Hounded, Hexed, Hammered - The Iron Druid Chronicles Volume 1
Ratings198
Average rating3.9
Fun book. It was a good blend of humor, magic, everything of fantasy, blended in the modern world.
I love books about immortals and this one is definitely a good one. The fact that he doesn't act as if his being a druid is this big secret that will indanger all of humanity of some shit like that, Like many other books with a ‘secret world' do. He was active in his community and had a social life which is also a change of pace.
It was funny and went by incredibly fast. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
4.5* rounded down. This was a thoroughly enjoyable action-packed romp through a world where all the gods and magical beings of every faith and belief system exist and are able to interact with each other. This is urban fantasy, a subgenre I typically steer away from but the humour and the world it builds just hits the sweet spot that I'm already a bit of a fan.
At the center of our story in this crazy world is Atticus O'Sullivan, an ancient Druid more than two millennia old but who retains the use of his 21 year old biological body via his magic powers. He has been spending the past two thousand years evading an ancient enemy, the Celtic god of love, Aenghus Og, who may now just be catching up to him at last. At Atticus's side but no less of a star attraction of the story is Oberon, an Irish wolfhound that is able to communicate with Atticus telepathically.
Now I'm not usually a fan of talking or sentient animals in stories (outside of children's stories and fairytales) so I was a little skeptical about Oberon at first. Hearne writes Oberon convincingly and non-cringily so now I think he's the most precious, goodest boy ever and really hope he'll stay at Atticus's side for the rest of this very long series.
Atticus himself is also written fairly convincingly. He's clearly powerful and has shored up two millennia's worth of magical knowledge and it shows. At the same time, he also has the tone of someone who's seen so much shit in the world that he's long gotten past confrontation and just wants to live life as peacefully as possible while not taking things too seriously, which is a perspective absolutely up my alley.
The world is rich in this one and we are paraded with all kinds of gods and goddesses and magical beings from various cultures and belief systems. The Celtic Tuatha de Denann take center stage in the plot and have the most participants here, but we also have a more than 800 year old Indian witch, some Icelandic vampires, and a pack of werewolves. There're also brief mentions of Thor, Christianity, and Hindu gods as well
Overall, a thoroughly enjoyable read that I'd recommend to just about anyone looking for something light hearted and easy to get through, especially if you're a fan of gods-centric fantasy and action. Or if you're a dog lover. Or better yet, both at once.
I read it all, which is rare for me, but if felt too short to deserve even a 2 star. Everything is shallow. The pacing was ok, the writing subpar. The world based on pantheon of different mythologies was just name dropping, as were also the inclusion of vampires and werewolves.
I wanted to enjoy this, I like immortal characters, but nothing in the protagonist makes us think he is actually 2100 years old.
I really enjoyed this, have read the series twice. I appreciate that Atticus starts out pretty sneaky - after all, at his age with the range of characters who aren't fond of him, he'd have to be sneaky.
(received as a freebie as a First Reads giveaway, in 2014)
These are very easy on the brain fun books, almost novellas. Totally plot driven, the characterization is right on the surface and there are plenty of good characters (some, I swear, shared with American Gods if I am not mistaken - Russian witches?) Plus one star just for the Oberon character alone.
I've grown too hipster, I guess, because the only complaint I have is that it was too smooth. Ha. Honestly, this was worth a read if only for the dog's voice. He was quite a trip.
4.5 stars. Enjoyable and humorous story with lots of interesting characters. Can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.
This has been on my TBR list for a long time. Most urban fantasy series that I've read have been written by females. Although my favorite genre, there aren't that many out there with little to no romance. I Hate Romance books!! This book was perfect for me. Non-stop action, lots of magic, and no sappy love story to muck it up. I loved it! I will definitely continue this series. I am now on a quest to find more like it!!
Edit Jan. 24, 2016:
On re-reading with an idea of what to expect, I like it better. You just have to accept that 2,100 year old druids have god-like powers and will be able to take care of anything that comes at them. Easily.
Several of my friends really love this series, but I just couldn't get into it. I've blocked most of the details from my mind in order to maintain my sanity, but I remember thinking the plot was rather ridiculous and just got worse.
I'll admit that when I first heard of Kevin Hearne, I thought that Barenaked Ladies' keyboardist was writing books now and got very excited. Different Kevin Hearne, but still an interesting book. I got my copy through First Reads, which is always fun too.
The thing I enjoyed most about Hounded is the magic system. I did have my own Druid phase in college, so that aspect appealed to me right away, but even aside from the historical roots, the magic system is extremely tight. It doesn't work all the time, and has a strict set of rules, making it entirely believable that you need a solid 2,000 years to master it. Hearne has an extensive knowledge of all sorts of mythology, and he doesn't take cheats around the characters he borrows, either. At times it feel like a few too many mythological creatures (witches, werewolves, vampires, Irish gods, Norse gods, fae folk, partridges in pear trees), but he does approach each character from a solid base of rules. That's neat. Irish wolfhounds are also neat, and I've always wanted one.
A lot of people compare this book to the Dresden Files, and that's easy enough to do. One thing that struck me though is that Harry Dresden is constantly in trouble and always starts out behind the gate. Atticus, on the other hand, always seems to be a step ahead and over-prepared. He kills two gods in this book and kisses three goddesses, even having sex with one just because she's board, From this standpoint, Atticus is a bit MarySue. He's so good at everything, all the ladies love him and all the dudes are jealous of him. I got a bit frustrated with that aspect, especially the fawning women angle.
I'm still interested to see where the story goes, and will likely continue the series when my own “to read” list gets shorter (which it will one day... I swear). If you like urban fantasy, but are a little tired of the noir detective trope, this is a great alternative. It's a fine popcorn read for the weekend.
A thoroughly refreshing book that took a little while to get going, but once it did, it was thrilling! Such original concepts and very modern writing style and content.
Great potential ruined by the main character being basically invincible; ruining any sort of drama.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and am confident I'll enjoy the series. As others have mentioned, there are several plot holes, however not large enough that it really bothered me. The book/series reminds me of the Harry Dresden series, which I also enjoyed, so I'll keep reading through the series.
I just can't say enough good things about this book. It's well-plotted. There's an excellent cast of characters, and they develop in interesting ways. The world-building is wonderfully rich. I have the same incredible, bubbly feeling that I did when reading the very first Dresden Files novel by Jim Butcher–gimme more! Fortunately, there are already three more books available in the series ([b:Hexed 9595650 Hexed (Iron Druid Chronicles, #2) Kevin Hearne http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320539847s/9595650.jpg 14482685], [b:Hammered 9595620 Hammered (Iron Druid Chronicles, #3) Kevin Hearne http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1311632977s/9595620.jpg 14482655] and [b:Tricked 12700306 Tricked (Iron Druid Chronicles, #4) Kevin Hearne http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1324455119s/12700306.jpg 16669362]) with a fifth (Trapped) on the way.
I think all readers have a phase, when they first discover a genre, wherein they read practically everything and anything as long as it's vaguely connected to the genre in question, without giving any thought to the quality of what they're reading until later. This, I think, is a natural part of learning what one does and doesn't like about a genre, until the reader's tastes are refined, and he or she is able to identify which authors and/or tropes they prefer. During this initial period there's a lot of hit-and-miss when it comes to books, but usually the reader comes out all the better for it.
It was no different with me when it came to the urban fantasy genre. After American Gods I went digging for other books in the same genre, and while I found quite a few that I liked (Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series being a notable highlight, along with Ben Aaronovitch's Peter Grant series), there were a few that didn't quite meet my expectations: China Mieville's Kraken, for instance, which felt like a pale attempt to replicate American Gods in London. Another one would be Laurell K. Hamilton's Anita Blake series, which has become a little too preoccupied with sex for my taste, thus losing sight of the elements that drew me to the series in the first place.
My hunt for urban fantasy books has since slowed down, mostly because I almost dread spending money on something I won't like, and there's been a lot out there that I haven't liked. The last time I'd lucked out on a series was with Aaronovitch's books, and only because those were recommended to me by my good friend Hope. So when my mother pointed out the first book in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, titled Hounded, while we were visiting our favorite bookstore during December last year, I was reluctant to give it a try. I'd dithered over actually buying the book, until my mother, exasperated at my inability to decide, said it was either I buy it or she did. And since I'm loath to let her spend on books now that I'm earning my own money, I decided to take a risk and buy the book.
Since then I've put off actually reading the book, lining up a whole lot of other novels on my summer reading list just so I didn't have to pick it up until I was reconciled to the idea of actually reading it. Finally I'd reached the end of my reading list, and I was pretty much staring at the cover without any other books in sight. In the end, I decided I might as well get it over with, and just cross my fingers that it was a painless read.
As it turned out, Hounded was not only painless, it was a really fun, lighthearted read, a pick-me-up that put a smile on my face after the drop in joy I'd experienced after reading The Mongoliad: Book One. And, more importantly, it's restored my faith in a genre I was almost certain had been saturated with Butcher and Kenyon (of Dark Hunters fame) knockoffs.
Hounded is told by Atticus O'Sullivan, the last living Druid in the world, and two thousand and one hundred years old, though physically he looks only twenty-one. On the run for most of his life, he's settled down in a little town called Tempe, in Arizona, where he runs an occult bookshop and tries to lay low as much as he can, so as not to attract any undue attention from anyone who might want him dead. Unfortunately, his worst enemy has finally tracked him down, and Atticus is forced to choose between fleeing - again - or fighting back to bring an end to the whole thing once and for all.
As I read through it, it was tempting to compare this series, and its hero, to Harry Dresden of Dresden Files fame. The urge is hardly surprising, since both series, despite being written by two different authors and being set in two different locations, are essentially cast in the same mold: first-person detective stories with a supernatural bent. Dresden fits better into that mold, though, since he actually works with the police, whereas Atticus just owns a bookshop. But they're both trying to be as unobtrusive with their powers as possible, and mostly for the same reason: there are things out there that would like nothing more than to kill them.
Aside from that, though, Dresden and Atticus are very different. Though Dresden has a great sense of humor, just like Atticus, he tends to be more serious, to have more angst than Atticus does. I will likely be proven wrong, eventually, as I read more of the Iron Druid Chronicles, but I rather like to think that Atticus, despite being constantly in danger, has managed to handle the angst of being an immortal Druid pretty well. Dresden, on the other hand, has had so much trouble of the emotional kind happen to him that I rather do feel sorry for him, given how cruel the universe has been to him so far. This doesn't mean Dresden is better, or worse, a character than Atticus; it just means that, now that the storyline of the Dresden Files has gotten heavier than it started out, Atticus and his relatively lighthearted (by comparison, anyway - there is nothing lighthearted about having one of the Tuatha de Danaan as one's sworn enemy) concerns are a nice breather from the heavier, emotional concerns that Dresden has.
This does not mean that Atticus doesn't have his own fair share of trouble, of course, or that he's “better” than Dresden. He does have his own problems, and he deals with them in a way that are funny to the reader only because they are not on the receiving end of some of the things Atticus does to the people who irritate him. He might look and talk like a twenty-one-year-old, but he can be just as cantankerous as many septuagenarians and octogenarians out there. They are small things, really, nothing too terrible, but it's quite obvious that, while Atticus is just as cautious as Dresden when it comes to using his power, he's still not above using it in rather creative ways to get back at the people who irritate him.
Another interesting point of comparison between the Dresden Files and the Iron Druid Chronicles is that both Dresden and Atticus have sidekicks, allies and friends who can be counted upon (most of the time) to help get them out of scrapes and problems they cannot solve on their own. Dresden has Bob, a spirit that lives - or is trapped - in an enchanted skull that Dresden inherited from his uncle. Atticus doesn't have anything quite as awesome as Bob, but he does have an Irish wolfhound named Oberon, who is just as interesting in his own right despite being a dog and not a spirit of knowledge trapped in an enchanted skull. Oberon as a character in his own right is exceptionally funny and interesting, and will be of interest to those who have pets of their own (especially dog lovers) and have wondered what it would be like if they could get into their companion's mind and listen into their thoughts. While it's true Oberon is not any ordinary dog, and so doesn't think the way ordinary dogs think, those very same thoughts are still filtered through the many instincts that a dog actually has. It has the result, therefore, of giving Oberon an air of intelligence far beyond that of the average Disney animal without making him come off as “a human in a dog suit.”
Aside from Oberon, Atticus has a few other friends in his corner, most notably an entire pack of werewolves (who also happen to be lawyers), and a vampire who works with the werewolves at their law firm. How that happened is going to be a very interesting story (it's already been hinted at in this novel), which means it's likely to get told further down the line in one or more of the other books. Some of his more dubious allies includes the Morrigan, the Celtic goddess of war, who has taken a particular interest in Atticus and his doings for a very, very long time now, and the leader of a coven of witches named Radomila. Naturally those alliances - all of them - get tested, questioned, and in a few cases broken, throughout the course of the novel, and provide an interesting source of tension aside from the fact that Atticus is trying his darndest to stay alive.
The plot isn't really all that different from the typical urban fantasy/detective novel mashup, but that's only to be expected. What matters here is the way the world is drawn up, and I must admit, I really, really like the way the world of the Iron Druid Chronicles has been set up. In particular, I like how, despite there being a lot of gods and demigods and supernatural beings that have magic at their disposal because of what they are, being a Druid (or a witch, it appears) is really more a matter of study than anything else. While Atticus explains that a special tattooing ritual binds the Druid to the earth so that said Druid can draw upon the earth as the primary source for all magic, there is nothing that says a Druid is born. Druidry, then, is a learned skill, as is witchcraft. The trope of magic as learned skill, as opposed to birthright, is a trope that I always appreciate - and is a definite plus in favor of Hearne's novel series.
All told, Hounded is a fun novel with just enough weight to it to make it a respectable read, but just light enough that the reader is easily engaged and doesn't feel overly emotional at the end of it. Atticus O'Sullivan's voice as the narrator is a fun and cheeky voice to listen to (an excellent bard, so one might say), while the supporting characters are interesting enough with great promise for future development in the later books. The plot is pretty standard, but this is to be expected in this particular genre - it's still a fun ride regardless. This is a great novel (and likely a great series, but I'm withholding judgment until I've read the rest of the books) for urban fantasy readers who've become rather jaded, or who are looking to get someone else into the genre.
Very enjoyable paranormal urban fantasy with the unique approach of a Druid main character. I liked how it referred to a prior history without bogging down in details. The pet Wolfhound was a great comic foil too (this often fails). Looking forward to reading more by the author- especially with this character.
I have read books about faeries, many of them staying true to folklore and few of them including specific characters right out of Irish mythology like the Morrigan but never had I read a book that shed light on other aspects of Irish mythology like Tir nan Og and the Tuatha de Danann. I have also never, though I suspect there are novels out there, read a book where the main character was a druid.
Siodhachan O Suileabhain or Atticus O'Sullivan as he is known to almost everyone in current modern times is a witty, twenty-one century old druid living in Tempe, Arizona with his Irish wolfhound Oberon. He enjoys hunting for Big Horn Sheep in his down time though never catching them, making googly eyes at the local bartender. And making sure that the Irish God of Love Aengus Og never finds him because if he does love would be the last thing Aengus wants to give Atticus since he stole a very special sword from him centuries ago and has refused to give it back ever since.
In this book the action starts from the very first page where the reader gets to see right away the consequences Atticus has had to face ever since he stole from Aengus Og and we see that for the most part Aengus' persistence has been more irritant than danger since the fae he sends to defeat Atticus do little more than give him a flesh wound. This attack however is just the beginning of a much bigger threat and after a visit from the Morrigan - the Irish Goddess of War and Death Atticus knows that Aengus' who has never tried to retrieve the sword personally before may indeed be serious about repossessing it this time.
This story was an action packed and entertaining read filled with a whole host of witty, dangerous, ancient, badass, funny, and interesting characters who range from witches to werewolves, Irish Gods to a mind-speaking wolf hound and Ancient Druid to vampires. The writing was fresh, had me laughing in almost every chapter and was both fast pace and full of charm. I enjoyed Kevin Hearne's different take on the many familiar supernatural creatures I have come across in previous paranormal and urban fantasies but I especially enjoyed his version of the figures and deities of Irish mythology which I admit I did not know very much about before reading Hounded. The only down side to this lovely novel was that although it starts off strong soon after it reaches a hitch in pace. There was a need for some background information for readers to understand Atticus' current situation and I thought that part was slow and found myself being distracted as I read it. If you can get past that little blimp however then I recommend this to all fans of urban fantasy.
Atticus is the last druid alive and he along with his sword have been wanted by the god Aenghus Og for centuries. Atticus has ran just as many years and for once is nice and settled in Arizona. He is an immortal and will look forever 21. He hates witches, loves WOMEN, runs with werewolves and vampires (who by the way are his lawyers and doctors), owns a Botanica, owns the funniest Irish Wolfhound, and loves the Earth even more than his women.
This book is definitely contemporary and definitely does not have your usual historical feel to it at all but has all the accuracy needed to pull off a good story. Atticus not only looks 21 but acts 21 in many ways. I read and simultaneously heard this as an audio book as well. It was more hilarious listening to it because Oberon, the Irish Wolfhound and Atticu's confidant, had a Cholo accent. :-) The story is fast paced and entertaining.
The book is part of a series but all the books except one have all been published! The last book comes out early 2012!
It took no time at all for this book to grab me, and another 15 pages for me to fall in love with this. Right off the bat we get a solid action sequence, get the basics of our hero's magic system, and meet a goddess. Not a bad start–it helps a lot that Atticus' personality and charm comes through right away and draws you in.
Then we get a talking dog. Technically a dog (Oberon the Irish Wolfhound) that can communicate telepathically with Atticus, but why get picky? Oberon's snarky, smart and pop culturally savvy–he runs a close second behind Harry Dresden's Mouse for coolest pooch in Urban Fantasy. I'd be willing to read a book that's nothing but Atticus and Oberon hanging out.
Throw in a helpful werewolf pack, a friendly vampire, a troublesome local coven, and a fight with an ancient Celtic deity and you get yourself a dynamic intro to what seems to be one of the best Urban Fantasy series around.