Review: Trapped by Kevin Hearne

Title: Trapped (The Iron Druid Chronicles #5)
Author: Kevin Hearne
Publisher: Del Ray
Acquired Via: Library
Release Date: November 27, 2012
After twelve years of secret training, Atticus O’Sullivan is finally ready to bind his apprentice, Granuaile, to the earth and double the number of Druids in the world. But on the eve of the ritual, the world that thought he was dead abruptly discovers that he’s still alive, and they would much rather he return to the grave.

Having no other choice, Atticus, his trusted Irish wolfhound, Oberon, and Granuaile travel to the base of Mount Olympus, where the Roman god Bacchus is anxious to take his sworn revenge—but he’ll have to get in line behind an ancient vampire, a band of dark elves, and an old god of mischief, who all seem to have KILL THE DRUID at the top of their to-do lists.

My Review

You can read Kayla’s review of Tricked (IDC #4) HERE.

*WARNING* There will be spoilers for books in the series prior to Trapped , so if you have not read this far in the series DO NOT PASS GO, DO NOT COLLECT $200.

I am so grateful that Hearne decided to skip forward 12 years between Tricked and Trapped. While I love Granuaile, I think I would have become incredibly frustrated during 12 years of training. First, because the tension between Granuaile and Atticus is quickly becoming annoying, as are Atticus’s reasons for abstaining from any sort of relationship other than teacher-student. Second, because Granuaile has for the past few novels been a sort of sidekick character who is mostly a hindrance. This is actually brought up during Trapped, and Granuaile gets quite pissed for basically being called a damsel in distress. I’m really glad that she gets a chance of becoming a bad-ass in her own right, even before becoming a full druid (she throws knives and fights with a staff!).

As for the rest of the book, I kept feeling like I missed something somewhere along the way. I couldn’t tell if this was a purposeful part of the plot or if I had missed a short story or an entire book. I chalked it up to Hearne leaving out information regarding the 12 years, but then I found out that there is a novella, Two Ravens and a Crow, that I probably should have read. Along with feeling like I was missing information, the plot seemed to jump around and the pacing was off compared to the past books. Throughout most of the middle of the book, I was confused about who was actually mad at Atticus and who was really helping Atticus and whom Atticus had helped so that they were no longer mad at him.

I missed some of the setting and characters from the old books. I missed being in Arizona with Mrs. MacDonagh and Hal and the pack. I also miss the Shakespearean quote duels with Leif. Most of this novel is literally spent trapped in some cave or other.

Also seemingly missing is the great research that was such a part of the past books. In Hammered, we had several stories told to us of vampires and old gods and old sea creatures. Tricked centered around Native American culture. While Trapped contained some new characters, it mostly centered on the old characters with no new myths or tales.

I am happy, though, that Oberon is a big part of this book! Oberon is my favorite part of the books and his snarky, doggy commentary just cracks me up. This is Oberon's helpful commentary when Granuaile is pissed at Atticus:

“Lie down and offer your throat. No, wait, that's how dogs submit. I know! Offer her your wallet!”

I swear I smile more and laugh aloud more during his parts of the books than I do in any other book. As always, I enjoyed the witty banter between Atticus, Granuaile and Oberon. Atticus is such a nerdy smart-ass, and I love it.

So while I didn’t enjoy this one as much as I did the past books, I would still recommend this series and am continuing on to the next book. Actually, I immediately started listening to Hunted as soon as Trapped was finished.

- 3/5 Stars -

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