All good things must come to an end

All good things must come to an end, and unfortunately this seventh installment in Kevin Hearne’s THE IRON DRUID CHRONICLES terminated its 4/5 star reign for this reviewer. It seemed as though the author tried to go all out for his hardcover debut by incorporating multiple POVs, countless gods, several mythologies, and way too many plot lines which caused the story to lack focus, and to feel somewhat disjointed. I really enjoyed what Owen and Orlaith brought to the table, but the lack of Atticus/Oberon moments, and the overabundance of Granuaile ones made it impossible for even Luke Daniels’ superb narration to save. The Tuatha De Danann story arc has finally come full circle, so one can only hope that the next novel will be a return to a simpler time when these audiobooks were about an outspoken druid, and his quirky Irish wolfhound.

This is the only Urban Fantasy series that I’ve succeeded in convincing my guy to read, and he actually devoured this one twice because we were travelling at the time. Anyway, on his second pass he admitted to having skipped over all of Granuaile’s chapters, and they were my main issue with this listen as well. I’m not sure whether Hearne was overcompensating because she’s his first female POV, if her character was just over-ecstatic about being a new druid, or if Daniels’ breathy narration got on my last nerve—probably a combination of the three—but I absolutely HATED her in SHATTERED! She came off as such a hippy-ish worry wart that hitting play became a real challenge for me because I just wanted this audio to be over; she single-handedly turned one of my favourite stories into a horribly painful experience. It took me a full week to finish this book compared to my usual 1-2 day norm.

I adored Owen, he’s cranky and a bit of a d*ck, and quite frankly I loved him for it. He was the complete opposite of Granuaile, and boy did I need that! I enjoyed Orlaith’s simplistic speech, and of course Atticus & Oberon are long time favourites of mine, although I wish they’d played larger roles instead of the equal three-way split. All of the previous installments in this series have focused on one specific lore while as this one had a bit of everything which led to a lot of nothing. The plot threads were difficult to follow, and felt like separate stories haphazardly smushed together in a vain attempt to make one congruent tale. I did not care for this new format; it was a far cry from Hearne’s typically smooth flowing writing style. The author’s trademark humour was also severely lacking because Granuaile simply is NOT funny.

I have yet to actually read an IRON DRUID book because I am a huge fan of Luke Daniels’ narration; however I strongly considered switching to hard copy in the middle of this one to see if Granuaile’s POV would annoy me less on paper. Again, I’m not sure if it was his actual performance or just that specific character, but listening to Miss MacTiernan’s chapters was downright unpleasant. That being said, I enjoyed Daniels’ gruff portrayal of Owen, he did a fab job of bringing this old Irishman to life, and I really liked his Mexican accent when he stepped into Jesús’ shoes.

SHATTERED was good, but not my favourite, and if this series continues this format I may have to stop pre-ordering these audiobooks.

36 people found this helpful

The third druid

In the last book of the Iron Druid Series, “Hunted,” Atticus O’Sullivan’s apprentice, Granuaile, finally became a full-fledged druid in her own right; she even adopted her own Irish wolfhound. After two thousand years of walking the earth alone the Iron Druid was no longer the only living druid. Then at the end of “Hunted,” Atticus discovers another druid frozen on one of the Time Islands; his old arch druid, who goes by the modern name, Owen Kennedy. Once Atticus’s “thaws” him out Owen becomes druid number three.
Now in “Shattered,” Atticus must indoctrinate his old arch druid into the modern world; but with the old man’s surly disposition it’s not an easy job.
Meanwhile Granuaile gets some distressing news about her father and must go off on her own to deal with the situation. Her journey takes her to India, where she meets an old friend, must visit some snow folk in the Himalayans, and then go back to India and due battle against a supernatural creature with the help of one of the Hindu gods.
We still get several doses of Oberon’s canine philosophy. Loki, the unstable Norse god is still around ready to start Ragnarok; and Atticus still needs to find out which one of Tuatha Dé Danann is out to get him.
Relationships seem to be the predominate theme in this latest installment; besides Granuaile, Atticus now has a sort of father figure in his arch druid Owen. Granuaile must deal with her father and later on confront her feelings about her mother; even the Tuatha Dé Danann have relationship issues.
Luke Daniels gives another great performance as usual.

30 people found this helpful

After Six Good Books, I Was In Seventh Heavan

Shattered has reminded me of that wallop I felt with the first book. All the books in this series are good. But, the first book was always the best until now. It introduced the exquisitely voiced Oberon and for me the unlikely pleasure of following a Druid's adventures. It was also the book that hooked my wife and daughter on this series.

With this book, I loved the new character, Owen Kennedy. Luke Daniels hit another one out of the park with his voicing of this new cantankerous Druid resurrected from centuries ago. He also does a fine job with Granuaile’s wolf hound.

We see the story unfold from three perspectives. The conflict between the newly deiced Arch Druid Owen and our original hero Atticus is enriched by not granting all the wisdom to Atticus. The third viewpoint we get is from Atticus’s new convert Granuile as she spends a lot of time in India telling her story.

One of the best collaborations between author and narrator is served up with this series and with this book in particular.

22 people found this helpful

Decent entry in a great series

What did you love best about Shattered?

Oberon. There needs to be more of his wisdom in the next installment.

Would you be willing to try another book from Kevin Hearne? Why or why not?

Yes, although I though this entry was not his best work. It took too long for the story to get started. There wasn't enough Atticus/Oberon interaction and I felt like Owen's reenter into society was a rich story not given its due. Frankly all the Granuile sections could have been omitted and I would have liked it more. She is a tad smarmy for my tastes.

Have you listened to any of Luke Daniels’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Luke Daniels is wonderful.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No. Like I said before, some of the sections lagged. I felt like the whole Yeti thing was just padding.

Any additional comments?

More Oberon/Atticus and less Granuile, please.

13 people found this helpful

Less of a story, more of an interlude

Any additional comments?

In many ways, this book felt more like a couple of short stories which bridge a couple of novels instead of a complete novel itself.

I enjoyed the introduction of Owen as a narrator, and there was less Oberon. Don't get me wrong, I love Oberon's comments and contributions, but sometime the interruptions just took too much flow from the stories of late. Less is more.

I'm really looking forward to the next book, which should be out next week, right? :)

11 people found this helpful

Great series but...

Any additional comments?

This is a great series, and Luke Daniels does a wonderful job bring the stories to life, but this book has a different format from the others. In this book, we get points of view (POVs) from more characters than just Atticus. I didn't care for the change in POVs. I am not sure if my dislike is because the change in POVs was so unexpected that I was unable to adapt to it or if it actually lessened the quality of the story. It was almost as if Hearne was going for A Song of Ice and Fire format but didn't capture the essence of smooth POV transitions completely. I would not suggest skipping this installment as I did for the novella but be warned about the new format. Oberon is back and still the best canine character out there. It is almost always worth the read/listen just to find out what Oberon is going to say next.

7 people found this helpful

I love this series but this was a miss :(

I love this series, but this book was a huge disappointment. This is usually a author that is a drop everything and read and I actually stopped halfway through and listened to another book. I did go back an finish but it was a struggle. I HATED the changing POV BUT, I totally hear the way to do the book is in audio so you can at least TELL when the POV changes by the changing voice. I hear people that read had to skim ahead to find out who was POV, then back tract. The fractured storyline was more confusing than engaging. It should have been released as 3 novellas or short stories. The saving grace was Luck Daniels who is outstanding, as always. I don't know if this is a book you can skip cause it does further the characterization but it's not enjoyable. I don't know if I will continue the series if he keeps up this form.

7 people found this helpful

I <3 Atticus

I am a huge fan of this series and have hung on every word with great delight and relish and I look forward to any new stroke of Kevin Hearne's pen.

That said, this book, while enjoyable, took too long to get started and while I think Owen and Granuile are wonderful in their own rights, their new viewpoints in this book are a big break from the previous installments and honestly, took over way too much of the story. I missed Atticus. It hardly felt like he was in the book at all. I'd totally read the Arch-Druid or the Apprentice spin-offs but wanted more of the Iron Druid I fell in love with.

Luke Daniels shines like the superstar he is.

7 people found this helpful

Bottom of the barrel for the Iron Druid series

Little spoiler for my review: When Jesus tells Atticus that he has suffering ahead of him am I the only one hoping that Granuaile would die? I cannot stand her preaching one chapter and then whining another. I enjoyed her much better told from the perspective of Atticus. Honestly if the Owen chapters weren't there it would have been a tough book to get through.

The story was fragmented and I could have done without the whole massacre in India just to get Loki some arrows. Anyway, iI'm hoping the next book makes up for this one.

Luke Daniles, thanks for the amazing job. Your accents and acting are spot on.

6 people found this helpful

Shameful pop culture pandering

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Anyone who thinks that pop culture references are hilarious will probably enjoy this because it's full of them. Think bacon is hysterical,

Has Shattered turned you off from other books in this genre?

I won't be reading any more Iron Druid books. The series started out well with a fresh take on contemporary fantasy, but has devolved into non-stop pop culture references that won't be funny or make sense to future readers in a few years. Sad, because the Iron Druid universe is a rich one, exploring interesting adaptations of many mythologies, and still has a lot of untapped potential. Avoiding all the pop culture could have kept these a lot more timeless.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

The narrator does his best with the material provided, but he struggles to make most of the "humour" work. The dog's goofy voice has become increasingly irritating as his amount of dialogue has increased throughout the series.

What character would you cut from Shattered?

Mute the damn dog. He used to be a good device for hearing the main character's inner monologue. Now he's 100% filler. We get it, the dog likes to eat.

Any additional comments?

Filling your book with pop culture references feels like pandering; As if the author is desperate to target the ComiCon crowd and make the same awkward jokes-by-reference they do. This winds up giving the book a very short shelf life because most of the references won't make sense to future readers; The earlier books are already showing their age just a few years later.

6 people found this helpful