Hounded by Kevin Hearne
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 sexy 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 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 able to catch 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 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. However, if you can get past that little blimp then I recommend this to all fans of urban fantasy because you will indeed enjoy it.
