Hunted

Thoroughly enjoyable, well-written and well-researched books with an interesting premise. I am more than happy to give Kevin Hearne a 5 star rating in addition to purchasing everything he has published. I hope many others discover the fun adventures of The Iron Druid and a very entertaining cast of characters. However, the reader must jump through a mandatory hoop if you choose to leave a rating. Star ratings are not acceptable on their own. No, any star rating is booby-trapped with the requirement of a written review, further weighted with a minimum word count, no less! Write a review or no stars from you. This is a tad bit bit onerous for the buyer who enjoyed reading the book and respects the author enough to pause and tap some stars. The demand for written review effectively prevented me from posting the 5 star rating that might encourage others to enjoy an excellent book. This is ultimately unfair to Mr. Hearn, undoubtedly depriving him of many well-deserved 5 star ratings. Guilt eventually caught up with me, so herein lies not only my enthusiastic support of this book, but a bonus review of a misguided policy: to the Kindle folks or whoever came up with this Either/Or toll: lighten up on the needy/greedy gate keeping, already.

This is one of my favorite Urban Fantasy series and I have no idea why there is such a time gap between books. Of course, I always think that as soon as I finish a book in a series I love. *sigh* Ive been a fan of mythology since I was a young reader and the Iron Druid Chronicles brings all that back. I love the adventure, the twists and turns and the characters both good and bad. What I dont expect when I read a book in this series is a lot of emotion and I most certainly dont expect there to be tears, but well, I cant tell you why there were tears, just that they caught me off guard. And though I adore these characters, I dont expect them to reduce me to tears, but they did and just be forewarned

One of the things that I really liked about Hunted was getting to know Granueaile just a little bit better. Although theyve been close for a while, Atticus, Granueaile and Oberon seemed even more like family than they have in the past books.

As much as I love Oberon and Granuaile, I have to admit that Oberon is the character that keeps me coming back. Okay, so Im kidding (maybe just a little) but he is so much more than a dog in the Iron Druid Chronicles and if youve read any of these books, you know exactly what Im talking about. Hes witty, ridiculous, adorable and just about the coolest dog ever written into any series. Passages like this are just one example:

I (Atticus) said to Granuaile, We may have a faery tail.
Yeah! This is the kind of faery tale with children who wander off and get in trouble in the forest. Usually they die because they dont have a wolfhound along or parents. You ever notice the rampant child neglect going on in faery tales?
No, Oberon, I said we might have a faery tail, as in a faery who is tailing us.
My hound whined. English is stupid sometimes.

I mean really, he has a point, doesnt he?

Hunted is book 6 in the series, which means I only have 3 books to go before I reach the finale. Next is Shattered, which I happen to have two copies of. (Dont ask when you read as much as I do, its hard to keep track.) Maybe Ill find a way to share that one with a lucky reader.

Well number 6 of the Iron Druid Chronicles series Kevin Hearne. This is definitely a step up from Trapped. Hunted took you on a whole new level of adventures, with so much going on you’d think it would be hard to keep up however it flowed quite smoothly.

However, the first time the POV change it did confuse me for a sentence or two, but then it became the norm for the book though there weren’t too many.

This book though will definitely get you the feelers, I mean you grow with each character in a book, and when something happens, you feel that as well.

But alas, there are happy times in this book too, as well as the glorious laughs you get with these books, the quips are just downright hilarious.

I’m quite interested on what’s going to happen in the next book, and this one leaves you with a “Oh Snap!” at the end. OH SNAP!

Another great instalment in the “Iron Druid” series. I feel I should apologise for giving only 4 stars but as I said in another review, I rarely give 5 stars and for me, 4 stars means that the book is an exceptionally good read. The overarching plot continues to develop with an internal consistency that is admirable over a series like this.

The characters continue to hold my interest and affection, mostly because the author allows them to grow and develop but also because they are just so darned likeable. As someone who has read reasonably widely about the world’s mythologies I have yet to find any interpretation that strikes me as awkward or contrary to my own thoughts around the key figures who weave their way in and out of the story.

The passion of the Druids for the earth and their relationship with Gaia is particularly well-written – and in case anyone thinks that pushes the story into neo-pagan namby-pamby land, let me assure you it is nothing of the kind. The writing around this relationship is perceptive, as is the musing by the main character about his relationship with the Morrigan.

The word “whimsical” kept coming into mind as I considered how best to write this review; humorous, quirky, quaint, witty and playful. All the synonyms are apt description of a book that really is a delight to read.

I am sorry to say that this one was the hardest to read so far. I like the characters (and the dog) but feel they were more interesting in earlier books. The dog veered further into slapstick, which was a mixed blessing. Where I found it particularly difficult was the plot…

It basically boiled down to a chase that lasted for 4/5ths of the book, with various walk on parts by different Irish, Norse, Greek and Roman pantheon gods. None of them hung around long enough to be more than cardboard cut outs. The last 1/5th of the book became more interesting, and opened up some interesting plot opportunities, but (sad to say) it didn’t make up for the rest of the book.

If this was an episode in a tv series, it would be ‘a filler episode’ where they are saving up for a big series climax, make a few simple, cheap episodes in the middle to cut down on costs and special effects.

On the other hand, I still like the writing style, the main characters and the world.

Will I read the next in the series… Maybe…

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