Tricked, by Kevin Hearne
Book Review by Joshua Palmatier
Have you read this book?
Tricked is the fourth novel in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles and picks up fairly close to the previous novel, Hammered. I've certainly enjoyed this series so far, and look forward to the next book, Trapped.
This book starts off with the main character, Atticus, attempting to leave his old life behind, taking his new apprentice with him, by tricking the gods seeking vengeance on him into thinking he's died with the help of Coyote. He's hoping he can go into hiding and train his apprentice undisturbed. But in order to gain Coyote's help, he's committed himself to helping the trickster god. He thought he'd worded the deal well-enough he'd only be helping shift some dirt around using his powers, but Coyote is known as the trickster god for a reason. Instead, he finds himself obligated to help Coyote deal with some local skinwalkers, while creating a mine for Coyote's people. All of this going on while a vampire war is brewing in the state of Arizona.
I liked the fact that this book dealt with a Native American mythology, which isn't used enough in the SF&F realm in my opinion. I've read a few things, but most of them just don't use the mythology effectively, in my opinion. Kevin Hearne uses it well here, and shows more of an understanding of and respect for it than most (as far as I could tell, not being an expert). After having books dealing with the Fae, witches, and the Norse gods, I was wondering what Atticus was going to be asked to deal with next, and this fit perfectly with the situation as it stood at the end of Hammered. I liked that Atticus decided he had to leave his old, comfortable life behind; not many urban fantasy books have main characters as practical as this (most get stubborn and refuse to move, no matter what). I also liked the pains taken to make most of those after him believe that he, and his apprentice, are dead. All of this activity is woven through dealing with the skinwalkers and the new mine.
In fact, that might be my only real complaint about this book. We get going on the skinwalker plot line and that's moving along rather well, when suddenly it felt as if that got paused while Atticus dealt with the some of the vampire war issue. And then we suddenly return to the skinwalkers again for the remainder of the book. Everything else was woven into the skinwalker plot line except for this one piece.
But that aside, this book was stronger than Hammered, which I felt had a few more serious issues. I like the direction Atticus is taking because it makes sense. I like him and his apprentice (and Oberon, of course). And I like the way he's manipulated by Coyote and others in this book. Like in Hammered, we see more evidence that Atticus isn't all-powerful, which is good. Here, we actually get to see him out of his element. I still recommend this series to the urban fantasy lovers out there. It's different, humorous and dark at the same time, with characters that I think readers will love.
This book starts off with the main character, Atticus, attempting to leave his old life behind, taking his new apprentice with him, by tricking the gods seeking vengeance on him into thinking he's died with the help of Coyote. He's hoping he can go into hiding and train his apprentice undisturbed. But in order to gain Coyote's help, he's committed himself to helping the trickster god. He thought he'd worded the deal well-enough he'd only be helping shift some dirt around using his powers, but Coyote is known as the trickster god for a reason. Instead, he finds himself obligated to help Coyote deal with some local skinwalkers, while creating a mine for Coyote's people. All of this going on while a vampire war is brewing in the state of Arizona.
I liked the fact that this book dealt with a Native American mythology, which isn't used enough in the SF&F realm in my opinion. I've read a few things, but most of them just don't use the mythology effectively, in my opinion. Kevin Hearne uses it well here, and shows more of an understanding of and respect for it than most (as far as I could tell, not being an expert). After having books dealing with the Fae, witches, and the Norse gods, I was wondering what Atticus was going to be asked to deal with next, and this fit perfectly with the situation as it stood at the end of Hammered. I liked that Atticus decided he had to leave his old, comfortable life behind; not many urban fantasy books have main characters as practical as this (most get stubborn and refuse to move, no matter what). I also liked the pains taken to make most of those after him believe that he, and his apprentice, are dead. All of this activity is woven through dealing with the skinwalkers and the new mine.
In fact, that might be my only real complaint about this book. We get going on the skinwalker plot line and that's moving along rather well, when suddenly it felt as if that got paused while Atticus dealt with the some of the vampire war issue. And then we suddenly return to the skinwalkers again for the remainder of the book. Everything else was woven into the skinwalker plot line except for this one piece.
But that aside, this book was stronger than Hammered, which I felt had a few more serious issues. I like the direction Atticus is taking because it makes sense. I like him and his apprentice (and Oberon, of course). And I like the way he's manipulated by Coyote and others in this book. Like in Hammered, we see more evidence that Atticus isn't all-powerful, which is good. Here, we actually get to see him out of his element. I still recommend this series to the urban fantasy lovers out there. It's different, humorous and dark at the same time, with characters that I think readers will love.
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