I finally figured out what bothered me about the first three books in the Iron Druid Chronicles. They all read like a series of vignettes, like short stories or a made-for-television series. Yes, the plot moved from episode to episode, but you could easily parse the novels into smaller stories.
Tricked is the first book in the series that reads like a novel. Sure, you could probably turn this into television episodes too, but the individual plot elements and characters flow from one to the next. Tricked takes place in the American Southwest with a plot as old as the ancient Greek tragedies. Hubris is the downfall.
Tricked is a better book. Better written, more carefully structured with characters that you cared about. I’m still not enamored of the main character, Atticus O’Sullivan, but he’s interesting and some side characters like Frank are real people. Atticus is starting to realize that he’s in a world of hurt. He made some stupid mistakes, and as he says midway into the novel, he made them out of pride and the desire to think well of himself. Now he’s paying, and he’ll pay again and again.
Worse from Atticus’ point of view, fixing his mistakes meant he asked help from Coyote, the Navaho Trickster god. Bad, bad move. Coyote may be good hearted – sometimes – but he’s not someone you trust. Despite knowing this, Atticus agrees to a deal without knowing the full conditions, and sure enough, Coyote has a hidden agenda. Or two. Or three. Hidden agendas are what trickster gods are all about after all. Once more Atticus lets his pride get him in trouble.
This time others get hurt. Coyote’s second (or third) agenda is getting rid of skinwalkers, evil brothers with powers, strength and speed augmented by Hell; of course Atticus gets stuck helping. He rids the world of these two skinwalkers but at the price of several good people.
The end of the novel sets us up for volume 5 of the Iron Druid Chronicles, Trapped. I’ve not read Trapped yet, but it’s on my want list!
4 Stars
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