Review - Hounded (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 1) by Kevin Hearne (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 320 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: May 3, 2011
ISBN-13: 978-0345522474
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in The Iron Druid Chronicles
Source: Audio Book from Audible.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

I picked a copy of the this book in audio book form from audible.com.  It had been getting excellent reviews and sounded like a super fun read.  I am so happy that I picked it up; it was an absolutely excellent urban fantasy.  The audio book was very well done and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  Since I listened to this, please excuse and misspellings of names/places.

Atticus O'Sullivan is a two-thousand year old druid who has survived so long through a combination of his own skill and wit and the protection of the death god, Morgan.  Now one of his ancient enemies has caught up with him and Atticus has decided it's time to stop running and hiding and take care of this villain once and for all.

I liked this book from the first sentence.  Seriously I listened to it for 5 minutes and was totally hooked.  This book is incredibly well-written, creative, has an excellent plot and even has something else that makes it super-special...lots of fun and humor.  Atticus permanently looks 21 but is actually 2100 years old. He has a wonderful sense of humor and loves to poke fun at things.  Adding to this is his wolfhound Oberon who has a thing for French Poodles and, naturally, steak.  The whole cast of gods, goddesses, werewolves, vampires, and faeries that populate this book are interesting and fun to read about.

That is not to say it is all about the fun.  This book is incredibly well-written, the characters sound natural, the magic is well explained, and the plot is well-paced and intriguing.  Hearne does a fantastic job of working in interesting mythology from a plethora of cultures and religions.  I really enjoyed how this mythology was wound around Atticus's past and present.

Of course it is super cool that this book is about a kick-butt druid; I mean how many urban fantasies out there feature druids?  That and the fact that Atticus's lawyer is literally a blood-sucking vampire adds a lot to the fun.

The book ends well, and starts up the next thread for the second book in the series Hexed (which I downloaded on audio book halfway through listening to this book).

Overall just an absolutely fantastic start to what I hope is a spectacular series.  This is one of those rare books that makes urban fantasy super fun, yet remains intriguing and intelligent.  Everything in this book is balanced perfectly humor, action, characters, mystery, plot...it pretty much has it all.  If you love urban fantasy, especially fans of urban fantasy with a touch of humor like the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews or The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, check this book out.  If you would like to start reading urban fantasy and don't know what to start with...well start here!  I am dying to read Hexed now and hope that this series continues on strong.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge
- Audio Book Challenge List