After reading this I got the others in the Monster Hunter series. Oliver Wayman is wonderful in his narration. Has a bit of everything. (If you have a weak stomach, and don't enjoy graphic horror descriptions this may not be for you) However there are some laughs and nasty bits, but full of action. Larry Correia knows how to keep a story moving. If you enjoy urban horror fantasy, this is for you.

I'll admit I got pretty lost in all the gun lingo, and it did detract from my overall enjoyment of the book. I read a few reviews that considered the book to be a wordy piece of political propaganda, I did not find that to be the case. Even the main character didn't balk at gun control laws, he didn't agree with them but you never had some wordy rant on the matter.

Oliver Wyman put a lot of emotion and effort into his characters. He really capitalizes on the characters emotions and it's not too infrequent he'll actually be grunting, growling, and yelling along side the main character. I think it came across engaging. I particularly enjoy his betrayal of the Queen of the elves, and her man servant.

Overall I might steer clear if you aren't a gun nut. If you are? I think you'll love it.

Originally posted at FanLit.

“Our business is monsters. And business is booming.”

Owen Zastava Pitt was just trying to be normal. He used to be a bouncer who spent his evenings participating in illegal pit fights, but he managed to earn a CPA and became a boring accountant for a big corporation — pension and dental benefits included. Being tall and weighing in at 300 lbs, he didn’t quite look like an accountant — and he still spent his weekends as a gun hobbyist — but he was making progress…. until his boss turned into a werewolf and Owen managed to defeat him and push him out a window on the 14th story of their office building.

That caught the attention of a covert freelance organization called Monster Hunters International. In contrast to the secret government organization that hunts monsters, MHI is a family business. The Shackleford family has selectively recruited and trained a group of highly skilled men and women who work in teams to rid the world of all sorts of dangerous supernatural creatures. Then they collect large bounties from a special government fund. It’s extremely lucrative, but extremely dangerous, too.

Owen’s stature, militant upbringing, gun expertise, quick wits, and tenacity are exactly what MHI is looking for. When they send Julie Shackleford to interview Owen, he can’t resist her good looks and her guns. So Owen signs up for the craziest job in the world and is soon dealing with vampires, gargoyles, ghouls, zombies, werewolves, meddling government bureaucrats, and the insects of the Deep South. He gets some help from his diverse set of MHI colleagues and the good supernaturals — head-banging orcs, trailer park elves, and the ghost of a dead Jewish man that lives in his head.

In the past the monster incidents that MHI has dealt with have seemed like random infestations, but now it’s becoming clear that there’s a coordinated attack going on. Agents of the Old Ones are searching for an ancient artifact that can stop time and open a portal to a source of infinite power. They’ve tried it before — back when the Nazis were in power — and now they’re back to try again. Fortunately, MHI is standing in their way…

Monster Hunter International, the first inLarry Correia’s MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL series is high-octane non-stop action-packed fun. Blazing assault weapons, monsters of all sorts, and plenty of blood, guts and brains. OK, honestly, this is not typically my thing — it’s really violent and gory — but after enjoying Correia’s GRIMNOIR CHRONICLES, I decided to give MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL a try, especially since I found them on sale at Audible a while back.

I felt like I was hooked up to a testosterone drip, but I cringingly admired Monster Hunter International. The plot is tight, exciting, and unpredictable. The writing — especially the dialog — is excellent. Correia’s characters are complex and engaging and the women are just as competent as the men. Best of all is Larry Correia’s dry irreverent sense of humor. I wouldn’t call Monster Hunter International a comedy, but I chuckled all the way through. It was this comic relief that made the violence tolerable for me.

MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL is a series that is even better in audio than print. Audible Frontiers produces the audio version and it’s narrated by Oliver Wyman. Keep in mind that I listen to about 150 audiobooks each year when I say that Wyman’s performance is one of the best I’ve ever heard. He handles both the male and female voices with ease and effortlessly shifts through several accents including a Southern drawl and some Eastern European dialects. His pacing and inflection is perfect. If you’re planning to try MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL please consider the audio version. You will not be disappointed.

Monster Hunter International is a little too violent and gory for me to count it as a true favorite, but it excels at what it does. It’s highly entertaining dude-lit that is well-written and humorous enough to appeal to a much wider audience.

Publisher: Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a fourteenth story window, he woke up in the hospital with a scarred face, an unbelievable memory, and a job offer. It turns out that monsters are real. All the things from myth, legend, and B-movies are out there, waiting in the shadows. Officially secret, some of them are evil, and some are just hungry. On the other side are the people who kill monsters for a living. Monster Hunter International is the premier eradication company in the business. And now Owen is their newest recruit. It’s actually a pretty sweet gig, except for one little problem. An ancient entity known as the Cursed One has returned to settle a centuries old vendetta. Should the Cursed One succeed, it means the end of the world, and MHI is the only thing standing in his way. With the clock ticking towards Armageddon, Owen finds himself trapped between legions of undead minions, belligerent federal agents, a cryptic ghost who has taken up residence inside his head, and the cursed family of the woman he loves. Business is good… Welcome to Monster Hunter International.

I know it is odd to call a world full of monsters an ideal one but this book really makes it seem like one often. Clear good and evil along with proper romance and a happy ending, perfect. This book is simple, linear, and most of all good.

As a warning, this book is pretty heavy-handely libertarian mostly because it seems acutely centered on the author personally. Being a liberal myself I still thoroughly enjoyed the story even though there three painful moments I remember specifically where the author showed some his 'talk-radio' level of ignorance by putting his own words in the characters mouths. Also more generally the government is portrayed as an incompetent antagonist and grudging partner to a righteous private company. I am from the south so I am pretty used to hearing and overlooking this kind of bull and accepting it in fantasy but others that are politically informed might be bothered. In my opinion the libertarian black and white world view with 'principles' and clarity over the reality of overwhelming complexity makes for a pretty simple and awesome fantasy world. Blissful naivety.

I am probably taking more of the world as fantasy that the authors means but the world is in the book is fair or merit-based. The characters are all over-achievers and they get what the deserve. Also there is an awkward level of racial importance that is stereotypically southern. Overall I guess the libertarian fantasy world makes a good story.

Another big aspect of the story is the gun nuttiness. Personally I didn't understand much of the terminology but the author is passionate enough to make me interested. It goes more over the top than just being necessary for the story but I still enjoyed it.

Overall though naivety and simplicity makes a good escape from a complex and indifferent world. Also constant action helps.

I really liked the tone of this book. It seems like the contemporary fantasy genre is filled with angst-y guilt ridden characters or the stereotypical "kick-ass" femme-fatale (don't get me wrong, I eat that stuff up).

The main characters like guns, the men appreciate good looking women and there's a dry wit to the whole story.

While I enjoyed Oliver Wyman, I think it takes some time to warm up to his narration. It's slow paced and drawn out. it drove my husband crazy, he bumped the playback speed up when he listened to 1.5X.

This book makes modest promises, and delivers on them admirably. If you're looking for an action-packed, if slightly predictable, B-Movie monster romp, this is the book for you. Silly? You bet. Also, lots of fun.

Definitely a B-Movie grade novel. Though this really just means that it's fast and action filled and lots of stuff gets blown up, and the "good guys" are pretty much guaranteed to win in the end. It's fun and interesting and not as political as I had feared.

It could have used a good editing though... there were some scenes that went on way too long (i.e. the gargoyle one), oh, all right, the whole book is a bit too long... too many scenes doing the same thing, and several "flashbacks" to the bad guy's past which really didn't do much for the story.

And the "romance" was kinda laughable... I guess it was sort of needed for the plot but it was a bit juvenile. Some of the characters' motivations/relationships are also far-fetched/unrealistic... probably because most of them were just stereotypes and not developed characters. They're all just there to shoot guns and chase monsters, not to demonstrate any "real" character traits.

Anyway, it was good enough that I'll read the next in the series for the action and blowing-stuff-up (I won't be reading it for its great prose or outstanding characters). The narration is very good.

The self-deprecating humor of the main character keeps it humble (and funny)... which kinda balances out some of the over-the-top comic book action. Which isn't a bad thing but, it's very much a Game brought to "life" (so to speak). Guns are given loving attention and LOTS of detail but it's not gory. Go figure. This book runs a strange balance. Know these things and you'll probably enjoy it tremendously. Very much in the style of an arranged/managed roller coaster ride (I can't tell you why I say this without really giving away details that could spoil your story and I won't do that). Interesting characters. Interesting situations. But. I won't be going onwards... but I'm sure PLENTY of people will... and... quite happily :)

the performance is very good. The writer and the story is okay. Not great. Lots of action and lots of details about how to shoot with various weaponry. Towards the middle of the story it just became silly. I am glad I read it but I would not be interested in reading anymore books by the author.

Honestly,the title of this series made me think it was going to be a book for 5th grade boys. After a good friend of mine telling me that his father read the first book and loved it, and that my friend then read it and loved it,i had to give it a try.

The MHI books are high up on my list of favorite listens. The narrator is aweomse,the story NEVER has a dull spot and its also funny while entertaining. I love these books. Give them a try.