Staked: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Eight by Kevin Hearne (Epub)

Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Iron Druid Atticus O’Sullivan, hero of Kevin Hearne’s epic urban fantasy series, has a point to make—and then drive into a vampire’s heart.

When a Druid has lived for two thousand years like Atticus, he’s bound to run afoul of a few vampires. Make that legions of them. Even his former friend and legal counsel turned out to be a bloodsucking backstabber. Now the toothy troublemakers—led by power-mad pain-in-the-neck Theophilus—have become a huge problem requiring a solution. It’s time to make a stand.

As always, Atticus wouldn’t mind a little backup. But his allies have problems of their own. Ornery archdruid Owen Kennedy is having a wee bit of troll trouble: Turns out when you stiff a troll, it’s not water under the bridge. Meanwhile, Granuaile is desperate to free herself of the Norse god Loki’s mark and elude his powers of divination—a quest that will bring her face-to-face with several Slavic nightmares.

As Atticus globetrots to stop his nemesis Theophilus, the journey leads to Rome. What better place to end an immortal than the Eternal City? But poetic justice won’t come without a price: In order to defeat Theophilus, Atticus may have to lose an old friend.

Don’t miss any of The Iron Druid Chronicles:
HOUNDED | HEXED | HAMMERED | TRICKED | TRAPPED | HUNTED | SHATTERED | STAKED | SCOURGED | BESIEGED

User’s Reviews

Review Praise for The Iron Druid Chronicles“[Kevin] Hearne is a terrific storyteller with a great snarky wit. . . . Neil Gaiman’s American Gods meets Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden.”—SFFWorld“[The Iron Druid books] are clever, fast-paced and a good escape.”—Boing Boing“Hearne understands the two main necessities of good fantasy stories: for all the wisecracks and action, he never loses sight of delivering a sense of wonder to his readers, and he understands that magic use always comes with a price. Highly recommended.”—The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction“Superb . . . plenty of quips and zap-pow-bang fighting.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)“Celtic mythology and an ancient Druid with modern attitude mix it up in the Arizona desert in this witty new fantasy series.”—Kelly Meding, author of Chimera“[Atticus is] a strong modern hero with a long history and the wit to survive in the twenty-first century. . . . A snappy narrative voice . . . a savvy urban fantasy adventure.”—Library Journal“A page-turning and often laugh-out-loud funny caper through a mix of the modern and the mythic.”—Ari Marmell, author of The Warlord’s Legacy“Outrageously fun.”—The Plain Dealer“Kevin Hearne breathes new life into old myths, creating a world both eerily familiar and startlingly original.”—Nicole Peeler, author of Tempest Rising

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ I loved this series from the beginning. Atticus has a voice that carries, and it’s this voice that has smoothed over thin plots and sometimes-thinner (and less-than connected) reasons for mayhem. But that rich and wonderful voice has been diluted. Eclipsed by a stronger, even better voice…that, I might accept. But diluted? No. Hearn is smothering his most engaging character while making room for narratives of far less value or resonance. Until the last quarter of the book, Atticus goes so far as to descend into the territory of “cute”–and that’s always dangerous; rarely is it an acceptable substitute for the real thing. And that’s the problem. I expected the real thing and got cute instead. It’s like turning Luke Skywalker into jovial and slightly smarter Jar Jar Binks–unexpected, crazy unnecessary and immensely disappointing.The last fifty pages are the only ones worth reading, the only thing with anything at “stake.” It’s the only time anything of any real value actually happens in the book, and it’s sad that the plot has to turn so suddenly and so sadly for the book to have any depth at all. Before those pages came along, though, I was seriously entertaining the idea of closing the book and not bothering to read any further–a heresy, I would have thought, prior to reading this volume in the series. But it had just gotten so BORING and so almighty shallow!!! Even a death that saddened me no end was better than continuing on the pablum road,so that should tell you just how bad it was to that point.Please please please, Mr. Hearn: cut the revolving-door dialogue and completely separate story lines. There’s just not enough room in any one book to gloss over so much so quickly. Pick one person’s story and TELL it with the depth and development it deserves. Instead of one book with three separate narratives, give us three books with a single character’s in-depth development in each. For the depth this series needs to be exploring at this point in its mythology, the scatter-shot approach is just too unfocused and diffuse to end well.

⭐ Appreciated the ending, and enjoyed Owen’s POV chapters. As a rule though I like multiple first POVs. Especially loved Owen’s struggles as he adapted to modern life, and finds his place in the world.Granuaile’s chapters drove me nuts for two reasons: environmental preaching, and use of present tense first, when all other chapters are in past tense first. The tense change is jarring. And while I don’t have a problem with Gran going after her stepdad, I do object to her premise that all coal/oil mining is bad. Yes, green energy is good, but it also can be detrimental to wildlife, etc. Anyway, this book I skimmed Gran’s chapters, and enjoyed Owen and Atticus, and the puppies, of course. :o)Based on reviews of book 9, and the fact this book ended tightly, I have no intention on reading further in this series. I got a nice tidy ending stopping here without the disappointment of book 9. Sounds like Hearne should have ended the series here.

⭐ Much as I love this series overall, I’m taking off a star because Hearne just hasn’t managed to create a believable female character. Maybe Greta comes closest; her dislike of Atticus is a bit unreasoning and self-perpetuating, but that’s realistic. Granuaile just feels somehow empty to me; her values are clear but where are the consequences of her actions? Where’s a sense of humor, where are her quirks, what has shaped her before she came to Atticus other than hatred of her stepfather? Why does she have no friends to notice when she goes missing to become Atticus’s apprentice? The Morrigan is a little better, but I’d still expect someone thousands of years old to have more dimensions.In contrast, Owen comes in late in the series but there seems to be a lot more to him. Still, four stars because I love Atticus and Oberón is just wonderful, and I really like the way Hearne combines so many pantheons while giving each its own flavor.

⭐ Really enjoyed the whole series, and this one was … not bad, exactly, but felt a little tired. Is it maybe time for Mr. Hearse to write something new?It’s interesting to read the reviews highlighting the anti-fossil fuel chapter of the book (I’ll try to avoid spoilers by being a bit opaque — but if you’ve read the book, you know what I’m talking about). Um… Hello…?Is it really surprising that earth-worshiping Druids are (a) concerned about climate change and (b) might be in a position to do something about it? Frankly, it reads more false to me that Atticus is not willing to take more direct action. However, those commenters were right to flag that sub-plot as weak — and frankly, a jarring addition to the book with little or no emotional payout. It’s not weak because it addresses concerns over global warming, it’s weak because it was poorly written. “Fierce Druid” or not, I find it completely implausible that Granuaile would risk her life (and the life of her hound!) on a morally dubious bit of gloating. (And yes, that’s all it was — the ecologically benefial events had already taken place). I expected her to regret the immorality of her actions as soon as she left, but no — instead she just blithely moves on. As everyone knows (even those of us with happy parental relations), disputes with our parents are not put so easily aside.

⭐ I’m starting to get quite concerned about this series. The series started out with a bang with wonderful world-building and great characters. Unfortunately, Hearne changed the style of the previous book (“Shattered”) in a manner that seriously detracted from the story and lowered my interest in the tale. “Staked” (#8) is even weaker. The multiple POVs don’t work, and elevating two other characters to equal (and in some cases, greater) status than Atticus is a mistake. They are not only less interesting, but they are also extremely irritating. Granuaile used to be an enjoyable character, but she has become petulant and shallow. She comes off like a 15-year-old. Hearne needs to get back to one POV – Atticus’s, and keep the others as occasional supporting characters. One final note: I was disappointed in the editing, or I should say, the lack thereof. On page 24, Atticus states that a character was trampled by a horse and carriage and that the horse was a “quarter-ton animal.” A 500 pound horse?! A carriage horse would weigh approximately 1000 pounds on average. This is a half ton, not a quarter ton. The editing in the short story at the end of the novel (“A Prelude to War”) is even worse.

⭐ So far I have really enjoyed all of the Iron Druid series until this one. It was a lot of pages of nothing just to wrap up the meat the story in the last 20 pages. “Staked” is the wrong title for this book. It should have been called “Miscellaneous”.To much back and forth between the main characters narratives to be anything substantial. Hearne needs to go back and read the first books in the series and recapture what he did right in those. Either that, or change it to the “Iron Druid and those 2 other guys Chonicles”.

⭐ While the previous couple books had Atticus and company besieged by many enemies, this book concentrates more on his battle with the vampires. There’s the usual creative interpretations of mythology and fast-paced, quip-filled adventures. Just like in the previous book, Atticus, Granuaile, and Owen go their separate ways through most of the book, joining up for a final, thrilling battle. I can’t help but wish that they spent more time together. Individually, I think I got the most laughs from Owen’s chapters. By the end, many of the animosities have been resolved and the Druids are left to anticipate what a relatively peaceful life will be like. Of course, there’s still Ragnarok looming!

⭐ Not sure why many are slamming this last book, citing environmental themes and multi-character points of view. First of all, a druid’s main purpose is to defend and monitor threats to Gaia. If you don’t like the characters doing that (like our heroine), then don’t read the book! And yes, there were different characters’ point-of-view in different chapters. It added a little flesh to the meat of the plot for me, especially since the three druids were in different places at the onset of this book. Truly, it gave us three “head spaces” to contemplate. The only thing I didn’t see resolved was what will happen with Fand and Manannan, and if Atticus ever got his stolen money back. Of course, there is that thing with Diana… But it was mucho entertaining, engaging and to put it in Oberon’s words “it’s all gravy to me.”

⭐ To the many folks that think Kevin hearne’s books are to short, nope, they are just so thoroughly engrossing that they feel short. My one single complaint is that only one book comes out at a time, I hunger for more immediately upon finishing any of these books, and this one is no different. The patient growth that all of the characters show from book one to book eight is astounding, there is real change, and it is cleverly imbued upon the characters, and does not seem too sudden, very refreshing. In the past, there have been some jumps in perspective from character to character, in this particular book Mr. Hearne takes that to full completion, we now have three distinct voices (well, maybe four or five if you count Oberon and Orlaithe :)) this lends some interesting slants on how things go, and how we read about the adventures, I for one, am a big fan of this, it can lead to nothing but good for us (the readers) in the future. One can only hope it is somewhat of a set up for future projects…pretty please? 🙂 protagonism is a rare art form, and tri-protagonism is even rarer still. Great book, excellent author with a great sense of humor, but it is not so overwhelming that you become insensitive to it. In my Opinion, “The Iron Druid” books are a must read for current fantasy/sci-fi fans, I heartily recommend to anyone that will listen, you wont be dissapointed.

⭐ A good read, but not the best in the series. I’m a big fan of the Iron Druid and all of his outings thus far. I do have a couple complaints with this book (and no, they have nothing to do with the multiple POVs, I find that refreshing in this series, to be honest). One complaint is the Granuaille chapters and storyline in this book. With all the “impending doom” coming in the storyline, I find this side track to be out-of-character, overboard selfish for Granuaille when you consider everything that’s about to go down in the following year in the story.The pacing is a bit slower in this book, where any decent move to the story is actually in the latter portions of the book. Another big disappointment for me was the “final battle” with a well-known antagonist who has been hounding Atticus for most of the series. A character that was built-up as the baddie of baddies of bloodsuckers turns out to be taken down a hell of a lot easier than many others Atticus has faced.Complaints aside, the book was a fun read. But Hearne definitely has a BIG score to settle in the final chapter of this series, in an epic climax that has built to a level I’ve rarely been so excited to experience, yet incredibly sad to know that this wild, fun ride following the life of 2000 year old Atticus O’Sullivan is about to reach its end.

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