Book Review: Hammered

Hammered (Iron Druid Chronicles #3)
by Kevin Hearne
Paperback, 310 pages
Published July 5th 2011 by Random House Publishing Group
Source: Bought
Buy the book: Amazon | Book Depository | Barnes & Noble

Summary:

Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is worse than a blowhard and a bully—he’s ruined countless lives and killed scores of innocents. After centuries, Viking vampire Leif Helgarson is ready to get his vengeance, and he’s asked his friend Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids, to help take down this Norse nightmare.

One survival strategy has worked for Atticus for more than two thousand years: stay away from the guy with the lightning bolts. But things are heating up in Atticus’s home base of Tempe, Arizona. There’s a vampire turf war brewing, and Russian demon hunters who call themselves the Hammers of God are running rampant. Despite multiple warnings and portents of dire consequences, Atticus and Leif journey to the Norse plain of Asgard, where they team up with a werewolf, a sorcerer, and an army of frost giants for an epic showdown against vicious Valkyries, angry gods, and the hammer-wielding Thunder Thug himself.


Review:

Can Atticus and Oberon get anymore awesome? Yes, yes they can. Hammered, the third book in the Iron Druid Chronicles, is a proof to that. Although, there was less exposure for Oberon in this book compared to the first two, the hound still managed to show off his intelligence to the readers. He had proven that he could stand his ground on a debate whether bacon lattes exist or not, and had even managed to come up with his own theory about them. He could also use a 5-syllable-word in a sentence, how about that?

Hammered picks up three weeks after Hexed. The third book in the Iron Druid Chronicles is basically all about keeping one's end of the bargainS. Yes, it's plural. On the first half of the book, the bargain Atticus had to keep was of  Laksha's, an Indian witch who helped him kill the bacchants who had been terrorizing Arizona in book 2. On the second half was of the vampire, Leif's. After Leif assisted Atticus on his battle against the German witches on the previous book, Atticus now had to fulfill his deal to Leif which was, to help him get to Asgard to kill the Norse thunder god, Thor.

There were new characters introduced in Hammered. All of them had grudge on Thor and wanted him dead. Aside from Leif, the werewolf alpha from Arizona, Gunnar, who was also a friend of Atticus joined the team. I have a feeling that the events in this book are going to have so much impact on the succeeding books. Before his battle against the god of love, Aengus Óg, in Hounded, Atticus was pretty much contented in hiding from him. But when he managed to kill him, all the enemies started coming after him one after the other. However, I feel like that after this book, the enemies are going to be even more all out. The premonitions by the Morrigan and Jesus (he's a very nice guy and he even had beer with Atticus) made the whole story even more nerve-wracking and hilarious (of course!) for me.

Like the other books in the series, Hammered overflowed with mesmerizing fight scenes and hilarious characters. Really, if you've read Hounded and Hexed and found them hilarious, brace yourselves because Hammered is twice as fun as the first two books. However, Hammered was also twice as sad as the first two. A character I liked (but you might not) died so I was a bit down when I finished this. But other than that, well, you just have to meet Atticus. The humor was much more memorable here because I could absolutely connect with his dry sense humor. Some of my favorite Atticus moments? (1) That time when he was having a pee pun party with a thousand year old vampire; (2) That time when he showed off his talent of switching language from Shakespeare to LOLcatz; (3) That moment when he sang It's A Small World After All with a vampire, a werewolf, a thunder god, an alchemist and a wizard while being surrounded by Norse giants; and of course, (4) that time when he "squeed" and danced around when he met "Neil F****** Gaiman"! Gods, this series is awesome!

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

18 comments:

  1. Pretty! This has been an incredibly wonderful article.

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  2. Okay, I skimmed your review because I haven't read this series yet, but I'm SO glad to see that the second books seems to be as good or better than the first:) I love when a series gets better as it goes, and I can't wait to finally meet Atticus and Oberon!

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    1. I can't wait for you to meet them too, Jenny. And of course, I NEED to hear your thoughts about them too!

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  3. Dude, stop making me wish I could get my hands on Book 1 and find the time to read it! Moments three and four sound hysterical.

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    1. Oh, Z. There are lots more hysterical moments like those in the previous books!

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  4. I've been planning to read this series for awhile now! I'm glad you enjoyed the book. Nice review!

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  5. Like many others I've been meaning to read this series for a while now . . . hopefully I can get a copy of the first book soon. Great review!

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  6. I remember reading your review on the previous book in the series and I'm still interested in reading this series! The mythology, the actions all sound AMAZING and really kick-ass!

    Awesome review, Chel! ♥ So glad you enjoyed it!

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  7. Love your last paragraph! The humour in these books sounds exactly like my sort of thing. I really need to get a move on and pick up the first book. I keep hearing great things about this series and it sounds like it is still going strong. Brilliant review, Chel! :)

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    Replies
    1. Trapped has the best humor in all the books so far, but the others are hilarious as well.

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  8. This was my favorite of the series. I thought it was a bit more sad too. It was just an all around intense read.

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    1. LOL! Finally, there's something we read something in common, Alexis! Glad I'm not the only one who loved this book more than the previous books.

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  9. Awesome review! I have not heard of this series but it sounds fabulous! I love the fact that there is humour in the book and that the characters are interesting. Thanks for sharing.

    SeeitORreadit

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  10. I picked Hounded up from the library after reading your recent review of Hexed, and I can't say it grabbed me right away. But you make the series sound so good, that I'm going to give it another try. (I only read the first couple of chapters, so I should really give it more of a chance than that.)

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    1. I'm crossing my fingers, hoping it gets better for you, Kim. Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

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    2. Okay, finished Hounded on the ferry today, and I'm glad you convinced me to stick with it. At first I found the prose kind of pedantic, but then I started to like Atticus (it doesn't hurt that the guy on the cover is really cute!), and then Oberon quoted from THe Wizard of Oz, and I was hooked. Hope my library has the next two!

      (And you really have to try The Dresden Files and tell me what you think.)

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    3. Yay! So glad you liked it. I'll be waiting for your review, Kim!

      I actually checked it out the first time you talked about it. Even went so far as to spoiling myself by reading the synopsis of the books. Also, the protag does sound like Atticus. I think I'll be reading it by late September or early October. :)

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  11. I really want to start this series since I've heard a lot of great things. I'm glad it stays good throughout the series instead of one book being supremely better than another. Great review.

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