Monster Hunter International

Freaking epic

Adrenaline rush, bloody pure adrenalin rush. Seriously, started slow but once the action started it was nonstop. Loved it and loved some of the concepts. Got to know many things. There are some reviews about authors comments or something. But, as an Indian I don't care about US politics lol. So this was fun and if the series will be like this, I will read it.

Owen Pitt is a masculine power fantasy who joins a private militia to kill monsters for profit and stick it to The Man. He's so good at hurting things, he scared himself into becoming an accountant. The accounting thing is used for a few punchlines and little else. He hits on the attractive female hunter repeatedly regardless of her refusals and her already being in a relationship.

The opening fight is especially gory. The others might have been as well but they go on and on so long I stopped paying attention by the time serious injuries occurred. The only thing more tedious than the fights are the specifications of every single gun and blade carried by every single character.

Painful racial and cultural stereotypes abound.

There's an okay story buried in there but it's not really worth finding.

Late review, don't quite remember. Started off with an action scene, but that can be overlooked. The main character is an asshole, that never goes well unless you make up with other positive point in the novel.

He is something of the best marksman in the country, one of the most intelligent people, one of the best fighters, and still he just wants a desk job with nothing to do.

The prose was fine right until he time the history fell into known and disliked cliches, then I stopped reading:
- the hero likes a girls who likes another guy. The hero dislikes the guy and tries to show the girl her boyfriend is a jerk and she would be better of with him.
- in the meantime, the hot stripper likes the hero. He will likely use the situation to make the girl he likes jealous. I didn't quite read this, but I'm pretty sure where this was going.
- the hero antagonizes the girl's boyfriend, who seems like a pretty good guy, but starts acting like an asshole as well when confronted. But since the hero is bigger, stronger, more intelligent, better fighter, better marksman, has a bigger dick... what exactly are we suppose to empathize with here?

The story showed potential. An international organization of monster hunters, founded over a century ago. There is conflict with the FBI's division of monster hunters, there is legislation in the way, a mysterious TPK (total party kill) among them a few years ago.

Read 3:40 / 23:31 16%

This one is for those times when you have had enough of well crafted and thought out fantasy. MHI is a exactly what it is named. Tons of monsters without any logic or history turned into whatever the author wishes them to be. But man is the action continuous with a half decent plot and some cool characters interspersed. Its been a long time since I have read something that did not need me to follow the plot closely and remember all the past events that lead upto the finally. Its a simple kill a monster a minute with a lot of weapons thrown in. Not sure I will continue the series immediately though. These are just for the break!

Disclaimer: I am neither a gun nut / connoisseur nor do I usually enjoy “eldritch horrors” or splatter.
And although this book contains all of the above (and generous amounts, to boot), it was still a very enjoyable read for me. The tone was snarky enough to keep me entertained when things got a bit too splattery for my taste.
I liked the cast of characters and rooted for them (yes, even Agent Franks), though not everybody made it through alive or in one piece.

One of my favourite quotes:
“Everyone dug down into the ditch, prepared to fight. Nervous but competent. Scared but professional. We were ready to put some smack down. Not bad for an accountant, a librarian, a schoolteacher, and a stripper.”

Not bad at all. :)