NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • In the fourth novel of the Iron Druid Chronicles, two-thousand-year-old Druid Atticus O’Sullivan must pay his debts to cunning trickster god Coyote, a task that includes battling undead creatures of the night as well as a relentless hound of Hel and the goddess of death who commands it.
“[Kevin] Hearne is a terrific storyteller with a great snarky wit. . . . Neil Gaiman’s American Gods meets Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden.”—SFFWorld
Cutting a deal with a trickster god rarely goes well for any human brave or foolish enough to try it, but Atticus doesn’t feel like he has a choice. With members of the Norse pantheon out for his blood, he can’t train his apprentice in peace, so he asks Coyote to help him fake his own death. The cost, however, might wind up being every bit as high as if he’d made no deal at all.
There are things hiding in the Arizona desert that don’t want any company, and Coyote makes sure they know Atticus has arrived. And then there's the hound of Hel, Garm, who’s terribly difficult to shake and not at all convinced that Atticus is dead.
Being tricked by a trickster is par for the course. But it’s the betrayal from someone he thought was a friend that shakes Atticus to the core and places his life in jeopardy. The real trick, he discovers, might be surviving his own faked death.
Includes Kevin Hearne’s novella “Two Ravens and One Crow”
Don’t miss any of The Iron Druid Chronicles: HOUNDED | HEXED | HAMMERED | TRICKED | TRAPPED | HUNTED | SHATTERED | STAKED | SCOURGED | BESIEGED
Jumping back into this series is like sliding into your favorite pair of quirky pajamas. You find yourself in a state of amused contentment. I mean, really. How can you pass up mentions of boners in the rain and guilt ferrets? YOU CAN'T. (Well, you can. But why would you want to? It's so much FUN.)
So, each book seems to get Atticus into deeper shit. His quiet, safe life is neither anymore. (For the record, I get it. I mean, it wouldn't be a book series without deep shit, right? And I like it. The more trouble Atticus gets into, the more he proves just how bad ass he really is.) Guys, THINGS HAPPEN in this book. I had some moments of true fear for Atticus and the gang. Skinwalkers are terrifying. (They were terrifying when Karina Halle wrote about them, and if possible, Kevin Hearne made them even more terrifying.) But there are more books in this series, so I'll let you figure out the implications of that yourself.
No review of the Iron Druid Chronicles would be complete without mention of Oberon. Anyone with a pet can understand Atticus's connection with Oberon. Oberon is more than my favorite animal character--he is one of my favorite sidekicks. It's true that I am part crazy dog lady (Okay, fine. Total crazy dog lady) and that makes me predisposed to liking dogs in books. But Oberon is charming and witty and you can't NOT love him. I'm also rather curious about how Atticus's relationship with Granuaile will progress. There are some subtle romantic undertones that I find fascinating.
Bottom line: this book is fabulous. This series is fabulous. I recommend it to anyone I can. (I also recommend the audiobook versions. I listened to Hexed and Hammered on audiobook, and I did actually miss that experience with Tricked.) The Iron Druid Chronicles has everything you'd want in a book: Druids, nakedness, mythology, heaps of wit + lip curling snark, nature, a faithful hound, and 2100 years of accumulated stories. (And more. So much more.)
