Saturday, November 9, 2013

Hounded - Kevin Hearne [Iron Druid]

Hounded - Kevin Hearne [Iron Druid]
Source: Kindle
Originally Reviewed: November 9, 2013
Rating: ★★★☆☆

I'm used to reading things of the caliber of Robert Jordan, Terry Goodkind and Jacqueline Carey for my fantasy fix. While after reading Hounded I would never put Kevin Hearne in this category, I have to give credit where credit is due. He took a pantheon/mythological race that's been done before and put a interesting, if not wholly pleasing spin on it.

I had to tell myself within the first 20 pages something I often tell myself when confronted with arguments about how the ancient gods and goddesses are portrayed in pop culture - they are what they are, and we are not, thus simply by being human we have to put them in a "box" of sorts. This is where the interesting spin came from, as Hearne managed a fictional take that I would consider almost believable. There simply is no such thing as a perfect god or goddess.

I do have an issue with how he portrays the witches. Hearne demonstrated enough chef knowledge of witchcraft, of both the Wiccan and less "traditional" variety that it made me wonder if it was simple creative license or a personal... delusion that caused him to paint them as little more than monsters in human skins.

As to the overall story itself, taking the book as a whole, I simply can't say it was remarkably good or bad. It had its moments of both. I can say that I will pick up the next book in this series and continue reading, but I will give it only one more book to win me over.

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