Hounded

The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 1

By: Kevin Hearne

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 8 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

The first novel in the Iron Druid Chronicles - introducing a cool, new, funny urban fantasy hero

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 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.

Don’t miss any of Kevin Hearne’s phenomenal Iron Druid Chronicles novels:
Hounded | Hexed | Hammered | Tricked | Trapped | Hunted | Shattered | Staked

©2011 by Kevin Hearne. (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

"Hearne, a self-professed comic-book nerd, has turned his love of awesome dudes whacking mightily at evil villains into a superb urban fantasy debut.” (Publishers Weekly)

“A page-turning and often laugh-out-loud funny caper through a mix of the modern and the mythic.” (Ari Marmell, author of The Warlord’s Legacy)

“Kevin Hearne breathes new life into old myths, creating a world both eerily familiar and startlingly original.” (Nicole Peeler, author of Tempest Rising)

this was the best of all 3

Would you listen to Hounded again? Why?

i did

What did you like best about this story?

the dog and the background formation

Which character – as performed by Luke Daniels – was your favorite?

the main character

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, but it was good

Any additional comments?

Should have left it as one book and not a series. subsequent books did not hold up

Kevin Hearne for the win!!!

I listened to this several years ago because it had gotten such good audible reviews. It is one of my favorite re-listens, and I LOVE the whole series. Whenever a new one is announced, I pre-order. Download it! You will not be disappointed!

I loved the story I was caught and hooked quick.

I loved the story I was caught and hooked quick. As for the narration it was great! I really like how the narrator made each character sounds unique. I highly recommend.

Fresh, humorous

What did you love best about Hounded?

Enjoyed the humor, laughed out loud or smiled many times while walking through the crowds at lunch on on the train going to work.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Tossup between Atticus O'Sullivan--his Earth magic--and Oberon-- who wouldn't want a friend like that? BTW, just got back from a visit to Ireland and Bus Eireann, the state-run bus service in the Irish Republic, displays a running Irish wolfhound on their busses. I thought of Oberon every time I saw one.

What about Luke Daniels’s performance did you like?

Good steady pace, a deliberate delivery,the voices he gives to entire cast adds additional depth to the story. His interpretation of Oberon's "voice" is priceless. A good narrator can make both male and female voices believeable. If I don't like the narrator, I won't buy the Audible book, regardless of how well I like the story. I like Daniels so well I buy IDC stories first in Audible, instead of the Kindle version first.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh, laugh, laugh.

Any additional comments?

I hope Hearne keeps on writing for a long time.

Sooooooooooo awesome

Not ripoff of Dresden at'll. This prevented me from listening for weeks. So happy IGaveaChance.

Fantastic start to the series!

What a fantastic start to the series! I have been wanting to read this series for a long time and it turned out to be just as good as I had hoped it would be. The book's excitement started at the very beginning and never really let up. I wanted to listen to this one for hours at a time simply because I didn't want to step away from the story. I had such a good time listening to this book.

The characters in this book were great. Atticus is a Druid. He looks like he is 21 or so but he is actually over 2,000 years old. He has discovered quite a lot during his time and I had a fantastic time learning about some of his abilities. He is a very smart man that is able to reason things out very quickly and seems to always stay very calm in any circumstance. I thought that Atticus would be my favorite character in the book until Oberon made an appearance. Oberon is an Irish Wolfhound that can communicate with Atticus. I fell head over heels in love with Oberon. I didn't expect to laugh over this book but Oberon had me laughing out loud several times during the story.

The book had a lot of action and a rather complex mystery at its core. There are several characters that seem to be out to get Atticus in one way or another. It seemed like he had a whole lot of tricky situations to juggle at the same time and as the book progressed things only became more intense. This book really had a little bit of everything. There are fight scenes and enough strange characters to keep things very interesting.

Luke Daniels did such a great job with this book. I am so glad that I decided to go the audiobook route with this series. He really was able to make scenes a bit more exciting through his narration. He does a great job with all of the character voices but I really loved how he represented Oberon. I really feel like Mr. Daniels brought this story to life.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that both the story and narration were very well done. I can't wait to listen to more of this series very soon.

Really enjoyable on many levels

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Very original concept, exciting story/plot, and best of all top notch reader... At first I was thinking, "Hey this guy is supposed to be an Irish Druid, so how come he has no Irish accent?" I figured I had a lousy reader and was in for a disappointment. How wrong I was. The main character has become Americanized, for reasons that will soon be revealed, but the reader does a fantastic job of the many varied and different voices, dialects and accents that separate the great reader from the common. Especially Oberon's voice. I cannot recommend highly enough.

Very entertaining through and through!

Great plot with humor all along the way. I really enjoyed Hounded and the rest of the series.

Fantastic Story

This series has become one of my favorite. The characters are great, the mythology is accurate, there is the right amount of comic relief and tension, and the story is so imaginative. This book is addictive. As soon as I finished this audiobook I immediately downloaded the next book in the series. I would highly recommend this book.

Amazing!

Kevin Hearne is an awesome writer & Luke Daniels narration is f***ing fantastic. Luke is now the voice of my subconscious.