Summer is almost here, and it’s time to find some light vacation reading. If you’re a fan of light fantasy and haven’t tried The Iron Druid series by Kevin Hearne, I’d suggest you give them a look.

The basic premise is that the main character, Atticus O’Sullivan, is the last Druid, and he’s 21 centuries old. He’s hardly an old fogey, though. He uses his herb lore to brew a tea that keeps him young and looking about 21.

He’s got a sidekick, an Irish wolfhound named Oberon, and the exchanges between Atticus and Oberon are among the best parts of the books. Yes, Oberon can “talk,” being linked mind-to-mind with Atticus. Oberon has a fascination for movies and pop culture, and Hearne uses him to make sarcastic/humorous asides all the time. It should get old, but somehow doesn’t.

Atticus battles all manner of Norse gods, the fae, witches and other supernatural beasties. He’s allied with werewolves and vampires, and later in the series attracts an apprentice.

There’s snark, action, humor, character development and everything you could want in a fun, light fantasy series.

Currently, there are five novels and two novellas available. The sixth book will be released on June 25th, which is good because there is a mild cliff-hanger at the end of book five. By the time you finish the other books, it’ll be for sale.

If you’re looking for a good deal, you can get the first three e-books in an omnibus for $19.99 (on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo). At less than $7 a book, that’s an excellent investment for your start-of-summer reading.

NO COMMENTS

  1. Hearne is closer to Jim Butcher (THE DRESDEN FILES) in style and talent than any of the dozens of urban fantasy authors I’ve ever read. Butcher is the gold standard of urban fantasy so that’s a major compliment.

    And Oberon is more than worth the price of the book, just by himself.

  2. @Marilynn, agreed. I finally read the series because of the comparison to Dresden Files, which I adore. I still put Butcher a bit ahead of Hearne, but not by much.

    Have you tried the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka? Similar to Dresden and Iron Druid, with a very interesting take on using precognition.

  3. I’ve not read that series, but I’ll put it on my TBR list. Thanks for the recommendation.

    Urban fantasy has an incredible number of ongoing series. Some are brilliant, some pedestrian.

    If Teleread is looking for material, you ought to start an ongoing recommendation list for different types of books via the comments section.

    The only trick will be keeping authors from turning them into promo dumps for themselves.

  4. @Marilynn, I don’t think we want to start down that road for exactly the reason you mentioned.

    Enjoy Alex. The series isn’t quite as polished as the other two, but it’s worth reading, if only for how the author handles precognition. Since my character uses precog as well, I have to keep squashing the impulse to adapt his ideas.

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