Where I Finally Read the Second Book, Remembering How Good the First Was

Hexed by Kevin Hearne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's a fast read because it's good. (Gripping action + sympathetic characters + great language + amusing banter + entertaining plot + cool magic = "good." It's just math, really.)

I've been reading a lot of first books lately, and gave myself permission to get going on second books. Finally. This is one of those second books that picks up where the first left off, in terms both of plot and momentum, and only improves on the first if anything.

Atticus O'Sullivan, the last druid, is a compelling, sympathetic character who is fun to watch. Kevin Hearne does an amazing job making him both modern and ancient, kind and brutal, funny and serious. He stays true to his motivations, as do the other characters he encounters--witches, werewolves, Coyote the trickster, Lady Madonna (ISYN--and sorry, ~spoiler) and others. I love how his supernatural characters wear their nice clothes and enjoy their local entertainments and drive their fancy cars around the East Valley and still party like it's 999.

Lots going on. Atticus is trying to train a new druid, watch out for the nice old neighbor lady, take care of his dog (love his dog!), make a truce with a bunch of witches, repair his relationships with a few friends, and survive a slew of enemies. And fix a stretch of dead, charred ground from the previous novel, because that's what druids do.

Well written. No sour notes. Lots of fun. And, by me, highly recommended.

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Another awesome Arizona writer

Hunters Rise by Joseph Hutton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a fun, fast-moving supernatural action novel. I liked it better for reading a copy signed by the author (actually Joe Nassise, writing under a pseudonym) who is an Arizona writer. (It took several attempts to catch him at the right time down at Comicon, but I'm glad I did.)

He writes a nicely-paced, straight ahead kind of pulp fiction, and I mean that in the best way. If you are in the mood for a book in the vein of The Destroyer or Mack Bolan--you know, pulp fiction action, with just the good parts--but you'd like to see it filled with inventive and surprising supernatural elements, this is a great choice. Lots of fun, and lots of books already published.

Here's to getting book 2.

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I should have read the Iron Druid Chronicles sooner. Duh. My review of the first book.

Hounded by Kevin Hearne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I used to have a prejudice against stories told in first person. They took me out of the story too much. Sometimes the narrator is like a new acquaintance talking through the movie you're trying to watch; I want them to leave me alone to let me enjoy the story with them yapping in my ear through the whole thing. Other times, the narrator is too chatty, like a tedious neighbor standing in your yard that you can't escape from; or too introspective and moody, like a Holden Caulfield-type going through some serious shit, and you're trying to care, but it's killing you.

Not here, thankfully. None of that stuff.

The narrator here--Atticus O'Sullivan, a very old druid who looks 21 or so--is active and witty with a clear voice, and he is very likable as a protagonist. Atticus escorts us through the story with a briskness that makes it read like one long action sequence, although there are quieter and calmer moments with helpful exposition and at least passing reflection. The narrator smooths out the highs (a little) and amuses us through the lows like a tour guide, contributing to the energetic flow of the novel. This made the book fun for me to read in a few quick chunks. (Technically, I suppose, the author is doing all of those things with a tight plot a sure hand, but you know what I mean.)

The setting is a plus here. The story is nicely grounded in a real place and time, with real-enough characters (like local ASU students and restaurant employees) which has the effect of making the supernatural features (figures from Irish myth, witches, demons, werewolves, fancy swords, other fun stuff) both more believable and more distinct. This might be truer for those of us who live in Arizona and know Tempe and the Superstition Mountains; perhaps we can picture it all more completely. I dunno. I suspect the result is not too different for folks in other places, because it's well done.

Kevin Hearne is a local (for me) author, and has been at Comicon, though I have not had the pleasure of meeting him IRL. Now I am motivated to get his other novels and see if I can't track him down (in a celebrity-friendly way) at the next event and get some signatures and a handshake. :)

RIYL: fun things

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