Monster Hunter International

Since I have decided to give my brain a break with a fiction book when we have five Sundays in a month, and since it is October, the best month of the year, I decided to revisit one of my favorite monster themed books, making this week’s book of the week Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia.

I first read this book off a kindle suggestion, and it came in a three in one bundle with the first three books in the series. It has, what is quite possibly, the greatest opening paragraph in the history of fiction. “On one otherwise normal Tuesday evening I had the chance to live the American dream. I was able to throw my incompetent jackass of a boss from a fourteenth-story window.”

Now, no disrespect to JK Rowling, there are millions of Harry Potter fans that have memorized the opening sentence of Sorcerer’s Stone, me included, but seriously…. If you’ve ever held a job with a jack ass boss, then that line speaks to you, and wants to make you read more. I read that line and I immediately texted the boyfriend (now husband) that he should read this book, he’d probably like it.

When I got to the elves, I sent him a reminder text that this was one he’d want to read, I promised him he wouldn’t be disappointed. I think he was sort of ignoring me. Not because he doesn’t read, but because my reading list is really eclectic and his is more focused. He likes cyberpunk, dystopian fantasy, action, anime. Urban fantasy is not really his gig, and for whatever reason, despite taking place in mostly rural locations, MHI is classified as Urban fantasy.

When I got to the orcs, I no longer texted. I asked if I had ever recommended a book to him before and why would he think I would steer him wrong. Then I said if you do not read this, I will sit on your chest and read it to you. He rolled his eyes but started reading. By the time he hit the orcs, he asked if I had the next one in the series. And now he’s a Correia superfan.

So, after throwing his boss out a 14th floor window, the main character, Owen Zastava Pitt, is made a job offer by Monster Hunter International, corporate headquarters in Cazador, Alabama. See, his boss, was a werewolf. And MHI makes an absolute mint from bumping off the things that go bump in the night.

Now, despite this book having been published 15 years ago, I don’t want to necessarily give a synopsis that might include spoilers for those who have not yet read the series. Instead, I’m going to attack some of the stupid that has attacked Larry Correia for his absolute audacity in being guilty of wrong think.

Now, understand, he 100% does not need my defense. Larry, known as the International Lord of Hate, is fully capable of fighting his own battles. But, if there can be a 7 year old book review accusing the main character of being Mary Sue, then I feel like there can be a new review explaining the error of that mistake.

Let’s start with a definition: Mary Sue: character archetype in fiction who is often portrayed as inexplicably competent across all domains, gifted with unique talents or powers, and unrealistically free of weaknesses or character flaws.

Why is Owen NOT a Mary Sue. Let’s start with he’s been practicing with guns literally his whole life. In this particular review, link in the description, she complains that it reads like “it’s been hijacked by a Gary Stu conservative/Libertarian government hating gun nut possessing the emotional maturity of a fourteen-year-old boy.” I will grant that it reads like libertarian revenge porn. And what the hell is wrong with that? It’s practically a love story to free market capitalism and the glories of private enterprise. But it also acknowledges that some pretty horrific things can happen when the free markets don’t police themselves. Witness the Christmas Party of 1995. If you’ve read the books, you know what I’m talking about.

So, Owen was raised by a military man to be extremely comfortable around guns. Anecdotes from his childhood and teenage years are peppered throughout the story, explaining why he is so very good at violence. It’s literally a lifetime of learning. And if you spend 15 years practicing one particular skill set, you better believe you’re going to be damn good at it.

She sort of poo-poohs the idea that Owen, who is an accountant when he defenestrates his boss, is also a cage fighter. Guess what? Cage fighting does not actually pay the bills for the vast majority of people. Most of them have to have day jobs. And before he became an accountant, Owen supplemented his cage fighting with being a bar bouncer. Again…spend a few years doing something, you become quite adept at it. In his case, violence.

Reviewer claims that the main love interest, Julie Shackleford, only needs to be rescued less than half a dozen times. Try three. And two of the three, Owen was saving the whole team, not just Julie. Because he is the main character, and thus the hero of the book. So, he was in the spot to do the saving. Because…hero. Heroes are the point of fiction. Unless you like to read really depressing fiction, like The Tortilla Curtain. The third time, Owen doesn’t do the rescuing, and Julie’s saving comes with a high cost, which is explored later in the series. Also, she saves his ass at least that many times.

Really, I feel like the reviewer either didn’t actually read the whole book, which is quite possible since Larry haters have already ppsted one star reviews for his upcoming book, In Defense of the Second Amendment. Which is really interesting, as the book hasn’t even been published yet. Like, how do you review a book that hasn’t been published, and still pretend like you have any ethics at all? As for the not having any weaknesses…do you know how many times Owen gets his ass handed to him in this book? Yes, he won against the werewolf in the beginning, but ended up hospitalized and scarred. It’s not like he just happened to have silver bullets in his gun. He got the shit kicked out of him. He’s almost killed by wights, vampires, federal agents, cursed evil, and Cthulhu. He isn’t killed BECAUSE HE’S THE HERO! And no character flaws….his rage almost costs him everything. But because he’s not a one-dimensional Mary Sue, incapable of learning from past mistakes, he recalls all he has learned over his hero’s arc, and pulls back from the brink. That’s called character growth. Not Mary Sue.

The reviewer says there are plot holes all through the story, but there really aren’t. Again, if you’re paying attention, everything in the climax is foreshadowed throughout the course of the entire book, neatly closing all loopholes and bringing the book full circle. Seriously, libertarian revenge porn is not everyone’s cup of tea, but is honesty in a review too much to ask for?

What else have Larry haters said about ILOH? That he’s racist and misogynistic. Those are big ones. Except that Owen’s best friend in the book is fellow newbie John Jeremiah Jones, aka Trip, a teacher of Jamaican descent. We all know how many white people there are in Jamaica. His fellow team members are Holly Newcastle, a former nursing student/stripper, and Albert Lee, a librarian of Asian descent. At one point in the book, Holly refers to their team as “the rainbow coalition team, since we had one white female, and males of the Black, Asian, and Other categories. All we needed was a lesbian and a guy in a wheelchair and we were ready to salve even the biggest liberal’s angst.” What they need is Blair White.

Because clearly, ILOH has fallen afoul of liberal angst, regardless.

Ok, one more bit of political stupidity I want to throw in this review has to do with orcs and elves. A few years ago, D&D fandom was all in a dither over the bizarre belief that the fantasy characters orcs and elves were apparently stand in for black vs white, with orcs being the black people who you can slaughter wholesale without remorse, while the elves were universally good. This idiocy started in 2020 and is still apparently gaining traction into 2022. Now…I for one believe fantasy is exactly that. Much like people, orcs and elves can be good or bad, depending on the individual. But here, ILOH was ahead of the curve. Elves are the equivalent of trailer trash, and orcs are bad ass warriors who fight on the side of good. So if you are your average, NPC SJW, who refuses to read a Larry Correia book because gun nut bad, consider this….Larry does not consider orcs or black people bad, dangerous, scary, or worthy of defenestration. They are allies in the ongoing fight against evil. Despite what the politically correct would have you think, actions do speak louder than words. And Larry acts by making a rainbow coalition of highly competent warriors that cover the spectrum. Minus Blair White. More’s the pity.

Seriously, this is just a fun read, the action moves fast, the story ties together neatly at the end, with just enough set up for the next in the series. I do get that not everyone enjoys action writing, or even just writing where instead of waiting for the bad thing to happen then moaning about it, the hero of the story takes a more pro-active stance. On the flip side, not everyone is the fainting damsel in distress. Some people are very proactive about their own survival. And those people work for Monster Hunter International.

This book was originally reviewed on YouTube on October 2, 2022, but is now available on Rumble and PodBean.