Hounded

Boo!
 

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 (from Amazon.com). 

I had bought this book on a whim. I'm fascinated by anything Irish, and it is definitely a weakness of mine if you couldn't tell. I loved the concept of this book. The idea is awesome. 

Kevin Hearne did not do well with this idea though. The writing is stifling and wordy. The dialogue doesn't flow naturally. Everyone talks like they're from the Iron Age. They are from the Iron Age, but I would think a smart Druid like Atticus O'Sullivan would have figured out the lingo. And if he could then I'm pretty sure the gods and goddesses he came across would too. It just felt immature and overwrought because of how much explaining he had to do. 

Atticus is supposed to be some hunk. I never really got that vibe. Hearne kept having to have Atticus tell me how much a sexy beast he was instead of showing me. And the only real way he showed me was by throwing Atticus into this random, casual sex relationship with Flidais, goddess of the hunt. I just think he could have had a lot more fun with this whole thing instead of feeling like he had to explain every little thing. 

The book is filled with Atticus meeting people. It gets annoying. One goddess leaves, another one comes in, she leaves and a witch comes. By the end I was exhausted because of the constant flow of the plot. There didn't seem to be any twists or excitement. Atticus was too good at what he did. He was too confident in his abilities too. A character that is much less learned or has some flaws is a lot more readable and accessible. 

His relationship with his dog, Oberon, is cool, but I could not stand Oberon. The damn mutt talked like a teenager. I'm sorry, but I don't think my dog wants to be Genghis Khan. There were a lot of things Oberon would say that were cheesy and they only made me think "Do dogs even know what that is?" I don't think dogs care enough to understand the details of our lives. I think they sense things differently and if they could talk it would be more sporadic and spontaneous, not full-on conversations that actually make sense. Oberon was my least favorite character and he was probably supposed to be the entertainment in the book. I am still unsure as to why he's there. 

The revelation about Granuaile comes too late in the story. Hey, I'm going to introduce this character near the end of the middle of the book then I'm going to have her plot suddenly become pertinent at the end even though it doesn't tie with anything else in the book. I wanted to scream. 

The only reason I didn't hate this book was because of the history of Ireland it provided. I could tell it was very well researched and I'm pretty sure I just don't fit the mold of who this book was written for: teenagers who love fantasy and like a good sword fight and no depth to their reading whatsoever. Atticus could be an interesting character. I might read the other two installments just to see if they get better. I did end up skimming at the end of this one which is never a good sign.