Synopsis:

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.

As a long-time fan of the urban fantasy genre, I feel like I’m a pretty good judge of character. Up until now this sub-species of fantasy lit has followed a general formula. Some sort of wizard, witch, or creature of the night (who fights on the side of good, of course) battle the denizens of myth and legend, protecting humanity from a secret world that we don’t even know is there. There have been a few deviations to be sure, but that general description covers MOST of what is out there. When I picked up Kevin Hearne‘s debut novel, Hounded, I was sure I was in for more of the same.

What I got was something that, for me, broke the mold on what I thought an urban fantasy novel could be.

Hounded isn’t a complete deviation from the urban fantasy model. There is a hero of mystical origins (a druid this time, which is a nice change of pace from the norm) and he does fight creatures of mythic proportions on behalf of a humanity that has no idea what the frell is going on. What’s refreshing is Heare’s approach which is clever and entertaining, but almost irreverent to the genre. He doesn’t take himself too seriously; he flirts with disastrously cheesy concepts like a vampire and werewolf lawyers, talking dogs, angry pagan gods, and **shudders** stoner college kids. He embraces cliches both time-honored and of his own devices and just makes them work by not taking himself too seriously. Simply put, he let’s go and just has fun with this book.

His main character Atticus is the most bitchin’ tree-hugger I’ve ever met. In spite of Hearne’s sometimes irreverent tone, Atticus  is a solid character and bridge for the reading audience. His outlook is surprisingly optimistic for a guy who has lived through so much, and seen his entire religion wiped off the map. Hearne uses Atticus’ longevity and experience to nerd out on history and mythology from time to time, something that I like a lot about the book.

Where the book really shines for me is the concept of Atticus’ druid magic. Hearne has ironed out the mechanics of how a a druid’s power works very well, making Atticus more of a buff class of magic user, if you’ll excuse the gamer’s term.  Interesting to point out is Hearne’s differentiation between druid magic which is clear and well explained through Atticus and the “traditional” destructive kind of magic which is left a bit hazy and undeveloped. Some might find this to be a flaw in the novel’s design, but it makes perfect sense to me. Traditional magic is something that Atticus is familiar with, but not schooled in. He can’t experience it because of his allegiance to Druidism, so his knowledge is limited, which in turn limits our knowledge of it.

Where the book seems to get ambitious is in it’s antagonist, Aengus Óg, the Celtic god of love who has been gunning for our hero since before Jesus walked the earth. I mean, a lot of fantasies, both traditional and urban, often find our characters at odds with deities that could squash them like a bug, and usually our hero gets out of it through pretending not to be noticed or grovelling. It’s undignified, but hey…you don’t kick a god in the stones.

Unless your Atticus O’Sullivan, anyway. For a very intelligent man that has lived for 2100 years he seems a bit cavalier at times when dealing with higher powers. At first this was a bit of a turn off for me, until I really got to thinking about what I knew about Celtic traditions, mythologies, and what not. For the ancient Celts, the Earth itself was the only true higher consciousness/power. The gods and goddesses of Celtic myth are mortals that were made gods by those who worshiped them. This very unique factoid about Celtic myth was a clever play by Hearne; for Atticus to contest with immortals, he didn’t have to worry about being more powerful than they were; simply smarter.

Hounded, the first book in theIron Druid Chronicles by Kevin Hearne was a bold stroke of genius that succeeds a lot more than it fails. Hearne’s writing style is fast and loose; wickedly funny, insightful, and jam-packed full of all kinds of mythological goodness. It kinda reads like a comic book, and that’s not a bad thing at all.

I give Hounded by Kevin Hearne Four out of Five Stars.

Pick up your copy of Hounded at Amazon today!

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