SPOILERS(?): Anyone read Monster Hunters International by Larry Correia?

[grumpy3b]

Just asking because I am reading it right now and am just getting through the early part at the training of the new monster hunters. More details in the SPOILER section. Wanted to prevent accidently harming the story for others.

Spoiler:

There has been a total style change from the early pages of how the protagonist becomes a monster hunter. That part has action but also nice character development. The writing was OK, not great but good for a relatively early novel by Correia.

But this shift as the story moves into the training center part of the story has become totally plodding and down right crappy writing I am leery of bothering with the rest of the book. I don't need detailed narratives about guns, ammo and any other sort of skinhead/Idaho Nazi level writing.

Color me very disappointed right now. And I never am this ready to bail on a book.

[jgaiser]

Not reading Spoiler...

Just picked up a copy this evening from Baen. Some pretty good reviews.

[grumpy3b]

cool, hope you enjoy it!! I loved the beginning but as I noted it bogged down for me. Just settling in to read a bit more tonight, we'll see how it progresses.

Spoiler:

Hopefully the gun-porn will stop and it will get back to the wonderful story I thought I was buying. Right now I feel like I should be shaving my dome and getting a swastika tattoo on the back and my forehead in order to continue reading.

[siraks]

just loaded mine onto the kobo as well, i hear nothing but good things about this book and am excited to get into it.

cool, hope you enjoy it!! I loved the beginning but as I noted it bogged down for me. Just settling in to read a bit more tonight, we'll see how it progresses.

hmmm not liking the word bogged down. on my kobo it's 478p and maybe he couldn't sustain the fun for all of the pages. i'm hoping it's good and looking forward to getting into it.

[grumpy3b]

Originally Posted by siraks

hmmm not liking the word bogged down. on my kobo it's 478p and maybe he couldn't sustain the fun for all of the pages. i'm hoping it's good and looking forward to getting into it.

Nope...not to worry. I was just coming back to note after the section I found to be quite tedious it is as if the novel was written by a different writer for that small, tiny subsection of the novel. After that part it becomes the fun, campy Bruce Campbell-esque story the beginning promised!!

So read-on Macduff it is a fun read. Lot's of fun parts and actually interesting characters. Really the novel goes from where I wrote it was for me to actually quite good!! Just shows-to-go-ya that one really needs to let a novel unfold before adding any review type info. I actually read until about 6Am this morning it got so fun. I am even looking forward to reading the sequel "Monster Hunter Vendetta" now. Ask me yesterday at this time and I would have bet everything that would never be possible!!

[pwalker8]

I read both the Monster Hunters International and the sequel. I though both books were a lot of fun. The audio book for MHI was well done also. He also just started a new series which is basically set in the Depression, but with paranormal abilities. It didn't do as much for me, but was still better than 90% of the books out there.

[jgaiser]

I'm a few chapters into MHI and I've got to say that the writing is 'interesting'. It's so over the top that I'm not sure whether I like it or not. I'll continue for the time being.

[zespectre]

If you like the "over the top" style of MHI, you might also want to check out the completely tongue-in-cheek style of the "Bureau 13" books by Nick Pollotta.

Personally I quickly figured out that Larry's books were just a roller-coaster in a funhouse...don't over-analyze them just enjoy the ride!

Also, for those confused by the style you might be interested to know what Larry Corria's "real" job is a well known and respected firearms trainer and it might also interest you to know that the seeds of what became the MHI books started as a fun thread in a firearms forum. In other words it was a book about gunnies written for gunnies that just happened to find a broader appeal.

[siraks]

Originally Posted by grumpy3b

After that part it becomes the fun, campy Bruce Campbell-esque story the beginning promised!!

fantastic.
got me worried there for a second but i was going to give it a chance regardless. i'm a huge fan of bruce campbell and his style so if this was written in that over the top style as has been mentioned in this thread then i'm pretty sure i'll love the book. when i get into it i'll post my ideas... so many books to read.

[grumpy3b]

Originally Posted by zespectre

If you like the "over the top" style of MHI, you might also want to check out the completely tongue-in-cheek style of the "Bureau 13" books by Nick Pollotta.

Personally I quickly figured out that Larry's books were just a roller-coaster in a funhouse...don't over-analyze them just enjoy the ride!

Also, for those confused by the style you might be interested to know what Larry Corria's "real" job is a well known and respected firearms trainer and it might also interest you to know that the seeds of what became the MHI books started as a fun thread in a firearms forum. In other words it was a book about gunnies written for gunnies that just happened to find a broader appeal.

That would explain the gun-porn part of the story. Thankfully that is fairly well controlled outside one small portion of the story. While I get a kick out of "Sons of Guns" because those guys are pretty fun to watch, gun-porn does not blow my skirt up, I mean if I wore one that is!! haha...I have to say the gun details really do not add to the story adding no value hence, the whole gun-porn tag. Hey we all have to have our porn so if that does it for the bulletheads out there, so be it. It's a fun story, I'm in the final 3rd of the book now. Prolly taking today off though too much catching up around the house.

[grumpy3b]

Originally Posted by siraks

fantastic.
got me worried there for a second but i was going to give it a chance regardless. i'm a huge fan of bruce campbell and his style so if this was written in that over the top style as has been mentioned in this thread then i'm pretty sure i'll love the book. when i get into it i'll post my ideas... so many books to read.

cool, glad my follow-up was of some value to you. Bruce Campbell has been a fav actor of mine is Army of Darkness. To me that is the very definition of good campy movie fun and it sort of set a personal standard against which I judge all other movies of similar ilk. Of course Hot Fuzz is perilously close to pushing Brucie Boy out of that top spot. Hot Fuzz is neck-n-neck with Army of Darkness now.

Enjoy the book when you get time to read it. Look forward to reading your take on the story. I am going to ration the two novels to every other month so the next won't feel like overkill.

Oh, I did grab Hard Magic when over at Webscription as well. The blurb sounded very fun. Hope the gun-porn is no worse than in MHI.

[siraks]

read the first chapter last night before bed, after finishing some other books. so far the first chapter started off with good action and fun and at times i tried to predict his next move but he did something different. pretty good start thus far, about to read chapter 2 on my lunch and then tonight get into it a bit more.

[maianhvk]

I read somewhere else (on MobileRead of course) that MHI is interesting, and look forward to giving it a go. I have it on the device already, but it can wait until I finish Kingkiller chronicle.

[grumpy3b]

Originally Posted by siraks

read the first chapter last night before bed, after finishing some other books. so far the first chapter started off with good action and fun and at times i tried to predict his next move but he did something different. pretty good start thus far, about to read chapter 2 on my lunch and then tonight get into it a bit more.

Super...can't wait to read how you found the next few chapters. I sense I just was in a foul mood the day I read that first part.

Now here is irony bitting me in the rear-end, I haven't had time to finish that last third of the book this week. So there is a solid chance you'll finish before me.

[siraks]

Originally Posted by grumpy3b

Super...can't wait to read how you found the next few chapters. I sense I just was in a foul mood the day I read that first part.

Now here is irony bitting me in the rear-end, I haven't had time to finish that last third of the book this week. So there is a solid chance you'll finish before me.

i can see how the next couple of chapters, compared to the first are a bit different. we start out so hectic with an awesome battle but then settle down for the next few and a lot of time goes by in the book as well. it's an introduction of sorts, it's not bad by any means. i'm 10% .. 100 pages through right now and i have no problems with it, i'm enjoying it and have good voices and pictures in my head as to how the characters look and talk so that makes it more fun. plus it's a topic i enjoy so it's not like i'm trudging through it, you get a good feel for the writing and character development in the beginning.

MHI i can already imagine the thrill ride that will occur. just yesterday i was telling a friend about a movie that i loved when i was younger, from 1987, the monster squad. i know that the similarities end at the monster part because that movie is more of a kids flick but if you take the feel of the movie and add the MHI characters you can get a good sense of what we're dealing with.