Review: Hexed by Kevin Hearne

Title: Hexed
Author: Kevin Hearne
Series: The Iron Druid Chronicles #2
Pages: 320
Publisher: Del Rey
Date Published: June 7, 2011
Format: Hardcover
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Source: Library

Synopsis:
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. 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.

 My Review:
 This series is a TON of fun. I am so glad that I participated in the read-along last month of the first book Hounded because I've been eating up the rest of the books like they are chocolate and I've had a bad breakup.  Seriously...It's starting to become normal to crack open an Iron Druid Chronicles book and get that tingly-happy-feeling I get when I'm reading one of my long-time favorite series. I absolutely adore Atticus  and Oberon as characters, PLUS their adventures are getting more and more complex and awesome and I am just loving it. Atticus is also as hilarious as ever...witnessed by one of my favorite quotes of the book when dealing with his nosy neighbor...

My neighbor raised a shaking index finger to point at the saguaro. "That moving cactus...and the big bug...and you, you spooky bastard. What are you?"...I stuffed my hands in my pockets and grinned winningly at him. "Why, I'm the Antichrist, of course.”

Tehee...Atticus...I could listen to you make your neighbors nervous for days on end... :) ...anywhoo...Hexed starts off about a week or so after Hounded, with our lovable ancient druid and mystical bookshop owner cleaning up the mess that resulted from Aenghus Og's attempt to literally raise hell.  Dear Atticus is finding out that all isn't rainbows and sunshine once you've successfully disposed of a Celtic god...mostly because he's now on all the various god's speed-dials, all asking him to kindly exterminate Pantheon ___X___ next...and threatening to send him to the fiery pits of hell if he dares attempt to smite them. But the last thing Atty wants is to attract more attention now that the witches want to secure a treaty, a new and untrained Druid to teach, demons are still on the lose, and his vampire lawyer is refusing to continue working with him until he kills a certain Thunder god that has managed to piss off everyone and their mother. Needless to say, there is a lot that Atty has to deal with, and so much going on that it was easy to get sucked into the series a second time.

I just loved how Hearne mixes in humor and just boyish banter and heckling when he creates his action scenes. I especially loved Coyote's character because he took the banter and good-natured ribbing to a whole new level when he and Atticus took on a flying demon. I took a Native American Cultures class in college and I thought that Coyote was totally bad-ass and actually wrote a term paper on him so I was thrilled that he turned up in Hexed...and was a foul-mouthed troublemaker to make any trickster god proud...I mean, he comes off as that class-clown type in high school who always had the last word and seemed to have all the teachers wrapped around his little finger. Plus he flings hilarious one-liners like it's his job...You've just gotta love a jokester who's got a dark side right?

"Yeah!" Coyote whooped and pumped his fist. "Sit down and have a tall glass of shut-the-hell-up!"

I mean, I can see my guy friends saying that kind of banter in a fight or a game or whatever and it makes Coyote and Atticus that more real...even while they are fighting mystical hell-demons...

I will say that the pacing was quite so IN YO FACE as in the first book. In Hounded you felt like every chapter there was something else crazy and a new mystical beastie was flung into your face practically every page...which was awesome. Sophomore books in a series are really hard. Sometimes it's hard to build upon how amazing the first book was, or other times it's the book that lacks direction as the author searches for a place for the MC to go after the events in book one. Hexed had a little bit of this kind of aimlessness, and I did kind of miss the action, but there was a lot more character development and depth to the story to fill in the time between action sequences so I guess it was a give and take a little bit.

Another thing that kind of bugged me was how obsessed Atticus was with Granuaile. I get it...she's a hot red-head and is smart as well as pretty...but it was almost ridiculous how affected Atticus seemed to be by her, even though he's bound to have come across hotter and smarter girls in his 2000 years of existence...plus he's currently sleeping with multiple gods...why is he so crazed over a simple Irish girl? And I hate to admit it but I found myself getting more and more jealous of Granuaile and felt like a...I don't know...Jilted woman or something because of how much attention Atty was paying her. Stupid I know...fictional characters after all...but still I didn't enjoy all the obsession with her boobs and hair like I would have if it was reversed (a girl oggling a guy). I know I wrote how it was great to get an actual guy's perspective on women when reading the first book, but in this case...that's just not what I want to read. I guess I'm being a bit hypocritical...but whatev...I wasn't very happy with the (BOOBS!!) mentality on the book and am hoping that it's a little less obvious in book three, Hammered.

 I give Hexed 4 out of 5 Keys! I loved that Atticus kept you on your toes as he goes about dealing with witches, demons, gods, and murderers all while casting fabulous druid spells and bindings. The action was pretty great when it got down to it and I had a great time in the final fight scene with the Daughters of the Third House...Still...it seems like Hexed has suffered "Sophomore Novel Syndrome" and lost a little of the steam that made book 1 so fabulous...Hexed was still a great Urban Fantasy book and I definitely am starting to love almost all of the characters, but it was just a slight let down. Still, I have Hammered sitting on my nightstand so obviously I am still a huge fan of the series and will continue adoring Atticus even as he keeps breaking my heart by fantasizing about another woman.