Monster Hunter Alpha
Ratings27
Average rating4.2
#3 in the break-out, best-selling Monster Hunter series. Earl Harbinger, head of Monster Hunter International, faces down an old nemesis -- a very nasty former KGB werewolf who is working to create a new, unstoppable breed. Dirty Harry meets Twilight. #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 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. Here’s a sample of Larry Correia’s prose punch from series opener, Monster Hunter International: “I didn’t wake up that morning and decide that I was going to kill my boss with my bare hands. It was much more complicated than that.” About Monster Hunter International “[A] no-holds-barred all-out page turner that is part science fiction, part horror, and an absolute blast to read.”– Bookreporter.com About the “Monster Hunter” series: “If you love monsters and action, you’ll love this book. If you love guns, you’ll love this book. If you love fantasy, and especially horror fantasy, you’ll love this book.” – Knotclan.com
Series
Series
7 primary books10 released books#3 in Monster Hunters International
Monster Hunters International is a 10-book series with 8 primary works first released in 2007 with contributions by Larry Correia and Sarah A. Hoyt.
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Popular Reviews
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???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.
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An excellent addition the the series, and I love the change if POV to Harbinger. MHI's werewolf mythology is fascinating.
Correia does something incredibly cool and interesting with this series that makes it even easier to binge. Now normally I don't read multiple volumes in a series right after each other, because mixing things up makes me get stay more interested and motivated to read.
Here, starting with this one, every odd number book is from the point of view of a character other than the OG protagonist. That's freaking fantastic! We get some of them more fleshed out, but also it mixes up things.
Here we have Eral Harbinger, monster hunter and werewolf. He goes to a small town where, under the cover of a huge snowstorm, someone starts killing and turning people. Earl was tricked to go there, along with an old enemy and neither of them know why.
YES YES YES. Earl is one of the coolest people and he really deserved his own book. What's more interesting is there are STILL things to say about him.
