Besieged (The Iron Druid Chronicles)

by Kevin Hearne

[Melanie]

My review and an extended sample of the audiobook are posted at Hotlistens.com.

4.5 stars

I love these kinds of anthologies. The little insights into these stories adds so much to a series. The author is able to include little tidbits that don’t seem to fit into full-length novels.

The Eye of Horus
This is a fun story which tells about how Atticus becomes a druid. Atticus is to steal an Egyptian artifact. The best part about this story is that Atticus is telling the story to Granuaile and Oberon. Oberon is a great source of comic relief.

The Demon Barker of Wheat Street
This is a story with Granuaile, Atticus and Oberon at a carnival in Kansas (in Granuaile’s home town). The quickly learn that the freakshow is more than they bargained for.

Goddess at the Crossroads
This was a fun story with Atticus and how he met William Shakespeare. It is also about how Shakespeare came up with those witches he wrote about in Macbeth.

Gold Dust Druid
Atticus tells the story of people summoning demons during the Gold Rush in San Francisco. The best part of this story is Oberon’s constant interruptions. Oberon’s commentary might be part of the reason this is the longest story in the collection. LOL

Cuddle Dungeon
This story is told from Perun’s POV. He and Flidais go to Cuddle Dungeon in Edinburgh. It is a BDSM dungeon. Perun has no idea what this place is and Flidais doesn’t give him much details. I think I left this story with the same thoughts as Perun.

The Bogeyman of Boora Bog
Owen tells the story of how he became Atticus’ archdruid.

Blood Pudding
Granuaile tells the story of her encounter with vampires in Poland (of which they were supposed to have left, per the treaty with Leif). There are some vampires that feel that they don’t have the follow the treaty because they don’t acknowledge Leif’s leadership. I really liked the bar patreon that Granuaile has at her bar. He didn’t startle easily, that’s for sure.

Haunted Devils
Owen is contacted by the elemental Colorado for the elemental in New Zealand. There is something weird going on in the area that is affecting the Tasmanian Devils. Owen takes Greta and his apprentices to heal the creatures and figure out what is causing the issue in the first place. It was great to see Greta and Atticus being civil with each other. I also liked seeing Owen with the children.

The End of Idylls
I think this was my favorite story (even though it is the shortest story in the collection). Atticus tells Oberon the story about Faolan (the wolverine that Atticus bonded with and kept for an extended time). I really enjoyed the story. But what I loved most was Oberon’s comments to Atticus at the end. I love Oberon.

Narration
Luke Daniels did another amazing job with the narration of this book. There are a lot of characters in this series, many with difficult accents and he nails them all. There are even different accents for Atticus as he changes his identity in different stories. I love how he told the intro of each story in the voice of a different character.

**I like to thank the publisher for providing me with a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.