Book Review: Hammered

Hammered

Author: Kevin Hearne

Publish Date: July 2011

Publisher: Random House

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.(From GoodReads)

(Note: I listened to the unabridged audio book while I was working. Two birds, one stone and all that.)

This series has held me in thrall since book one. Not only is it not about some whiny girl growing up or finding the right guy; it’s actually a really mature supernatural/fantasy/science fiction story. (Sorry, I still don’t agree that it’s only Urban fantasy. *frowns at GoodReads*) As a series progresses though, I worry on how an author is going to hold up the cake to the previous books. If I’m in deep love with book one and two what could possibly make book three even more loving? 

The answer: EVERYTHING.

Leif introduces some new characters that being this late in the story I wasn’t sure I was going to be fond of. New characters are helpful to keep a story going but if there’s nothing to relate to them it’s hard to get to love them. This isn’t the case at all. I love our survivors and hope to see them in books to come.  

I feel for Atticus though. Caught between a rock and a hard place makes life a living hell. He had some serious choices that while I knew which one he would make (he is after all an honorable man) I still bled for him because he had to make them. It makes him a wonderfully complex character. (And I love his wit. I would love to Shakespeare duel with him.)

There’s no real winner to this story and no real ending either. However, there’s not really meant to be an ending with the next book a few months away. It definitely teaches one of life’s greatest lessons. Number one: Life’s not fair. Deal. And number two: there are no winners in a war. Everyone loses something.  

Overall nothing has ever made me nearly bust at the seams trying to contain laughter before. Certainly no one quotes Shakespeare better. While, I’m disappointed slightly with the ending that is no ending it couldn’t be avoided and that’s a minor bump in my road. I’m ecstatic for the next book. I’ll definitely be picking it up on release day. This definitely takes the cake.

My Rating: