Atticus O’Sullivan has been running for two thousand years and he’s a bit tired of it. After he stole a magical sword from the Tuatha Dé Danann (those who became the Sidhe or the Fae) in a first century battle, some of them were furious and gave chase, and some were secretly amused that a Druid had the cheek to defy them. As the centuries passed and Atticus remained an annoyingly long-lived fugitive, those who were furious only grew more so, while others began to aid him in secret.
Now he’s living in Tempe, Arizona, the very last of the Druids, far from where the Fae can easily find him. It’s a place where many paranormals have decided to hide from the troubles of the Old World—from an Icelandic vampire holding a grudge against Thor to a coven of Polish witches who ran from the German Blitzkrieg.
Unfortunately, the very angry Celtic god who wants that sword has tracked him down, and Atticus will need all his power, plus the help of a seductive goddess of death, a sexy bartender possessed by a Hindu witch, and some good, old-fashioned luck of the Irish to kick some arse and deliver himself from evil.
Red-headed young man with rock-star look and unique sense of humor anyone? I’ll have one for take-out please!
Atticus O’Sullivan is a druid, last of his kind actually. He might look like a nice 21 years old laid-back apothecary, but he has over 2000 years of experience behind his belt. One of the down side of having a life that long? It gives you plenty of time to gather enemies. Aenghus Ã’g, ancient God of love is after Atticus’ hide and magical sword. It looks like their older than dust feud might come to an end, but many surprises awaits our friendly druid along his journey.
What a breath of fresh air! Kevin Hearne’s debut novel, Hounded, caught me completely off guard and got me addicted from the very first page. This world of incredible lore was extremely rich and full of surprises. Druids aren’t creatures we often encounter in books, in fact it was a first for me, so I was delighted by it’s Celtic mythology. But there is more, old Gods from Tìr na Nòg (the faerie realm) have a very important place in the plot. Gotta stay on your toes because you never know which of the deity will stab our hero in the back. The whole story turns around a sword of great power Atticus has in his possession and Aenghus Ã’g is trying to get his hands on it to fulfill his power cravings. But there are many alliances and treasons behind the scenes and you never really know who to trust.
The characters of this magical world are simply amazing. Atticus’s got it all really. Good looks, powerful yet level-headed, respectful of the earth, funny, do I need to keep going? I’d love to be his friend! LOL. Oberon, Atticus’ dog, is quite a piece of work. Thanks to druidic powers, both friends can communicate and the dog’s obsession for sausages and French poodles was down right hilarious. I actually laughed out loud quite a few times while reading this novel. Hal, the lawyer, was beyond awesome with his legal talk and I had a sweet spot for miss MacDonagh, the old Irish lady.
It was really nice to live a story from a male main character’s perspective. It’s such a rarity in the Urban Fantasy literature, and it really changes the tone of the story. I tremendously enjoyed the atmosphere, serious at times, genuinely funny at others, but always in accord with the main character’s personality.
The end was great, I loved that there was a fair amount of “pwnage” yet the characters didn’t suddenly become all mighty. I’m really anxious to read the next books, so I’m glad the release dates are so close. I also hope we’ll see more of Granuaile, she’s lovely!
Beware ladies, risk of falling for the druidic charms of Atticus. Boys, you might find yourself with serious case of jealousy. Either way, this read is highly addictive!
Here are some of my favorite quotes, fear not, it’s all spoilers free. (please beware that these quotes come from the ARC and might differ from the final version)
You know that old saw about your life flashing before your eyes at the moment of death? Well, if you’ve lived more than two thousands years, it’s going to take a while for your subconscious to put together a decent retrospective, and I imagine that there must be one of those “spinning beach balls of death” hovering over my head like when I asked my computer to do too many things at once.
The witch obviously wanted my help with something, and I could only assume that she wanted a new body to inhabit. But I didn’t have any of those currently in stock and bodies were one of the few things you couldn’t buy (yet) on amazon.
Now the quote that I think might have inspired the title, It’s a bit spoilery, so read at your own risk
“ “You may enjoy this victory now, druid,” he said, “but you will never know peace. My agents, both human and fae, will hound you until you die. Always you will have to look over your shoulder for the knife at your back. So swears Aenghus,” blah blah blah.”
The Iron Druid Chronicles:
Hounded
Hexed
Hammered
Books Stats:
- Mass Market Paperback: 320 pages
- Publisher: Del Rey (April 19, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0345522478
- ISBN-13: 978-0345522474
Reviewed by: Tynga
Book Source: Review copy sent by Del
Thank you, Tynga, I sweared to NOT order any new books, ´cause last month I spent enormous amount of money, but now, I had to go and preorder this one :DDD. Omg, I´ll have to wait almost 2 months!!!!!!!! I think I´ll die :D
ReplyDeleteGreat review hon!!! I am really looking forward to reading this series! But at the moment I put myself on a book buying ban haha! Thank you for sharing your thoughts!
ReplyDeleteGreat review!
ReplyDeleteI've had this on my To Read list for awhile, and now I'm looking forward to it even more. :)
This one looks interesting. It looks like it could be a twofer, one for both me and my husband to read. Thanks for the review and introduction to a new author! Going to go add it to wishlist now.
ReplyDelete