Did anyone else not like the latest book in the series? Some of the others have been hit or miss, but for the most part they had major movements in story. This one got drastically slowed down due to telling three different stories at once, and Grainuaile's just bored the hell out of me. The Archdruid's did as well. It wouldn't have been so bad if it'd been a few chapters, but constantly revisting the man out of time concept just felt like a waste of space. Maybe this part got ruined for me since I follow "his" Twitter feed.

Some big reveals in the over all plot line got lumped together into very small space. The grouping of Gods looking after Atticus, the traitor. Felt very rushed compared to the massive amount of time spent on Grainuaile playing with the Yeti's and looking for daddy. The whole India bit felt thrown on just to include Laksha and pointless.

I devoured it in one sitting, and the only thing that really stuck out in my mind was.... is that the Archdruid really, really loves Sherlock!

 

This is my least favorite book in the series. I enjoyed the two Novellas, 'Two Ravens and One Crow' and 'Grimoire of the Lamb', much more then 'Shattered'.

I uncovered the Iron Druid Chronicles sometime after the sixth book was released, which compelled me to marathon all six books and two novellas in one straight week. Hence I perceive them as one giant book, so I can't say much for the pacing before Shattered. Though, I can say some parts took quite a while to get through. Why? Well, because it was mostly filler and minor plot additions.

Which leads me to Granuaile. Her side of the story was a great labor to read through, full of have baked emotional baggage, and not appearing to forward the plot in any significant way, and after all the time we spent listening to her thoughts and feelings she's was more of a detriment to her side then being of any true help. Until the end of the story where she finally gets a real reason to be in the book.

While I didn't like her story I can see that Kevin Hearne was trying to bring a character who we have only seen as 'the apprentice' and 'the love interest' into more of a major role in the story. I just felt that it was poorly executed.

Spoiler

The only saving grace was that there was some cool Yeti with even cooler ice magic that can create ..Soul Eating Weapons.. and they will create these abominations for.. a hockey rink. Also, Granuaile ends up giving the insane Trickster God Loki the ..Soul Eating Weapon.. which she just spent a large part of the story creating.

The Arch Druid's side of the story was entertaining and his being alive raises many questions yet almost none were answered.

-and that Atticus likes to interrupt good old fashioned Bear vs Werewolf fights..

 

Nope they get worse...

 

Despite what was said, I feel they get way better after the first book. Even though he somehow goes super druid and start God smiting, it's still enjoyable reading. Oberon winds up taking too much page real eastate though. This one just appears to be a weaker one, mostly due to the focus splintering.

That really bugged me with Loki. The author retconned Loki from the stuttering crazy mess, into a planning devious guy... and then has Loki claim it was all just an act. It made the character just less believable to me. Didn't make much sense for the change.