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John's Reviews > Hammered
Hammered (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #3)
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The most rewarding parts of this third installment in the Iron Druid series were the scenes in Tempe, Arizona, quite apart from the main quest that takes our hero Atticus O'Sullivan to Asgard and other mythical lands while so many of my favorite characters, like Oberon, Granuaile, Coyote, Malina, and the widow MacDonagh, stay behind. There was one pitched conflict scene there in Tempe, but otherwise the action-packed adventure portions of the novel take place in the Norse gods' domain of Asgard or along the way there.
Our adventurers are a band of six--three from Arizona (Atticus, Leif the vampire lawyer, and Gunnar the alpha werewolf) and three fascinating new characters whom Leif recruited: Perun, the pre-Christian Russian thunder god; Vainamoinen (please supply diacritics!), described here as a wizard of Finnish folklore whose singing has magical powers; and Zhang Guo Lao, a Chinese immortal who once traveled on a white donkey that he folded up every night and kept in a box for the next day.
Each of Atticus's companions on the quest gets a chapter to tell his story, while Atticus uses his magical vision to measure the growing bond within the group. That part, too, was pretty rewarding, as was Atticus's early escapade with Ratatosk, the giant squirrel on the World Tree that connects Earth and Asgard. I was less satisfied, however, with the interactions among Atticus, Leif, and Gunnar--two very independent individuals and a strong pack leader--I guess the word I'm looking for to describe their relationships in this novel is "static."
In the last story, Hexed, Atticus got Leif's help to defeat a powerful enemy force by taking an oath to help Leif in his mission to kill Thor. Yes, Thor, the Norse god we invoke when we say "Thursday." Leif has thirsted for revenge against Thor for a thousand years (and in Leif's story we find out why). And Atticus, the last remaining Druid, has the power to get Leif to Asgard so he can confront Thor. So Atticus has bound himself by oath to put his life on the line for someone else's revenge quest, and it turns out that the other four also have personal revenge motives against Thor.
Atticus gets dire warnings from two different powerful beings who visit him in Arizona (view spoiler) and urge him against the killing of Thor, but he cannot bring himself to break his oath to Leif; after all, it's by keeping the oath he took to the Morrigan 2000 years ago that she prevents him from dying. Atticus knows very well that when this is over, one way or another, Bacchus isn't the only god who'll have it in for him (see Hexed) and he'll have to leave Arizona. There are very sad farewell scenes in preparation for that.
The geography of Asgard is fascinating (a sketch map is provided, thank goodness), and there's a lot of aerial combat (Norse gods fly on magical chariots & the like). A curious note--the Greek and Roman gods (like Bacchus) can't be killed, but apparently all the other gods can; they're just very powerful. But here's the main thing for me. In the first book, Hounded, some Celtic gods are attacking Atticus and other Celtic gods help him out; then in Hexed Atticus defends humanity (or at least Tempe, Arizona) from two lethal magical hordes. But here it's all about seeking revenge for past wrongs. It's a totally different dynamic, and I found myself on the sidelines--I wasn't cheering them on this time.
On the other hand, Granuaile is really developing as a character, and some of the best scenes in the book are the ones in which Atticus initiates her into communication with earth spirits--delightfully, her conversations with the Sonora desert spirit are quite private and she just tells Atticus a little bit of what they said! His disciple is a naturally independent person--ideal for a future Druid.
Our adventurers are a band of six--three from Arizona (Atticus, Leif the vampire lawyer, and Gunnar the alpha werewolf) and three fascinating new characters whom Leif recruited: Perun, the pre-Christian Russian thunder god; Vainamoinen (please supply diacritics!), described here as a wizard of Finnish folklore whose singing has magical powers; and Zhang Guo Lao, a Chinese immortal who once traveled on a white donkey that he folded up every night and kept in a box for the next day.
Each of Atticus's companions on the quest gets a chapter to tell his story, while Atticus uses his magical vision to measure the growing bond within the group. That part, too, was pretty rewarding, as was Atticus's early escapade with Ratatosk, the giant squirrel on the World Tree that connects Earth and Asgard. I was less satisfied, however, with the interactions among Atticus, Leif, and Gunnar--two very independent individuals and a strong pack leader--I guess the word I'm looking for to describe their relationships in this novel is "static."
In the last story, Hexed, Atticus got Leif's help to defeat a powerful enemy force by taking an oath to help Leif in his mission to kill Thor. Yes, Thor, the Norse god we invoke when we say "Thursday." Leif has thirsted for revenge against Thor for a thousand years (and in Leif's story we find out why). And Atticus, the last remaining Druid, has the power to get Leif to Asgard so he can confront Thor. So Atticus has bound himself by oath to put his life on the line for someone else's revenge quest, and it turns out that the other four also have personal revenge motives against Thor.
Atticus gets dire warnings from two different powerful beings who visit him in Arizona (view spoiler) and urge him against the killing of Thor, but he cannot bring himself to break his oath to Leif; after all, it's by keeping the oath he took to the Morrigan 2000 years ago that she prevents him from dying. Atticus knows very well that when this is over, one way or another, Bacchus isn't the only god who'll have it in for him (see Hexed) and he'll have to leave Arizona. There are very sad farewell scenes in preparation for that.
The geography of Asgard is fascinating (a sketch map is provided, thank goodness), and there's a lot of aerial combat (Norse gods fly on magical chariots & the like). A curious note--the Greek and Roman gods (like Bacchus) can't be killed, but apparently all the other gods can; they're just very powerful. But here's the main thing for me. In the first book, Hounded, some Celtic gods are attacking Atticus and other Celtic gods help him out; then in Hexed Atticus defends humanity (or at least Tempe, Arizona) from two lethal magical hordes. But here it's all about seeking revenge for past wrongs. It's a totally different dynamic, and I found myself on the sidelines--I wasn't cheering them on this time.
On the other hand, Granuaile is really developing as a character, and some of the best scenes in the book are the ones in which Atticus initiates her into communication with earth spirits--delightfully, her conversations with the Sonora desert spirit are quite private and she just tells Atticus a little bit of what they said! His disciple is a naturally independent person--ideal for a future Druid.
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