Review: Hexed by Kevin Hearne

Hexed by Kevin Hearne
Book Two of the Iron Druid Chronicles
Published June 7, 2011
ISBN-10: 0345522494
ISBN-13: 978-0345522498

Review: 5/5

Cross reviewed on Goodreads.

Atticus O'Sullivan, steered ungracefully but with flare by author Kevin Hearne, has impressed me yet again. The badass nine-hundred year old Druid is back in the second volume of The Iron Druid Chronicles.

Here, following the events of Hounded, Atticus finds himself pitted against some very nasty German witches. We discover that the one creature cult that Atticus fears most are witches. He actually befriends vampires and werewolves. When it is discovered that Atticus is the target of an ancient hexen that can make him drop dead on the spot, more hell breaks loose.

He also befriends the Polish witches that were introduced in Hounded and rounds them to battle the Germans along side him. Greater detail into the Druid's long history is opened and we learn that Atticus has confronted the German witches in the past. Stir in more mythology, sex-capades with the Morrigan, Goddess of Death, and jealousy of said sex-capades with another Goddess, Brighid, and you've got an unsteady can of kick-ass ready to be pried open.

At the very end, when all the battles and badassery is complete (with more to follow), we're slowly introduced to the new and greater enemy that Atticus must face in the third volume, Hammered. In fact, the title kind of says it all. Atticus's showdown against "shadowy figures," comes teamed with strange sorcerers called the Hammers of God and an elite panel of Norse Gods who he must avoid at all costs, save for one -- Thor, his target.

I'd also like to share some of my favorite lines from Hexed, as the dialogue was taken up a notch.

"Ah, it's your job that makes you act like such an asskitten."

I laughed, looking back at the remaining German witches, and said to them in their language, "I can't believe you started shit with her [Malina, leader of the Polish witches], when you had only one fancy trick in your bag. She can pull exploding hell-fire whips out of the fucking air."

"There, Rabbi, you see? I said. "Heinous witches don't let asspuppets like you live."

So there you have Hexed (in a nutshell). I can't wait to get through Hammered, which I'll be posting my Now Reading feature tomorrow. Also, good news for all of you who have read the series or at least started. I discovered today that The Iron Druid Chronicles have been extended to a six-book series! The next books are tentatively titled:

Tricked
Trapped
Hunted

My excitement for this is kind of beyond words, so I end the review here.

Peace and Writing Love,

JWP

The Hunger Games?

So this is probably an easy one for all those of you who have read the series, but I'll gamble with the question anyway.

Read or watch? These have me sold for both really, although I've been putting off reading them forever.

Peace and Writing Love,

JWP

Forgive and Forget

This post is very personal to me as a writer. I had the idea for my first manuscript when I was a junior in high school. My good friend, Tara, told me she was writing a manuscript and I figured it'd be fun to try.

Fast forward to today, roughly seven years later, (I think) five drafts of the manuscript later and a bunch of frustration, reviews and criticism swallowed, I've been able to write an outline for a new WIP.

It took this long because, as a critique partner...cough...Steph, asked, "Is Bond of Darkness really the only manuscript you ever want to write?"

After she hit me with that question, I realized that it wasn't the only thing I WANTED to write, but the only thing I was ALLOWING myself to write. I had already invested so much time with my protagonist, the world, the magic system, and the story that I just wanted it to be done. The fact is that I was doing the project wrong all this time. I never actually sat and wrote an outline. I never planned any of it.

Bond of Darkness started as me just writing and making shit up as I went. First draft done. Me, naive. I start querying. I get a bunch of rejections. No surprise there. After I start doing some research behind manuscripts and whole business of publication, agents, editors, etc., do I really start getting into writing. I can see it becoming a hobby.

Then comes the time where I sunk into that seven year period of only working on Bond of Darkness. Because I never wrote an outline and only continued to edit on top of what I had already written -- keeping what I liked and revising what I didn't -- I was making it worse.

Again, fast forwarding to about a week ago, a new idea for a WIP hits me. Out of left field (left field being me sitting in church with my parents one morning). All of the sudden, I need to get it written before I lose it. I pump out an outline in a week's time and the euphoria began. I hadn't had that feeling of having a new project to be proud of because I was always working on the same thing. Different versions, but the same thing.

After I completed the outline, I discovered that I was attempting something I never had. I was breaking out of my writing shell. I had always written adult themed. The WIP is young adult. I favored male protagonists with an edge. My WIP protagonist is a timid female. I wrote strictly in third person. The WIP will be first person.

While I will return to Bond of Darkness with a plan, I'm thrilled to say I'm working on something new. FINALLY!

Do you have any stories of WIP triumph? What setbacks have you experienced that you were able to overcome?

Peace and Writing Love,

JWP