Staked by Kevin Hearne
Narrator: Luke Daniels
Series: The Iron Druid Chronicles #8
Published by Random House Audio
Published on: January 26, 2016
Genres: Urban Fantasy
Length: 11 hrs & 21 mins
Format: Audiobook
Source: Purchased
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Iron Druid Atticus O'Sullivan, hero of Kevin Hearne's epic New York Times best-selling urban fantasy series, has a point to make - and then drive into a vampire's heart.
When a Druid has lived for 2,000 years like Atticus, he's bound to run afoul of a few vampires - make that legions of them. Even his former friend and legal counsel turned out to be a bloodsucking backstabber. Now the toothy troublemakers - led by power-mad pain-in-the-neck Theophilus - have become a huge problem requiring a solution. It's time to make a stand.
As always, Atticus wouldn't mind a little backup. But his allies have problems of their own. Ornery archdruid Owen Kennedy is having a wee bit of troll trouble: Turns out when you stiff a troll, it's not water under the bridge. Meanwhile, Granuaile is desperate to free herself of the Norse god Loki's mark and elude his powers of divination - a quest that will bring her face to face with several Slavic nightmares.
As Atticus globetrots to stop his nemesis, Theophilus, the journey leads to Rome. What better place to end an immortal than the Eternal City? But poetic justice won't come without a price: In order to defeat Theophilus, Atticus may have to lose an old friend.
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After SHATTERED, I had concerns that THE IRON DRUID CHRONICLES may be taking on water with an excess of POVs, mythologies and threads. STAKED slowed its roll a bit by limiting the amount of chapters from Owen and Granuaile’s perspectives, and I certainly can’t find fault in Kevin Hearne’s comedic writing style, but the female druid continued to annoy me, and when compared to some of this series’ epic stories, I found that the conclusion to the two century-long vampire saga was rather anticlimactic.
Atticus and Oberon have jetted around most of the globe and several planes; however in this installment they visited Canada, and tons of familiar cultural references ensued including a visit to Timmies and the hound discovering his new favourite dish: poutine! Readers also get to discover why one never wants to be “Nigel in Toronto”, and Owen was temporarily put on dog sitting duty which was seriously the funniest thing ever. Listening to Oberon explain to the archdruid how modern tech works was priceless.
Granuaile has to be one of the most irritating characters that I’ve had the misfortune of experiencing; I literally counted the number of scenes from her POV because if I reached ten I was DNF-ing this audiobook. Happily, that didn’t happen, but her personal crusade against her stepfather, and elitist attitude about what a druid’s mission *should* be pushed me to my breaking point. Owen on the other hand is an absolute peach! I like the direction that his tangent has taken, and of course Oberon is still the bestest of sidekicks.
Luke Daniels is THE man for the job with regards to narrating this series. As soon as he starts talking I immediately know which persona he’s assumed whether its the protagonist’s or a secondary that’s not made an appearance for several novels. In this title he dabbled with some French, and even though he botched one word pronunciation, I give him full marks because the rest was on the nose. His rendition of Owen is SO good, and the last scene with Oberon and Orla is as close as humans will ever come to dog speak.
STAKED was an step up from the previous book, but I still pine for the pre-SHATTERED days.
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Owner, designer and main blogger behind Rabid Reads. Avid book reader, snowboard bunny, video gamer and Supernatural fan. I love all things paranormal, werewolves especially. Oh, and I’m Canadian, eh!
Darn. I really do need to get on this series. I tend to enjoy male point of views more and Owen sounds like a hoot. Timmies! ha.
Let’s hope that the series continues improving unless this was the final installment?
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I’m glad this one was an improvement over the last installment, even if it doesn’t seem to have lived up to earlier ones. I’d like to give it a listen just for the dog speak. 😉 I’ve always thought this was a series I’d like. Maybe I’ll give it a try in audio.
I always meant to start this one, I think I have book one somewhere around my house. Maybe it will be one for my TBR pile read if I can find it. 🙂
This is the first one that I am waiting on the library to get the audiobook. I am not a fan of the G POV so this has gone on my borrow list instead of own list. Glad it was a tad better than the last one–that give me hope 🙂
This was the first time I actually liked Clever Druid tbh. But I think a lot of that was because I think she’s too idealistic and is heading for a fall.
Owen is fast becoming who I’m reading for though. Who woulda thought? lol
I should read it, audio did not work for me :/
I read the first book and loved it, but drifted away from the series for other things. I could do without an elitest heroine, but all the other elements sound great.
I plan to start this series this year. I want to finish a few series first.
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This series is on my “to-read” list. One of these days!!
I own book one..maybe I should try the audio. Everyone seems to love this series!
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