Monster Hunter Siege

I just finished this book yesterday and really enjoyed it. The twist at the end was a bit predictable but doesn't detract from the story overall. The first half of the book moves a bit slow. However that's to be expected to build upon and recap some of the events in previous installments in the series. Once they get to the Island the story picks up speed and doesn't let up. The book introduces a new villain in Asag and he's particularly nasty and powerful. Who's been hinted at and teased since early in the series. As I said the ending twist was predictable but still befits the villain. Of course it wouldn't be an MHI book without fantastic action sequences, trademark dark humor, and raw emotional moments.

I'm bias'd and love this series by Larry Correla. I've read everyone and this one continues the saga. As usual it move right along and continues to create a world that is very believable but I hope is only fiction. It does draw on previous books and those new to the series will be at a loss. I strongly recommend the series but start at the beginning. The ending indicates that MHI will be back. And I'll be waiting.

The mark of a great writer is creating characters you care about. In this case, Larry Correia has accomplished this feat handily. The story moves at a fast clip covering the training and the setup of the main mission to cross into the nightmare land and rescue the hunters that had been left behind in the previous novels. With a couple of twists, I found that the author made me care about a character and then made it all the more brutal as stuff happens to him and you find out the dark terrible secret. This is a great continuation of the MHI main storyline...I thoroughly enjoyed and now wait impatiently for more...

For all the massive buildup in the previous books to this point it was a massive disappointment. The ending was weak, the super enemy even more so. Zero closure of note and frankly more mysterious but less interesting. All that being said I'll probably give this series of Larry's one more try because I've enjoyed the others quite a bit.

I really liked the beginning of this series. but as it has progressed the flaws just keep getting bigger. this book is a perfect example of that. the author seems to be trying to hide his lack of talent behind a bigger and bigger spectacle with each book. it's kind of like a summer blockbuster at the cinema, you don't need dialogue or acting skills if there are enough explosions and CGI. at this point I'm rooting for the monsters, they're so much more interesting anyway.

Hitchcock said, "Drama is life with the dull bits cut out." Monster Hunter: Siege is life with the dull bits left in. What could have been an exciting, fast-paced action book is turned into a boring, plodding story with no humor that takes a long time to get anywhere. This is a common problem for Correia, and it has happened in 3 of his last Monster Hunter books: International, Vendetta, and Legion. Interestingly, all three books are written in the first person personal from the point of view of Pitt, an accountant. Maybe Correia's point is, just as accounting is dull, so a book written by an accountant should be dull. But the book doesn't need t be dull. In the two Monster Hunter stories written in the 3rd person personal the stories move along much faster. Alpha, for example, switches between multiple points of view and even includes a first person story in the middle of the book and is a very enjoyable read. Nemesis is the other example of a fast-moving story that is all action and moves from interesting event to interesting event smoothly and easily with clever humor. Correia's Grimoire Chronicles trilogy is also written in the 3rd person personal and is fast moving and interesting with a good sense of humor. Maybe the point is Correia should put his Pitt character in a deep, dark pit, and start writing in 3rd person personal all the time.

As much as I really like the MHI series, this was left me with a "meh" feeling. I typically finish a MHI book within a few days. This book took me - uninterested.

In my opinion, this story could have been told in about a 1/3 of the pages in this book. It was repetitive and slow movie. The action that this series is known for was missing.

If I had to characterize this book, I was call it an "noneffective bridge" book. A typical bridge book answers lingering questions and ties of loose ends of current book arcs while introducing new ones that allow the series to continue. None of that happened in this book.

I gave this book two stars simply on the power of Mr. Correia's wordsmith.

Originally posted at Fantasy Literature. Audio version.

Monster Hunter: Siege is the sixth novel in Larry Correia’s MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL (MHI) series. If you’re a fan of Correia but haven’t read MHI, I can tell you that you’ll love it, so go back to Monster Hunter International and start there. If you’re totally new to Larry Correia and you’re not sure if MHI is for you, please read my review of Monster Hunter International — I think it’ll give you a good feel for whether or not you’ll like the series. I called it “entertaining dude-lit,” if that’s any help.

Monster Hunter: Siege is a sequel to the fourth MHI book, Monster Hunter: Legion. Recall that there was a huge monster-hunter convention in Las Vegas and that, at the end of Legion, several monster hunters from different parts of the world were sucked into another dimension. Owen Zastava Pitt (MHI’s best hunter) feels guilty about this and wants to save them, but his friends think that will be impossible.

As they begin to study the problem and collect intelligence, Owen comes up with a crazy idea that just might work. It involves collecting and training a thousand monster hunters from across the globe, travelling to a frozen radioactive monster-infested island off the coast of Russia, and laying siege to the ancient god’s nightmare world. It’s not fun for the monster hunters, or for Owen, but it’s plenty of fun for the reader.

Fans of MONSTER HUNTER INTERNATIONAL (a group which, surprisingly, includes me) will be pleased with Monster Hunter: Siege. It’s got everything we’ve come to expect from Correia — tough but loveable characters, humor, snappy dialog, grotesque monsters, warring cosmic factions, a biker death cult, head-banging orcs, trailer park elves, a breakneck pace, and plenty of gun porn (that’s the part I have trouble appreciating). I especially liked the frigid and remote settings in Siege.

We learn more about Owen and his family in this novel, too, especially his dad. Things are starting to fall into place for Owen (and the reader) as he begins to put the pieces together and figure out how he got where he is. Owen doesn’t know what the future holds, but he does know that it looks grim. I look forward to finding out what happens to him next.

I keep mentioning the audio versions of MHI which are produced by Audible Studios. The performance of the narrator, Oliver Wyman, is spot-on and spectacular. I wouldn’t think of reading this series in print. If you think you’re not an audio reader, please give these audiobooks a try. I guarantee that you will enjoy them! Monster Hunter: Siege is 15.5 hours long in audio format.

Literature's most thinly veiled wish fulfillment, his crew of racist stereotypes and hot women that Owen would NOT mess with are back to shoot more monsters.

Owen Z. Pitt, a cross between the Punisher and Eric Lilliebridge (and who is strangely out of shape for a guy with such an active job), finally takes on the Big Bad that's been alluded to in previous books.

Spoiler alert: the Big Bad isn't a cool monster, but instead a personified naturally occurring phenomenon that ends up with a man crush on Owen. Not kidding.

I can't wait for book 7 where Owen meets the *real* Big Bad that's pulling all the strings, strong nuclear force. He'll take it on and defeat it with new hunters Doug Fairbanks, a gay tech blogger from San Francisco, Mohammed Ackbar, a turban wearing Saudi hunter that rides a camel into battle, and Akna Kakrayok, a fur wearing Alaskan hunter that shuns the use of firearms and uses a spear exclusively. And lest we forget, at least three hot women that Owen will mention many, many times should not be messed with.

I was only going to give this two stars, but the absence of Franks, the worst character in the MHI universe nets it one more.

I am somewhat surprised to learn that this is the first novel I’ve reviewed by Larry Correia. I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed all the books in the Monster Hunter Series plus his Grimnoir Chronicle and I’d be happy to try anything else he’s written. Aside from interesting characters and hard-biting action, Correia has that gift of presenting something you think you know all about in a different, fascinating, and often hilarious way. So he has nasty old-world trolls who love the internet and surf it better than anyone. He’s got a geek cyclops. His gnomes are all gansta and well you get the picture. Correia’s books are just fun!

The Monster Hunter Series is a refreshing take on the rather well-worn idea that creatures of myth and legend really do exist in our world. The Monster Hunters are private contractors who risk their lives (for a good payday) to eliminate the monsters when they appear. The governments of the world often seem more interested in covering up the existence of the monsters than in actually winning the war against them.

This latest volume chronicles the effort to take the fight to a near-godly-powered entity instead of waiting for him to make his next bid to bring about the apocalypse. While it’s the weakest of the Monster Hunter books so far, most of the time I was reading it I greatly resented any interruption that made me put it down. The stakes are huge and getting even larger, and the cliff-hanger at the end which sets up the next novel is terribly painful. This is a series you really ought to give a try.

Review based on the E-Arc. I very much enjoyed this book and this series and I recommend it. Speaking generally, the book does suffer in comparison with earlier entries largely due, in my opinion, the fact that the book does not conclude so much as stop at a cliffhanger. While the other books indicated that the story would continue, in this entry my feeling was "wait, it's stopping here?"

Recap / Spoilers

Moving back to the POV of Owen Pitt, the book starts with Owen and his brother talking to their father about his experiences with the Others and what Dad was "sent back" to do. There is follow up on the hint given in a previous book that the Hunter's "lost" in the nightmare realm may be able to be rescued. Owen also pitches going on the offensive against the Big Bad hinted at in the previous books. Lots of appearances from established characters and new characters as well. The "peace conference" between the heavy metal Orcs and the trailer park Elves was quite funny.

So for fans of the series, pick this up. If you are new to Larry Correia or the series, be sure to read the earlier volumes first.

Larry Correia knocks another one out of the park.
With this sixth book in the series the scale and scope of the challenge to Owen and MHI is greater, without resorting to ever more outrageous or impossible villains.

This time around it's a lot more personal and you can really feel the weight of responsibility that Owen puts himself under.

I've just finished reading it for the second time and some of the emotional scenes hit me even harder this time around. Without any spoilers I'll say there are some scenes that will have your heart swelling with pride over the actions of these characters.

Correia delivers another entertaining and imaginative entry in the Monster Hunter series. Unfortunately it ends on a remarkably abrupt cliffhanger. Listening to the audiobook I wasn't closely watching the time remaining and so I was shocked when, just as I was expecting the story to go into its climactic "third act", the narrator instead announced the Epilogue. Hopefully the next volume in the series isn't too far away, because as it stands the story feels highly incomplete. As it stands, my recommendation is to wait on that next installment to be available before reading this one.

I am a huge fan of the series. This book was a very anti-climatic for me. There was a great deal of build up for a massive confrontation and never materialized. The last half an hour of the book seemed a very deus ex machina ending. I also really dislike books that have a longish (the author has every right to set his publication timetable) publication cycle that leave you with a cliffhanger. I hate writing less than stellar reviews, this is the first Larry Correia book I've ever not thought was 5 star. Honestly both my wife and I were a bit disappointed.

I'm sure the rest of the series will blow my socks off and I await the follow on books.

I had a kick out of the first few MHI books, as well as the Grimnoir Chronicles. Then I read Dead Six, and I noticed that Correia's politics bed through in the worst possible manner.

Well, sadly the MHI series has started to go the same way. Owen's narrative voice has become grating and Correia's cartoon idea of right wing politics can only be there to pander to the lowest common denominator. I mean, describing a helicopter firing upon a six-legged monster and setting it on fire to have it cut down by heavy gun fire and remark that "PETA would have a fit" because of that is FOX News' idea of clever. Really? An ONG focused on the ethical treatment of animals would protest a team of mercenary orcs and humans killing a six-legged freak monster in the middle of a warzone to prevent the end of the world?

The only people who think that was a clever line are the ones who cheered when Correia included a character whose name was not mentioned but was obviously Michael Moore in Dead Six a scene where it's shown that he's in league with a Saddam Hussein analogue because, obviously, liberals are traitors to America.

The book itself is mostly boring and inconsequential to its own plot and the overall narrative arc of the series. Filler, if there ever was one. And the Mary Sueness of Owen Pitt is pretty much worn-thin by now.

It is a cliff hanger. As Larry said "this is Empire Strikes Back". You do get to the end and want to tell Larry that he is not quite finished. It also hypes you up for Monster Hunter Guardian. There are a good number of key facts in this book that you won't want to miss as the series continues. Even though its not up to Larry's normal epic novel standards there are a ton of LOL moments and some great character development.
MHN will enjoy and start heckling for the next book!

While I enjoyed the book, I cannot reccomend it to a new reader. I feel the first half of the book suffers from having a known target and goal as opposed to earlier books which seemingly stumbled into a mess. As a long time reader, I enjoyed what I read, though the early part of the book dragged a bit.

I am very curious what the PUFF total was after the assault phase. Good to see Management is still around.

Best of the series. Well paced . Not so full of fighting and killing that it blurs together. Owen did not fly into wild, 3 year olds, mindless tantrums. I actually liked Owen Zastava Pitt in Siege, where in some of the past books, I just wanted to slap him for being such a hot headed Jerk. Looking forward to the next book.

Wish I could give this one four and a half stars. It's almost perfect to me. Just gets a little tedious in one spot. Other than that, it's an excellent next story in one of my favorite storylines. Mr. Correia crafts one hell of a story and Siege does not disappoint. Siege is a very close second in my favorite books of this series. Alpha (third book) is still my favorite so far. MHI fans will not be disappointed in this chapter of the continuing adventures of the Monster Hunter saga.

I actually really liked detailed grand scale nature of this book. It’s the MHI’s equivalent of “D-Day” as opposed to the normal “Let’s throw a werewolf through the window and grab a beer” scale. Great read...but now the wait begins..

I love the series. But this book is my least favorite of them all. It had some fun stuff, sure, but nothing as cool as Franks vs. Earl or Owen turning back time.

Meh, if you are a fan of the series, buy it anyway. But maybe wait till the next book comes out and buy them together.

This was a very good book and can't wait for the next one. This keeps the story moving forward from the last book. Pitt is the main character and you get to see some more of his flaws in a grander scale.

I absolutely love this series. It is easily one of the best modern horror stories I've read in a long time. The mix of Fantasy, Horror, Action, Comedy is fresh, the characters likeable, and the themes and storylines phenomenal. My only complaint is that the book ends, and I have to wait for the next one...

If you're honestly wondering "is this gonna be good" then you obviously haven't read the first five Monster Hunter books (or the Grimnoir trilogy, or anything else Larry Correia has graced us with) in which case, go buy them too, because this won't make a lick of sense if you haven't read the first five. Yes, it's a major investment of your time. IT IS WORTH IT. Now go get to it, you can thank me later.

OH and I totally forgot. If you're into ebooks, you can get book #1 for free via the publisher.

I loved the MHI books, mostly (wasn't that thrilled with Alpha). I've been looking forward to #6 for quite a while, tho after reading the reviews I didn't want to spend that much $ on it. I got it sorta on the cheap, tho, and am only mildly glad I bought it, but very glad I didn't spend much.

This book barely advances to overall story arc that was established in books 1,2, & 4, where Z is destined to save the world from the Big Bad Apocalyptic Cheese. The entire book could easily have been done in, at most, a novella. There's a huge amount of filler, vast chunks of time spent with not-particularly interesting tasks such as running around gathering up a bunch of hunters from all over the world (who end up doing basically nothing), enormous & dull hunks of time spent traveling --on foot, in trucks, in a boat. About as exciting as driving through Kansas.

It started out encouraging enough, literally taking up moments after "Legion" left off, with Mosh & Z in their Dad's kitchen, hearing his story.

Sounds great! Then....blah. Bureaucracy, talking, traveling, negotiating, gathering supplies, & tedium. There is one good monster fight scene in Russia --actually the only good action scene in the book-- where Z has to fight some watery critter, & it's the best kind of MHI fight; guns & knives & pipes & fists, Z thrashing around, getting all filthy & having the monster beat the tar out of him. But it's brief.

Then lots & lots & lots more blah. The gang eventually gets to the island, & more tedious traveling & setup ensue. Some fighting happens, but (as in most of the rest of the book) it's actually boring action --the monsters obligingly gang up at a distance so the "action" consists of the hunters shooting & reloading, shooting & reloading, repeat til all the monsters are dead. MHI might as well have gone to a carnival shooting gallery & shot at the little ducks that trundle back & forth.

There is one epic battle where things get down & dirty...offstage. Z stands around & hears some of it, the wounded get carried past him & he hears what an amazing fight it was, but neither Z nor we see any of it. We get to watch while Z stands around & waits til it's over. Z eventually gets to the nightmare world & we plod along behind him while we hikes endlessly & runs away from monsters. And spends a helluva lotta time talking to Jason. Z gets buried & we spend another semi-eternity sitting around with him while he waits for someone to bail him out. Eventually some more people talk about what epic battles they fought, but we don't see any of those, either. Wrap.

So, the gist is: not much action, not much happens, & nothing as far as advancing the so-called Apocalyptic battle that Z was born to fight --gotta buy the next book, you see. Clearly Corriea has either lost interest in the series, lost all respect for his readers, or both. He obviously thinks he can crank out crap & his legions of loyal fans will fork out the cash anyway. This is a fairly common writer's disease & I for one find it infuriating. Corriea isn't going to get another cent out of me until/unless he decides to put some effort into an MHI book, one that isn't just a short story bloated to novel length with indigestible & boring filler designed solely to separate his fans from their cash.

One of the few SF/action/mil fic writers that didn't do this was Tanya Huff in her Confederation Series; she kept up the quality of the books throughout & even carried it over into the Peacekeeper books, with the same outstanding main character, Torin Kerr (who, IMO, is the best female character in about any genre --a truly rare creation; a strong, smart female character that isn't just a bitch), as well as a number of other interesting & well-developed characters & many different really excellent aliens.