Staked (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #8)

by Kevin Hearne

"Iron Druid Atticus O'Sullivan, hero of Kevin Hearne's epic New York Times bestselling urban fantasy series, has a point to make--and then drive into a vampire's heart. When a druid has lived for two thousand years like Atticus, he's bound to run afoul of a few vampires. Make that legions of them. Even his former friend and legal counsel turned out to be a bloodsucking backstabber. Now the toothy troublemakers--led by power-mad pain-in-the-neck Theophilus--have become a huge problem requiring a solution. It's time to make a stand. As always, Atticus wouldn't mind a little backup. But his allies have problems of their own. Ornery archdruid Owen Kennedy is having a wee bit of troll trouble: Turns out when you stiff a troll, it's not water under the bridge. Meanwhile, Granuaile is desperate to free herself of the Norse god Loki's mark and elude his powers of divination--a quest that will bring her face-to-face with several Slavic nightmares. As Atticus globetrots to stop his nemesis Theophilus, the journey leads to Rome. What better place to end an immortal than the Eternal City? But poetic justice won't come without a price: In order to defeat Theophilus, Atticus may have to lose an old friend. Praise for Kevin Hearne and The Iron Druid Chronicles "[The Iron Druid books] are clever, fast paced and a good escape."--Jason Weisberger, Boing Boing "Celtic mythology and an ancient Druid with modern attitude mix it up in the Arizona desert in this witty new fantasy series."--Kelly Meding, author of Chimera "Outrageously fun."--The Plain Dealer, on Hounded "Superb. plenty of quips and zap-pow-bang fighting."--Publishers Weekly (starred review), on Hounded "Exciting. [Atticus] is one of the best main characters currently present in the urban fantasy genre."--Fantasy Book Critic, on Tricked "Funny, razor-sharp. plenty of action, humor, and mythology."--Booklist (starred review), on Shattered"--

"The next book in this urban fantasy series, set in a modern world in which all the gods of every pantheon are alive and well, and starring a smart-mouthed, butt kicking magician, Atticus O'Sullivan: a handsome, tattooed Irishman who looks like a young rock star, but is in actuality a 2,000-year-old Druid with extraordinary magic powers. In Staked, Atticus has his final confrontation with the clan of vampires who have been bent on destroying him--including Leif, his former best friend and now enemy"--

• ISBN10: 0345548515
• ISBN13: 9780345548511
• Publish Date: 26 January 2016
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Imprint: Del Rey Books
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 336
• Language: English

Reviews

[MurderByDeath]

A couple of things occurred to me while reading Staked:  it feels like Herne doesn't really like his main character, Atticus; at least, not judging by the amount of existential pain he dumps on him.  The other is that I can see the inspiration, right down the the scatalogical humor, of the character in his new series that starts with Ink & Sigil - clearly in Owen, the arch-druid and Atticus' mentor. Owen is quite feral and off-putting, no matter how gold and good his heart may be.

Staked is told through the rotating viewpoints of all three druids: Atticus, Granuaile and Owen, and the meandering is epic.  We begin and end with the titular war with the vampires, but in between there's a battle-seer-horse needing rescue, ecological retribution being wrought, treaties being hammered out in Asgard, greek gods getting vaporised, and all matter of other trivia.  It wasn't boring but I disliked being passed off between characters, especially when I had little use for Granuaile's daddy issues and Owen's feral lack of expletives that didn't include his bollocks and backside, and those of everyone else's.

I do enjoy Atticus's adventures and character, and I like Oberon even more when I read him, as opposed to listening to a narrator scooby-doo his voice.  I enjoy his interactions with the various deities and villains, and especially enjoy the verbal sparring between himself and Leif.  It's a detriment to the books, if not the overall story arc, that Hearne felt it necessary to take all of Atticus' interesting friends away from him; he suffers from the lack of intellectually challenging interactions.   Overall, though, it was a good enough story to keep me reading, and I enjoyed the ending well enough.  If one chooses, one could end the series right here and everything save Ragnarok would be tied up neatly.  At this moment, I'm content to leave the series here, but I can't say I won't change my mind.

[Linda]

I keep loving this series so much, and I have to say that Luke Daniels does a fantastic job at narrating. That was especially evident in Staked, as both Granuaile and Owen narrate chapters as well. Of course, Oberon and Orla are still favorites of mine as well.
The action was just as break-neck as I've gotten used to, and I truly enjoyed the fact that there were more story arcs.

[Beth C.]

Welp. Book #8 means I'm almost to #9 and the end of a series I have loved since I first got an arc way back when. This one I loved, as usual, though I did have a few quibbles. Granuaile and her vengeance didn't quite strike true for me - Fierce Druid was less *fierce* and more *terrible*. However, Owen continues to be one big bag of AWESOME, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to start saying "shite" instead of "shit". Most of my LOL moments were related to him, and I'm anxious to see what happens with him in the last book. I continue to love Atticus, though I was a little less excited about some of his shenanigans in this book - it was a LOT. However, overall - I did enjoy this one and I'm alternately thrilled for and sad about the last book.

[kimbacaffeinate]

Once again we a treated to three POVs and three storylines but unlike Shattered these work seamlessly.

Atticus has issues with the vampires and their leader Theophilus. Enough is enough and its time to take a stand. To do this, he will face danger, severe ties, suffer loss and will end up carrying guilt but with a price on the druid's heads, Atticus is determined to be the victor. This thread has him reconnecting with characters from previous books as he does quite a bit of traveling in his quest. The Hammers of God was an interesting thread and I loved how Hearne brought them back in and feed my quest for knowledge regarding them.  The Dark Elves also made an appearance and continue to fascinate me.

After Granuaile 's experiences in India, she is determined to be free of the mark, the Norse God Loki set upon her.  To do this she enlists the help of the gods and the witches in Poland. This was an intense thread that has her facing several Slavic nightmares. She also continued her quest regarding her stepfather. I like Granuaile but I would be lying if I didn't say that her POV sometimes grates on my nerves. She is passionate but also youthful in her reactions.

The third POV is Owen, who has decided to teach again and is spending time with a certain werewolf and her clan. In Staked, Owen has a wee bit of trouble with trolls. This thread was intense, heartbreaking and tied to the overall series ARC as Owen makes a startling discovery concerning an enemy.

Oberon and Orliath were present and added humor, emotion, and talks of food to the story. While I enjoy Orilath, but Oberon continues to steal the show. One of my favorite side stories in Staked had to do with a ghost and I enjoyed how Hearne both shared events from Atticus's past and addressed ghostly entities.

The stories eventually wove together when Atticus and the other druids join him in Rome as he takes on Theophilus. These final scenes were intense and had me sitting up straight and listening intensely.

Luke Daniels continues to narrate the series and I think he will be as sad as I will be when the final novel releases. Thankfully, he narrates Hearne's new series and many other titles.  This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Reviewer

[EBookObsessed]

Atticus gets a magical stake and it’s time to take on the vampires.

As always, I audiobooked this series since Luke Daniels does such a spectacular job.

I’m not kidding. Atticus, Granuiale and Owen are gifted stakes from the weapons maker in Tír na Óg and one touch of the stake anywhere on the vampire unbinds them into puddles of vamp goo. There is a great scene where vampires are all sitting around the start exploding and they are all freaking out because they can’t figure out what is happening meanwhile we know there is a camouflaged druid taking care of business.

Granuiale appeals to Odin to help remove the cloaking/tracking mark that Loki branded her with. While she wants to remove Loki’s mark, she knows that will open her up to divination once again. So she heads to Poland to find and speak to Melina’s coven of witches to see if they can provide her with a magical cloak. But nothing with witches comes free and they send her to find a magical horse which was captured and being hidden by Loki. An easy trade, get them the horse and they will devise a cloak for her.

Owen is busy with his girlfriend Getta creating his Grove of apprentices to teach a new generation of druids. It is a wonderful display watching the children learn basic druidism and the first time they connect with the elementals. The problem comes when enemies of Atticus who can’t devine the Iron Druid but they can locate Owen and his apprentices. The Grove might have the protection of Tuath Dí Danann and the werewolf pack but that doesn’t mean that he and his students are safe.

Meanwhile Atticus has come up with an interesting trap for Verner Drasher and goes off to see if he can finally get rid of him for good.

Problems with the vampires have hit a critical point and Atticus makes a deal with the devil…well, not the real devil but close. They are no longer friends but Leif Helgerson is “the devil you know” and they make a deal, if Leif helps Atticus find Theophalis and if Atticus can destroy him, Leif can step in as the oldest vampire and strike a deal for peace between the vamps and the druids. That is a lot of “ifs.”