Recent Reads - Hounded & After the Golden Age

It's been a week of deadlines and craziness, but here's a couple of great books I managed to read anyways. Links go to Goodreads.

Hounded by Kevin Hearne

It had me at "Thor is an asshat" (and that was page 2).

Do not get the wrong idea here - this isn't a romp through mythology with Beavis and Butthead, but the bits of snark and pop culture references had me laughing (there are some fantastic Star Wars references as well - this geekgirl approves).

Atticus looks like a 21 year old stoner who owns a New Age bookstore. He actually is a 21 HUNDRED year old Druid who has spent most of those 2100 years running from the Celtic god of love (the Celts weren't big on cherubs, and this guy packs a mean punch). Just when Atticus seems to have found a place he can settle in for awhile, he is discovered. Fight or flight? Throw in a complicated "friendship" with the Morrigan, more deities, other mythologies, vampires, werewolves, witches, betrayals, new allies, and Oberon, his trusty Irish Wolfhound, and you have an adventure with a broad cast of characters that never gets out of hand and leaves you wanting more.

Add that's the big thing - I can't wait to get my hands on book 2 and read more about Atticus and the world he lives in. There are no cliffhangers, I just had so much fun reading this book.

I'm giving it 4.5 stars, because we're still growing into the character and his world. Great start to series.

After the Golden Age by Carrie Vaughn

This feels like a perfect "summer book" - superheroes and supervillains, they go with summer like beaches and ice cream. What I liked the most about this book was that the heroine isn't a superhero, she's the absolutely normal daughter of the city's premiere superheroes. That she has feelings of inadequacy and severe parent issues is an understatement. She's also been a frequent kidnapping victim for most of her life (the opening chapter with her boredom at another kidnapping was great).

Now, just when she finally has built a life for herself, Celia's world starts falling apart. Crime is escalating in the city, her parent's arch-nemesis is finally going to trial, and Celia has been brought into the case.

Vaughn does the "seemingly weak character comes into her own" well - the character's journey was believable, and it was also easy to root for Celia.

I really enjoyed it, I would have liked a bit more interaction with some of the characters, but I was still satisfied with the end.