Besieged

Stories from The Iron Druid Chronicles

By: Kevin Hearne

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

In the ninth installment in Kevin Hearne’s New York Times bestselling Iron Druid Chronicles, the ancient gods are still wreaking havoc today in this hilarious, action-packed collection of original short stories featuring Atticus O’Sullivan.

In ancient Egypt, Atticus agrees to raid a secret chamber underneath the library of Alexandria, dodging deadly traps, only to learn that on-site security includes two members of the Egyptian pantheon.

At a Kansas carnival, fun and games turn to murder and mayhem, thanks to soul-snatching demons and flesh-craving ghouls luring visitors into an all-too-real house of horrors.

In olde England, striking up a friendship with William Shakespeare lands both Atticus and the Bard in boiling hot water with a trio of infamous witches.

During the Gold Rush, the avatar of greed himself turns the streets of San Francisco red with blood and upsets the elemental Sequoia. Atticus may have to fight fire with fire if he’s going to restore balance.

More, you say? Indeed there is—including bogeymen, vampire hordes, wrathful wraiths, and even a journey to the realm of the dead. Prepare to be besieged with ten tantalizing tales—not to be missed, never to be forgotten.

Don’t miss any of The Iron Druid Chronicles:
Hounded | Hexed | Hammered | Tricked | Trapped | Hunted | Shattered | Staked | Scourged | Besieged

©2017 Kevin Hearne (P)2017 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“[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

This is a collection of short stories

Any additional comments?

I thought I had pre-purchased the next installment of the series, not a collection of short stories. I DID enjoy the short stories, just not what I expected.

Great stories plus fantastic performance = Fun!

Kevin Hearne's writing is superb and Luke Daniel's performance is exceptional!

I really enjoyed that the narration of the various stories was done by various characters. Luke Daniels has quite a range of voices he can do and has great comedic timing and inflection.

If you listen to this book with your family - meaning with children - you may want to skip the short story done with the Slavic god of lightning, Perun (spelling?) about 2/3rds of the way through the audio book. That may be too sexual for children, however Kevin Hearne manages to write the story in a way that has a lot of depth and thoughtful examination of human motives and manipulations and observations of people, so it isn't some fluffy, shallow, silly romance writing.

The story line has so many opportunities to expand in the future and I have hope that Kevin Hearne will continue writing and exploring this wonderful world he has created in his books.

Luke Daniels' performance in this book was very good. This was a delightful listen.

Super fun book of shorts

Any additional comments?

NUMBER OF HEARTS: 5
It was so wonderful to be back in the world of the Iron Druid!! I simply love this series.
Besieged is a book of short stories that are in the IDC world. They are stories that help fill in some of the gaps between stories and answer a few questions. The last three shorts are leading up to Scourged (which Kevin has said will be the last book *tears*).
As always I let the amazingly talented Luke Daniels read this story to me. Luke is one of my favorite narrators. His ability to bring Kevin’s characters to life is simply amazing.
I honestly don’t know what I am going to do if the IDC is really coming to an end. Guess it is time for a re-listen.


Disclaimer:
I received a complimentary copy of this book from Penguin & Random House Audio in exchange for an honest review. This review is my own opinion and not a paid review.

luke daniels is great

id kinda become fed up with the series for a while. atticus is a hard hero to get behind because he can easily be framed as having no faults.

what id liked about these books were the extravagant crazy scenes and the humor the characters brought to them. (shakespear quipping while in a car chase with a greek god makes me laugh every time)

so it did me good to return to some of that cooky fun that made me like the series in the first place. if youre wondering if the book is worth it, atticus tells oberon to check his privaledge.

Good until S & M scene

I like the idea of various short stories told by different characters in this book and was enjoying the story and Luke Daniels' exquisite character voices until a chapter titled, "The Cuddle Dungeon" came up. If you are listening with kids, skip this chapter. I was pretty disgusted with the many details the author provided with the outfits, implements, and activities that supposedly happen during an S & M party. I thought this was a Young Adult novel but you would have to be answering a whole lot of unpleasant questions if your child reads or listens to this book. The rest of the book was great, but that chapter was jarring and completely unnecessary to the story line. I'm sure the author thought he was being "dope" or whatever the latest word for "cool" is these days, but to me he just came off as a sex-starved pervert.

Love love loved it

I thoroughly enjoy all of the Iron Druid stories. I loved the spin on these just as much. The characters have really come to life for me. I loved the humor and the various stories. I can't recommend this enough. I'm sad to think the story line is almost done.

Sums up the storys

I only did this review for the fact that I fcan see more f f f f f c

♡♡♡

thrilled Luke Daniels redid the carnie short, these books are just amazing that is all i can say.

Loved

I wasn’t sure how did like a bunch of short stories. But it really worked. Great subject matter in each one and some points that I’m glad I learned.

Greatest storyline and narration.

The amazing attention to detail and rememberance throughout the Chronicles absolutely amaze me. Thanks so much to Kevin Hearne and Luke Daniels for this excellent addition to our literary world!