Monster Hunter International

By: Larry Correia

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 24 hrs

Publisher's summary

Five days after Owen Zastava Pitt pushed his insufferable boss out of a 14th 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.

©2009 Larry Correia (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Fast read: Great action movie for Karl Urban!!

Great Narrator & Great Read! In short summary: this is kind of like a Percy Jackson for adults. I ended up listening to this in 3 days after work and it was supposed to last a week or more but I got SUCKED in. I got it on a whim after hearing the hilarious sample which turns out to be the first scene (and didn't we all have times that our jobs felt like that a bit?), but the action doesn't stop there. The main character is a bit of a downtrodden guy, the author paints him in great, broad brush strokes: he has many strengths, but really somehow only sees his own foibles. I was surprised how much detail about firearms, but it seems that the author really knows details about weapons (I know nothing) and that also seems like what overlaps with action movies and was different that typical "fantasy" genre but not at all off-putting.

The unbelievable thing about this book is that in reality, it is like a trilogy all in one book! There are several distinct action sequences, each one building on it's own. I'm a particular sucker for what I call the "coming of age" fantasy stories a la Ranger's Apprentice or Peter V. Brett &c where the main character doesn't know his strengths or is a lost prince or mage or something and has untapped powers...this book has this but is modern twist. Also nice that it took place in Texas/Alabama (seems like so many modern fantasy novels take place in the NE). So many fantasy books are just about re-imagining Ireland or England and recreating the middle ages.... I just love America & modern American accents too, we Americans are so cool and quirky & this book celebrates that too. Also liked that there are characters of other races and not just male that are main characters. So overall, all the elements that I truly love about sci fi/fantasy.

The reason I gave the narrator only 4 stars, however, is because there were some action sequences that I could not tell which male character was speaking; If the scale for narrator rating were on 10 star scale I would rate 9/10. I think in the written book, they were the kind of paragraphs that were very short with only quote marks. And I must emphasize, this book was ACTION PACKED, I seriously would not be surprised if they made it into a movie; even this one book could be turned into 3 movies (David Twohy, new project maybe?). Narrating this book would have been tough, b/c many of the characters had deep voices. I'm not sure the director fully exploited the narrator's range of voices/expressions for the characters.

In summary, I will be getting more of Monster Hunter series & more from this narrator. Enjoy!

Well done I say.

Where does Monster Hunter International rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

High

What was one of the most memorable moments of Monster Hunter International?

Several cliff hangers will keep you engaged, some are simple, some more complex.

Which scene was your favorite?

Ending, but then several in the book were fun as well.

just fun

can't wait to start the next installment. so much fun. Also quite a good narrator too.

More than what you expect. Way more.

For starters, Oliver Wyman NAILS this. With a big honkin' hammer. At no point does it sounds like he's reading from a page. There are no failures of direction or editing. Owen Pitt is talking to you, telling you about what happened, and Pitt is good with voices. Okay, some of the women are a little weak, but... it doesn't distract because it's Owen doing the voices. On the rare occasions that he shifts narrative characters, it's that other character talking. It's flawless.

As for the story-- the author does an amazing job at creating the universe without bogging you down with exposition. You're sucked in along with Owen, and it happens with amazing speed and craftsmanship without feeling forced. The plot itself, of course, lends well to to exposition, but Correia doesn't lean on it too heavily. Characters, concepts, and relationships are established firmly, but the plot advances even when he occasionally stops for Backstory.

The dings it gets are for unoriginality. Part of the reason that it is able to accomplish so much exposition in so short a time is that the Monster Control Bureau is one part Men In Black and one part Bureau 13, with standard government paranoia sprinkled in for cohesion and flavour. And the big bad is unapologetically borrowed from Lovecraft, falling juuuuuuust short of calling the thousand foot squid god Cthulu.

But don't get me wrong, that's almost part of the charm. A few brief references and you've got a wider universe in place. Not all the gaps are filled in, but there's enough that you fully understand that there's a lot different from this world and the one we live in. But the story itself is excellent. The romance is a little forced, but not overly so, and the author resists the urge to establish a will-they-or-won't-they dynamic. Some might be bothered by the right-wing rhetoric, but it is not only in character for the people, but it's appropriate for the world they inhabit.

Interestingly, the most overused tropes-- vampires, zombies, and the undead in general-- are handled INCREDIBLY well, as well as the characters' interactions with them. The temptation is to compare it to a summer blockbuster film or a pulp fantasy is strong-- it has the fun of the first and the archetypes of the second (and a few other pulp genres), but it's way more than you would expect from such comparisons.

Also, it does an excellent job of balancing between being a book in its own right and the first book in a series. It serves as an excellent introduction to the universe while telling a story of its own. Yes, it's the story of how Owen joins MHI, and his journey from newbie to full fledged Monster Hunter, but it resists the urge to leave the overarching story unresolved. There are plenty of open threads, and of course the epilogue is a set-up for the next book, but you buy the next book because you want more of what this book gave you, not because you are hanging on the edge of your seat for the cliffhanger.

Nonstop action I loved it

If you could sum up Monster Hunter International in three words, what would they be?

Action action action

What about Oliver Wyman’s performance did you like?

I love the way that he reads he really brings you into the story

Great read/listen - get over the premise

Where does Monster Hunter International rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

One of the better ones. Good character development & humor. Accept one preposterous premise, (monsters are real), and the rest works really well.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Monster Hunter International?

When Pit recognized who he was.

Which scene was your favorite?

Final battle

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Enjoyed the book

Excellent

Monster Hunter International grabs you from the first chapter and carries you through the end in a non-stop action thriller/urban fantasy. It's wonderful - dark, gritty, sarcastic - Larry Correia (in this series) is exceptional.

Great Series!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This is a very inventive series, written with the same kind of humor as Lawrence Block, just applied to a new reality of the monsters that live around us that we don't recognize. The narrator is a painfully slow reader, but increasing the read rate to 1.5 takes care of that, and makes the characters really POP! I will listen to every book in this series. I cannot wait for book number 4!

Tried on a friend's recommendation

If you could sum up Monster Hunter International in three words, what would they be?

Great story, great characters, evil bad guys, what more could you want?

What was one of the most memorable moments of Monster Hunter International?

I really enjoyed the battle finale.

What about Oliver Wyman’s performance did you like?

He did a good job on a variety of characters, both male and female, and different ethnic groups.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Let's kill some monsters!

Great Entertainment

Great narrator, story,and adventure.Looking forward to the next book in the series. Great listening on long trips.