, Goodreads suggested this, and I chose it just because the cover is some epic art. Oh, I'm so glad this made it on my radar. I have so much catching up to do.

The hilarious part of all of this is that this isn't just an action novel. Oh, sure, it's filled to the brim with epic monster fights and all manner of skirmishes. If you're at all squeamish, you might want to stay away from this series because Larry Correia pulls no punches when it comes to battle show more wounds. However this book is so much more than all of that. Correia also creates characters who you genuinely want to root for. Owen himself is especially easy to follow along with. He's just a normal guy, an accountant, who suddenly finds himself enmeshed in a world that is far beyond what he ever thought existed out there. Owen becomes a somewhat unwilling monster hunter, and it turns out that he's damn good at it too.

Even better, Holly, Julie, Tripp, and all the rest get these lush backstories that just makes you want to keep reading about them. Correia never does infodumps, which is so refreshing. Every piece of lore, every piece of monster related information, is placed in a manner that it feels completely organic. I learned right alongside the "newbie squad", as they prepared for their first fight. I saw how, no matter how much they studied, there is never any way to be 100% prepared. This story had me so committed to these characters, so invested in their lives, that I literally yelled out loud the first time someone died. As I said, this isn't a nice book when it comes to deaths. Death is bloody, violent and, because I loved these characters, often devastating.

What I loved even more was that this book doesn't take itself to seriously. There are bits of humor, silly puns, and every character has their own amazing personality. Everything about this story just wrapped me up in a world that I didn't even know I wanted to visit, and spit me back out on the other side as a total fangirl. I'd read this again in a heartbeat, if there weren't more books in this series to turn my attention to. Bravo Larry Correia! This may not have been my perfect read and gotten that last star, but damn was it fun read. I can't wait to get to the next one! show less

Urban fantasy with Cthulthuic overtones and gun porn.

The action is incredible. The first chapter had me from the get-go. Hand to claw fighting? In a skyscraper office? Bring it on!

Then we get introduced to a 100 year old organization dedicated to bringing home the monster bacon. However, they don't really seem to have learned much, as most of their tactics are along the grab them by the balls and pull, HARD" variety instead of strategic plans meant to outthink their opponents.

The characterization was 2D, and because of that, so was the little romance side story.

The writing was amateurish, without polish. But I did not have to re-read sentences several times to try to figure out what the author was saying.

Gun porn. In spades. I almost show more went catatonic with boredom several times. But if you like knowing the spec's of guns, you will love this. And Christmas even comes TWICE for the main character.

Baddies. Mainly seem to deal with variety's of undead, which seem to be all in the Vampirric family, from the zombie who wants to eat brains, to the master vamps, who can practically be incinerated and still regenerate.
The main baddie has the Cthulthu tentacle thing going on, and you found out more about a different dimension, and Ancient Evil Ones. " A cthulthu by any other name...."

So I enjoyed this, but I doubt I will ever re-read it. I will read the final 2 books in the trilogy, as I want to know about the In-laws and Lycanthropes." show less

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, show more 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. show less