Sunday, July 14, 2013

My reading: "Hounded" (Iron Druid Chronicles series #1) by Kevin Hearne


Hmm, this post might very well go against one thing that Dean Wesley Smith stated in the online workshop I took from him. Never put down another writer. It's alright to express viewpoints but this one might go over the edge there.



I've heard some good things about this series and even seen a couple of the books. I didn't realize this one is from 2011, though. Anyway, I decided to give it a try. 

I'm a bit over half way done and hmmm. I have mixed feelings. 

Not bad but I think the blurb on the cover is way over done. Obviously blurbs are to catch the attention of the reader. But this one I think is more stretching things than usual. By no means is Kevin a heir to Jim Butcher. 

If I had read this to critique a new writer, I would have said it needed some work: needs more of the five senses, the Hero wins too easily, more descriptions. Some of that appears as I read along but the first couple of scenes were lacking.

At the same time Kevin has some very interesting and entertaining scenes--humorous too. The scene where the goddess tries to make a smoothie because she loves them but doesn't know about electricity is an entertaining sequence. The fights are not bad even though as stated some of the earlier ones are too easily won. 

The whole is a good read, with significant good points, and it is a very interesting world even though, on a personal note, his comments on Christianity are bothersome but it's one of those things I wonder if Kevin feels that way or if he thought the character would. They may also deal more with Catholicism than Christianity as a whole. 

And of course this is probably his first book, at least I haven't seen any previous ones listed, so of course that makes a large difference. More than likely I will read the next one so I'll see how he does.

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