Review--Shattered by Kevin Hearne

 

Acclaimed author Kevin Hearne makes his hardcover debut with the new novel in his epic urban fantasy series starring the unforgettable Atticus O’Sullivan.

For nearly two thousand years, only one Druid has walked the Earth—Atticus O’Sullivan, the Iron Druid, whose sharp wit and sharp sword have kept him alive as he’s been pursued by a pantheon of hostile deities. Now he’s got company.

Atticus’s apprentice Granuaile is at last a full Druid herself. What’s more, Atticus has defrosted an archdruid long ago frozen in time, a father figure (of sorts) who now goes by the modern equivalent of his old Irish name: Owen Kennedy.

And Owen has some catching up to do.

Atticus takes pleasure in the role reversal, as the student is now the teacher. Between busting Atticus’s chops and trying to fathom a cell phone, Owen must also learn English. For Atticus, the jury’s still out on whether the wily old coot will be an asset in the epic battle with Norse god Loki—or merely a pain in the arse.

But Atticus isn’t the only one with daddy issues. Granuaile faces a great challenge: to exorcise a sorcerer’s spirit that is possessing her father in India. Even with the help of the witch Laksha, Granuaile may be facing a crushing defeat.

As the trio of Druids deals with pestilence-spreading demons, bacon-loving yeti, fierce flying foxes, and frenzied Fae, they’re hoping that this time, three’s a charm.

 

It was high time I get back to Kevin Hearne's The Iron Druid Chronicles that has been sitting on my TBR pile for far too long! I last left off at Shattered, which ironically, was when the series turned to hardcover releases! Lol. I think at that point I thought I'd just wait out the rest of the series to finish, what happened in the interim is the usual!

I found it easy to dive back into the series though. Yes, my memory was shot, but luckily Hearne had a nice little set of recaps going on before the book to bring me up to speed. Which was enough to jog some of my feeble memory.

Needless to say that this was an action-packed read and I so remember why I loved this series. Firstly, Oberon! Omg, I forgotten how much I love the hound! Oberon is Atticus's faithful Irish Wolfhound and is a positive delight! He and Atticus share a connection that basically allows them to talk to one another and getting that inside knowledge of a dog's mind is just a riot! He brings much needed comic relief to some of the more intense situations!

Granuaile is soon called by an old acquaintance to get to India asap as Granuaile's father has been possessed by one scary demon and since this is her father, Granuaile is quick to move! But the situation is far dicier than expected as the demon is a big bad, scary kind that will take a lot of power to get rid of and she runs the risk of causing permanent harm to her father as well.

Meanwhile, Atticus is helping his former archdruid readjust to life in the 21st century. Having been in a bespelled sleep, you could say, Owen Kennedy has missed out on a lot of "things" for the past 100 years or so. Atticus may or may not be having a little extra fun with him having the tables turned since he now has more knowledge than his former "mentor" of sorts.

But there is more trouble afoot as chaos starts brewing among the fae and Atticus finds himself caught up in the middle of the fighting. Then there's still Loki to contend with, and yes, I kept wanting to picture Tom Hiddleston, but it's not that Loki for sure! Here we have the true trickster at hand and he will stop at nothing to see Atticus dead. But that is likely to be a problem for the final book as I have long suspected that that is where this all headed to.

We do get a glimpse of what Atticus' next problem will be and it's not quite at Loki's door just yet, but time will tell who the final champion will be!

All in all, I found Shattered to be a great read! True, I still might have struggled a bit here and there trying to re-acclimate to this series/world after I was away for so long. But that usually tends to be more of a me problem than an actual problem. I do remember each book kind of stood on its own with just some of the character relationships and whatnot being what carries over from book to book. So I am in a good place overall! I intend to finish this series by the end of the month for sure!

So if you're new to The Iron Druid Chronicles and have been wanting to read an Urban Fantasy series with a nice Irish flare, rich in mythology of all kinds, then this is the series you've been looking for!

Overall Rating 4/5 stars