Read All About It: Shattered

And we return to the Iron Druid Chronicles! One more to go after this, but before my review of Staked will be my review of Sarah Gailey's debut novel River of Teeth (I'm just super excited about it, can't you tell?).

These novels have turned into a touch-point of my summer--when I rest for just a moment, another one conveniently pops up for me to read! This time, we catch up to Shattered, the seventh novel in Hearne's long-running fantasy series. Hearne doesn't let up in this iteration of the series, and fights tooth and nail to incorporate new myths, better magic, and quite a few plot twists.

Image Source: goodreads.com

Follow Atticus, Granuaile, and Owen Kennedy as they deal with the Fae in overwhelming numbers, with a demon in India, and with adjusting the the modern world respectively. Split up, we watch Atticus begin to deal with his future role in the apocolypse, see Granuaile come to terms with some of the darker points of being a Druid, and laugh at an old man who isn't quite sure about the finer points of toilets, women, or language, and all their entwined fates.

In this novel, we get three different points of view--Atticus, Granuaile, and Atticus's own archdruid, now known as Owen Kennedy, who Atticus retrieved at the end of book six at the Morrigan's behest. We switch point-of-view by chapter, and that view is indicated by the small illustration under the chapter number (For Atticus, a wolfhound, for Granuaile, a horse, and for Owen, a bear). We don't get anything from Oberon's perspective, unfortunately, but maybe later! Oberon, and Granuaile's new hound Orlaith, get to have their own small sojourns while their humans are off dealing with an unfortunate amount of plotting against them.

I really appreciated the varied viewpoints. It opened up the story and let the plot progress in a much more fluid way, as well as introduced us better to Granuaile's and Owen's thoughts, which we would have lacked if Hearne had stuck to Atticus's own head like the previous novels. The extended awareness that I gained from these perspectives created gaps between each characters knowledge that I can see possibly creating some tension in future novels, and it will be hopefully be amazing.

Once again, Hearne's treatment of women has steadily improved. He deals well with adapting Owen's past to the future he has to live in, and it involves a very explicit speech about how women have rights and can punch men in the face if provoked. We once again revisit Laksha, this time in India, and see Granuaile do fierce battle without the help (or interference) of Atticus.

This series continues to get better and better. With more magic, more interesting characters, and better treatment of those characters, I'm eager to see where Hearne goes from here. Hopefully it involves a lot of sausage for Oberon and Orlaith, as well as some alone time for Atticus and Granuaile and Owen and Greta, so we see some more great personal development.

Of course, here's hoping for a brilliant solution to the coming apocalypse that won't end with the deaths of anyone that we know and love.