I finally had the chance to read through Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia. In a nutshell, the book is a fun read, and I’d recommend it. But that’s not really a review, so I’m going to give it the proper treatment it deserves.
As the first book in a series, MHI is about Owen Zastava Pitt; a simple corporate accountant who ends up shoving his boss out of a 14th floor window. But that’s because his boss was a werewolf. After nearly being mauled to death, Pitt wakes up in the hospital with lots of scars, and a job offer from a shady character.
I generally judge a book or film on how well the writer achieves their goal, and how entertaining the journey was to get there. Now, with a name like “Monster Hunter International” I had a pretty good idea of where the story was going to go. And since I’m cool with blowing monsters to bits, I’m willing to overlook a few things here and there if the story is fun.
And it was indeed fun. Correia’s style is informal, conversational, and fast-paced. It resembles someone telling a tall tale while sitting around a campfire, replete with humor, asides, and interesting tidbits. Strictly for style, it’s not going to set the bar for high-brow flowery prose. But then again, if you’re listening to a buddy’s account of how he single-handedly wrestled a werewolf and lived, you want excitement and action, not a thesaurus.
Does that mean the story was weak? No, not at all. Considering he wrote the characters as a parody of B-movie tropes, I think he did an excellent job giving them an individual slant. Blonde bimbo? Check, except that she was in medical school, and has a very dark secret. Token black friend who get killed in the first fight? Not exactly… one by one, Correia systematically pulls up the well-known stereotypes and smashes them with a baseball bat, because he can, and hey, baseball bats are great for smashing things.
At no point did I feel like the main character was wearing thin, or had lost motivation. And normally where there would be a “our hero saves the day!” moment, there was instead the character getting mauled, curb-stomped, drowned, shot, killed, un-killed, shot again, and so forth. I mean, this guy can take some punishment! It never seemed like he was traipsing through the plot, shotgun in hand, dealing out death. More often than not, we get to see Owen’s insecure, humble side, which everyone can identify with.
That being said, I guessed the plot twist a few chapters ahead. It wasn’t so much that it was foreshadowed, but I was thinking about how the pieces fit together, and came to the conclusion myself. It may very well be that Correia meant to do that! By the end you’re shouting at the character “Come on, can’t you see it?” Kinda of like… an old B-movie.
Perfect.
Monster Hunter International comes highly recommended if you like shoot-em-up B-flicks with a lot of trope-smashing and romping through things with tanks, metaphorically speaking.