Customer Reviews

Hammered (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Three)

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(20)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Odysseus Who? Atticus continues his modern day odyssey in Hammered, and Hearne's druid is making Homer's hero look like a little punk with his epic adventures. After all, even Odysseus didn't go after a full fledge god like Thor.

Too bad Dos Equis isn't an Irish brew because Atticus could definitely win the bid for the Most Interesting Man in the World. Delight in the oddities and misfortunes that have become Atticus' life. Drinks with Jesus. A Shakespearean duel with a vampire. Suggestive salad spinning with a young beautiful apprentice. A bareback ride on a giant squirrel. And getting slapped around by the Morrigan. Sounds like just another day for Atticus O'Sullivan.

The Iron Druid is a man of his word, and it's time to make good on some promises he made. Even if it kills him. First he has to retrieve a golden apple for a certain witch. Then Atticus is to escort Leif to Asgard to take on the patron God of Jerks. They'll pick up some backup along the way and introduce us to some new and endearing characters all with a grudge against Thor. And honestly when someone like Jesus concedes your a thundering D-Bag, you probably deserve the angry lynch mob coming for you.

But O'Sullivan's actions aren't without consequence. Not everyone will come out of the fray alive and with the possible relocation of the local coven, pack upheaval within the werewolf community, and vampire unrest in Arizona the cost of revenge could be too high. The wait for the next installment definitely too long.

Again I have to reccomend the audiobook version of this series. Hammered was just as excellently performed as Hounded, and Hexed. Kevin's words are pure magic when Luke Daniels is narrating them. He did another outstanding job with Atticus and company. I particularly liked his rendition of a giant squirrel which sounded a lot like a cross between the Chipmunks and Gollum. Lets face it Hearne doesn't make it easy on Daniels who has to voice multiple accents and languages. I love that a new deal is going to give us more Atticus, Kevin, and Luke to come.

Hearne's third effort is yet again another gem, embodying all that is awesome. Fans of the first two books will be pleased with Kevin's usual wit and candor. But he steps things up a bit, with the addition of some different POV's that shows Hearne's more serous side. The pace is a little slower than in the past but I think that is because of the grandeur of the task Atticus has to achieve. There's plenty of the action and unexpected quirkiness that comes with Hearne's twisted imagination, and his ability to blend mythos, theology, folklore, and pop culture is pure genius. As always you can tell Hearne did extensive homework for Hammered, or that he's an amazing literary con artist, either way the words he puts down on the page are completely believable.

With all the delicious threads planted for future tomes, the end will have you trying to conjure up more pages, and cursing the long year wait ahead.

I wasn't sure Kevin Hearne could keep up the awesomeness of of the Iron druid chronicles all the way through three novels, but boy oh boy did he deliver!
I am deeply depressed that I now have to wait at least a year for the next book! Noooo, how oh how shall I endure?
I am one of those strange beasts who loves a good cliffhanger but my friends, the end of Hammered is pure torture, I must find out what happens next. I must!

Hammered is more epic than the last two installments, the stakes have never been higher and Atticus is in for a hella wild ride. I love that the world that our favourite druid lives in isn't static, there are far reaching consequences for everything that he has done and Atticus and his peoples have to adjust and change to deal with everthing. I don't want this to be a spoilery review, so I will just say, that if you enjoyed the previous two iron druid chronicles, then this one will BLOW YOUR MIND!
If you are new to Kevin Hearne's books, I implore you to start with the first Hounded: The Iron Druid Chronicles It'll be too hard to follow if you don't start from the beginning.

I am in awe of the sheer breadth of mythology and characters and craziness that Kevin Hearne perfectly weaves into a gripping, fast-paced adventure. I read Hammered in one sitting, I simple couldn't put it down... I couldn't. I'm going to have to lie to my brother and tell him that I havent finished it yet, so I can do an immediate re-read before he gets his grubby mits on my favourite Urban Fantasy series of the year.

Read this book. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.

With Hounded & Hexed, Kevin Hearne has pretty much established himself as one of urban fantasy's best new voices. Not surprisingly, expectations were sky-high for Hammered, the third volume of The Iron Druid Chronicles.

Hammered begins with Atticus O'Sullivan undertaking a reconnaissance mission in Asgard. The plan is to retrieve a golden apple that would cancel his debt with the Indian witch Laksha, while also relieving Thor of his power and godhood. Unfortunately, like many of his past outings, the mission doesn't go as planned and Atticus ends up making things worse. His plan botched, Atticus returns to Arizona to settle some business before dealing with Thor. This involves Atticus' Third Eye bookstore and Granuaile MacTiernan, the latter of which is further explored in the short story, "A Test of Mettle". The book also features the return of the Jewish demon hunters from Hexed as well as the appearance of someone who will surprise many readers. Meanwhile, joining Atticus in his quest against Thor is Lief, Gunnar and three other very powerful individuals, thus setting the stage for Hammered...

Like its predecessors, Hammered features a liberal does of humor, which is one of the most consistently fun factors in The Iron Druid Chronicles, with the Irish wolfhound Oberon once again stealing most of the show with lines like "Anyplace is good so long as there's sausage and bitches", "Oh look it's a dead guy and a wet dog", and "Pai Mei's probably on Facebook right now, look him up." Despite the humor, The Iron Druid Chronicles has progressively become darker with each volume with Hammered the darkest book yet. The author never descends to all-out gore in Hammered, but there is lots of violence and death, tragic histories, depressing futures, and a more overall serious tone. Characterization meanwhile, remains superb as ever with Atticus leading the way. This time however, Magnus & Lief get to share center stage with Atticus, while five chapters from the POVs of five different characters lets readers see what others think about Thor, which was very rewarding. Story-wise, Hammered is the most epic and satisfying volume yet in The Iron Druid Chronicles, but the ending will leave readers salivating for the fourth volume, Tricked.

Negatively, nearly every book possesses some element that will rankle the reader. For me, the issues in Hounded and Hexed were fairly minor, but in Hammered, they are non-existent.

CONCLUSION: The Iron Druid Chronicles has been receiving praise all over the blogosphere. Praise that is richly deserved considering the series's memorable characters, entertaining humor, and surprising, action-packed story. As impressive as the series has been though, Kevin Hearne takes The Iron Druid Chronicles to a whole new level with the excellent Hammered...

BONUS REVIEW - "A Test Of Mettle":

A Test Of Mettle is featured in the e-book version of Hammered. The short story is about 9-10 pages long and occurs side-by-side with the latter half of Hammered. A Test of Mettle is narrated in the first-person by Granuaile MacTiernan, who must perform a task set to her by an elemental, while overcoming the expectations of the pantheon to which her new status is associated with. Accompanying Granuaile on her task is Oberon.

A Test Of Mettle reveals a small, but significant part of Granuaile's past which I believe might factor in future volumes. The pace of the story is rather fast and it was good to see Kevin give Granuaile a narrative voice distinctive from Atticus's. The short story also reveals a bit about a certain pantheon, which happens to establish Atticus's views of that pantheon from the earlier books. Overall, I thought A Test Of Mettle was a nice addition to Hammered, making an already great book even better...

No spoilers. Just my general annoyances with the book as a whole. Now, I enjoyed the other two books in this series because I thought Kevin Hearne did a good job of portraying what a 2100+ year old would act like. Instead of being broody or emo, he was light heartened and really tried to fit in with humanity. However, this book seemed to take that too far. Atticus is supposed to be this bad-arse Druid who can slay gods left and right yet he complains about every little "ouchie" he gets.

I expect my leading men to be studs; if they get hurt, they walk it off. They don't complain and grumble about how unfair life is. There also would be times where he is making commentary of his motley crew and I would be annoyed. Like how he was trying to separate himself from the group saying how he didn't feel the need to assert his "manliness" and win "macho points". Really? Why is he keeping score of these man points? He didn't do this once or twice; he seemed to do it every time he was in the company of the other men, specifically Gunnar and Leif. Kevin made them seem like at any second they'd whip 'em out and measure. It was just ridiculous. Plus the continuous back and forth Shakespeare battles began to wear on me. Once or twice it is fine, but to use this conversational device in all three books more than once bugged me like no other. Plus the lolcat speak drove me up a wall. No one, I repeat no one, should ever put that in their books. I agreed with Leif that if that's how you fit in with humans, I don't want to fit in.

Also there was something that didn't make sense to me. This whole book is essentially about Atticus's journey to Asgard to defeat Thor, but the book starts out with him going to Asgard to fetch the golden apple. I remember him making the promise to get one, that's not what flummoxed me. What didn't make sense is why he would be making two trips. The first trip alerted the Norse Gods to who he was and essentially made him have to alter his whole life because of it. He ends up packing all his stuff and planning to move in fear of the Norse Gods finding out where he lives and going after who he loves. I don't get why he couldn't have done a two for one deal and get this all over with. Why drag it out? To me, it just seems to create weak filler.

I will say there were moments of laughter on my part. The line "it was like watching Santa gun down Rudolph" made me chuckle. Also Atticus's interactions between Oberon and Puren where vastly entertaining. As a whole though, I just couldn't really get into it. It felt like a chore, and reading shouldn't ever be a chore. I honestly don't know if I will read anymore from this author. The first two books were good, but this one disappointed me so much, I don't know if Kevin Hearne is redeemable to me.

I recognize that the world Atticus lives in is a fictional world, and the author can make anything he wants happen. It still bothered me a great deal to witness the number of deaths that occurred in this book, on both sides of the coin. Some of our "heros" died too easily, it felt like. The battle on the Asgaard planes seemed to do a whole lot more damage than the fictional world Atticus lives in could handle.

It was an ok read, but not a lot of character development to hold it together. The only one I really cared about in this book was Oberon, as always.

That said, I will continue on with the series because the writing is good enough to not make me regret the time I spent with it when I finish the book, and **SPOILER ALERT** because I'm curious how the slaughter that occurred will affect the series.

Book 1 was by far the best of the three.

Let me state from the beginning that I understand that these books are not meant to have deep wells of emotion that engage you on a higher level of intellect, they're just easy and fun entertainment. That said, I was able to forgive Kevin Hearne for some rather obnoxious writing habits that detracted from the story telling. Instead of allowing a reader to mull over something or come to his or her own conclusions about one thing or another we have practically everything explained or told to us almost immediately after having the problem presented. This isn't a HUGE issue, but it can be annoying. My largest issue is that he'd go into explaining something, which I think most people would find to be common sense or at the very least could come to the conclusion without having it explained to them in detail, in the MIDDLE of an action sequence. This habit of his really sucks away the intensity, the tension, the adrenaline, and, most importantly, the flow of the sequence. One prime example is right at the beginning of the final battle he goes into this long diatribe of how you don't have time to really THINK in a battle and then it's like he realizes that's what he's doing and says OH IT'S TIME TO MOVE! But, as I said, I can forgive this obnoxious writing habit as it doesn't happen ALL the time.

Unfortunately, this installment just didn't have what the others did. I felt like the plot wasn't really thought out and because of that it all just flows in a disjointed manner. I really couldn't get INTO the narrative. Atticus was doing what he had promised his friends he'd do, the author felt the need to beat us over the head with the character's reasoning behind being a man of his word, and every scene just felt flat. We aren't really given the time to sink our teeth in before another is thrown at us. Before we know it Atticus and the party of assassins is already in Asgard. The action is entertaining, finally meeting Thor and understanding why his is a douche is a lot of fun, but because of the poor handling of the story when characters die you just can't bring yourself to CARE, even about characters you cared about in the first two books. To top it all off it all came to an anticlimactic end and before you know it you're reading the prologue. It felt like the end was just terminates with no reason and you're left to stumble and catch yourself and wonder what just happened.

There was really no redeeming quality to this entry, it was just a hodgepodge of poorly thought out scenes thrown together and shoved down your throat. I will be reading the next installment, Tricked, but with far less anticipation.

Hammered continues the Iron Druid Chronicles' humorous adventures as Atticus prepares to kill Thor, Norse god of thunder, to fulfill his bargain with Leif. Despite dire warnings from various powerful parties against it, Atticus and company proceed with their plan while Atticus deals with the other fallout from events of the previous two books.

Hammered is a bit darker than the previous books, but still filled with comic relief. This series is just so much fun to read. At parts I had a stitch in my side from laughing so hard. (From Shakespeare to lolcats. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.) I did wish there was more Oberon in this book, because he's my favorite character, but there was plenty of humor as it was.

I love the way these books incorporate all sorts of myths and legends into one cohesive world. With such a complex backstory, there's obviously more to learn in every book, and meeting new immortals is always entertaining. I really liked the addition of Perun, the Russian thunder god, in particular - I could hear his accent when I was reading, which was extremely entertaining. It's especially fun to see Atticus, who keeps up with popular culture despite his age, chat with people who haven't really paid attention to such things in hundreds of years.

On the downside, sometimes I thought Hearne was trying just a little too hard to get his message across in such conversations. There's a passage where Atticus drinks beer with Jesus that's a little sacrilegious. Okay, it's a whole lot of sacrilegious. That was fine with me; it was hilarious. The part of the passage I took exception to was when Jesus talked outright about how annoyed he was with people who misused his name. Now, I'm in complete agreement with that sentiment. However, I prefer that the Underlying Message make at least a cursory attempt to seduce me rather than hitting me over the head and dragging me off to its cave. Theme should be implicit; if you have to insert an otherwise superfluous conversation in order to convey it, you're doing it wrong. In this, actions speak, and words are just more noise in an already deafening windstorm.

But that's a minor point in the scheme of things. Overall, I really enjoy reading these books. The characters are vivid and Hearne does a great job making me love or hate them as appropriate. I can't wait to read Tricked, especially after that ending! I hope to see more of Oberon and Granuaile in that one, not to mention find out what happens to Atticus next.

Thor, the god of thunder, is a bully. The real Thor is not the pretty boy we se from the movies. Somebody has to do something, he has ruined countless lives. AH, but the cost might be too high. Lives will be lost, the future will change, Gods will be angered.
The mission to end Thor is all about vengeance.Viking vampire Leif Helgarson, is one of the men that want him dead no matter the cost. Gunnar the Werewolf Alpha is another along with some very colorful 'others'. This strange group bonds with stories and plan their winning fight in Asgard. But, as with many big plans things go wrong, plans change. The ending ? Well it does not really end.
I was laughing out loud in one chapter grabbing the tissues in another and twisting in my seat through most of it. Funny- Star Trek jokes, drinking beer with Jesus.... Sad- death, and pain. A mood roller-coaster ride. One of the best books I've read in a long time.

Summary: Atticus O'Sullivan has a tough road ahead of him. In the previous book in the series, Atticus had to make a few deals in order to save his own skin. Now the time has come for him to make good on his promises, and this means travelling into other realms and challenging powerful gods and creatures.

One of Atticus's closest friends, vampire Leif Helgarson, has been waiting for a chance to avenge the death of his family for a thousand years. His enemy is Thor, the Norse god of thunder. Thor has made many enemies over the years because of his cruelty and the pleasure he finds in taking and ruining lives. Regardless of the risk, Leif is determined to face Thor. Atticus promised to take him into Thor's realm for the battle, and he has every intention of keeping that promise. But more than that, he wants to bring his friend back home alive.

Thankfully, Leif and Atticus don't have to make their journey alone. Arizona's werewolf alpha, as well as a small army of supernatural characters, join Atticus and Leif. As the story unfolds, we learn exactly what Thor has done to hurt each of these characters. The more Atticus hears, the more he accepts that Thor must be destroyed - that is, IF he can be destroyed.

Review: This book is just as smartly written as the previous books in the series. Atticus is as brilliant and clever as always, and we definitely get a strong sense of why he has survived for two thousand years. The action and battle scenes are fantastic - full of energy, courage, and strategy.

Once again, we are introduced to a wide array of new characters. I have to admit that it can be tough to keep them all straight at times. If you are up on your historical mythology characters, you'll be ahead of the game. I've grown used to this element of the series by now. Each of the books has brought about new relationships and dynamics.

During one section of the book, each of the members of Atticus's team gets an entire chapter to tell his story for why he wants to kill Thor. These stories were dragged out a little too much for my taste. I got the picture after the first couple stories and I really wished they would get back to the storyline.

Other than this, the only thing that bothered me about this book was the lack of Oberon. Oberon is Atticus's faithful Irish Wolfhound. They communicate through a telepathic connection with each other, and he is one of the funniest characters in the series. His perception of the world from a dog's point of view is always hilarious. But even though he was a primary character in the first two books, he has a very small role in this book. I missed him! I hope he's back in the next book, Tricked, which will be released in April 2012.

Hammered is the third book in the Iron Druid Chronicles. It's just as awesome as the first two, but it ends more than it concludes anything. I still love the mixing of mythologies. I mean, Atticus ends up in a bar fight with Jesus and then goes off to fight the Norse lightning good with the Russian lightning god (and some others). I can't wait for the fourth book to come out next spring.