Shattered

By: Kevin Hearne

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 12 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

Acclaimed author Kevin Hearne spins a new novel in his epic urban fantasy series starring the unforgettable Atticus O'Sullivan.

For nearly 2,000 years, only one Druid has walked the Earth - Atticus O'Sullivan, the Iron Druid, whose sharp wit and sharp sword have kept him alive as he's been pursued by a pantheon of hostile deities. Now he's got company.

Atticus' apprentice, Granuaile, is at last a full Druid herself. What's more, Atticus has defrosted an archdruid long ago frozen in time, a father figure (of sorts) who now goes by the modern equivalent of his old Irish name: Owen Kennedy.

And Owen has some catching up to do.

Atticus takes pleasure in the role reversal, as the student is now the teacher. Between busting Atticus's chops and trying to fathom a cell phone, Owen must also learn English. For Atticus, the jury's still out on whether the wily old coot will be an asset in the epic battle with Norse god Loki - or merely a pain in the arse.

But Atticus isn't the only one with daddy issues. Granuaile faces a great challenge: to exorcise a sorcerer's spirit that is possessing her father in India. Even with the help of the witch Laksha, Granuaile may be facing a crushing defeat.

As the trio of Druids deals with pestilence-spreading demons, bacon-loving yeti, fierce flying foxes, and frenzied Fae, they're hoping that this time, three's a charm.

©2014 Kevin Hearne (P)2014 Random House Audio

Critic Reviews

"Clever, fast paced, and a good escape." (Jason Weisberger, Boing Boing)

"[Atticus is] a strong modern hero with a long history and the wit to survive in the 21st century.... A snappy narrative voice." ( Library Journal, on Hounded)

"Superb...plenty of quips and zap-pow-bang fighting." ( Publishers Weekly, on Hounded)

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.

24 of 28 people found this review 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.

16 of 19 people found this review helpful

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.

30 of 38 people found this review helpful

Druids!

I love this series so hard. Shattered is as awesome as the rest of them. Even better, maybe. I loved the addition of Atticus's ArcDruid. He is a fantastic character. Hearne does a great job of realistically and hilariously dragging this man 2000 years into the future. Oberon is still awesome. I loved getting to know Arla.

There are some real hardships in this book. The tone is a little more somber (even with the hilarity). Things don't go so well in this book for Atticus and his friends. The you-know-what has hit the fan and Atticus hasn't dodged the bulk of the spray this time. It only makes me more anxious for the next book.

My only sad news, sad to me anyway, is that the weakest link in this book for me was Granuaile. Her POV was a little disappointing. It felt a little flat in comparison to Atticus and Owen.

Overall: YES, YES, YES! and DRUIDS!

5 of 6 people found this review 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 of 17 people found this review helpful

Ho hum.

Would you try another book from Kevin Hearne and/or Luke Daniels?

Luke Daniels does a great job. Hearne's Iron Druid series started off great but has been going down hill since the 2nd book. The main character, Atticus, seems to be getting progressively dumber. In the first book, he was great, but with each progressive book, he has been more and more of a screw up. By this the seventh book, Atticus seems like a pathologic blunderer. I think it was a big mistake when he took up an apprentice. The dog was funny in the beginning, but now he is just getting annoying. Nevertheless, I keep listening because they are easy listens and I keep hoping that Hearne will turn this thing around and make it fun again. The addition of Owen was good. Granuaile, I have never liked, and like less and less as the series goes on. Can't he kill her off and let Owen be Atticus' side kick.

Would you ever listen to anything by Kevin Hearne again?

Probably.

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

Owen was great.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Another fun read from Kevin Hearne

What made the experience of listening to Shattered the most enjoyable?

The humor employed throughout the book with most characters keeps me coming back for more. The Irish cursing helps too!

Who was your favorite character and why?

This is my biggest critique of the book. The expansion of characters, expecially the new hound. I feel as if Hearne is stretching the story with too much of the other characters perspective. A few chapters here and there is ok, but going through all the different characters should have been a novella or two.

Any additional comments?

Hearne has a fantastic niche with Atticus and the style he employs and this books fits right in with the series.

6 of 8 people found this review helpful

Re-recording not nearly as good as the original

This was recently re-recorded to correct some pronunciation issues, and, while I appreciate that the pronunciation now conforms to the rest of the series, the second recording is definitely not as entertaining as the original. Parts that were funny just aren't now, and sections are missing, even though it's supposed to be an unabridged recording. I wish Audible would allow me to download the original instead of the new version. I'd suffer through the poor pronunciation to hear Luke's original performance rather than this second, much poorer one.

1 of 1 people found this review 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.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Really, did he need a girlfriend.

Would you try another book from Kevin Hearne and/or Luke Daniels?

No, after this one I'm done. The story line was great until he introduced the girl.

What was most disappointing about Kevin Hearne’s story?

I know lets have a female lead character to increase readership and appeal to a wider audience.

You didn’t love this book... but did it have any redeeming qualities?

The original flair of the first books is gone. It's politically correct, mass marketed garbage.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Another excellent yarn

Once again the story unfolds around you and draws you in. This is the latest story in the Iron Druid series and one not to be missed
I love Oberon almost as much as Atticus and he definitely has the best lines in the story that make you want to laugh out loud which when traveling makes people look at you rather strongly but makes you realise what it must be like for Atticus on a 24/7 basis - I also warmed to the Arch Druid as the story progressed and look forward to his adventures to come 😀

Change of Narrator - What a Shame

Did you have an emotional reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

these books always make me laugh!

Any additional comments?

Seven entertaining, witty and believable books I would recommend these highly, its just a shame that the seventh book has had a change of narrator