Trapped: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Five (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #5)

by Kevin Hearne

In the fifth novel in the New York Times bestselling Iron Druid Chronicles, two-thousand-year-old Druid Atticus O’Sullivan will at last bind a new Druid to protect the earth—but first he must go toe-to-toe with the Roman god Bacchus, the Norse pantheon, and an ancient vampire, all hell-bent on ensuring his demise.

“[Kevin] Hearne is a terrific storyteller with a great snarky wit. . . . Neil Gaiman’s American Gods meets Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden.”—SFFWorld

The downside to faking your own death is that people tend to get upset when they find out they’ve been had. In Atticus O’Sullivan’s case, they’re upset enough to come after him to make sure he dies for real this time. Yet he can’t remain in hiding anymore: He has to bind his apprentice, Granuaile, to the earth so that she can become the first new Druid in centuries.

But the Roman god Bacchus wants mortal revenge for a slight against him, and he proceeds to act on the principle that Atticus should hate his life until it can be ended. Members of the Norse pantheon aren’t particularly pleased with Atticus either—especially one who had languished in darkness, slowly going mad, and is now free to work his mischief again.

On top of that, an ancient vampire, who’d like to remove Atticus and Granuaile as threats to his kind, is working on his own plan for their destruction.

Forced to work at the base of Mount Olympus, Atticus and Granuaile must survive the three-month process of her binding and escape the many traps set for them. It’s fortunate that they have Oberon the Irish Wolfhound on their side—but is one good dog going to be enough to see them through it?

Don’t miss any of The Iron Druid Chronicles:
HOUNDED | HEXED | HAMMERED | TRICKED | TRAPPED | HUNTED | SHATTERED | STAKED | SCOURGED | BESIEGED

• ISBN10: 034553364X
• ISBN13: 9780345533647
• Publish Date: 27 November 2012 (first published 1 January 2012)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Random House USA Inc
• Imprint: Random House Inc
• Format: Paperback (US Mass Market)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English
• URL: https://penguinrandomhouse.com/books/isbn/9780345533647

Reviews

[Beth C.]

Such a pleasure to revisit this series in preparation for reading the last book. Luke Daniels is terrific as narrator - and I'm iffy when it comes to audiobooks most of the time.

[kimbacaffeinate]

I  was excited to see Atticus was ready to bind  Granuaile with Gaia making her the first new Druid in over 2,000 years. Unlike, Atticus who carries an ancient sword, Granuaile has a tricked out staff thanks to some crafty Fey. We see significant growth in this feisty, fearless young woman who smells like strawberry lip gloss. It was exciting to see what animals forms she would receive and watching her experience each for the first time was both humorous and amazing.

Of course, Hearne brought danger to Trapped in the form of dark elves, angry gods, and pesky vampires. One of my favorite things about the Iron Druid Chronicles is the extensive world-building using lore, myths, and gods. Hearne shares the history of the dark elves, something I was truly looking forward to. We learn more about Roman Gods, Norse Gods, Celtic Gods and even Hell. The author skillfully provided imagery that brought the stories Atticus shares to life all while our Druids and Oberon attempt to avoid death.

Thing heat up a little in Trapped and I loved these moments. Atticus has a thing for Granuaile, but as her teacher, he never acted. The binding scenes made me laugh and I loved how things evolved.

Never have I wanted an Irish Wolfhound as much as Oberon makes me want one. Getting his POV is an absolute treat and added humor during the darker moments. And we see plenty of dark times with action scene after action scene. Granuaile was a total badass, and the scene with the killer clowns was epic!

If you haven't begun the series, I recommend listening. Never tried an audio? This is the perfect series to test the waters. Hearne's story comes to live with the voices Luke Daniels creates. He has fast become one of my favorite narrators. His voice for Oberon is perfection. This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[MurderByDeath]

I've listened to the first 4 of these books on audio, and reading this one, I'm reminded why.  I avoid high fantasy because the made up names and places drive me up the wall - because I can't pronounce them, I can never keep from mixing them up.     The Iron Druid Chronicles are not high fantasy, but they are urban fantasy featuring just about every major mythological pantheon, with a heavy emphasis on Irish and Norse; both chock full of names and places I have absolutely zero chance of even coming close to pronouncing correctly.  Luckily, Hearne includes a pronunciation guide at the beginning of the book that covers most of the Celtic/Norse words he uses, but I kept having to flip back and recheck every time I came across a word like Scáthmhaide (SKAH wad jeh if you're curious) and it was distracting.   Otherwise it's a rip-roaring good time as Atticus has the oldest vampire in the world, Bacchus, dark elves, and Freya on his back and most of them want him dead.  But before that happens, he needs to complete the steps that will make his apprentice, Granuaile, a full fledged Druid.  This is the story line that was most interesting to me, as we get a lot of interaction between Atticus and the elementals and (finally) some resolution of the relationship between Atticus and Granuaile.     The rest was good, but mostly just a lot of intermittent bouts of fighting to keep the Druidic tattooing from becoming too dull.  It's fun, but it's a bit chaotic as the consequences of all Atticus' choices in the previous 4 books come home to roost at once.   There are 8 books so far, with the ninth being the final book in the series.  There's no way I can not find out how it all ends, but I think for the final three, I'll go back to audio, so I can enjoy the story without stressing myself out trying to remember how to pronounce words like Goibhniu and Ylgr.

[EBookObsessed]

It’s finally time for a new Druid, and a move forward in the romance department between Atticus and Granuaile, but no one said it was going to be easy especially when 1,500 years of scapegoating comes biting you in the butt.

Some spoilers from prior books.

I really love this series. While I felt Hammered was a little slow, this story makes up for that.

We skip forward twelve years after Tricked and it is finally time for Granuaile to be tattooed and bound to the earth as the first Druid in centuries. But this is not something the Atticus and Granuaile can do just anywhere. There are certain requirements which must be met and the tattooing will take several months.

Atticus and Granuaile are about to travel to Tír na nÓg when they are waylaid by Loki. He is not happy that he cannot get revenge on his brother Thor which he has been dreaming about during his centuries of imprisonment and torture. He wants to take it out on the druid that killed his brother. Quick thinking Atticus diverts Loki’s attention to the Dwarves and off Loki goes to confront them.

But nothing else goes well for Atticus and Granuile from here on out. Once they travel to Tír na nÓg, Brighid wants an audience with Atticus, mostly to explain how come he is actually alive and not dead, as it was reported, and if he was never dead, why didn’t he let her know this.

Atticus also finds out that all doors back to earth are closed except for the one at the foot of Mt. Olympus where Bacchus is waiting to get his hands on Atticus for killing his Bacchans twelve years prior.

While the Elemental near Olympus squeals with joy over helping to bind Graniule, they may not be left in peace to do the bindings. Now that word is spreading that the druid is not dead, everyone with a grudge against Atticus is coming out of the woodwork. The vampires are looking for Atticus, including his former friend Leif Helgerson but is he there to help or kill Atticus? We need to wait and see.

Now that Loki has escaped, Oden wants Atticus to help fighting in Ragnarok since Atticus is responsible for the loss of all the Norse Gods who were supposed to prevent it. Oops.

Atticus also finds out what happens when you have used other beings such as the Dark Elves and the Dwarves as your scapegoat for centuries. After being needlessly attacked for wrongdoings they never actually did, they are looking for a little payback from Atticus in the form of his head on a pike. Another big oops.

Atticus and Granuile fight never ending battles just to have a moment to get Granuile bound to the earth. Atticus’s last apprentice was killed just before he was bound. Will history repeat itself?

[littleread1]

I am really enjoying these books. I have heard great things about the audio narrator so I might switch to that for the next several.

[Amanda]

This series fucking rocks. Yes, the swearing is necessary. Kevin Hearne manages to shove Atticus's personality off the pages and straight into your brain, making these stories so deliciously addicting. Delicious like the Atticus cover model or chocolate or whatever food slides you into a state of bliss. (See? I'm avoiding the pajama comparison. I'm sticking to food instead.)

Most of what happens in Trapped is a direct result of all the shenanigans that went down in Hammered. All these forces are beginning to swirl around Atticus and well, shit is gettin' serious. (The ending is cruel, by the way. CRUEL. It's why I want it to be June. I also want it to be June so it's not cold anymore, but that's off topic.) But Atticus continues to come up with plans that are simply delightful. (Delightful in the way you might clap your hands in excitement over diabolical plans, all the while laughing a little maniacally.) These stories are worth reading for the shenanigans alone.

Granuaile takes more of a prominent role in Trapped, and I have to say that I'm really liking how bad ass she is. She may not have Atticus's years of wisdom, but she is smart and crafty and is definitely a Druid to be reckoned with. There are also certain...developments in this story. And, as I so often say: THINGS HAPPEN. I was also pretty sure that it was impossible for Oberon to become more charming and entertaining, but I was so very wrong. Oberon remains one of my favorite sidekicks.

Though it's a bit jarring at first to realize that Trapped starts off TWELVE YEARS after Tricked, it's quickly forgotten, because Kevin Hearne really does make it that easy to jump back into this world. And I can't wait until we found out what trouble Atticus gets himself out off next.