Review - Hammered (The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 3) by Kevin Hearn (5/5 stars)

Reading level: Adult

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Size: 336 pages

Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: July 5, 2011
ISBN: 978-0345522481
Stand Alone or Series: 3rd book in The Iron Druid Chronicles
Source: Audio book from Audible.com
Rating: 5/5 stars

This is the third book in The Iron Druid Chronicles.  The fourth will be titled, Tricked, and is scheduled for a May 2012 release last that I heard.  This was an excellent installment in this series and we learn a lot about the history of Leif, Atticus, and others.  I listened to this on audiobook and the audio book is very well done.  I would actual recommend listening to this on audio book if you like audio books, the narrator is really phenomenal.

Atticus promised Leif that if Leif helped him out with the evil witch coven in Hexed, Atticus would help Leif hunt down and kill Thor.  Leif is determined to make good on Atticus's promise.  First of course Atticus has to fulfill his promise to the witch that helped him out in Hexed and steal some golden apples.  Then there are other complications when rumors of Leif's injury gets out starting a vampire turf war.  The major part of the story though focuses on Atticus, Leif, and the other supernaturals that help them out on their quest to destroy Thor.  Will killing Thor be worth the repercussions?

This was another excellent installment in this series. I am just totally in love with this series.  This book tackles some serious issues, some hilarious issues, and some interesting history.  How Hearne can continue to continue to blend hilarious scenes with a salad shooter (which had me laughing my butt off) into a story that also addresses the difficultly in deciding when it is good to let someone you love grow old instead of granting them immortality I will never understand, but he is awesome at it.

This book also tackles the tough question of when is revenge worth it.  How many bad things does a person have to do to make it necessary to make heavy sacrifices to destroy them?  In this case of course that person is Thor.  Via Leif, Gunnar, a Chinese immortal, and Finnish thunder god we are treated to in depth tales of Thor's past evil doings and shown just how big of a jerk Thor can be.  I enjoyed the part of the book that went through each of their stories chapter by chapter; it gave each character a lot of history and was fascinating.  It was also fun to watch as the Norse mythology of Ragnarok slowly began to unravel and fall apart.

The other thing Hearne does very well is blend Atticus's everyday life with the concept of living thousands of years.  For example as a reader we follow Atticus's everyday activities, but then we also get to listen in on a conversation between Jesus Christ and Atticus.  This little aside between Jesus and Atticus gives the reader incite into what it actually means to be thousands of years old, Atticus is older than Jesus for Christ's sake!

This is an urban fantasy that blends a multitude of mythologies, is action packed, heartfelt, humorous, filled with wonderful character and has a non-stop plot.  I really can't think of anything I disliked about this book. Reading this book was just so much darn fun!  It ends well and I really cannot wait to see what Hearne does in his next book Tricked.  This is definitely an urban fantasy, not much romance present, still don't let that stop you from reading it if you are a paranormal romance fan.

Overall an absolutely stellar addition to this series.  This series is quickly becoming my favorite urban fantasy series.  Fans of The Dresden Files and Kate Daniels series should definitely check this series out.  This series is hilarious and interesting and heartfelt and just overall very well done. 

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:

- Horror and Urban Fantasy Challenge
- 100+ Reading Challenge
- Audio Book Challenge List