Larry Correia

Monster Hunter International

I think it's great. Like death of monsters? Like guns? Like Guns AND monsters? The book for you! 

Daniel Edward Borg Jr.

Sarah Escorsa

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 (view spoiler)[
  
 (hide spoiler)]. 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 for decades centuries 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 than average Mary 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.

Jessica Nottingham

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 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!

Monster Hunter International

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