Book Review: Hounded

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.

 

Do you see this cover?  It's just so perfect.  That's exactly how I pictured Atticus.

 

On goodreads someone who reviewed this book wrote: "If Joss Whedon and Jim Butcher had a love child, he would grow up and write this book" and (sorry, I can't remember who wrote that) that's really the perfect description.  And, in case you didn't know, I'm a big fan of both Whedon and Butcher.

 

The characters were all fun to read, they really flowed off the pages.  Even Oberon, who's a talking dog (a character I wouldn't normally like), was pretty great.  Early on the dialogue is a little rusty, but after the first chapter or so you can settle in nicely.  The plot was rather anticlimactic, but at the same time I was always a little worried that Atticus may not come out on top.

 

The mix of mythology in this book was perfectly displayed.  Any fan of mythology (especially Irish) will get a kick out of it.  I think that might have been my favorite part of the whole story, actually.  It even has me thinking about the world through that lens.

 

This was also a funny book.  Real, laugh out loud humor that just tumbles off the page.  I couldn't help but enjoy myself the whole time.  I was always looking forward to the next time I would be able to pick it up.

 

I can't wait to read the next one (however, I must.  Too many books on my TBR pile, at the moment.), which always makes a book worthwhile.  In the end I'm giving it 4 stars.

*In case you were wondering, I just put up a new rating system.
ONE STAR- TERRIBLE; CAN'T BELIEVE I FINISHED IT
TWO STARS- OK; ALMOST GOOD
THREE STARS- PRETTY GOOD, I'LL READ THE REST OF THE SERIES
FOUR STARS- GREAT SIGN ME UP TO PRE-ORDER THE NEXT BOOK
FIVE STARS- MIND BLOWING AWESOME
(the rare)SIX STARS- THE BEST BOOK I'VE EVER READ
at the moment I've only given one book six stars (and only on goodreads) and that would be Clockwork Princess.  Nothing has ever come close to that book.