4.5 stars
The second installment of The Iron Druid Chronicles was just as much fun as the first book. I can still see why everyone raves about this series. It is full of action, humor and wonderful characters.
Atticus O’Sullivan just wants to live his life, train his apprentice and work on fixing the land that will destroyed in the first book. But will people let him, nope. Everyone is coming out of the woodwork trying to get him to deal with their own gods. His own Viking vampire lawyer Leif, wants him to take on Thor. But there are other problems first. He has one problem after another, which of course brings the cops back to his doorstep. Atticus tries to talk himself out of the situation as much as possible, but the cops know something is quite as it seems.
I love the group of secondary characters in this series. Not only do we have the Viking vamp, Leif, there’s his werewolf partner, Hal. Also the Sisters of the Three Auroras (what’s left of the friendly witches from the first book), Granuaile, Atticus’s trusty apprentice and you can’t forget Oberon, Atticus’s everloving Irish Wolfhound. There are also some other great characters that are known characters from mythology that Hearne has added his own touches too like, the Morrigan, the Virgin Mary and Coyote. I love how he takes these characters and makes them his own.
Atticus has a great ability to transform himself to his needs. When talking to the cops, he puts on a geeky gamer t-shirt and tries to talk like he is a dumb kid just trying to make his way through college as best he can. Then he talks to Coyote and becomes a completely different person. I also love watching as he tries to teach Leif modern phrases. Leif has a really hard time fitting into today’s society.
Oberson continues to be the life of this story. Even though he is an ordinary Irish Wolfhound, who is long lived because of his tie to Atticus, he can also talk to Atticus mind to mind. He is hilarious. He always thinks he is deserving of treats. He’ll use a big word and think he deserves and treat. Then pronounce something correctly and deserves another treat. The dog loves sausage.
“You killed my father,” he snorted in a basso profundo rumble. “Prepare to die!”
“Inigo Montoya? Is that you?”
“Douglas Adams was right: There is nothing so massively useful in the universe as a towel.”
“She thinks petting me is an honor. This is an unexpected position to take for a goddess of slaughter, but I applaud her defiance of convention.”
Narration
Luke Daniels once again nails the narration of this series. I love everything about it. I can’t say anything bad about it. I love his voice for Oberson. I think he really brings out the enjoyment that a dog would have about everything. I also thought he did a great job with Coyote and his Southern accent along with Atticus when he changed his voice to match it. This is a series I highly recommend trying on audio.