I'm slowly going through the list of authors at the literary autographing event and making my own list :) Oh, you know what is the most frustrating though?!? There's an in-store promotion: Buy 3, get the 4th free!! Ugh!! You know me! So let see if I can make use of that promo... somehow. I'm hopeless, I know LOL.
Also, I got a new camera! Woohoo! We didn't research it extensively, so I hope it's a good one or at least, good for our needs :) At least, it met my and my sister's requirements: can take black and white pictures, have sounds when shooting a video. See, we're easy! LOL. Going to tell my sister to charge it today so we can test it tonight :P
In the meantime, here's a review :) It's not the one I was hoping to put up - I had a plan... but I had no time to execute my plan ^_^; So Hexed it is, because it's the one that come to me easily :)
Hexed by Kevin Hearne
published by Bantam Books (Del Rey) in June 2011
Atticus O'Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn't care much for witches. Still, he's about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty-when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they're badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.Genre: Urban Fantasy
With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor's rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex.
Series: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book #2
The Story: In Hexed, Atticus has to deal with the fallout of the events of Hounded. First, there's people warning him to leave them alone... and also requests to take out some of their enemies. Let say that taking out a god definitively puts you on the radar! And one of these requests is from Atticus' own vampire attorney and friend, Leif Helgarson, who wants Atticus' help to take down Thor; but while Atticus has become a very popular guy, he still remembers the one constant in his life: survive.
Unfortunately, survival is not easy when you still have demons roaming the neighborhood and Coyote mandates you to take care of it. Even worst is with half of the local coven - the Sisters of the Three Auroras - gone, Tempe has suddenly become fair play for other supernatural/magical beings and two factions have decided they want total control - die Tochter des dritten Hauses and the Bacchants. To Atticus' horror, he'll need the help of his "friendly" witches if he wants to stay alive and stay home.
My Opinion: For some reasons, I like characters that have magic powers such as witches, sorcerers, wizards... you get the drift, right? I don't know, I just do... So whenever I come across a book or a series featuring a magic wielder, I give it a try... Hence Hounded with its druid :) The premises of Hounded was quite interesting and the series showed a lot of potential and so, I was really looking forward to Hexed :)
I find it a bit hard to look at the Iron Druid Chronicles series objectively, because I can't help but compare it to the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Part of it is because both protagonists are male and have magic of their own. As I whole, I find Atticus character friendly and likable. I really liked his interactions with Leif at the beginning of the book, attempting to teach Leif how to speak 21st century LOL. However, Atticus is also a lot more wily than Harry. I guess it comes with age and everything he's seen and everything he's done. I find he's a lot less sincere and I'd say more selfish than Harry... and that makes me wonder if we've seen Atticus' true face yet...
The storyline in Hexed was interesting, but I think it'd have been better if it focused a little bit more on Atticus' alliance with the Sisters of the Three Auroras and their fight against the German witches and the Bacchants. I also thought some of it was resolved a bit too easily ^_^; It was a bit of a let-down, especially considering how much things were happening in Hexed: Coyote and the demon, the two unfriendly witch covens and the demon hunters, etc. and I have to say, all the elements felt disconnected to me :( It was as if Mr Hearne was too busy tying up the loose ends from Hounded and setting up for Hammered that he neglected the actual storyline of Hexed. I mean, I was expecting much more resistance from the bad witches than what we got :( And not to repeat myself, but it made for a disjointed story :(
Also, one major flaw of Hexed was the slow start. It really took a while for me to get into the book and I felt it's because a lot of the events in the beginning felt random. Also, what is it with Atticus' neighbor?!? I don't know it was meant to be funny... but it missed the mark with me ^_^;
Despite all my complaints, I think that once the action picked up, the book became much more enjoyable. I'm really liking the secondary characters - Granuaile, Oberon and Atticus' attorneys, Hal and Leif. I really would like to see more of their characters :) The story is interesting enough and I liked how Mr Hearne has set up for Hammered. I think that book will also be very interesting :) I hope that in the future books, we'll also find out more of Atticus... not just his past, but also his true self :)
My Grade: This is a hard one. I originally gave this book a B in Goodreads, but once again, upon reflection... there were some issues that pop up... So I think a C+ is the fair grade :) If you look at the overall picture, then Hexed was also an enjoyable read, despite its slow start and it being a bit unfocused. I'm still very much looking forward to Hammed :P
