Trapped

So here we are with the fifth book in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles, Trapped.  Trapped takes place twelve years after Tricked and about six years after those short stories ("Two Ravens and One Crow," "The Demon Barker of Wheat Street" and "The Chapel Perilous").  Most of the world believed Atticus was dead, giving him the time he needed to train Granuaile.  But train her he did. And now as they're searching for a good place to bind Granuaile to the earth, the Tuatha De Danaan have discovered that Atticus is still alive.  And unfortunately they're not the only ones.  Word has gotten out to Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, merrymaking and ritual madness.  Bacchus swore he would kill Atticus back in Hexed.  And as one of the Olympians, Bacchus is truly immortal.

Unfortunately for Atticus and Granuaile, a new druid can only be bound to the earth on the Eurasian Plate (meaning only in Europe).  And something has closed off all the routes from Tir Na nOg to Europe except one; that one exception is Greece in the vicinity of Mount Olympus. So now Atticus will have to bind his apprentice under the very noses of the Roman gods, all while the entire world realizes that he is actually still alive. 

Trapped was an incredibly good read.  And with gods, vampires, and dark elves (of the Norse variety) all hunting after Atticus, Trapped really kicked things up a notch from Tricked.  The ending (particularly the epilogue) really made me excited to read book six, Hunted - I can't wait to start it (which I'm doing right now)!

In the Beginning

Earlier today, I was discussing books on Twitter. I had asked Philippa Ballantine if she was going to write anything else in her Books of the Order world; she directed me to "In the Beginning," a short story that also takes place in that world. It tells a story about the first day that the geists broke into the world. "In the Beginning" is a really fast but enjoyable read. It was neat to see the world not from the Deacons's perspective.

The Chapel Perilous

After loving "The Demon Barker of Wheat Street," I decided to read "The Chapel Perilous" before jumping into Trapped. Since "The Chapel Perilous" is available on Kindle, I started reading it right after finishing writing my review of "The Demon Barker" (but I went to a friend's house soon after, so I didn't finish reading it until now).

"The Chapel Perilous" takes place after the other two short stories (according to the author's note, it's four years before Trapped). Atticus, Oberon, and Granuaile are taking a break from training to go camping. They're sitting around the campfire and ask him for a story. And so Atticus tells them about when he recovered the Holy Grail as Sir Gawain. Of course, it wasn't known as the Holy Grail at the time, but was Dagda's Cauldron, which was never emptied of food. Atticus was sent to retrieve the Cauldron by Ogma of the Tuatha De Danann. The cauldron was stolen by a Pict, who had hidden it beyond the Tuatha De Danann's sight. And so he journeyed into the realm of the Fisher King to retrieve it.

While not as good as "The Demon Barker of Wheat Street" and "Two Ravens and One Crow," "The Chapel Perilous" was still very interesting. I learned a bit more about Atticus's history and the Tuatha De Danann, so in my mind this was definitely a story worth reading!

The Demon Barker of Wheat Street

As I mentioned last time, I bought the Carniepunk anthology on my Kindle to read Kevin Hearne's story "The Demon Barker of Wheat Street."  I didn't really want to buy the anthology because I'm really only interested in Kevin Hearne's story, but since it's currently the only place to get it, I sucked it up and bought the whole anthology.

"The Demon Barker of Wheat Street" takes place a couple of weeks after "Two Ravens and One Crow."  Even though Granuaile has faked her death, she wanted to see how her mother was dealing with things.  So Atticus, Oberon, and Granuaile find themselves in Kansas.  While there, they attend a local wheat festival which includes a carnival.  Seeing a large crowd gathering by a dwarf on stilts who is selling people on his freak show, they get curious and head in.  But the freak show isn't at all what it seems - and Atticus has his hands full saving his hound, his apprentice, and the many innocent victims of this ghoulish attraction.

I absolutely loved "The Demon Barker of Wheat Street."  This story alone was well worth what I payed for Carniepunk!

Two Ravens and One Crow

After finishing Tricked, I decided to follow along with Kevin Hearne's chronology and read "Two Ravens and One Crow" next.  Luckily it was available on Amazon as a Kindle Single, so I snagged it from there.

"Two Ravens and One Crow" takes place six years after Tricked.  Atticus has finally had the peace and quiet to focus on Granuaile's training.  But Atticus's peace and quiet is shattered by the Morrigan's arrival, who demands that he come with her.  For one thing, he needs the tattoo on the back of his hand healed (and has needed it healed for the last six years, since the final battle with the skinwalkers left it damaged).  But the Morrigan also arranged a meeting with a certain god who most definitely wants Atticus dead...

"Two Ravens and One Crow" was a fantastic novella.  I'm really glad I read it (and am now looking forward to "The Demon Barker of Wheat Street," which I ended up buying as well).

Tricked

Last night I finished reading Tricked, the fourth book in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles.  Tricked was a bit different from the previous books because Atticus, Oberon, and Granuaile have left Tempe, Arizona.  Atticus bargained with Coyote; Coyote would shapeshift into the druid and die convincingly (to trick the Norse and other gods into thinking Atticus is dead), and Atticus would help Coyote out with a project.

The project sounds pretty straightforward: convince the earth to move some gold into Navajo territory.  But Coyote neglects to mention that his gold mine is in skinwalker territory; Coyote wants Atticus to help deal with them as well.  Meanwhile, Atticus checks in with his werewolf lawyers.  They tell him that politics have changed in the (local) vampire realm.  So Atticus arranges to meet with Leif to see how the vampire is doing after almost dying in Valhalla (and to find out what's going on with the vampire politics).  There's trickery and betrayal all over the place in this fourth installment in the Iron Druid Chronicles!

A friend warned me that Tricked wasn't as good because there aren't many of the characters from the first three books in it.  But I still enjoyed it all the same.  I'm looking forward to reading "Two Ravens and One Crow," as well as the fifth book, Trapped, soon!

A Test of Mettle

I actually read "A Test of Mettle" a few days ago.  Originally I wasn't going to blog about it, but then I changed my mind.

"A Test of Mettle" actually takes place during Hammered.  This is what happened to Granuaile while Atticus was heading off to Asgard.

Granuaile was sent to help the elemental Sonora clear the East Verde
River of invasive crawdads.  But Flidais and Brighid decide to administer the Baolach Cruatan (the Dangerous Trial) with no warning to her.

This was a really short story which is available for free on Kevin Hearne's website.  It was fun to get Granuaile's perspective before I start reading Tricked.