Hammered: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Three, by Kevin Hearne
Book Review by Joshua Palmatier
Have you read this book?
Hammered is the third book in Kevin Hearne's Iron Druid Chronicles,
which I discovered when he was on my panel at Comic Con. I love this
series, and moved immediately from the second book to this one.
The premise of the book is that Atticus' debts have come due. During the first two books, he made deals with some questionable characters in order to achieve his goals, and now he needs to follow through on his own end of the bargain. He told an old witch he would steal one of the Golden Apples from Asgard, and Hammered starts off with him infiltrating Asgard to follow through on that. But that isn't his true purpose in Asgard. He's using it as more of a scouting mission in order to satisfy Leif's request that he help the vampire kill Thor. The rest of the book is essentially Atticus' attempts to help Leif--and a slew of other characters--take out the thunder god, even after he's been warned by the Morrigan and Jesus that it's a bad idea.
First off, this book has a slightly different feel from the first two books, but it's hard to point to something specific that causes this feeling. I know that when I started reading it, I felt like the beginning was rushed, and what happens escalated too fast--from sneaking in to OMG DEATHS! After that, the pacing seemed to slow down way too much. So perhaps part of the feeling in pacing issues. Another part, though, is likely the characters. Atticus' actions seem out-of-control, when he's never appeared out-of-control before, and some of his decision just seem unthoughtful and rash, especially at the beginning. So the character felt slightly off to me as well. Not until late in the book did Atticus seem to settle back into his old character.
I did enjoy the book. I liked seeing that Atticus' actions in the previous books had significant and serious consequences, and they all (pretty much) came due here. In too many urban fantasies, the characters do some horrific or at least consequential things, and yet there never seem to be bad repercussions because of their actions. That's not true here. In fact, I felt that Atticus was appearing too powerful in the second book; that fear was allayed here, when his smugness comes back to haunt him. Once Atticus returned to his old character, and the pacing picked up, the book was great. There was a section in the middle--sort of a [I]Canterbury Tales kind of thing--that readers are going to love or hate, but it was a minor distraction overall.
So, not as great as the first two, in my opinion, although it had its moments and certainly didn't turn me off from the series at all. I've already read the fourth book, Tricked and intend to get the fifth book, Trapped, when it hits shelves later this fall. I still recommend the series highly to everyone who loves urban fantasy... or fantasy in general, actually. It's fun, humorous, but with a serious backbone to it.
The premise of the book is that Atticus' debts have come due. During the first two books, he made deals with some questionable characters in order to achieve his goals, and now he needs to follow through on his own end of the bargain. He told an old witch he would steal one of the Golden Apples from Asgard, and Hammered starts off with him infiltrating Asgard to follow through on that. But that isn't his true purpose in Asgard. He's using it as more of a scouting mission in order to satisfy Leif's request that he help the vampire kill Thor. The rest of the book is essentially Atticus' attempts to help Leif--and a slew of other characters--take out the thunder god, even after he's been warned by the Morrigan and Jesus that it's a bad idea.
First off, this book has a slightly different feel from the first two books, but it's hard to point to something specific that causes this feeling. I know that when I started reading it, I felt like the beginning was rushed, and what happens escalated too fast--from sneaking in to OMG DEATHS! After that, the pacing seemed to slow down way too much. So perhaps part of the feeling in pacing issues. Another part, though, is likely the characters. Atticus' actions seem out-of-control, when he's never appeared out-of-control before, and some of his decision just seem unthoughtful and rash, especially at the beginning. So the character felt slightly off to me as well. Not until late in the book did Atticus seem to settle back into his old character.
I did enjoy the book. I liked seeing that Atticus' actions in the previous books had significant and serious consequences, and they all (pretty much) came due here. In too many urban fantasies, the characters do some horrific or at least consequential things, and yet there never seem to be bad repercussions because of their actions. That's not true here. In fact, I felt that Atticus was appearing too powerful in the second book; that fear was allayed here, when his smugness comes back to haunt him. Once Atticus returned to his old character, and the pacing picked up, the book was great. There was a section in the middle--sort of a [I]Canterbury Tales kind of thing--that readers are going to love or hate, but it was a minor distraction overall.
So, not as great as the first two, in my opinion, although it had its moments and certainly didn't turn me off from the series at all. I've already read the fourth book, Tricked and intend to get the fifth book, Trapped, when it hits shelves later this fall. I still recommend the series highly to everyone who loves urban fantasy... or fantasy in general, actually. It's fun, humorous, but with a serious backbone to it.
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