Tricked
Iron Druid Chronicles, Book #4
by Kevin Hearne

Review brought to you by OBS staff member Verushka

I wish desperately that everything could stop when a new Atticus novel is released – and by that I mean work, emails and you know just real life. It’s easy to get lost in the books of this series, and to get grumpy when real life beckons you – okay, just me – out.

Tricked is a start to what is a new segment of Atticus’ life. It has the feel of being the first half of a greater story, with the focus in this title being on the groundwork for his, Oberon and Granuaile’s new life in Arizona. With change, Hearne takes his intrepid trio into Coyote’s world and Native American mythology (Coyote being the Trickster of the previous novels).

Coyote enlists Atticus help to help his people, in essence, and while the thought is to be commended, he basically leaves it up to Atticus to do all the heavy lifting, slaying and saving.

Skinwalkers. Let me leave that with you. Please remember also this is Kevin Hearne so whatever you think you know, chuck it out and get lost in the ride, research and writing.

At the beginning of this book, we get an inkling of the greater powers snapping at Atticus’ heels, even though he has faked his death by all accounts, before Atticus’ true adventure begins. I confess I felt the lack of knowledge about the greater powers at work keenly in this book. I guess I don’t need to know everything coming up, but I did hope for more than what we were told.

Without his familiar surroundings and numerous groups and Gods vying for his attention, Atticus’ attention is also focused on Granuaile and her presence in his life. I figured there was a romance coming, but the slow simmer has hit the boiling point pretty quickly – well okay, four books isn’t quick, but it took some getting used to. Granuaile is probably the one person he has let gets close to him in a long while, so it’s going to be a treat watching her deal with him.

Oberon…at this stage, I think he deserves his own title. Hearne’s absolute talent at writing humor never shines as brightly than with Oberon and I will gladly read anything and everything that features him.

I confess it is jarring not having Morrigan, the Widow Macdonagh (much of her that is), or Leif and Hal in this story, but everything changes and for a druid who has lived millennia, this move was bound to happen. Old, established friendships are also changed profoundly in this novel and I will mourn the loss of Leif’s friendship in Atticus’ life – and it’s more than a move that changes things between them.

Overall, this is a beginning to a new chapter in Atticus’ life and I am going to sit on my hands and remind myself constantly that I can’t know everything straightaway. I’m just going to have to wait for the next one and the one after that!