Review: Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Title: Hounded 

Author:  Kevin Hearne
Publisher: Del Rey 

Publishing Date:  January 1st, 2011

Pages: 292
Genre: Adult Urban Fantasy

Series:  The Iron Druid Chronicles #1
Source: Audio

 

Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, lives peacefully in Arizona, running an occult bookshop and shape-shifting in his spare time to hunt with his Irish wolfhound. His neighbors and customers think that this handsome, tattooed Irish dude is about twenty-one years old—when in actuality, he’s twenty-one centuries old. Not to mention: He draws his power from the earth, possesses a sharp wit, and wields an even sharper magical sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer.

Unfortunately, a very angry Celtic god wants that sword, and he’s hounded Atticus for centuries. Now the determined deity has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power—plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, his vampire and werewolf team of attorneys, a bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good old-fashioned luck of the Irish—to kick some Celtic arse and deliver himself from evil.

I found this book by accident on a list of Druid reads. I was not aware of this series before. Once I discovered this cool cover I went and researched reviews. Because that is what I do. I found this had a lot of great reviews. So I bought it on Audio... and had it there for a long long time. Til just last week. I have read it, I loved it, and now I am going to review how much I loved this book. It was fantastic! 

Atticus O'Sullivan is a druid a 21-century old druid. Once upon a time, he stole a very powerful sword and now everyone wants to kill him, especially a powerful god that enlists the help of some bloodthirsty Fae. Of course, this causes a mess and he has to call upon his lawyers which are a werewolf and a vampire for some help. Somehow down the road he picks up an apprentice that has a Hindu witch inside her (which needs some help of her own) and after all this, the powerful god decides to kidnap some friends of the furry kind and all hell breaks loose. This team of powerful paranormal team up to give this god a beat down. 

This book was pretty spectacular. I just adored Atticus. I could ramble on about him forever. He is a pretty smooth operator. Good long, pretty powerful, charming, strong... yup I fell for him hard. I also adored his wolfhound. That dog was freaking hilarious and the relationship they had was pretty cool. 

Everyone in this book was pretty awesome. That is what makes a great book for me is the characters. this book had an array of very colorful characters. I like the fact they were all different paranormal/fantasy types and all had such strong stand-alone personalities. The book had so many freaking hilarious moments I was laughing out loud many times at my desk at work. Yes, people looked at me funny, but they know I listen to audio and so do they so it's all cool. I liked the Morgan. Creepy as hell but pretty cool. If you like the evil kind. I also very much liked the Hindu witch. Those I think were my favorites. 

There were a ton of battle scenes in this book. Even though the fight scenes were done well in this book and the action was good,  it did overwhelm the book a little for me. I felt it slowed the book up for me... however some would love all the battle scenes.  The ending scene was pretty awesome though.Loved it.

I enjoyed all the paranormal aspects of the book. The story was pretty cool. Not the stealing of the sword and pissing a god off. All though that was pretty funny... the story behind how it happened. What set this story apart from other urban fantasies was all the different fantasy type of characters,  all the histories of these characters, and all the character interactions. It was the characters that made this book. 

So if you are looking for a book with great world building and character development this is the read for you. I just found out the last book of the series is out and I am so happy I get to read them all and no waiting. 

A very funny read! I loved it and can't wait to read more. 

Kevin is the NYT bestselling author of the Iron Druid Chronicles, as well as two forthcoming series: The Seven Kennings, an epic fantasy trilogy, and Tales of Pell, a fantasy series co-authored with Delilah S. Dawson. Books 1-8 of the Iron Druid Chronicles are out now; BESIEGED, a collection of new Iron Druid stories, will be out July 11; A PLAGUE OF GIANTS, the first book of The Seven Kennings, will be out Oct. 17.