Wednesday, June 25, 2014

Audiobook Review: Shattered by Kevin Hearne



Title: Shattered (Iron Druid Chronicles #7)
Author:
Kevin Hearne
Narrator: Luke Daniels
Publisher: Del Rey
Acquired Via: Personal Collection
Release Date: June 17, 2014

For nearly two thousand years, there was only one Druid left walking the Earth—Atticus O’Sullivan, the Iron Druid, whose sharp wit and sharp sword kept him alive while pursued by a pantheon of hostile deities. Now he’s got company.

Atticus’s apprentice Granuaile is at last a full Druid herself. What’s more, Atticus has defrosted an archdruid long ago frozen in time, a father figure (of sorts) who now goes by the modern equivalent of his old Irish name: Owen Kennedy.

And Owen has some catching up to do.

Atticus takes pleasure in the role reversal, as the student is now the teacher. Between busting Atticus’s chops and trying to fathom a cell phone, Owen must also learn English. For Atticus, the jury’s still out on whether the wily old coot will be an asset in the epic battle with Norse god Loki—or merely a pain in the arse.

But Atticus isn’t the only one with daddy issues. Granuaile faces a great challenge: to exorcise a sorcerer’s spirit that is possessing her father in India. Even with the help of the witch Laksha, Granuaile may be facing a crushing defeat.

As the trio of Druids deals with pestilence-spreading demons, bacon-loving yeti, fierce flying foxes, and frenzied Fae, they’re hoping that this time . . . three’s a charm.


My Review

You can read the joint review of Hunted (IDC #6) HERE. You should either go read that review or the books if you don't want to see spoilers for the series below.

I do not like Granuaile.

I feel like I have to get that out in the open in order for you to understand where I'm coming from in this review. This series has consistently been one of my all-time favorites, but I think Shattered is my least favorite of them all because being stuck in Granuaile's head made me want to skip through her parts.

This isn't just about Atticus being my boyfriend. (He is, but this isn't my beef today.)

Like Hunted, we are given multiple points of view in Shattered. Except this time, we get to see events unfold inside the head of Atticus' archdruid, Owen Kennedy. (I prefer his Irish name, but I'm sure that's because Luke Daniels was awesome at narrating the story.) He unravels some mysteries that have been lurking around for several books, so hooray for Owen! On the other hand, he also plays the Devil's advocate a little bit when it comes to Atticus. Granuaile, on the other hand, didn't do much other than whine about morals or wallow around in her daddy issues. Atticus' POV was as fun as it always is with delightful, sausagey snark from Oberon. He should be given a POV over Granuaile.

Also, I'd be dishonest if I didn't say that Shattered only really served as a bridge between the last book and the next two in the series. Sure, something happens, but not much goes on that didn't begin in previous novels. Well, except for the yeti, and there wasn't nearly enough of them in the book.

The humor in Shattered was still good, but it wasn't as sharp and witty as the previous installments in the series. Yes, the A Song of Ice and Fire reference was awesome, but I wasn't really clutching my sides throughout the novel. On a positive note, Perun made up some of his own slang. Perun has always been a positive note in this series.

It should go without saying that Luke Daniels' narration of Shattered was spot on, just as it was in previous books. We should give that man All The Awards just for keeping each voice completely unique and making Oberon's voice stick in my head. Though he made me cringe with his Granuaile voice, it's not his fault, and I know these things can't be helped.

All in all, I was disappointed with Shattered. However, my disappointment with this still rates higher than most books that I've read lately, so that's good. I'd recommend reading Shattered if you're following the series, but I don't have much to say about it other than that. Hopefully book 8 will rock my socks.

- 3.5/5 Stars -

Buy Links
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | Fishpond





1 comment:

  1. So I skipped and only read the part about the narration since I haven't even started this series *hangs head in shame* BUT, now that I know the narration in fantabulous, I think I know how I'm going to catch up ;-)

    ReplyDelete

You are going to put words in my box?! *squeezes you* Now I shall stalk YOUR blog!