Monster
Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia
Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Monsters and Monster Hunters!
Welcome to the Heavyweight Championship of the WOOORRRLLLDDD! In
the red, blue and white corner, he's big, he's mean, he's a German
made killing machine! America's number government mandated killer!
You know him as Agent Franks, aka Frankenstein Monster! And in the
black and red corner, brought to us by a secret government task force
bent on creating domesticated monsters that kill on command, from
beyond the borders of the reality and from before time, give it up
for the Hordes of Hell! Are you ready for a fight!?!
I hope the answer was yes! Because if you pick up this book you're
getting one! Monster Hunter Nemesis is the 5th book in
the Monster Hunter series by Larry Correia. Mr. Correia started out
as a independent writer, part time shooting instructor and accountant
(wait... This sounds familiar Correia.). His first book Monster
Hunter International was actually independently published, hit
Entertainment Weekly's best seller list and got him a contract with
BAEN, when the book was republished it hit the Locus bestseller list.
A number of his books since have been on the New York Times
bestseller lists as well. Additionally Mr. Correia has written a lot
of short stories. Including one I love involving a trailer trash elf
and a ninja warrior orc who team up to save people from evil Fey in
the American South. Yeah, you heard me and it was awesome! Look
guys, if ninja orcs and gangsta gnomes are wrong? Then fuck you! I
don't wanna be right!
As I said, this book is the 5th in a series. If you
haven't read the others, do so. Honestly, read them first because
otherwise you will have no idea what the hell is going on. Which is
going to be a point against this book. While I enjoyed seeing the
characters and threads from other books woven into this story, if you
haven't read the other books you have no damn idea who these people
are or why you should care. That said the story does stand on it's
own and a new reader should be able to pick up on the basics without
reading the other books (that said read the other books). The
Monster Hunter series is a damn good series in my view but at this
point the books no longer stand on their own. The action is well
written, the fight series intense and interesting. The world slowly
revealed over the books is a interesting on that provokes rampant
speculation on just what is going on and frankly I really like a lot
of the characters (Trip is best monster hunter. That is all.). Some
readers do find themselves disliking Owen Pitt, but for those of you
who do... Good news, he's not a view point character here. No, this
book isn't about Owen. This book is about Agent Franks.
Beware for in this book you will see the secret origin of Agent
Franks, aka the Frankenstein Monster. Told via flashbacks from the
1st person viewpoint of Franks himself. In between these
flashbacks we get the story of Agent Franks being on the business end
of what he's so often handed out. A government cover up and monster
hunt. Since it's a 1st person narrative (really just
about all of Correia's books are, it's an interesting quirk really)
we get the chance to peer into Agent's Franks misshapen skull and
it's an interesting view. Franks is the most inhuman character yet
to get an in depth treatment in this story. He's just human enough
to understand but you'll be cruising along when Franks reminds you
that he is utterly and completely inhuman. Let me be clear here, I
don't mean lacking in social skills or autistic or anything like
that. I mean inhuman in his views and understanding of how the
universe works. Which is more terrifying because you start to
realize as the book goes on, that he maybe completely right in how he
views the universe. Correia does a good job in getting Franks voice
right and in making him distinct from Owen or Harbinger. Franks does
not sound like either of these men, he does not share their beliefs
or their connection to the human race. At the same time we are given
things help us empathize with Franks. He does honestly want to
protect humanity from monsters, even if he's a little indifferent to
individuals. He does have a real friendship to Agent Myers and a
sense of loyalty and duty driving him to put himself in danger for
people who don't even like him very much. There are also little
things, like Franks being able to recognize beauty but not having any
emotional response to it and being frustrated by that. He gets that
humans are moved by things like sunsets and paintings but he looks at
this and doesn't feel a damn thing. This... This sticks in his craw
a bit and I found it kinda interesting (there's more here but then
we're in spoiler turf).
Contrasting Franks being inhuman and somewhat regretting it is the
biologically human but completely monstrous Stricken, leader of
Secret Task Force Unicorn. Secret Task Force Unicorn (introduced in
Monster Hunter Alpha) is a even more secret government agency where
we stick monsters who might be able to live in human society without
you know... Eating people. Stricken is the asshole in charge of this
and frankly the monsters he leads have more humanity then this pale
jackass. Hell, a number of the monsters who were eating people in
prior books have more humanity then this guy! He's full of contempt
for his fellow man, has an utter disregard of human (or other) life
and sees the system of law and government as just another club to
beat down anyone who doesn't give him what he wants. The whole time
he's talking about how no one else understands what it takes to
protect humanity from monster but him. Honestly given how his way of
protecting humanity involves murdering a number of the men and women
in charge of protecting us and framing our best weapon for the deed
so he can be the sole owner of all the supernatural and paranormal
assets in the US government and have total control of the
information... Well... Let me put it this way. Hey Stricken? I
don't believe a damn word to fall out of your pasty white noise hole
dude. I will give the guy this, he's really good at playing a
situation and getting people to do what he wants and he never, never
gives up. These are important traits for a villain, especially one
in government work.
I also want to take a moment to point out the other members of STFU
(God that gives me the giggles, I will admit it) who help present a
more human face to the organization. Despite one of them being a
werewolf, this would be Heather Kerkonen. Heather is a hot redhead,
a former police officer and a werewolf working for the government so
she can be exempt from the bounty we place on monsters (this might
sound cruel. Let me point out that Heather is the 2nd
werewolf we've met in 5 books who doesn't engage in mass murder as a
hobby.). Her origin story was written back in Monster Hunter Alpha
(I told you, you had read the other books) and we see her now some
time later halfway through her term as a government killing machine.
She's stuck working for Stricken. She knows Stricken is the kind of
guy who gives assholes a bad name. So when the order to kill Franks
comes down, she does what every good person of the canine persuasion
should do, she digs in and starts sniffing around. In addition to
this is Beth Flierl (how do you even say that?) her team lead and
completely human type person who wants to clean up STFU. They make a
good side story with some nice intersections and some really good
fights.
I've been asked to go over how this book and this series treats
women by a friend. Since this is a good friend of mine and he asked
me instead of demanding, let me take some time to go into this. This
is part of why the review took so long by the way. Correia is very
clearly a male writer more comfortable writing other guys. Or at
least it seems that way. Most of his view point characters are male.
I'm not gonna throw rocks at the guy because when I write my own
stuff, I'm way more comfortable writing men then I am women. That
said Correia does give women the helm every now and again and he
treats his female view point characters with the same respect he
treats his male ones. Additionally, there are a good number of
recurring women characters in this series, from Julie, the heir to
Monster Hunters Inc, who is shown as a great shot and has rescued the
main character a number of times. She is shown to be better at
things then her male counterpart, who is better at other things. To
Heather as I mentioned above. There's also Holly who I imagine would
be the character who draws the most protests. This is because she
used to be a stripper and the character doesn't shy away from that
part of her past. That said, it is her past. She never strips in
the book, nor is she ever shown as less competent a hunter as the
men. For that matter her sexuality is never allowed to dominate her
character. She is not a vamp or a prize for the men in the group to
fight over (to be honest she doesn't actually have a romance plot,
that's given over to Julie and Owen in the series). That said, I am
cheering on the Trip/Holly ship. That said, with the exception of
Holly so far, Correia does suffer from a need to pair up his
characters. Even the bloody vampires get paired up if they survive a
book (which is rare, our heroes are really good at killing things
what go bump in the night). I could go into his other series, The
Grimnoir Chronicles, where a number of women characters are shown to
be more powerful then the men, but I don't want to waste space.
I've never met Correia, and honestly I'm not sure we've get along if
we did (he's a libertarian, I think that system simply doesn't work
in the real world) but if he is sexist, he's doing really good job
keeping it from his books... Which frankly is all I ask for. I
really don't care that he has different politics then I do. All I
ask that he make entertaining books that aren't gonna beat me over
the head with his beliefs. Which he does. So I'm happy. Mr.
Correia on the astonishingly unlikely chance you ever read this, this
Marine thinks you're doing okay. Now lets move on.
This book also serves an important function in the series. Starting
to tie the various elements of the series into a coherent mythology.
The revealed facts up until now have been very interesting but at the
same time... A little conflicting. This is a universe where there
are Lovecraftian creatures, Elves, Orcs, Oni, Trolls, Dragons, Fey,
werewolves, vampires and Judeo-Christian Demons. Add in that modern
technology can blast them... Or you can ward off most of them if your
faith is pure enough (earlier in the series we see a Mormon character
stand off a vampire). It's an awesome setting but it's a little
schizophrenic and with Franks help this books starts bringing it all
together into a coherent understandable framework you can sum up in
less then a paragraph. Which was at this point in the series kind
needful. It also does this while giving a hell of a floor show,
which is always a plus.
Let me talk about the action in this book. It is amazing. This is
a book written by a man who understands the joys of the old 80s
action movies. Fuck this book could go action scene for action scene
with 90% of them! We got gun fights, fist fights, monster brawls,
blade action, bombs! You are spoiled for choice and it is written
with good attention to detail and pace. It doesn't drag, it doesn't
go to fast. You are allowed to enjoy the sheer spectacle unfolding
before you while not being forced to drag your feet. This man can
write action! The dialogue is pretty good to, the various characters
have different voices and word choices, so I'm never for example
reading Heather lines thinking they belong to Franks. That said
while the dialogue is done in a professional and workmen like manner,
it's nothing special. I really think that past books did a better
job of that. This may be a consequence of letting the terse and
laconic Agent Franks take such a center position in the book. But it
won't detract from your attention.
Additionally, wow, this series has gotten really self referential.
I figure someone who hasn't read at least up to Monster Hunter Alpha
would be completely and utterly lost here. I honestly find that a
problem. It's an increasing problem in fantasy books where
publishers have been pushing more and more for long series that never
end. I understand why, sequels have inbuilt audiences and new books
are risky but man... I'm starting to get a little tired of everything
having to be a 12 book series. That said I'd read this over the
Wheel of Time any day of the week (send your hatemail to
frigiddon'tcare!@gmail.com)...
No I'm serious there guys, I stop reading Wheel of Time around book 5
or 6.
While I wouldn't say this series is dragging, there are some plot
points I would like to see resolved already! Unleash the demons and
the end of the world or don't Correia but stop teasing me about it!
Monster Hunter Nemesis gets a hardcore B, due to be being
inaccessible to anyone who hasn't read the last 4 books. Beyond that
it's a good solid action fantasy book with nothing to be ashamed of.
Oh... You're wondering why I didn't address the other thing? Well...
Next up! I alienate half my audience with a sidebar over the whole
Hugo thing. After that I go back into nonfiction. Stay tuned!
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