Hounded

I read a lot. In the past, sometimes 50-75 books each year. If I dont like a book I will stop reading it; life is to short to make yourself miserable.

The good books, the ones that years later you are still talking about them, are few and far between. Good Omens, The Return of the King, To Green Angel Tower and the like are all novels that I sat down to read … and didnt get up until I finished the book. (Tad Williams nearly killed me from lack of sleep)

Hounded is one of those books. It lays forth a tapestry of characters and events without reading like a history book. The characters are fully formed, even the peripheral ones, so when they show up again they feel like a friend.

The characters change. They grow. They falter. Sometimes, as in reality, they die and you mourn them, you miss them.

The only complaint I have (and it is such a petty one) is that the cover doesnt match the character painted inside. See? I told you it was petty.

… but it died.

Our protagonist is a 2100 year old druid who wields a magic sword, sports magic tattoos, wears a magic bracelet, kills supernatural assassins with his bare hands, summons elementals, beds a goddess, makes a pact with a demon, gains immortality, communicates telepathically with his dog, transforms into a wolfhound, rides a magic sled (pulled by magic stags), spars with a viking vampire, consorts with werewolf lawyers and murders a possessed park ranger.

And then, in chapter two, things get downright silly.

The author was obviously inspired by the worlds created Jim Butcher and Patricia Briggs, too bad he wasn’t inspired by their writing.

I thought the storyline was decent and had a lot of potential but the writing showed the writer was new with the cadence of the conversations and lack of character development.

Atticus is a Druid with powers of the earth and a dog named Oberon who has lived in hiding for 2000+ years ever since he took a magical sword from a God of Love named Aenghus g and Aenghus Og wants it back. Thats the basic story. *SPOILER ALERT*

1. Holes in the story – Oberon kills a human Park Ranger after going on a short hunt with Atticus and a different God, Flidais, because said God bewitches him(Oberon) into killing the man for startling her, but she was supposed to be there to warn Atticus about Aenghus Og being on his way. This sets off a chain of events where the police are trying to find Oberon because somehow the police have figured out the dog DNA on the body belonged to an Irish Wolfhound even though its said/written that its not possible to determine dog breed by dog DNA. How would Aenghus even know about the hunt to be able to set up Atticus and Oberon when Flidais and Atticus were in bed when they discussed going on a hunt and she never left so she couldnt have told Aenghus to set a trap. It doesnt say the Gods can talk mind to mind. Its just too nicely set up without explanation. And Flidais is supposed to be helping him but then shes not but then later she is and again not and again is.

2. The switching back and forth of the loyalties of the 3 different Gods (Flidais, The Morrigan & Brighet) and then also The Witches was just confusing. Not only was there back and forth by Flidais above but also The Morrigan and The Witches and the God Brighid. It was too much confusion to make sense of. One unexpected person or group who betrays the main character would have been enough but it was like the writer tried to add too much into the story and didnt do a good enough job explaining it or letting the main character cast doubt on them so you never felt like oh they are good guys or bad guys. One second you believed that person/group was good. The next it was like huh? And in the end it was explained offhandedly like we should have known the gods are tricky and witches cant be trusted. But maybe one witch. And her couple of sisters. *ugh*

3. The sex – is this book supposed to have sex in it or not? Because there are little hints of it that seem like there would be some sex scenes with Atticus and then lamely left EVERYTHING to the imagination. Either do it or dont. And whats with Granuaile? Hot redhead that Atticus has been lusting after for an undetermined amount of time comes off as a bit of an airhead who might be smart but it never really goes anywhere or makes you feel like she may or may not be a real love interest. Instead Atticus ends up with meaningless sex and getting hit on constantly by the female Gods and youre confused as to where this is all leading. Does he need a love interest? Prolly not but then why Granuaile?

4. Character development. None of the side characters are built enough into the story to make you want to love them and continue on. The dog is kinda funny at times but even he lacks something. The widow is pretty cool but again there just isnt a connection there. I read so many books and when you pick up a book and just love the characters and want more by the end of the book – then you know the writer did something right. Maybe after reading a few books I might feel this way about Atticus and Oberon but I just didnt get that feeling in this book. Good potential but not enough.

Overall it lacks the depth needed for a good novel series. Hopefully the writer gets better throughout the series. I most likely wont read any more in this series.

I really enjoyed this book, and went on to buy the second. It was recommended to me by a follower on Twitter. There were really only two things I found less than par, and both are very subjective, so they don’t affect my rating. First, I found the comedic relief between the MC and his dog to be pretty cheesy and leaned on too hard. I found the vampire funnier, and I didn’t get the impression the vampire was supposed to be all that funny. I suppose the dog conversations fall pretty far into typical ‘guy humor,’ which isn’t my taste, but obviously plenty of people love it or it wouldn’t be so popular. Second nitpick, all the names and different mythological characters were really hard for me to keep track of. I will freely admit that most of my familiarity with mythology if from Greek and Roman mythology, so if you are more familiar with Irish and other mythologies, that probably won’t be too big a deal for you. The main characters were well fleshed out and entertaining, the flirting and sexual tension was perfect, the plot was engaging, the world building was well developed (a MAJOR pet peeve of mine), and the writing was pretty good. Definitely recommended!

Purchased on November 3, 2018
Finished on June 25, 2020
Last push to the finish this was fueled by insomnia and the extreme boredom and mixed with occasional terror that the novel corona virus brought to my life…
It is bad, everything in everyone star review I read to know I am not alone in my disappointment is fair and accurate in portraying this books flaws… Many were a better read than this book.
It might be a bit petty but I amount all of the valid complaints of mary sue protagonists, misogyny and bad writting I think one thing got left out so far.
He cannot tell the difference between a pot head or a crack head… maybe meth head.. couldn’t even be bothered to sterotype them as hippies.
I don’t even like potheads.. But this book hates them.

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