The Monster Hunters

I finally finished the Game of Thrones series. Five books, approximately 5,000 pages. I must admit that, although I enjoyed reading each book very much, they often were a slog to get through. There were a few too many pages dedicated solely to food and dress and dull political posturing for the series to be completely entertaining. I am invested enough in the world that George R. R. Martin created to read his follow-up book, whenever it comes out, and to watch the HBO show, and maybe to futz around with a Game of Thrones video game.

But, after investing so much time and energy into one series of relatively dense reading, I wanted something somewhat lighter.

Enter – Monster Hunter International by Larry Correia

This is a completely silly, funny, action-packed, monster-filled rampage of a series. It combines a few of the book genres I really enjoy, namely military special forces books such as the Rogue Warrior series by Richard Marcinko and fantasy books such as those written by Martin and H. P. Lovecraft.

The book series follows a group of new recruits at Monster Hunters International (MHI), a company specializing in eradication of all sorts of nasty monsters, as they transition from their normal civilian lives to lives in which they must face down some of the most frightening monsters on Earth (and beyond). The books Correia has written are rich and fast-paced with plenty of finely written action scenes set in fascinating locations. Everything from office buildings to ships to inter-dimensional space, and much, much more gets blown apart with big guns and high explosives.

Each character is expertly crafted with great back-stories. The main protagonist is a former accountant who was recruited to the company after his boss turned into a werewolf. He was forced to beat his werewolf boss to death in hand-to-hand combat and succeeded by beating him up and throwing him out a 14-story window. Virtually everyone at MHI has a great back-story, and learning more about each one is a joy. The monsters they face off with or meet along the way also are unique and interesting. Werewolves, vampires, wights, inter-dimensional beings, cursed souls, and other nasty things are suitably terrifying beasts, while dancing orcs and trailer park elves offer a bit of whimsy to the proceedings. It’s a fun cast of characters that Correia has assembled. He’s packaged all of these characters into a unique and cool sci-fi/fantasy story that has tons of danger where the stakes are nothing less than the end of our world.

What’s most impressive about the work Correia has accomplished is that he is self-published. Well, he self-published when he started out, but now he has an actual publishing deal. These days you can get his stuff at Barnes & Noble. By day he is an accountant, and by night he pounds out a couple thousand words per week. He manages to finish a couple of books a year that way and has turned writing into quite the hobby. I am very impressed that someone who is not a formally trained author is able to create such intricate and entertaining works. I’ve read, or tried to read, several “authors” who were nowhere near this good. Not everyone has his understanding of plot or pacing or character depth or writing action scenes.

He has a very active blog, which you can find here, where he discusses his strategies for writing. I know there are a lot of people out there who are interested in writing novels as a hobby (I am one myself), and I have found several of his posts informative and inspirational. Here is a guy who actually did what I’ve been hoping to do for the past ten years. Finish that novel and get it published. It’s pretty cool stuff, and I’m glad he has shared his success story on the internet for our pleasure.

I can’t recommend reading Correia’s books highly enough. They are funny, fast-paced, engaging, and extremely entertaining. If you want, you can grab the collection of his first three novels in a collection called The Monster Hunters from Amazon right here.

Happy reading!

Are you familiar with Correia’s works? Are you as impressed as me? Let me know in the comments below or on Twitter!