Hammered

The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book 3

By: Kevin Hearne

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

BOOK 3 IN THE IRON DRUID CHRONICLES

Thor, the Norse god of thunder, is worse than a blowhard and a bully - he’s ruined countless lives and killed scores of innocents. After centuries, Viking vampire Leif Helgarson is ready to get his vengeance, and he’s asked his friend Atticus O’Sullivan, the last of the Druids, to help take down this Norse nightmare.

One survival strategy has worked for Atticus for more than two thousand years: stay away from the guy with the lightning bolts. But things are heating up in Atticus’s home base of Tempe, Arizona. There’s a vampire turf war brewing, and Russian demon hunters who call themselves the Hammers of God are running rampant. Despite multiple warnings and portents of dire consequences, Atticus and Leif journey to the Norse plain of Asgard, where they team up with a werewolf, a sorcerer, and an army of frost giants for an epic showdown against vicious Valkyries, angry gods, and the hammer-wielding Thunder Thug himself.

Don’t miss any of Kevin Hearne’s phenomenal Iron Druid Chronicles novels:

HOUNDED | HEXED | HAMMERED | TRICKED | TRAPPED | HUNTED | SHATTERED | STAKED

Listen to more Iron Druid Chronicles.

©2011 by Kevin Hearne. (P)2011 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Kevin Hearne breathes new life into old myths, creating a world both eerily familiar and startlingly original.”(Nicole Peeler, author of Tempest Rising)

Very Entertaining! And you'll love the Dog

Would you consider the audio edition of Hammered to be better than the print version?

I had both and I like the narators voices. I makes it enjoyable hearing the voice of Addicus. he comes up with some good voices.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Addicus the Irish wolfhound

Which scene was your favorite?

when Addicus gets the girl/poodle

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

yes

Another GREAT!!!

Would you consider the audio edition of Hammered to be better than the print version?

YES!! nice to be able to close your eyes and be brought into the story completly!

Who was your favorite character and why?

The morgan! she brings a great level of mortality to the series.

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

Luke Daniels always in thrawles the listner from start to finish. never becoming board of the stoy he is reading!

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

It smells like sausages!!!

Great story, great voices

If you could sum up Hammered in three words, what would they be?

fun

What did you like best about this story?

Oberon.

What about Luke Daniels’s performance did you like?

his voices made me start using his tone for my dogs.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

just a great book altogether.

A ripoff that needed to be done.

This is American Gods version 2.0 with some interesting variations. Each book in the series stands alone and focuses on a different pantheon. If you read American Gods and felt yourself wanting more, this is a great choice.

Bloody fantastic! As always!

Kevin Hearne has recently become one of my top 5 authors, and it is solely for this series though I'm sure his other books are fantastic as well.

My favorite part of these books being the quip/sass that Atticus has perfected.

This story particularly I appreciate the change to a bigger more global plot, including more Pantheons.

And of course the narrator's voice is as captivating as always... It's true I'm weirdly attracted to Atticus in large part because of the voice. And then there's the narrators ability to play all of the characters differently bringing them to vibrant life.

Perfect book for a long lonely road trip!

Awesome story

Late post: Great story with good character development and storyline. Awesome job with advancing the series. The narrator did a great job.

Great story and humor!!!

If you could sum up Hammered in three words, what would they be?

Intense, funny, action-packed.

Any additional comments?

Love listening to this series with my 9 & 11 year old sons!

Another good story with humor

Which character – as performed by Luke Daniels – was your favorite?

Oberon.. I want a hound like him :-)

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When the widow was saying goodbye the emotion was clearly portrayed

Great fantasy series

I love the character in this novel. If you're looking for a sex packed romp as suggested by the covers, thank goodness you will be disappointed. Main character is strong, sensible and just trying to live a normal life despite his connections to gods and goddesses. Luke Daniels did a great job voicing the characters. I look forward to more fulfilling fantasy fare from Hearne.

Asgard Adventure For Atticus

A quest, a chase, and a paranormal road trip to kill a god. The last druid is working hard to get on the most dangerous bad lists and I loved having Luke Daniels as the narrator telling me how Atticus got through on the skin of his teeth.

Hammered is the third book of the Iron Druid Chronicles that I'm slowly making my way through in audio with the wry, amusing Luke Daniels telling the story. This Urban Fantasy series really must be read/listened to in order because each installment builds on the ones before it. In fact, the pair of adventures in Hammered is a result of Atticus cleaning up his debts to those he asked a favor in the previous book.

Each book, it seems Atticus is engaged with a new mythology and this one was the Norse myths since Atticus ventures to Asgard and tangles with the Norse gods. The first time alone and the second time with Leif the Vampire and Gunnar the werewolf. This was all guy adventures away from Phoenix. There were brief look ins with the Widow, Granuielle and Oberon, and even Coyote.

I enjoyed this one. There were some hilarious moments like Atticus and Oberon discussing the possibility of a bacon cheeseburger latte and Atticus encounter with Jesus.

But that said, I felt it was not as engaging as the first two stories. There is a lot of downtime on the action, but not in a way that kept my focus. In the first part, Atticus is having a mental angel on his shoulder thing with Spock and Kirk the angels then later, there are background stories for why Leif and Gunnar want to go after Thor. It wasn't boring per se, but it didn't move the plot along, either.
The ending definitely had me sharply back in focus and ready for more of this series which I'm glad I can move right into the next on.

On a side note, I did pause to read the freebie on Kevin Hearne's blog: Test of Mettle that takes place during the time when Atticus is off with Leif and Gunnar. It's Granuielle's story and it was a good one.

What makes this series an even better experience for me is definitely getting it in audio with Luke Daniel's narration. He gets the large cast of characters with their accents and personalities oh-so right. At this point, I feel it would lose something for me going back to just print editions for the rest of the series.

All in all, it was good, but not a favorite of the series. It is moving toward bigger things so that I can accept. I highly recommend the series for the fun quips, culture references, paranormal world building and characters.