I've been reading SF/F for a long time. I started at age 11 and I'm now 60. In all that time I've learned what I like pretty much. One thing that a good Fanatsy story has to do is make the suspension of disbelief seems natural. It's very hard and a lot of fantasists fail. their stories are not bad, exactly. they are often very well written. However the harder that supsension is, the longer it takes to 'get into' the story.
So what makes a good fantasy? Humour. I don't mean that stories need to be comedic. if you look at real life people humour is always present. if you are in a profession that is tense with great responsibility, like EMTs or Firemen, soldiers, pilots and so on, you'll alwys find humour because it reduces tension. Real people make light of situations.
And so we come to the Iron Druid. a 2100-year-old iron-age man. he is hunted by gods as well as mundane police at various stages.
His appearance is that of a young 20-something but his mind, and thus the internal dialog we hear, is 2100 years old. So his attitudes are necessarily more primitive, though given that he has lived so long, those primitive attitudes have unergone some refining and he embraces most of the modern lifestyle choices.
Hmour is ever present though. In conversations with his dog, Oberon, with the werewolves and vampires and humans. It makes it seem real and thus very easy to submerse yourself in the caharacters and environment. Thats not to say there are no serious action scenes.
There are no super gory long drawn out posturing battles. He's an iron-age fighter, so the idea is, kill them before they kill you. there are no rules.
It's very refreshing.
The quality of writing is escellent throughout. Good characterisation, a plot that you can see has run for millenia and is likely to continue.
The treatment of the druids, history of the old Irish religion, vampires, werewolves, norse gods, graeco-roman gods and sundry others are logically consistent and feel real. And that is what makes a Great Fantasy.
I really recommend getting the entire series (it's discounted) and also the Audobooks as that helps immensely with the pronounciation.
Enjoy yourself with this, and may harmony find you.
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![Hounded: The Iron Druid Chronicles by [Kevin Hearne]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51s4ma7bn1L._SY346_.jpg)
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Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 September 2017
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... had a strong first person voice which I really enjoyed. It was as if the protagonist was relating ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 4 May 2017Verified Purchase