Monster Hunter Alpha

By: Larry Correia

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 18 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's Summary

Dirty Harry meets Twilight. Number 3 in the break-out series and a follow-up to Monster Hunter International and Monster Hunter Vendetta.

Earl Harbinger may be the leader of Monster Hunter International, but he's also got a secret. Nearly a century ago, Earl was cursed to be a werewolf. When Earl receives word that one of his oldest foes, a legendarily vicious werewolf that worked for the KGB, has mysteriously appeared in the remote woods of Michigan, he decides to take care of some unfinished business. But another force is working to bring about the creation of a whole new species of werewolf. When darkness falls, the final hunt begins, and the only thing standing in their way is a handful of locals, a lot of firepower, and Earl Harbinger's stubborn refusal to roll over and play dead.

Track down another Monster Hunter title.

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

Unexpectedly Enjoyable

I strongly recommend this book. I really enjoyed the first two in this series, but this one really caught me by surprise. Once I realized where this book was headed, it had two strikes against it. It didn't involve the Monster Hunter International team, and it was a werewolf story. Earl was not one of my favorite characters, and I have no interest in werewolf stories.

But it turned out to be such an great story, expertly told, I couldn't stop listening. I even found myself cheering out loud near the end.

The narrator is a good choice and has done a good job with this series. I don't know if he was intentionally doing a "Christopher Walken" voice for Nikolai, but that voice cracked me up.

41 of 43 people found this review helpful

A Brilliantly Ingenious Read

The primary protagonist in this narrative is Earl Harbinger, the director –werewolf (with special status from the Monster Control Bureau) of Monster Hunter International. The plot is original; the backstory is fascinating and gives us the genesis of who Earl is and how he came to be. Earl's history is told through entries in a journal that he writes. This is a clear demarcation from the present action in which the narrative lives. It also gives a breadth and depth to Earl’s character that we have not seen previously. When Earl meets Heather, a New, [Werewolf], Turn and also the law enforcement officer of the Michigan town in which Earl finds himself, the seeds of love are sewn. However, this is not to be, at least, not yet, if the government has its say. There’s a shadow agency that is calling the shots with more power than the Monster Control Bureau.

Once again, MHI stands at the crossroads between total annihilation of the world as we know it and the continuance of life as we know it. Ghosts of the KGB and magically enhanced Mega Evil Werewolves, as well as the Monster Control Bureau serve the side of annihilation. Also, as in many of Correia’s books there is a shadow of Lovecraft that permeates the atmosphere of Monster Hunter Alpha.

Monster Hunter Alpha is fast paced, with heart-pounding, hold your breath moments. If you have met Earl previously, then you are ecstatic that Heather has come on the scene. She gives Earl and [we-the reader] hope for more happiness in Earl’s future. Earl is an avatar of strength, practicality, loyalty, and down to earth fairness and he has struggled with the loneliness and hardship of life for too long. In order to prevail, Earl must confront his fears and his own personal demons and the Mega demons that reside in Monster Hunter Alpha.

Monster Hunter Alpha is plotted well and a brilliantly ingenious read.

18 of 20 people found this review helpful

Great book, but not about Owen!

Would you consider the audio edition of Monster Hunter Alpha to be better than the print version?

Have not read the print version. Unknown.

Any additional comments?

Be aware: If you have listened to the first two books, this does not follow the same vein. The main character is NOT Owen Pitt, as the book explains in the first chapter. The book is great, still has the same pulp fiction, laid back feel that makes for such an easy read, but do not be surprised that this book is about Earl, and jumps between the MHI history and "present day". I loved this book, but thought it was a 3rd in the series...it isn't..quite.

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

best book so far

I got to say i loved this book the others was good but this one i couldn't stop listening to cant wait til the next one

10 of 11 people found this review helpful

Bloodiest Infodump Ever

Once someone has delivered a huge setpiece battle that culminates in the vanquishing of an Old One, it seems hardly fair to ask them to just turn it up a notch one more time for the next sequel.

This is why I can understand the different approach to Alpha, as well as the desire to tell Harbinger's origin story with as little intrusion as possible. Unfortunately, the result is somewhat darker than the previous installments, without the ensemble cast of the whole MHI team to lighten the mood. Instead, we have bumbling MCB agents, a crew of hapless psychopaths trying their hand at monster hunting and a newly turned werewolf that can't get over how the change will mean no more need to diet. Tipping the scales the other way, way over the other way, is a far more concentrated story taking place over about a day in an Upper Peninsula town beset by werewolves and some other supernatural baddies. This A plot seems to have far more in common with the series B movie source material than the world-saving heroics of previous outings, including improvisational weaponry that leads to incredible levels of gore.

As one would expect with a book where every chapter is prefaced by a story from Harbinger's past, even the narration seems to be grimmer. With the series venturing into third person narrative, thankfully not the case in Legion, we get to drop in on other people's headss and Wyman does a great job bringing them all to life.

This entry isn't one I'm bound to go back to again and again for entertainment. It is important set up for the big picture events that seem like they'll be steering the plot from here on out though. So if you're invested in the characters, it's a must read.

9 of 10 people found this review helpful

Finally...... some backstory on Mr. Wolf!

Loved it. Worth the credit. I couldn't stop. There were a few slow points, the story made up for it.

8 of 9 people found this review helpful

Another solid story from Correia

I have a little bit of a crush on Earl Harbinger. The story held me and kept me engaged. This is actually no small thing considering that I don't really enjoy all the blood and guts aspects of this sort of story but so far Correia has paced it enough and made the characters interesting enough that I don't mind the rest.

I wish the ending had been a little different but it made sense, unfortunately.

7 of 8 people found this review helpful

Earl Harbinger's story

Originally posted at FanLit.

“Welcome to the exciting world of professional monster hunting. Usually not quite so… messy. Well, it’s always messy, but we’ve reached a whole ‘nother level on this one.

I’ve been heartily enjoying Larry Correia’s MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL series so far. It’s been non-stop freaky monsters, evil villains, rigid government agents, flying fists, biting teeth, scratching claws, falling bodies, fiery explosions, gaping portals to hell, and lots and lots of gun porn. Now we’re back for round three.

The first two books, Monster Hunter International and Monster Hunter Vendetta, focused on Owen Zastava Pitt (Big Z), who was recruited by MHI after killing his boss who had turned into a werewolf. If you haven’t read those books, stop right now and go order them. Don’t read any further because this review will contain some spoilers for the previous books.

This third book, Monster Hunter Alpha, is Earl Harbinger’s story. Earl is the leader of MHI (which you’re supposed to know if you’re still reading this). Readers who’ve read the previous books also know that he’s a 200-year-old werewolf with a memory-eating worm in his brain. He’s writing a journal so he can get his memories on paper before they’re gone. Not long after the events in book 2, Earl gets a visit from an old acquaintance who warns him that there are some strange happenings in Copper Lake, Michigan and it sounds like Earl’s old nemesis, a KGB werewolf named Nikolai (“Stalin’s favorite werewolf”), may be responsible. Since Earl is the most powerful werewolf in the United States (and probably the world), he needs to go take care of it before Nikolai starts an epidemic. But Earl isn’t the only one who wants to take down the Russian werewolf. There’s an unscrupulous start-up freelance monster-killer who wants in on the action so he can collect the bounty, and there’s a corrupt government bureaucrat who’s got his own agenda. They are going to cause a lot of trouble.

Thus, confusion, chaos and carnage descend on Copper Lake. Communication has been cut off so they can’t get help from the outside. Fortunately Copper Lake has a courageous and dutiful (and pretty) police deputy, and the locals, who’ve taken full advantage of their Second Amendment rights, are willing to fight back. (“Wake up your family and get your guns!”) Earl picks up a couple of other unexpected allies, too. When Earl and his partners finally figure out what’s really going on they realize that it’s a lot more sinister than just an alpha werewolf trying to move into Earl’s territory. It’s related to what happened to MHI in the previous novels and what’s going to happen in future novels, and it has far-reaching consequences for the whole world.

Like the previous MONSTER HUNTER books, Monster Hunter Alpha is heart-poundingly scary, but Correia, as usual, provides some comic relief. This installment, like the others, has excellent character development and is beautifully plotted. The Copper Lake story moves the entire series forward while also helping (along with Earl’s journal entries) to fill in the historical and psychological background on Earl and some more history of Monster Hunter International. Very nicely done.

I didn’t like Monster Hunter Alpha as well as I liked the previous books for two reasons. First, WE NEVER SEE BIG Z! That was more than a little disappointing, which makes me suspect that I may have a crush on him…. I’ll think about that later. I also missed Agent Franks. Maybe I have a crush on him, too… The other reason, and this is the main reason, is that Monster Hunter Alpha is disgustingly gruesome. There’s lots of blood and guts and splattering brains. In fact, Monster Hunter Alpha is so grisly that it feels like a hack ‘n’ slash horror movie or a survival horror video game. I had nightmares after I finished it.

Readers who love Earl Harbinger and don’t mind the gore will be very pleased with Monster Hunter Alpha. As for me, I can’t wait to get back to Big Z and Agent Franks in Monster Hunter Legion!

22 of 28 people found this review helpful

Another great book from Larry Correia

Loved this book even without Owen . characters are great and Earl is a BADASS Oliver Wyman did an awesome job narrating -even though I thought Nicolie sounded alot like a poor christpher Walken imperetion- that just made it better lmao . Cant wait for next book and for Jason and Pit to meet <.< Thank Larry thanks Oliver and most of all thanks too EARL

12 of 15 people found this review helpful

Good, not great

I really enjoy Larry Correia's books. He's politically incorrect and is a gun nut. Although I'm not into guns, I find him to be refreshing in his storytelling and details. When I listen to one of his books, I'm looking for escapism and not Shakespeare or Hemingway. More like Pulp fiction.

That said, his first two MHI books were awesome and I liked the first Grimoir book and the Son of the Black Sword, but I was a little disappointed in this one. Shifting the focus away from Pitt and giving a story with Harbinger at the center could have been great, but I found myself missing the naivete and earnestness of Pitt. I also missed Pitt's humor. Harbinger is sarcastic, but in a cynical way that doesn't make you laugh the way Pitt's self-deprecating humor does.

I also found the narration to be a bit less solid than the previous two books. Not sure why.

Overall, the story just wasn't as compelling to me, although I appreciated all the backstory or werewolves and MHI. It was solid, but not spectacular.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Weird off putting accent..........

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

Really good but get 1 and 2 first. Only problem was the reader cant do a russian accent and it kept reminding me of Christopher Walken, well a bad "saturday night live" impersonation

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Best so far!

More than exceeded my expectations. I can only hope that there will be another novel where Earl is the lead character. Wow!

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

BRILLIANT

Yet another "Monster Hunter" great by Larry Correia with brilliant narration by Oliver Wyman. Best if you've heard the previous books but not essential.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

The weakest of the series, but needed in the story

I feel that this book is the weakest in the series so far, and to stretch into a whole book something that could have been a short story, and rather like other series (like the Dresden Files or Iron Druid) that have a book of side stories, it could have been a compendium - this story just felt dragged out, and overly long, covering things that just didn't need to be there

This is a complete departure from the formula that made the first 2 books so enjoyable, with only one member of MHI, although the oldest & strongest, and being used to introduce new members of the company & upcoming important cast

Certain parts of the story were rather obvious, and telegraphed chapters before they happened, but without Oliver Wyman's reading this would have been nowhere near as enjoyable

If this wasn't "required reading" for the next book, I'd suggest skipping this one, but you need to know several things that happen in this story, several characters, and what happens along the way, or parts of the following book kind of makes no sense

2 of 3 people found this review helpful

The worlds longest supplementary short story

Well, it’s very different to the first two books. It’s not quite as fun, it’s much more about character development and so it feels a lot more serious. Almost none of the characters from previous books show up. No new fun and interesting races like awks or gnomes or trolls. This feels like it is setting up plot points that might become relevant later but for the time being it’s just a side quest. Fours across the board. The reader is fantastic as always, but loses at least one mark for the Finnish accents that sounds straight out of Kingston town. You could probably skip this book and not miss too much from the overall series, it’s a pretty good book so probably don’t skip it but you could.

Slow starter but a strong finish

If you enjoyed the other books then you will enjoy this one. Earl is a great character that really grows on you as the story progresses. I found it a little slow at the start but as the story progressed I found I was hooked and enjoyed the pace which finished strongly.

Fantastic book, instantly bought the sequel!

I love this series of books and always want to know more so buy the sequel as soon as I finish one. I will be so sad when I get to the last one...

loved it

this was another great addition to the monster hunter story , really nice to bring more detail to an other character .

Loved this book

I really enjoyed this book, the narration was great and the story clipped along at a great pace.

Thoroughly enjoyed

What did you like most about Monster Hunter Alpha?

Have listened to the previous two books and generally reserve listening whilst driving. However, with this book, I found I was listening at other times too and got through it a lot quicker than the previous books

What does Oliver Wyman bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

brings the characters alive with the voices of each person.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

yes