Kevin Hearne: Hounded

Several of my friends had recommended that I see what I think of Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid series. The basic premise is of a druid living in modern day America, interacting with other supernaturals in your typical urban fantasy genre. Having a Marty Stu male character running around, combined with the cover art, really didn't inspire me to buy the book for a good long while. What this tells me about my own hang-ups and the effects of cover art, despite my mockery of the typical leather-clad-tough-girl trope I'll leave aside from now.

In the end, I did buy the book (as an aside, Amazon's discontinuation of their 4-for-3 promotion hurts) and I'm glad I did. While in many ways it's your standard urban fantasy bordering on paranormal romance or harem fantasy, it's well done.

Hearne's characters so far remain pretty two-dimensional, some even appearing as caricatures, and clearly an immortal, handsome Irish druid who consorts with goddesses and wields powerful magic is wish-fulfillment at its fullest. However, the book doesn't take itself too seriously, and doesn't ask the reader to either; there's a clear drive towards entertainment and humor. Like a few of my other recent finds (Faith Hunter's Jane Yellowrock, for example) there's enough of a fresh take on the well-trodden genre to make a noteworthy new contribution. Aside from the Celtic mythos the book includes vampires, werewolves, Native American mythology and pretty much makes clear that any and all myths are fair game. The fleshing out of the Celtic deities is new to me, and even some of the more common elements have a freshly original tone to them.

The biggest draw for me, aside from the interesting setting, is Hearne's prose. It's no Name of the Wind, but it has great vocabulary, a variety of patterns of speech, and it flows well. In short, the book is a fun romp that still rewards the reader with intelligent language and history. While the personalities of the side characters aren't explored in depth, they all have their own motivations which may not be immediately apparent.

Overall, four out of five. Three for everything else, the extra for doing it well.