Book Log 27/2015 - Kevin Hearne: Hexed - Iron Druid #2

I thoroughly enjoyed the first Iron Druid book, Hounded, and Hexed did not disappoint.

Atticus O'Sullivan, the last (real) druid fought and killed Aenghus Óg: Celtic god of love, in the first book. Now he has to deal with the consequences. He still has Fragarach, a sword of unearthly power. His Irish Wolfhound, Oberon, with whom he can communicate telepathically, is his companion. Oberon is obsessed by sausages and French poodles, and gets all the best lines.

The death of Aenghus Óg has caused ripples throughout the Irish pantheon, the Tuatha Dé Danann. The Morrigan and Brighid are snapping at each other's heels and Atticus may well be piggy in the middle, but his immediate task is making peace with the survivors of a witch coven led by Malina somewhat tricky since he was (in her eyes) responsible for the loss of half her coven in the first place.

Malina is only the first of his problems; he's shown his hand by killing Aenghus Óg and there are those quick to take advantage of his skills. Coyote shows up and wants him to kill a demon (released in the Aenghus Óg fight and now preying on high school students), Then he has to deal with a strange priest and a rabbi whose intentions are not entirely clear, and Malina wants him to kill a bunch of dangerous Bacchants. But all these seem minor because a new coven has moved into town and is trying to take over the area. Atticus has tangled with them before and already has an old score to settle. It becomes personal when it becomes clear that their first objective is to kill him, his friends (including his new Druid apprentice Granuaile), his staff at the bookstore he owns, and Malina's coven. This is a fight he can't walk away from.

The second book in the Iron Druid series lives up to expectations as a fast-paced, engaging urban fantasy with mythic overtones. There are some loose ends which I trust will be dealt with in later books. Leif--Atticus' vampire lawyer--extracts a promise that Atticus will kill Thor. Yes, THAT Thor.

Movie of the Week: Man from UNCLE

Despite a bad review from a friend whose opinion on movies I value, I enjoyed this much more than I expected to. It's true it bears next to no relationship with the original TV series other than the names Illya Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo, but it's a fun romp for all that. It is what it is, and I guess it would be unfair to review it in the light of what it is not. Yes, I fall into the camp of 'Wouldn't it have been nice if they'd asked David McCallum to play Mr. Waverly?" but they didn't and that's that.

So this is an origin story as Solo, ex thief and con-man now working for America rather than wasting his talents in jail, is forced to work with Kuryakin, fearsome Russian agent with a slightly loose screw. It's set in the 1960s (and captures the era reasonably well).It's the height of the Cold War. A mysterious criminal organization plans to use nuclear weapons to destroy the fragile relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union. The pair have to find a missing German scientist, and their only lead is his beautiful and resourceful daughter (Alicia Vikander).

U.N.C.L.E. isn't mentioned until the end when Mr. Waverly (Hugh Grant) finally makes his presence felt.

Henry Cavill plays Solo and Armie Hammer is Illya Kuryakin. One thing which does mirror the original show is that Kuryakin is a much more interesting character than Solo and Armie Hammer plays this version of Kuryakin to perfection. The story is pretty unremarkable, but in part it's balanced by the over-the-top set-pieces and underlying tongue-in-cheek humour