Karissa E. (ophelia99) reviewed on 5/8/2012 + 2527 more book reviews

This is the fourth book in the Iron Druid Chronicles; it was a wonderful book. This was kind of a transition book as Atticus transitions from his former life to a new one where his main goal is to teach his apprentice Druidic ways. Lots of humor, lots of action, and some serious moments too. The fifth book will be titled Trapped and is scheduled for a Dec. 2012 released; the sixth book is Hunted and is scheduled for a 2013 release.

Atticus, Granuaile, and Oberon have left their previous home and journeyed to the Arizona desert to fake Atticuss death. Coyote, the Trickster god, helps Atticus stage his death so that the Norse gods will leave Atticus alone in his new life. Of course, Coyotes help comes with a price. Now Coyote has Atticus involved in an all out war with some very evil shapeshifters. While battling shapeshifters Atticus finds out that vampire activity is increasing because of Leifs decrease in power after the battle with the Norse Gods and that leads to some trouble as well.

This series is just such an excellent blend of humor, interesting mythos, action, and great mystery. Having Oberon back in the story was wonderful, he is absolutely hilarious. Atticus and Granuaile have some excellent banter back and forth, this makes the book a lot of fun. Coyote is a major character in this story as well and he is just flat out amusing.

There is some wonderful action in this book, just like in previous books. Atticus is facing some dangerous enemies in these evil shapeshifters; this led to some wonderful action scenes and Atticus got thoroughly beat up a number of times. It was interesting to see how Atticus worked himself out of truly tight situations.

The setting was interesting for this book too. The majority of this book is set in the Arizona desert in Navajo land; as such we get to learn some about Navajo magic and myth and it was really interesting stuff.

There are some great new characters introduced as well. We get to see a lot more of Atticus training Granuaile and because of this we watch Granuaile grow a lot as a character. We find out more about Granuailes past and why she is so determined to become a druid. We also get some closure involving what happened to characters after Hammered, we finally see the Widow and what became of her.

The book ends well and had me dying to read more about Atticus and Granuailes adventures. I love all the mythology tied into this series and I love the interesting magic. As with previous books we get some glimpses into Atticuss past and these help us to understand him better as a character, they are also just flat out interesting. There isnt really much romance in this book; Granuaile and Atticus continue to be interested in each other but keep things platonic because of their student-teacher relationship.

Overall I really loved this book. It has a wonderful balance of humor, action, interesting magic, great character development, and an engaging plot. This book is a bit of a transition book as Atticus moves from his old life to a new one as Granuailes teacher. There are some excellent surprises in here as well and some additional things wrapped up from the last book. If you are a fan of urban fantasy I highly recommend this series. It is creative, intriguing, and a lot of fun.

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