Review of Hounded by Kevin Hearne

Title: Hounded
Author: Kevin Hearne
Published by: Random House Publishing Group

Pages: 239

Source: Bought
Format: ebook
Rating: ★★★★

Summary from Goodreads: 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 had so much fun reading this for the Kiss Me I'm Irish: Hounded Read Along.  It was a great experience and made me think about Hounded in different ways than I normally would have.  If you haven't had the chance to participate in a read along go out and sign up for one.  They are such a great experience.

Out of all the paranormal and fantasy books I've read I have never read one about an ancient Druid.  It was fascinating learning all the magic that Atticus could do and all the knowledge he has.  I thought vampires lived forever, but apparently they have nothing on druids.  Hounded was fresh and original + I loved how Kevin Hearne incorporated the gods interacting with the human race.  There were so many mythical creatures in the novel that it had a little bit of something for everyone.
Let's start with Atticus....Yumm!!!  Not only is he super knowledgeable, he can fight and look hot doing it + he's really nice to old Irish widows.  If that is not great husband material I don't know what is.  Atticus was an incredibly interesting character.  He really knew how to read people and how the world worked.  He was cautious and most of the time kept his wits about him.  The best thing about him is that I genuinely believe he was a great guy + he has the coolest dog in the world.  After reading about Oberon you will be insanely jealous and want an Oberon all for yourself. 

While there wasn't much romance, that didn't take away from the book for me.  The fighting scenes were interesting as brute force wasn't always the successor; there was a lot of scheming and cunning knowledge involved.  Sometimes it seemed to be about who you knew and who could help you, than who has the biggest sword.  It was always interesting who would show up to either help in the battle or who was working against Atticus. 

The one thing that I really loved about the story was how connected Atticus was to the earth.  He had so much respect for it and I'd like to think that along with it being his source of power he has also realized (due to his vast time spent on it) how important the earth is and how badly it's been treated in the past.  Overall this was a great read that I think all ages would really enjoy.