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A review by crowsandprose
Hounded by Kevin Hearne
2.0
If you're hoping for something in the vein of Harry Dresden, this book seems to have all the right pieces; quippy magic user in modern times, supernatural threats. But this is no Harry Dresden. The stories are wildly different and the quality, too, doesn't quite match even the debut efforts of Jim Butcher.
This tale lagged at the start but zipped to the end. I have some quibbled with characterization (why does a 2,100 year old druid have the sense of a turnip, for one thing?) and especially with the treatment of women and sex (dude taps two Goddesses, smooches a third, and they're all "Victoria Secret Sexy", despite one is the God of a hunt and the other is the God of Death and War (Brighid at least gets to be a god of crafts, beauty and creation-- oh, and fire, so you can justify that she's conventionally attractive to the extreme).
Honestly, it was just sort of juvenile. Definitely for the 20-30 heterosexual male set, needing some power fantasy. While we have the next four books at home I doubt I'll bother with any of them at this point. I keep being told the next one is better, but the bar's set pretty low for that.
I know this is supposed to be a rollicking, almost bardic tale, but in the end I got basically Gary Stu fantasy with some occasionally clever bits. The writing is decent in some places, but pacing suffers, characterization makes little sense, and while the mythology is well represented it simply wasn't enough to carry the story of Angry God Wants Shiny MacGuffin.
This tale lagged at the start but zipped to the end. I have some quibbled with characterization (why does a 2,100 year old druid have the sense of a turnip, for one thing?) and especially with the treatment of women and sex (dude taps two Goddesses, smooches a third, and they're all "Victoria Secret Sexy", despite one is the God of a hunt and the other is the God of Death and War (Brighid at least gets to be a god of crafts, beauty and creation-- oh, and fire, so you can justify that she's conventionally attractive to the extreme).
Honestly, it was just sort of juvenile. Definitely for the 20-30 heterosexual male set, needing some power fantasy. While we have the next four books at home I doubt I'll bother with any of them at this point. I keep being told the next one is better, but the bar's set pretty low for that.
I know this is supposed to be a rollicking, almost bardic tale, but in the end I got basically Gary Stu fantasy with some occasionally clever bits. The writing is decent in some places, but pacing suffers, characterization makes little sense, and while the mythology is well represented it simply wasn't enough to carry the story of Angry God Wants Shiny MacGuffin.