Ink & Sigil

From the World of the Iron Druid Chronicles

By: Kevin Hearne

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 10 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's Summary

New York Times best-selling author Kevin Hearne returns to the world of his beloved Iron Druid Chronicles in a spin-off series about an eccentric master of rare magic solving an uncanny mystery in Scotland.

“Ink & Sigil is escape reading, and I loved every word.” (Charlaine Harris, New York Times best-selling author of A Longer Fall) 

Al MacBharrais is both blessed and cursed. He is blessed with an extraordinary white moustache, an appreciation for craft cocktails - and a most unique magical talent. He can cast spells with magically enchanted ink, and he uses his gifts to protect our world from rogue minions of various pantheons, especially the Fae. 

But he is also cursed. Anyone who hears his voice will begin to feel an inexplicable hatred for Al, so he can only communicate through the written word or speech apps. And his apprentices keep dying in peculiar freak accidents. As his personal life crumbles around him, he devotes his life to his work, all the while trying to crack the secret of his curse. 

But when his latest apprentice, Gordie, turns up dead in his Glasgow flat, Al discovers evidence that Gordie was living a secret life of crime. Now, Al is forced to play detective - while avoiding actual detectives who are wondering why death seems to always follow Al. Investigating his apprentice’s death will take him through Scotland’s magical underworld, and he’ll need the help of a mischievous hobgoblin if he’s to survive.

©2020 Kevin Hearne (P)2020 Random House Audio

Woke

Luke Daniels was good enough. The rest was a little too woke for me. Don't know if I will be continuing the series. I don't know Kevin Hearne's political views so I am assuming they are what is in the book. I don't come to fantasy to get more of the real world. I've heard for years now about the evil "White Patriarchy" and the evils of capitalism. This coming from a white man that has become a very successful capitalist. The parts that really have me on the fence are when the book talks about how people voted for a candidate that is a monster and that those people may be monsters themselves. Then how Russia stole the U.S. election and installed a puppet. It's disappointing to have more of this when I am trying to escape it by getting a good book. Kevin Hearne can write a good book. I love the Iron Druid series. I can overlook a lot but I'm getting tired of that narrative.

I Don't Want Political BS in my fiction!!!!!!!!

I so enjoyed the Iron Druid books and was so happy to see a new offering from Kevin Hearne. I pre-ordered it and waited for it to be available. I am, however, very disappointed. Every time I started to get into the characters and story, a ham-fisted insertion of the author's political affiliation popped me out. I listen to fiction for entertainment and escape. There is so very much political mess going on in every day life, that I really don't need it in my retail, coffee shops, movie stars, TV shows or anything else. If I want political views, I will buy that kind of book!!!!! Luke Daniels did his usual excellent job with the vocals. I hope this author sticks to the story in his next book, or I will have lost an author that I have previously so enjoyed.

Worst Hearne book yet

I have been an Iron Druid/Hearne fan since the early days. I love his personality as an author, Atticus and Oberon are two of my all time favorite characters, and the Chronicles were a well woven fantasy. However even as those books progressed it seemed like Hearne strayed farther away from telling a story and more into the realm of political commentary. Everyone is entitled to their opinions whether I agree with them or not. But I do not pick up a fantasy book to be lectured on the authors political beliefs. This story seemed ill conceived, lazy, and more of a desperate money grab than anything. The previous care and consideration you found in story and character development of the Iron Druid series is not to be found. Save your money and reread the Iron Druid Chronicles. Or pick up one of Jim Butchers novels.

Bit too political

Huge, I mean HUGE Iron Druid fan here. I was so excited to have this spin-off. However, it falls well short of the story of Atticus. I was hoping it would be Hearne’s lane, seeing as how his other series attempts are pretty meh as well. To top it off, he decided to throw in quite a few jabs at the current political leaders and climate. Decent storyline, Luke was awesome as always, but it didn’t leave a very good taste in my mouth. Bring back Atticus and get rid of the politics.

The story was good up till then end when he decided to alienate half his audience.

I’ve gone from recommending Kevin’s books to telling people to avoid them with this one. What started great with good characters had to be spoiled by Kevin injecting his political diatribe thinking all his fans would love it. Nope, Kevin, you live in a bubble and all you have done has turned a fan into someone who won’t read your work any further. I’ll be returning this book as clearly I’m not someone you want as a reader.

Stick to the story

The world of the Iron Druid has so many open avenues to explore. I thought these characters were great and LD narration is great (as always). My complaint it really with Hearne himself inserting what are obviously his own political beliefs jarringly into the story. This has been an ongoing trend with his later works - Oberon endorsing the “Punch a Nazi” sentiment as an example, and this essentially ruined the final Iron Druid book. Simply inserting the author’s obvious personal political beliefs as if each character agrees with him actually detracts from the overall story and jolts the reader out of the “suspension of disbelief” necessary in any fantasy genre. I do look forward to more of these characters, I just hope that KH can keep the “fake news” and “right wing gun nuts” commentary to his twitter feed where it belongs.

Awful narration

The audible version of this book is the worst narration I've ever heard. Luke Daniels normally does a fine job, but the accents in this narration are unintelligible. I'm British. I'm pretty used to hearing the scots accent, but after about an hour of listening, I still have no idea what the story is about. The accent also drops in and out, which is supremely grating. The other accents are also ridiculous. I've returned it and will buy the kindle version to read instead.

a worthy successor to the Iron Druid Chronicles

As always Luke Daniels is absolutely Brilliant. Everything he reads is gold, and when it's paired with Kevin Hearne, the result is characters that feel fully alive. This was a great way to continue the ID world.

Ink & Sigil

Wonderful storyline!! Such a great potential to develop these characters and write more stories. Can’t wait to read the next one!!

Great new characters in the Iron Druid universe!

Loving the whole new family of characters! I can't wait to see all the adventures they get up to! The story line grabbed my interest from the very start.