Book Chop: Monster Hunter International

Title: Monster Hunter International
Author: Larry Correia
Genre: Fantasy
Verdict: Pretty entertaining, and the pages turned fast enough for me to ignore the length.

I heard about this book through the Writing Excuses podcast. If you don't follow it on iTunes, you can buy the CDs on their website. "Fifteen minutes long, 'cause you're in a hurry and we're not that smart." Except they are smart. The WEP is put on by Brandon Sanderson, Dan Wells and Howard Tayler--all of whom have books that I have Chopped in 2009.

When Brandon was on tour for the new Wheel of Time book, Larry Correia sat in for him and told his story of how he got published. Basically he set up a website where he posted bits and pieces of the book. Then he self-published it, and sold enough copies to pick up the attention of a large publisher, specifically Baen. The book just came out a few months ago, and it's quite a ride.

Correia admittedly models it after late-night B-movie monster flicks, with one minor twist: his main character, Owen Pitt, is a total bad@$$ gunslinger who bench presses 400 pounds. The book starts when Pitt, an accountant, is doing some after-hours work and finds out that his boss is still in the building. Then he finds out that his boss is naked. Then he finds out that his boss is a werewolf.

The next twenty pages feature Pitt repeatedly breaking the "no firearms at work" rule while he whoops up on the werewolf all through the building. Using a gun in his ankle holster, he plugs his boss over and over again, busting up cubicles and eventually shoving him through a 14th-floor window, and then heaving a huge desk on top of him for good measure.

Five days later, Pitt wakes up in the hospital, heavily scarred and unsure of what happened. A representative from a private firm approaches him and confirms the truth: monsters are real, and they really want to kill people, but fortunately there's good money to be made in killing them first. Just to show he's legit, he gives Pitt the full bounty that was out on his werewolf-boss: $50,000.

From there, Pitt goes to train with this group, called Monster Hunter International. Drawing on childhood training from his Green Beret father, Pitt shows remarkable propensity with firearms, and proves his worth in his first battle with vampires on a boat.

The story is pretty cool. It gets deeper and deeper--there's a prophecy about a warrior who can end the world or save it. Pitt starts having dreams about who it might be. He also gets visited by ghosts who try to help him understand his purpose and mission, the role he plays in that prophecy. Pitt sees that there's something deeper at work here, something more than just a bunch of monsters roaming around the world. There's an evil power that wants to eradicate humanity, and only MHI has the firepower to stop it.

Correia is good at putting his characters in situations that suck. Not Twilight suck, but Harry Dresden suck. He's not afraid to beat up on them. I didn't feel like there were any contrivances--just good opportunities to introduce fun characters and interesting scenarios that would be amazing in movie format.

Overall Pros for this book: Finally we get a B-movie monster story where the characters have plenty of ammo and firepower on hand, and are smart enough to kill monsters from the get-go. The humor is pretty good, the action is fantastic, it moves rather fast, and the characters get what they deserve in the end. Also, Correia decided to pass on sex scenes--and there were plenty of opportunities to go down that oft-traveled path. Props to him on that.

Overall Cons for this book: Foul languages, albeit not overly so. It was there though. Also, I know this was FANTASY, but there was a complete bull-crap scene in which Owen Pitt fell out of a van at 50 or 60 miles per hour, tore off most of his skin, and got up to beat the hell out of a gargoyle with a tire iron. I'm sorry, I don't care how awesome you are, YOU CAN'T IGNORE THAT MUCH ROAD RASH THAT FAST. That was not acknowledged enough in that particular scene. But that's just me. Also, in a few spots the writing felt a little...I dunno how to say it in just one word, but Correia repeated himself. I think he used certain phrases too much. I'm willing to let that slide, 'cause I'm overly attentive to that stuff.

So yeah, I'd recommend this book to a lot of people, provided they don't mind the language and graphic monstrous arse-kicking that takes place in it. It was pretty fun. Plus, it takes a pot-shot at Twilight near the end, and I'm okay with that :-)