Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia (MHI #5)

Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Read for April book group meeting.

This is the fifth installment in the Monster Hunter International series. It can be read as a standalone, but there will be a few Huh? moments that would be explained in the earlier books. This is Franks story: it's a combination of his origin, how he came to The Deal, his downfall and redemption.

I was really looking forward to this book and yet, I had a rough time getting into the story. I think it was because I was reading two books at the same time that had world-ending government conspiracies and it was a bit much all at once.

What I didn't care for:

• Fight scenes were way too long.   Pages and pages of smashing and shooting and throwing humans and monsters across rooms and into trains and on and on and on... I fully admit I started skipping pages to move things along.  Fight scenes can really only end one way...
• Stricken.  Yeah, I know that was the whole point of the book.  I didn't like him at all.
• Franks is running around making The Elixer and guzzling it by the thermos...but the story really never said how he got the original recipe. 
• Seriously?  Meyers!?!   Just...wrong. 
• Oh my goodness....so many loose ends that had better be tied up in the next installment. 

What I enjoyed:

• Franks origin story.  
• The Holy Dude - Guerres.  Cool.  
• The readers get to see MHI even if it is just for a bit.  Nice touch, that.
• Lana the succubus (even is she is a double crossing bitch...though, Franks should have known this and accounted for her treachery. Just sayin'.)
• I like how Franks remain Franks, but there is still character development.  It's not all hack and smash. 

So once I started fast forwarding through the overly long fight and chase scenes, the book became much more tolerable and I was able to settle in and enjoy. The first part of the book took me a couple weeks to slog though, the last part I read in a weekend.

Recommended if you've been reading the MHI series. This is Franks we're talking about here - perhaps the best character in the whole series.



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