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Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #1)

Kevin Hearne

Start date: September 1, 2011

Finish date: September 30, 2011

Discussion: Book of the Month

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* BOM: Group Read History [2025]
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last updated Mar 15, 2012 06:15PM

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What Members Thought

May 15, 2012 Kelly (Maybedog) rated it really liked it

Shelves: why-favorite-series, why-favorite-author, what-vampires, what-shifters, what-dogs, what-mythology, what-modern-fantasy, what-male-protagonist, what-gods

Hounded
The book starts with a little too much telling but it is a complex world he is describing so I won't dock him too much. Once the story got going the pacing was good, the situations interesting, the characters fun.

I loved the dog and how even though he has been upgraded in intelligence, he retains a totally dog-like personality. I also liked (for a change!) the moral ambiguity of Atticus mostly because it wasn't so ambiguous, just compared to humans. His devotion is to the Earth and her b Hounded
The book starts with a little too much telling but it is a complex world he is describing so I won't dock him too much. Once the story got going the pacing was good, the situations interesting, the characters fun.

I loved the dog and how even though he has been upgraded in intelligence, he retains a totally dog-like personality. I also liked (for a change!) the moral ambiguity of Atticus mostly because it wasn't so ambiguous, just compared to humans. His devotion is to the Earth and her bounty. He has lived for 2,100 years and it makes sense that he doesn't really have anything in common with humans, except an ancient shriveled Irish woman from the Old Country (she is my second favorite character after the dog). He doesn't dislike humans, they just aren't something he worries about, which makes total sense to me. His priorities would seem cold in a human but they fit him and he is still immensely likable. (This is coming from someone who is such a goody-two-shoes she doesn't even speed.)

[I've never understood why a vampire who's lived for centuries would fall in love with a teenager (Bella, Buffy). I mean, I have only lived a few decades and I do not enjoy hanging out with high school students let alone love one romantically. Ewwwwww. Can you say pedophile vampire? (Not to knock Angel since I adore him but I think when he was cursed with a soul he was also cursed to think like a sulky and immature 20 year old, at least until he moved to LA.)]

I was very pleased to find that this was not sexist at all. The women were just as strong and capable as a man. Some were evil and one or two good and most just as morally ambiguous as he. This was particularly nice seeing as the book was obviously written by a man (in case you were reading it without the back cover or something): the protagonist's libido is constantly an issue, the women are all gorgeous and sex is always just below the surface, the hero is weakened but never afraid and he is always strong with few doubts. When he is shot in the chest, coughing up blood, the other characters, even the ones who don't know he is magic and can heal themselves are ridiculously banal along the lines of "bummer man, hey look you ruined your favorite shirt!" I found that scene to be really strange and anticlimactic.

I think if Hearne had allowed his characters to have any kind of feeling for more than a minute the story would infinitely improve. I felt distances in a way, or maybe just emotionally numb. I certainly didn't cry out "No!" as I am wont to do when I am in love with a character who is in really dire jeopardy.

(For my self-incriminating and embarrassing admission of having a crush on a character in a book you'll just have to read some of my other reviews to find out who and how much. I will not admit to a crush on other characters since that might irreparable label me as some kind of sexual deviant. My lips are sealed.)
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Jun 30, 2011 Logan rated it really liked it

Shelves: borrowed-library, urban-fantasy

First impressions: Knowing absolutely nothing about Celtic mythology, this book threw me into a madcap new world full of hilariously entertaining gods and mortals.

Lasting impressions: This one lives up to the hype. Atticus is a charming protagonist with plenty of opportunities to dazzle us, both in this book and the rest of the series.

Conflicting impressions: I didn't get a good sense of the danger involved with this plot. Atticus seemed to have an easy fix for everything, and although the final First impressions: Knowing absolutely nothing about Celtic mythology, this book threw me into a madcap new world full of hilariously entertaining gods and mortals.

Lasting impressions: This one lives up to the hype. Atticus is a charming protagonist with plenty of opportunities to dazzle us, both in this book and the rest of the series.

Conflicting impressions: I didn't get a good sense of the danger involved with this plot. Atticus seemed to have an easy fix for everything, and although the final battle was realistically short, things resolved themselves a bit too quickly for my taste. I wanted him to have to work a bit harder to keep Fragarach from the bad guys.

Overall impressions: Don't even ask me to use names other than Atticus, Oberon, and the Morrigan. There are so many Irish names and places that the book has to start out with a pronunciation guide, and even then I mostly made it up as I went (good thing Mr. Hearne suggests that as an excellent solution). I think Missie had the right idea with the audiobook.

Atticus is thousands of years old, but currently living as a 21 year old occult bookstore owner near the Arizona State University campus. He's accompanied almost everywhere by his Irish wolfhound, Oberon, whom he has magically charmed into the ability to communicate through a kind of telepathy. Atticus can bind himself to Oberon's mind, and the two trade a fair amount of dialogue throughout the book.

And let me tell you - Oberon is fecking hilarious. He knows how to push Atticus's buttons, he has snarky comments about everyone and everything going on around him, and yet he remains sweetly dog-like so as to remain believable. If my dog could talk, I would hope she'd sound like Oberon.

The plot moves quickly and is pretty straightforward. Atticus has a magical sword that one of the unpronounceably-named gods wants for himself, and the rest of the gods are picking sides and forming unwieldy alliances among themselves, a coven of local witches, and even the demons of Hell. Lots of betrayal and mystery, thrown in a blender with copious amounts of action and battles. Add in the colorful side characters (like the possessed bartender and the vampire/werewolf lawyer team) and you can't help but fall in love.

Despite the too easily achieved resolution and what I found to be an inadequate backstory for us Celtic mythology-challenged readers, any urban fantasy reader will gobble up this series. I'm excited to continue on to the next book, and thank you, my fellow bloggers, for convincing me this was a must-read. ...more

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Jan 09, 2012 Christal rated it it was amazing

Shelves: weres-and-shifters, male-lead, urban-fantasy, favorites, magic, witches-warlocks-and-mages, lesser-known-creatures, gods-and-goddesses, shamans-and-druids

I loved this one! This was an incredibly strong debut from Kevin Hearne and I am eager to read the other books in this series that have already been published.

The mixture of the different Celtic gods with the other religions mentioned was very interesting. It made this book very unique and different from the traditional urban fantasy worlds. Everything about this book felt very authentic, from the language (there's a pronunciation guide!) to the historical references. I just really loved how all ...more

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Jul 03, 2013 Kimberly rated it it was amazing

Shelves: 2013

I started out highlighting certain passages because they made me laugh. I had to stop because I would have ended up highlighting the entire book.
Oberon Khan is a new favorite of mine. I can't wait to get my hands on the rest of the books for some fun reads.
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Nov 11, 2011 Kalynn rated it liked it

Full review later- It took me a while to get into this one. I ended up liking it enough to want to read book 2. I did find the dialogue oddly stilted, but the dog cracked me up.

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Jun 29, 2013 Ouroboros rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I was thoroughly entertained with the adventures of Atticus and Oberon, and can't wait to start the next book in the series. Also, Luke Daniels performance was amazing! ...more

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Jul 18, 2011 A book away from an episode of hoarders rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, pnr-uf-fantasy, first-in-series, ebook, read-in-2011, read-before-buying, judged-by-its-cover, book-boyfriends

I really enjoyed this book immensely. Atticus may be ancient but he's definitely not old. Him and Oberon were fun together and I loved being in this world, albeit too briefly. ...more

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