jacey: (Default)

I generally like the Iron Druid books. Perhaps I should have read this, not listened to the audiobook. I listened first in September 2020, and said then: It's narrated by Christopher Ragland, and while he's a decent narrator, after a while the 'comic' voice he uses for Oberon (who is telepathic) becomes a little wearing. Also, if I'm honest, I'd like to see Atticus in a situation where he's not running from or fighting multiple pantheons of gods all the time - Norse and Greek, mostly, plus complications with the Tuatha de Danann. But, at least, after 12 years of restraint, Atticus gets the girl.

I re-listened to this in January 2024 and found the voice of the narrator grated even more, especially in the slow bits. There's a full 30 minutes which seems like thirty hours where a dwarf is telling a battle tale, and the accent is excruciating.

 
 
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jacey: (Default)

Atticus O'Sullivan, his apprentice Granuaille, anfd his Irish wolfhound, Oberon, are in Kansas to check of Granuaille's mother when they are sidetracked by a travelling fair and a grisly sideshow that is more that it seems. This is a short read/listen, nicely read by Kirby Heyborne.

jacey: (Default)
Two thousand year old Iron Druid, Atticus, his wolfhound Oberon, and apprentice Druid, Granuaile are on the run from the gods of several pantheons, in particular the Norse lot whom Atticus severely upset a couple of books ago, and now the Greek gods as well. All Atticus wants to do is bind Granuaile to the earth to finish her training and make her into a full Druid. On top of that he has several enemies in Tir Na N'Og. Over the past few books he's amassed an enormous body count and it seems as though it's payback time. Twelve years ago he faked his and Granuaile's death so he could finish her Druid training in peace, but  now the gods have realised he's still alive and several of them have scores to settle. Things go from bad to worse, but there are a few bright spots and they meet a few friends on the way. I had this as an audiobook from Audible. It's narrated by Christopher Ragland, and while he's a decent narrator, after a while the 'comic' voice he uses for Oberon (who is telepathic) becomes a little wearing. If I'm honest I'd like to see Atticus in a situation where he's not running from or fighting gods all the time.
jacey: (Default)
In the fourth Iron Druid book Atticus and his apprentice Granuaile are on the run from the Norse gods Atticus thoroughly pissed off in the previous book, Hammered. In order to get away Atticus stages his own death with the help of tricksyer god, Coyote, but there's a price. Coyote wants Atticus to use his earth powers to seed a reservation with gold. He has a long term plan to improve the tribal economy. But things go awry when two local skin-walkers take offence and begin to attack the mining crew. Atticus has to fight them, and also a fierce vampire which is a hangover from the previous book. This book also features Atticus' talking wolfhound Oberon, who is one of my favourite characters. The narrator is Christopher Ragland. He does a pretty good job on all the voices, though I'm not so sure about his vocalisation of Oberon.
jacey: (Default)

I really like the Iron Druid books, featuring Atticus, an ancient druid who looks about nineteen and runs a bookstore in Tempe Arizona. He has a quirky Irish Wolfhound called Oberon, with whom he has a telepathic link, and an apprentice Druid called Granuaile.

Anyhow, this time Atticus is in trouble after making a couple of promises in exchange for help in the previous book. Both involve trips to Asgard. The first, to retrieve a golden apple, is bad enough, and leads to unintended fatalities. The second promise, to his vampire lawyer friend, Leif, is a game changer. He's promised that he will help Leif kill the Norse god Thor. Thor, apparently is a dangerous and destructive arse, and could do with a good killing, so Atticus Leif and Gunnar the werewolf end up with a team, a Russian thunder god, a Finnish magician and a Chinese immortal, all with good reasons to want Thor dead. But you can't go up against one Norse god without going up against the whole pantheon. There's a lot of collateral damage to the denizens of Asgard and Atticus is warned twice that killing Thor will have extremely bad repercussions, but unfortunately the team members are determined to finish the job

I confess I didn't enjoy this book as much as the first two, and I was trying to work out why. Less Oberon, maybe? In places the pacing seems a little slow, and I didn't particularly connect with the new characters in the god-killing team, especially when there's a long break while everyone tells their own story. In previous books Atticus has been defending himself against beings who want him dead, maybe that's why it didn't feel quite right that this time he was going after someone (a god, no less) without a personal grudge. He knows it's not right, but he's made a promise to a friend and he's going to keep it. I presume the next book will deal with the fallout from Atticus and company's trip to Asgard.

May 2025

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