Hounded

An immortal druid and a talking dog. What’s not to love?

Think American Gods, but funnier. In the Iron Druid Chronicles, the gods are real, and Atticus O’Sullivan loves to piss them off. The immediate blending of humor and suspense pulled me in right from the start, and I didn’t stop reading until well beyond this book and only took a breath when I ran out of books.

My partner and I read the first few books in the Iron Druid series aloud together while I was pregnant and couldn’t get out much, and they brought a laugh to my lips every time… partly because of our atrocious pronunciation of the Irish words in the story.

Hearne brings a wonderful balance of action and humor to his writing, which makes this story a joy to read. From a telepathic dog with attitude to the druid grabbing a drink with Jesus and pissing off the old gods, the characters really carry this book. Every time I see it on… show more.

Hounded is the first book in the Iron Druid series, about two-thousand-year-old druid Atticus O'Sullivan, who lives in present-day Arizona.

Atticus is a fun character, with just the right combination of snark, power, and oh-crap-I’m-in-over-my-head-again panic. But his companion, an Irish Wolfhound named Oberon, steals every scene he’s in.

Oberon and Atticus share a telepathic bond, which means we get to hear Oberon’s thoroughly dog-centric perspective on everything from the great squirrel conspiracy to the eternal quest for treats. The author clearly has a love and appreciation for dogs.

Oberon is a great partner and a loveable character. In short,… show more.

Hounded gives such an original take on the different types of magic and how characters use them that it is a must-read book for any magic lovers, it gave me new and interesting ideas not only about magic itself but about religion and cultures worldwide, mixing in history and legend in a most intriguing and unique way.

I love this book because it’s about the struggle between attempting a normal-appearing life as the owner of Third Eye Books and Herbs in Tempe, Arizona, and the fate of fighting mythic monsters and gods. This story is colorfully told with drama, and humor provided by our hero’s mind-link with his goofy Irish Wolfhound.