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A review by hdbblog
Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia
4.0
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!
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!