Kevin Hearne
320 pp. Del Rey. $7.99
Pub. Date: 6/7/2011
ISBN-13: 9780345522498
Reviewed by Paul Stotts
Publisher Blurb: Atticus O’Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty—when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.
With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex.
(Review playlist suggestion: Cue up Sinatra's Witchcraft. It makes my silliness more tolerable. Bonus points if you're rocking the 8-Track—we salute you, you crazy Luddite. Negative points if you think Sinatra's a drug for erectile dysfunction—jeers to you, Flaccid Wiener Man.)
A fallen angel. Bacchants out of Vegas. And German witches with a grudge. Sounds like the entertainment for a two-year old's birthday fiesta. Or Ernest Hemingway's wet dream. Pissing one off is deadly. Piss off all three: your name must be Atticus O'Sullivan. Looking for trouble? This druid can give you directions. He's like Google Street View for evil bastards.
Atticus the Druid returns—and his not so little dog Oberon, too—in the second volume of Kevin Hearne's The Iron Druid Chronicles, Hexed. And like Dorothy, Atticus has a witch of a problem. One that a bucket of water won't solve.
Let's catch up: Hounded, the first book in the Iron Druid Chronicles, was a packed-full-of-awesomeness romp, both witty and humorous. Think of the books that make up your Best-Of-Urban-Fantasy list. Hounded belongs cuddled up next to them.
Here's the great news: Hexed is even better! Like The Empire Strikes Back better. Only with less Tauntauns. An incredibly funny first chapter starts the book off with a bang, if a bang sounded like uncontrollable giggling. Any authors who write about vampires should be required to read the first chapter of Hexed, because that's how you do something unique with vampire mythology.
The more you read of Hexed, the more you're impressed with how literate and intelligent it is. Let me repeat that: Hexed is literate and intelligent. I know it's an urban fantasy, those two words aren't often used in conjunction with the genre. But Hearne is doing something crazy here. He's respecting his readers, not just slinging slop in a trough for a herd. Hexed isn't paranormal fiction—it's para-abnormal fiction. Because it's good and worth reading. As a Dickensian orphan might say: this is the ordure.
The humor in Hexed is non-stop. Jokes hit you faster than a night at the Improv, and you don't need to be sloshed on tequila to find them funny. The interactions between the characters sparkle, the dialogue like the good-natured ribbing that occurs between best friends. Hexed is hard to read without a smile plastered across your face.
Intriguing future story-lines emerge in Hexed, ideas, I hope, Hearne will address in the forthcoming Hammered. An appearance by Thor would be sweeter than a Chocolate Truffle kabob. Time to see if all of the Thunder God's bad publicity is justified. (Everyone thinks Thor's a prick. Except Walt Simonson. And hopes soon he'll be a dead prick—and not the kind that can be defibrillated by Sinatra.)
Grab a Sharpie and draw a big heart on the cover of Hexed. Because you are going to love it!
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