Shattered

In terms of the writing for the rest of the series this was big let down. Maybe the authour is struggling with switching between three narrative points of view but as other reviewers have said it is a laborious read. For the most part none of the three characters fully engage. The female protagonist partially engages at a couple of points but never fully catches on. The other two are two dimensional cutouts despite the fact that one of them was the original protagonist of the series and has six previous novels of center stage for character development.

It feels as though the entire novel was background material for a real novel. Instead of building up with character development the epiphany of a major character which should have been the most emotionally engaging point of the novel was a rushed, dry, two dimensional blurb buried in an action sequence … when the blow by blow account of a battle is more engaging than a major inflection point in the emotional character development of the most important character of the series … well underwhelming is the nicest way I can put it.

For another authour I would have given this three stars but given that this authour has spent six books showing that he can do so much better I was actually tempted to give it one star. Partly because it falls so far short of the six previous books and partly because it is uneven and two dimensional it was a real effort to finish and in the end it didn’t feel as though the effort paid off.

The only way this book is worth reading is if it sets up the next book and the writing in the next book shows the quality that made me buy this one without thinking. Even if, or maybe especially if, the next book is good I suggest skipping this one and just read the prelude or a plot summary online. That way you can enjoy his writing and the characters will not lose their grip on your imagination while you slog through book 7.

I’m kind of sad that my Iron Druid binge-read is over until the next book comes out. I liked a lot of things about this book. (That being said, don’t start here. Start with volume 1. You’ll need the background by the time you get to this point.) Please be advised that some spoilers from past volumes may be included here; you can’t get around that and adequately talk about this story.

First of all, the pace is toned down a bit from the previous book (which was a nonstop run-for-your-life kind of novel). There was still action and there were a lot of good fights in this one, but there were some of the scenes of everyday life that I’ve come to enjoy in this series, as well.

We have a new character in this book, Owen Kennedy, who was Atticus’s (the “Iron Druid” of the title) archdruid many (many) years ago. His introduction to the modern age is a highlight of the book for me (well, it’s more a series of smaller events). Owen is one of the three viewpoint characters and one of his chapters has one of the funniest paragraphs I’ve read in a book in a long time (it’s the one about getting a pet monkey instead of a dog and I’ll say no more — except that someone who had not read any of these books, when shown only that paragraph, also laughed).

Atticus gets Owen settled (kind of) and then goes off on a quest to find who is sending various divinities after him and why. He does get his answer, and it ties back into something that happened in the very early books of the series. I like his interactions with various deities; we are introduced to some belief systems (including Shinto) that haven’t appeared in previous volumes.

And Granuaile is off to solve a mystery of her own: the disappearance of her father on an archaeological dig in India. This ends up tying in nicely to the overall story arc, plus I like that Granuaile is considered *able* to go off on her own — she doesn’t need protection from a man. She has been trained and bound to the Earth as a Druid and is considered fully capable. In Granuaile’s storyline, we are introduced to some of the Hindu pantheon, as well.

At any rate, I think all the main characters’ sections are interesting and do a reasonably good job of balancing the current quest along with advancing the overall story arc.

This book is a little unique among volumes in this series in that it has a theme outside of all the plot events, that of coping with loss. In the previous volume, the Morrigan died and Atticus and others are coping with that. Owen comes back to realize that everyone he knew (except Atticus) is long dead. Granuaile deals with issues involving both her parents. Even Orlaith, Granuaile’s dog, has a little bit to say on the matter. And Greta the werewolf also has some comments about loss. It’s interesting that this all came to a head at once. And each character deals with it in his or her own way. (Owen has some downright sensible words on the subject.) It’s not just loss of relationships, but the consequences of making a choice (say, to become a werewolf or Druid) that is discussed. But it’s well-integrated into the story and not at all preachy.

Worldbuilding is consistent with previous volumes in the series, as is writing style. The series’ characteristic humor is present, and of course Atticus’s dog Oberon has a lot of interjections for comic relief. If you liked these elements before, you’ll like them again. They don’t radically change.

The only aspect I wasn’t totally sold on was the alternation in viewpoints. Each of the main characters had a number of POV chapters. I didn’t monitor these to see who got the most page time. I didn’t think the split was too uneven. And I didn’t hate any of the viewpoints; I actually found them all interesting (wanted to read everything, didn’t want to skip to new sections of the story). The problem I had was that it was often hard to tell which character’s head we were in, when a new scene opened. All of them were in first-person POV, which is fine, but it was jarring to think I was reading something from Granuaile only to realize it was Owen, for example. It wasn’t always easy to tell from the context of the first few lines.

I liked the conclusion as well. There were some surprises, some things I did not expect. But they didn’t come out of nowhere — their foundations were well-laid in this and previous volumes. Overall, though, this was a fun book and I can’t wait for the next one. 4.5 stars.

Thoroughly enjoyable, well-written and well-researched books with an interesting premise. I am more than happy to give Kevin Hearne a 5 star rating in addition to purchasing everything he has published. I hope many others discover the fun adventures of The Iron Druid and a very entertaining cast of characters. However, the reader must jump through a mandatory hoop if you choose to leave a rating. Star ratings are not acceptable on their own. No, any star rating is booby-trapped with the requirement of a written review, further weighted with a minimum word count, no less! Write a review or no stars from you. This is a tad bit bit onerous for the buyer who enjoyed reading the book and respects the author enough to pause and tap some stars. The demand for a written review effectively prevented me from posting the 5 star rating that might encourage others to enjoy an excellent book. This is ultimately unfair to Mr. Hearn, undoubtedly depriving him of many well-deserved 5 star ratings. Guilt eventually caught up with me, so herein lies not only my enthusiastic support of this book, but a bonus review of a misguided policy: to the Kindle folks or whoever came up with this Either/Or toll: lighten up on the needy/greedy gate keeping, already.

I too had a hard time with the different POV’s…but then let me tell you this, being a man and writing from a woman’s point of view, he doesn’t do bad, but its confusing, a few times I had to go back a page or two to catch my place, not good Kevin…really. Oberon I really love and his bits are great, but then I like a Dog’s Life by Peter Mayle and Kevin’s Oberon ranks right up there. It’s a necessary part of the series to get what the characters are building towards, but as Tabitha told Stephen…”You don’t have to bore me with it.” It did in parts, but not too badly or I wouldn’t have finished it. Over all if you enjoy the series, this is a necessary book to get you from point A to point B, at which I can say I am glad to have arrived

Book seven in the increasingly convoluted Iron Druid sees our cast expand again to three different characters we are aligned with – bizarrely two of them speak in one tense and the third another. This adds some more fun to the tale as we can follow a number of different plots simultaneously and makes it more entertaining.

The plot sees the characters split up on separate adventures, but nevertheless feels like it’s treading water again – more about moving the pieces into position for a forthcoming finale rather than actually telling a self-contained story.

My interest fell mainly with the secondary characters, each of whom at least have an emotional arc and are exploring new things, but overall the plot didn’t grip me and I found some passages particularly dense and hard to ingest.

I’m not out off enough to abandon the series, but I am kind of feeling glad it’s almost over, as it already seems a bit dragged out. Perhaps once it’s wrapped up I’ll be better able to appreciate the individual parts.

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