This next book, Hexed, by Kevin Hearne, is due back at the library in a few days, so I figured I would go ahead and talk about it.
This is actually the second book in the Iron Druid Chronicles (the first is Hounded, the third is Hammered). I have read the first (although it took a while in the bookstore to figure out which one it was supposed to be), so what the hey, I'll talk about that one too:
...even in pictures it's kinda obvious which one belongs to the public library.
Overall, both books were pretty good. The quote on the cover(s) reads, "A page-turning and often laugh-out-loud funny caper through a mix of the modern and the mythic" (Ari Marmel, author of The Warlord's Legacy). I wouldn't quite agree that it was page-turning--I found myself putting them down to do something else, and not in an omg-forgot-to-feed-the-dog! kinda way--but they were certainly engaging enough that it was only a day or two between picking them up again, not weeks. And I hardly ever genuinely laugh out loud at something I read, but they certainly have their moments.
I like the fact that the main character, Atticus, is a druid who predates Christianity, and I like the fact that he's on friendly terms with the incarnation of Mary that we meet in Hexed, who in turn seems to genuinely like him, and in fact assists him in his endeavors. There's also an implication that he's gotten together with Jesus to chat and share a beer, on more than one occasion. A lot of times (it seems to me, anyway), Christianity in general and Catholicism in particular seem to really get the short end of the stick, even in urban fantasy novels where Catholic rituals/beliefs are what works best against vampires or demons or what-have-you.
What I did not particularly like was how blase he was about the deaths of a few humans in the first book, Hounded. He essentially tried once to convince the Morrigan that she shouldn't kill a couple of frat boys, and when she said, "tough luck," he basically shrugged and thought, "oh, well."
UGHNNNNNN.
I understand that Hearne's setting up the Morrigan as a badass who even the big bad Druid doesn't want to mess with, even a little, but COME ON. Druids are supposed to be clever little buggers, right? And the Morrigan is supposed to be at least somewhat fond of him, what with her always telling him of any death omens she sees pertaining to him. Couldn't he have said something like, "Their deaths could cause trouble for me here"? She knows next to nothing about the modern world, and apparently they were last seen alive in his shop so IMHO it is entirely possible that she could've brought trouble down on his head with her actions.
But no. Atticus just says, "They won't provide much sport," and that was IT. Next order of business, please!
Honestly, that one little scene--barely more than a paragraph--stuck with me throughout the rest of the book, and I wasn't even planning on picking up its sequel, mostly because of that scene. Luckily, nothing in the second book rubbed me the wrong way in the same way, and I may even pick up the third one now.
And there you are.
