kimbacaffeinate
Written on Dec 5, 2017
BOOK 3 IN THE IRON DRUID CHRONICLES
Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is worse than a blowhard and a bully—he’s ruined countless lives and killed scores of innocents. After centuries, Viking vampire Leif Helgarson is ready to get his vengeance, and he’s asked his friend Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids, to help take down this Norse nightmare.
One survival strategy has worked for Atticus for more than two thousand years: stay away from the guy with the lightning bolts. But things are heating up in Atticus’s home base of Tempe, Arizona. There’s a vampire turf war brewing, and Russian demon hunters who call themselves the Hammers of God are running rampant. Despite multiple warnings and portents of dire consequences, Atticus and Leif journey to the Norse plain of Asgard, where they team up with a werewolf, a sorcerer, and an army of frost giants for an epic showdown against vicious Valkyries, angry gods, and the hammer-wielding Thunder Thug himself.
Don’t miss any of Kevin Hearne’s phenomenal Iron Druid Chronicles novels:
HOUNDED | HEXED | HAMMERED | TRICKED | TRAPPED | HUNTED | SHATTERED | STAKED
- ISBN10 1455813966
- ISBN13 9781455813964
- Publish Date 28 June 2011 (first published 1 January 2011)
- Publish Status Active
- Imprint Brilliance Audio
- Format Audiobook
- Language English
Reviews
EBookObsessed
Written on Oct 28, 2016
SPOILER WARNING!! Some things to be discussed have to do with the prior novels.
As I mentioned previously, in this series everyone considers Thor a real asshat. In the prior novel, Atticus's friend, lawyer and vampire, Leif Helgerson, extracted a promise from Atticus to help Leif get to Asgard so he can kill Thor.
Before he does that, Atticus goes to Asgard to scout it out since no one has any type of handy map of Asgard hanging around. He also needs to provide the golden apple to Laksha as her payment for taking care of the Bacchans in the last story. Once he arrives, Atticus is forced to kill the Nörn, or Norse Fates. Not what Atticus was planning in his stealth attempt to check out Asgard, but if the Fates are dead, then there would be no one to foresee Atticus bringing Leif to Asgard and warn Thor. So maybe it was a win-win.
Yet when Atticus returns to Arizona to begin his journey with Leif, he gets a visit from Jesus, looking to grab that beer that Atticus mentioned to the Virgin Mary. Jesus seems to be well aware of Atticus's plans for Thor and tries to talk him out of it indicating it will bring a world of shit down on Atticus and this time, it doesn't look like the Druid will survive his actions.
I loved that Jesus was part of the story and when someone comes to attack Atticus, Jesus eventually steps in. But as you might imagine, even people who know about witches, werewolves and vampires, rolls their eyes after asking "who the hell are you" and getting the response of "I am Jesus."
No matter the warning, Atticus doesn't feel right about breaking his oath to Leif but maybe he can convince him to give up his plans. Their trip takes them from Arizona to Tír na nÓg and to Siberia. Upon their arrival in Russia they pick up some help in the form of others who have a bone to pick with Thor. The story slows down significantly as we hear the various stories of what Thor has done to the various men and their friends or family and why they are joining in the Thor-beat-down.
Jesus isn't the only God presence warning Atticus off this path, but he doesn't listen, intent now on bringing all these men to Asgard to allow them to kick Thor's ass. But things don't go so smoothly and things are set in motion that will effect the Norse's version of Armageddon known as Ragnarök, and does land Atticus in a world of shit. He now has to grab his apprentice and his dog and book it out of town ASAP.
As much as I enjoy the series and the storytelling, the whole travel from Arizona and the long stories of Thor-asshatery, while interesting, slowed down this story from the prior ones where death and destruction attacked Atticus relentlessly.
But just as I was giving it a "meh" in my head, it ends with an "Oh my God" moment that had me immediately downloading Book #4.
As part of the series, you need to read it. It is a pivotal story. When the action is happening, it does have plenty of excitement, you just need to be aware that this one isn't going to be all excitement.
MurderByDeath
Written on Jun 14, 2016
Talk about your conflicted feelings. For those that have read the Iron Druid chronicles, you know how great the writing is and how good the stories are. If you haven't read them and you like urban fantasy with humour and a good, researched dose of the varying world mythologies, you can't go wrong trying out this series. (I particularly loved Jesus in this one!)
But Thor... *sniffle* let's just say I prefer Marvel's version, even if it's not historically accurate.
I listened to this one and while the story gets 4 stars, the narration is a solid three. Christopher Ragland does a very credible job with Atticus, but he blows it with Oberon, making him sound like an inane, slobbering canine version of Pee Wee Herman and his idea of Leif's voice is a bad Clint Eastwood impersonation that was painful to listen to. Additionally, I count many Scandinavians as close friends and none of them have that exaggerated muppet-Swedish-chef accent. I'm not even going to get started on the female characters; I'm just grateful Granuaile didn't play a bigger part.
I'd definitely listen to another of these, they're very engaging, but looking at the author's website he lists audio using a different narrator, and I think I'll try out a sample to see if he does a better job.
Melanie
Written on Jun 14, 2016
4.5 stars
Hammered picks up pretty much where Hexed left off. Atticus must go to Asgard to steal a golden apple for Laksha to settle up a debt from the previous story. Leif wants to go to Asgard to kill Thor and there are many who want to go kill Thor too. It seems that Thor is not the nice guy that we see from Chris Hemsworth in the Marvel movies.
One of the big things that stuck with me was all the stories about each person and why they wanted to kill Thor. There were many and they weren’t good stories. They were well told. I loved listening to each character tell Atticus about how Thor had wronged them. I would want to kill him too, even if he did smile like Chris Hemsworth.
We learn about how Leif because a vampire too. We get to spend time with the werewolf alpha, who has been in previous books but in small pieces. Not to mention the new characters. We also can’t forget the Morrigan. This wouldn’t be an Iron Druids book without her.
Iron Druid Chronicles continues to be a fun urban fantasy series with a very likeable main character and wonderful secondary characters. It has a mix of several different kinds of mythologies including Norse, Greek, Finnish, Christian folklores. Add to that the standard werewolf, vampire, witches and other supernaturals that we are used to seeing, and you get a great group of characters, both good and bad, to choose from. As per usual, it is the humor that I love in this book. Atticus talks about his angel and devil on his shoulders as Spock and Captain Kirk.
Now go and stake some vamps. Especially the sparkly emo ones.
Awesome! I’d just bullied Jesus into doing a shot with me. Nobody would ever believe it, but I didn’t care. We ordered the insanely expensive stuff, seventy-five dollars for a 1.75-ounce pour of premium Irish whiskey, because if you’re doing a shot with Jesus, you don’t buy him scotch.
“Say no more,” Leif interrupted. “I understand. I will simply have to kill them all myself.”
“There he goes again. I’m telling you, Danny Elfman would love to get hold of those lines.”
“Not John Williams?”
“If you’ve got some hopelessly overmatched heroes fighting evil and some Imperial types marching, John Williams is your guy. You need a song to make people reach for a box of Kleenex, talk to Randy Newman. But if you want creepy atmospherics and spine-shivering chords to back up your casual death threats, you gotta bring in Danny Elfman.”
“I see. And who is this author?”
“Neil Fucking Gaiman.”
“His second name is Fucking?”
“No, Leif, that’s the honorary second name all celebrities are given by their fans. It’s not an insult, it’s a huge compliment, and he’s earned it. You’d like him. He dresses all in black like you. Read a couple of his books, and then when you meet him, you’ll squee too.”
Leif found the suggestion distasteful. “I would never behave with so little dignity. Nor would I wish to be confronted in such a manner by anyone else. Vampires inspire screams, not squees. Involuntary urination is common, I grant, but it properly flows from a sense of terror, not an ecstatic sense of hero worship.”
littleread1
Written on Mar 9, 2014
Amanda
Written on Mar 29, 2012
Atticus just got himself into a shit load of trouble.
His neatly ordered life continues to unravel in the third book of the Iron Druid Chronicles. Hammered is more of a continuation of promises Atticus made in Hexed. In some sense, Hammered is a much more unified story than Hexed; everything in Hammered leads up to a fight with Thor, and there are fewer problems pulling Atticus in different directions. This made the audiobook much easier to follow.
One thing that I really loved about Hammered was that we were able to learn more of Gunnar’s and Leif’s backgrounds and their stories about how they came to be a werewolf and vampire, respectively. Up until now, we have really only be exposed to Atticus’s story, and there has been little information about Lief and vampires (mostly as Leif has refused to answer Atticus’s questions thus far) as well as Gunnar and the rest of the pack. In some ways, Atticus takes a back seat in this story. He makes some very important decisions (whether they are wise or not remains to be seen), but for the most part, Gunnar and Leif drive this story forward. Well, Leif perhaps more so than Gunnar, but still.
There was one thing missing from Hammered: Oberon. He plays only a small role in the beginning and end. It was rather sad (especially since Oberon is beloved by many) but there is enough action and other interesting happenings to make it okay.
We also get to meet Jesus! JESUS! Jesus was pretty chill. There was also the introduction of a few other characters who also had something against Thor and who joined in the fight. Each of these characters got their own chapters with their own stories and loved what they added to the overall story.
There are A LOT of changes in Hammered. And a slight cliffhanger. Things, they are a-changing. I don’t exactly know how I feel about some of the changes. I know that something on that scale had to happen, but I don’t like it. I’m glad that Tricked is out, so I can find out.
Beth C.
Written on Dec 30, 2011
Linda
Written on Aug 13, 2011