Kevin Hearne
Iron Druid Chronicles #4
Published April 24, 2012 by Random House
Urban fantasy
Review copy from NetGalley
4 stars
Bite-Sized Review
In the tradition of the previous three books, Tricked is funny, clever, and exciting, with cameos from a wide range of pantheons and lots of trouble. If you enjoyed the rest of the series, you'll love Tricked.
King-Sized Review
**Warning: spoilers for book 1-3 ahead**
Tricked starts off shortly after the end of Hammered, with Atticus's plan to die so that the other thunder gods, who want revenge after Atticus and company killed Thor, won't hunt him down. The deal with Coyote that it takes to achieve this contradictory goal requires Atticus to do Coyote a favor, an agreement that, naturally, turns out to be much more problematic than our favorite Druid bargained for.
Tricked reminded me of just how much I love the characters in this series. Especially Oberon. His obsession with food, entertainingly literal interpretation of idioms, and general dog-like behavior are entertaining and endearing. I was thrilled to see that he was back after being mostly missing from Hammered.
Tricked stuck to the Iron Druid style of humor and action. I particularly enjoyed the incorporation of Native American mythology, which isn't seen terribly often (though Druids are pretty rare too – double win). There's not much romance here, but I personally find that a nice break from relationship drama in other books. All in all a great addition to the Iron Druid Chronicles.
Quality: Excellent
Enjoyability: Excellent
GARS score: 1.5 (2/4/2/2)
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I was actually pretty disappointed by this book, even though I ended up giving it 4 stars. You're right, characters are pretty enjoyable, but Hearne's teaching career is starting to show through. He's lecturing more than he's narrating these days. I was bored for a while there and that has never happened before.
ReplyDeleteAwesome review, Kate!