What do the letters ICMHP mean to you? Before reading this book it looked like nothing but gibberish, but shortly after stating Monster Hunter Legion we are told it stands for the International Conference of Monster Hunting Professionals. The conference, the first ever, was set up to pull hunters from around the world together in an effort to make them better at their job. Once again we are treated to Owen Zastava Pitt’s point of view, which makes sense since he is such a central figure in this series. His team arrives in Las Vegas just having completed a job, and he is trying to enjoy a buffet, when his past runs into him quite literally.
In Monster Hunter International we learn that Owen used to be an illegal pit fighter, and his last fight was with a man who was even larger than he was. The reason that fight was his last fight was that he came very close to beating that man to death, in fact, he cost the man one of his eyes. But when Jason Lacoco runs into Owen, he immediately recognizes the man who beat him and instantly started a fight that quickly drew in all the hunters that were trying to eat.
During Douglas Stark’s, the new Director of the Monster Control Buro, speech the hunters are all called to a new meeting with Mr. Stricken who offers the hunters present a chance at getting a ten million dollar prize. The hunters all race to collect on the new PUFF bounty and one of the teams, Grim Berlin out of Germany, manage to collect the bounty with an assist from MHI.
After celebrating their victory, everything goes south, and the hunters are in a race to survive from a monster that seems to have no substantial form. Though Mr. Stricken does make contact with the quarantined hunters and tells them, they have to either kill the monster or die when their time is up. Once again Owen has to match wits with monsters, Management and even Mr. Striken, who is pulling the strings of the MCB.
Unfortunately for Owen and all the other hunters, this particular monster can pluck any fear from the heart of any of the hunters who are trapped within the hotel and make it real. And with the collection of hunters at the conference, there are plenty of nasty and violent creatures for the monster to choose from. So the violence level is right where fans of the series expect, which means the rush is right where they hope it to be. Making Monster Hunter Legion a fantastic addition to the Monster Hunter series.