I enjoyed Kevin Hearne’s first Iron Druid fantasy, Hounded, so much I started book 2, Hexed (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Two), the same night. Our hero – at least the main character – Atticus O’Sullivan – manages to get himself even more deeply in trouble.
You’ll remember at the end of Hounded Atticus had killed a “god” in the Irish pantheon, a puzzling change from his 2100 year habit of avoiding the confrontation. Now Atticus gets dragged into helping the local witch coven into removing a cult of Bacchants. The problem? The only way to remove Bacchants is to kill them. Although Atticus has never seen himself being responsible to police the magic community in his long, long life, for some reason he decides to take the Bacchants on.
Atticus promises a powerful witch an apple from the Norse goddess Idunn’s tree, a gift that promises long life and eternal youth in exchange for her help with the Bacchants.
You can see where this is going, can’t you? Atticus deeps himself ever deeper and ever more at risk by making one bad decision after another.
Some of the adversaries attack Atticus first, but every time something happens Atticus’s freedom of movement is constrained and he becomes more visible, more at risk from annoyed godlings, witch hunters, other witches and magic users.
The good thing about this plot device (increasingly lousy choices that bring up even worse alternatives) is that it plunges the characters into interesting situations and some nifty settings. Atticus is a little better drawn in book 2 than in Hounded, as are his new apprentice Granuaile and some of the minor characters. Hearne brings moral dimensions into the plot a few times although the general tone remains one of “I’m the good guy and everyone I’m fighting deserves it”.
Hexed is a fun, fast read and I recommend it if you go in expecting enjoyment and reasonably good writing.
Here’s a link to the blog post about Hexed, volume 1 in the Iron Druid Chronicles.
4 Stars
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