Josh Reviews: Monster Hunter Alpha by Larry Correia

Title: Monster Hunter Alpha Series: Monster Hunter International #3 Author: Larry Correia Publisher: Baen Format: Paperback, 552 pages Published: July 26, 2011 ISBN #: 9781439134580 / 1439134580 Genre: Urban Fantasy My Copy: borrowed Rating: Buy: 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.”

Violent book – Gore factor through the roof – Large overarching story with lots of well-developed protagonists – Not a bad book to come into the middle of a series for – Written with a gun nut in mind

Some of the protagonists in miniature:

Let’s start with Earl Harbringer, the harpoon at the center of this tale. He’s supposed to have a Southern accent but often I couldn’t sound that out in my mind’s eye. He reminds me most of Clint Eastwood and Tom Clancy protagonists, old but incredibly adept. You will be rooting for him.

Heather Kerkonen, a redheaded police lieutenant, carries over most of Earl’s traits (except the stale doughnut addiction which is entirely hers). She manages to impress even under Earl’s tremendous influence.

Stark and Horst, bureaucrat and entrepreneurial monster hunter, flaunt the moral underside in this book, the first being manipulative and the latter cowardly. Their presentation came across as a little simplistic.

Although The Alpha, “the villain”, receives plenty of screen time his motives and psychology remain opaque.

Nikolai, the Russian, gets the most short-changed. He suffers from a split personality, his wolf side having overtaken half his mind. His story of lost love appears pretty powerful but we hear little about it.

The interweaving of these narratives is can’t-put-the-book-down-paced. For a book so over the place I was surprised how many of these characters actually seemed well done. There is a heavy focus on action but I was pleasantly surprised to find a budding romance. The book is a lot like Discount Armageddon except without the dancing or the weird monsters. All in all, I would prefer that to this book. They both hammer on the action note a lot but Discount Armageddon managed to be more humorous in its plotting. I mean both of them have end of the world stakes but Correia challenges Earl to an unbelievable point.

Books in this series:

Recommendation:	Firearms on every page, minimal fireworks
Like this, like that:	Incryptid series by Seanan Mcquire (can’t wait till more is added to this series), the Iron Druid Chronicles series by Kevin Hearne and some book by Tom Clancy

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