2014 Book 20: Hexed (Iron Druid Chronicles Book 2)
Book 20: Hexed (The Iron Druid Chronicles Book 2) by Kevin Hearne, isbn: 9780345522498, Del Ray, 307 pages, $7.99
The Premise: (from the Goodreads page): Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty--when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.
With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex.
My Rating: Four stars out of five
My Thoughts: A second very enjoyable outing from Kevin Hearne in the Iron Druid series. The action picks up not long after the end of Hounded, in which a goodly section of the Arizona wild-lands were destroyed during Atticus' battle with Aenghus Og and an army of demons / fallen angels, and Atticus spends the first half of the book dealing with the ramifications of that battle, including numerous requests to kill other gods since he's already killed two from his own pantheon. The book is action-packed with multiple sub-plots converging into a big final battle, as is standard for most current urban fantasy series. Also as is standard, this second book expands on the world-building, just somehow narrowly avoiding info-dump exposition at some points. By the end of the book, we have a much better sense of how the Last Living (and near-immortal) Druid fits not only with his own pantheon (most of whom seem to view him as a tool/possession), but how the various pantheons fit together (both with each other -- Tuatha de Danaan and Norse and Christian and so-on -- and within themselves -- the various North American Native pantheons and the Greek/Roman) and what the politic nature of the supernatural world is (In this respect, Hearne does not veer far from the Butcher/McGuire model: legal agreements carry extra weight, words are as important as actions, Accords carry the day). Plot-wise, the only moment that fell particularly flat for me was the fight scene between Atticus, Coyote and the Fallen Angel left over from Hounded; it felt like the win was too easy for Atticus given what we'd been told of the angel's power level, and Atticus' recovery from his wounds was too easy as well. The scene is over fast, and not really important to the main plot. It serves more to wrap up a dangling plot thread from the first book and to introduce us to Coyote, because you can't set an urban fantasy in Arizona and ignore the native pantheons.
I like Atticus as a character, although I admit I'm already concerned about how "all powerful" he seems; these first two books read like what I imagine the Dresden Files would be like if Butcher had skipped the first four books and introduced Harry at the point where he's already becoming aware that he's more powerful than anyone suspected. I'm enjoying Granuile's increased presence in the book. I really like the vampire and werewolf lawyers, as well, and look forward to more detail on how them. And I really love the Widow MacDonagh -- yes, she's a stereotype right now, but not in a negative or derogatory manner. She's a fun supporting character who provides Atticus solid emotional support (and some awkward flirting). The stereotype that doesn't work for me is in the supporting character of Mister Semerdjian, a Muslim who in the first book was just an annoyance to Atticus, but in this book is revealed to be a black market arms dealer. It's too easy of a trigger for readers -- the name itself didn't trigger any associations for me in Hounded, where I don't think the characters religious beliefs are mentioned at all, but in a few paragraphs that are clearly Plot Necessities (Atticus has to get all that non-magical ordinance somewhere, after all, and a black-market arms dealer is an okay person to steal from, right?), the picture of Mister Semerdjian as That Type Of Muslim is clearly painted for us. I suppose, in this light, the characterization of the Widow MacDonagh is also "too easy," but the intent/use of the character is so very different. (Interestingly, I see a lot of reviews of this book centering on how sexist/misogynist it is -- but none of those reviewers (who raise valid concerns) discuss how this one secondary character is equally an insult (perhaps because Semerdjian is in only a couple of scenes, whereas the female characters make up the focus of the book and motivate all of the major plots). Food for thought.
But the fight scenes are well-written and appropriately complex when they need to be, Atticus' voice is fun to read (I do wonder if his cockiness/all-powerfulness is being overplayed on purpose, though, with Hearne aiming his hero directly towards the fall that follows pride). The world Hearne is building is still intriguing, and I'm ready for book three.
The Premise: (from the Goodreads page): Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty--when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.
With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex.
My Rating: Four stars out of five
My Thoughts: A second very enjoyable outing from Kevin Hearne in the Iron Druid series. The action picks up not long after the end of Hounded, in which a goodly section of the Arizona wild-lands were destroyed during Atticus' battle with Aenghus Og and an army of demons / fallen angels, and Atticus spends the first half of the book dealing with the ramifications of that battle, including numerous requests to kill other gods since he's already killed two from his own pantheon. The book is action-packed with multiple sub-plots converging into a big final battle, as is standard for most current urban fantasy series. Also as is standard, this second book expands on the world-building, just somehow narrowly avoiding info-dump exposition at some points. By the end of the book, we have a much better sense of how the Last Living (and near-immortal) Druid fits not only with his own pantheon (most of whom seem to view him as a tool/possession), but how the various pantheons fit together (both with each other -- Tuatha de Danaan and Norse and Christian and so-on -- and within themselves -- the various North American Native pantheons and the Greek/Roman) and what the politic nature of the supernatural world is (In this respect, Hearne does not veer far from the Butcher/McGuire model: legal agreements carry extra weight, words are as important as actions, Accords carry the day). Plot-wise, the only moment that fell particularly flat for me was the fight scene between Atticus, Coyote and the Fallen Angel left over from Hounded; it felt like the win was too easy for Atticus given what we'd been told of the angel's power level, and Atticus' recovery from his wounds was too easy as well. The scene is over fast, and not really important to the main plot. It serves more to wrap up a dangling plot thread from the first book and to introduce us to Coyote, because you can't set an urban fantasy in Arizona and ignore the native pantheons.
I like Atticus as a character, although I admit I'm already concerned about how "all powerful" he seems; these first two books read like what I imagine the Dresden Files would be like if Butcher had skipped the first four books and introduced Harry at the point where he's already becoming aware that he's more powerful than anyone suspected. I'm enjoying Granuile's increased presence in the book. I really like the vampire and werewolf lawyers, as well, and look forward to more detail on how them. And I really love the Widow MacDonagh -- yes, she's a stereotype right now, but not in a negative or derogatory manner. She's a fun supporting character who provides Atticus solid emotional support (and some awkward flirting). The stereotype that doesn't work for me is in the supporting character of Mister Semerdjian, a Muslim who in the first book was just an annoyance to Atticus, but in this book is revealed to be a black market arms dealer. It's too easy of a trigger for readers -- the name itself didn't trigger any associations for me in Hounded, where I don't think the characters religious beliefs are mentioned at all, but in a few paragraphs that are clearly Plot Necessities (Atticus has to get all that non-magical ordinance somewhere, after all, and a black-market arms dealer is an okay person to steal from, right?), the picture of Mister Semerdjian as That Type Of Muslim is clearly painted for us. I suppose, in this light, the characterization of the Widow MacDonagh is also "too easy," but the intent/use of the character is so very different. (Interestingly, I see a lot of reviews of this book centering on how sexist/misogynist it is -- but none of those reviewers (who raise valid concerns) discuss how this one secondary character is equally an insult (perhaps because Semerdjian is in only a couple of scenes, whereas the female characters make up the focus of the book and motivate all of the major plots). Food for thought.
But the fight scenes are well-written and appropriately complex when they need to be, Atticus' voice is fun to read (I do wonder if his cockiness/all-powerfulness is being overplayed on purpose, though, with Hearne aiming his hero directly towards the fall that follows pride). The world Hearne is building is still intriguing, and I'm ready for book three.