Action & Adventure
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Trapped: Book Five of The Iron Druid Chronicles
In the fifth novel in the New York Times bestselling Iron Druid Chronicles, two-thousand-year-old Druid Atticus O'Sullivan will at last bind a new Druid to protect the earth-but first he must go toe-to-toe with the Roman god Bacchus, the Norse pantheon, and an ancient vampire, all hell-bent on ensuring his demise.
"[Kevin] Hearne is a terrific storyteller with a great snarky wit. . . . Neil Gaiman's American Gods meets Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden."-SFFWorld
The downside to faking your own death is that people tend to get upset when they find out they've been had. In Atticus O'Sullivan's case, they're upset enough to come after him to make sure he dies for real this time. Yet he can't remain in hiding anymore: He has to bind his apprentice, Granuaile, to the earth so that she can become the first new Druid in centuries.
But the Roman god Bacchus wants mortal revenge for a slight against him, and he proceeds to act on the principle that Atticus should hate his life until it can be ended. Members of the Norse pantheon aren't particularly pleased with Atticus either-especially one who had languished in darkness, slowly going mad, and is now free to work his mischief again.
On top of that, an ancient vampire, who'd like to remove Atticus and Granuaile as threats to his kind, is working on his own plan for their destruction.
Forced to work at the base of Mount Olympus, Atticus and Granuaile must survive the three-month process of her binding and escape the many traps set for them. It's fortunate that they have Oberon the Irish Wolfhound on their side-but is one good dog going to be enough to see them through it?
Don't miss any of The Iron Druid Chronicles:
HOUNDED | HEXED | HAMMERED | TRICKED | TRAPPED | HUNTED | SHATTERED | STAKED | SCOURGED | BESIEGED
"[Kevin] Hearne is a terrific storyteller with a great snarky wit. . . . Neil Gaiman's American Gods meets Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden."-SFFWorld
The downside to faking your own death is that people tend to get upset when they find out they've been had. In Atticus O'Sullivan's case, they're upset enough to come after him to make sure he dies for real this time. Yet he can't remain in hiding anymore: He has to bind his apprentice, Granuaile, to the earth so that she can become the first new Druid in centuries.
But the Roman god Bacchus wants mortal revenge for a slight against him, and he proceeds to act on the principle that Atticus should hate his life until it can be ended. Members of the Norse pantheon aren't particularly pleased with Atticus either-especially one who had languished in darkness, slowly going mad, and is now free to work his mischief again.
On top of that, an ancient vampire, who'd like to remove Atticus and Granuaile as threats to his kind, is working on his own plan for their destruction.
Forced to work at the base of Mount Olympus, Atticus and Granuaile must survive the three-month process of her binding and escape the many traps set for them. It's fortunate that they have Oberon the Irish Wolfhound on their side-but is one good dog going to be enough to see them through it?
Don't miss any of The Iron Druid Chronicles:
HOUNDED | HEXED | HAMMERED | TRICKED | TRAPPED | HUNTED | SHATTERED | STAKED | SCOURGED | BESIEGED
Editorial Reviews
Praise for The Iron Druid Chronicles
"[Kevin] Hearne is a terrific storyteller with a great snarky wit. . . . Neil Gaiman's American Gods meets Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden."-SFFWorld
"[The Iron Druid books] are clever, fast-paced and a good escape."-Boing Boing
"Hearne understands the two main necessities of good fantasy stories: for all the wisecracks and action, he never loses sight of delivering a sense of wonder to his readers, and he understands that magic use always comes with a price. Highly recommended."-The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
"Superb . . . plenty of quips and zap-pow-bang fighting."-Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Celtic mythology and an ancient Druid with modern attitude mix it up in the Arizona desert in this witty new fantasy series."-Kelly Meding, author of Chimera
"[Atticus is] a strong modern hero with a long history and the wit to survive in the twenty-first century. . . . A snappy narrative voice . . . a savvy urban fantasy adventure."-Library Journal
"A page-turning and often laugh-out-loud funny caper through a mix of the modern and the mythic."-Ari Marmell, author of The Warlord's Legacy
"Outrageously fun."-The Plain Dealer
"Kevin Hearne breathes new life into old myths, creating a world both eerily familiar and startlingly original."-Nicole Peeler, author of Tempest Rising
"[Kevin] Hearne is a terrific storyteller with a great snarky wit. . . . Neil Gaiman's American Gods meets Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden."-SFFWorld
"[The Iron Druid books] are clever, fast-paced and a good escape."-Boing Boing
"Hearne understands the two main necessities of good fantasy stories: for all the wisecracks and action, he never loses sight of delivering a sense of wonder to his readers, and he understands that magic use always comes with a price. Highly recommended."-The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction
"Superb . . . plenty of quips and zap-pow-bang fighting."-Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Celtic mythology and an ancient Druid with modern attitude mix it up in the Arizona desert in this witty new fantasy series."-Kelly Meding, author of Chimera
"[Atticus is] a strong modern hero with a long history and the wit to survive in the twenty-first century. . . . A snappy narrative voice . . . a savvy urban fantasy adventure."-Library Journal
"A page-turning and often laugh-out-loud funny caper through a mix of the modern and the mythic."-Ari Marmell, author of The Warlord's Legacy
"Outrageously fun."-The Plain Dealer
"Kevin Hearne breathes new life into old myths, creating a world both eerily familiar and startlingly original."-Nicole Peeler, author of Tempest Rising
Readers Top Reviews
Yet another pantheon making a full appearance. I thought the Bacchants would be making a comeback and here they come. Again highly entertaining it is too. Politics start coming to the fore as well here and show some depth of understanding from Atticus - well he has to have learned something in 2000yrs!! Granuaile is really coming into her own and is becoming herself rather than a side kick - I can't wait to see what happens with her :) Keep reading. It's worth it :)
Wing Chiu Li
The entire series is about the last druid Atticus. For almost 2000 years he has been a fugitive and hardly a master of his own fate. In America, however, he finds compelling reasons to make a stand against his enemies and make it his permanent home. Along the way, there are hilarious escapades as he deals with all manner of supernatural threats. Being alone, he is forced to make faustian deals in order to get the firepower to fight enemies which are literally gods but at last, in this 5th book, he is managing to train his 2nd and only living apprentice, the lovely Granuaile. Now, it could be two druids instead of one against a plethora of threats including the original force which annihilated the druidic order. Sacrificing a little humour and entertainment, this is still a very enjoyable book. This book sets develops both plot and characters leading to a cliffhanger that sets up the scene for Atticus and Granuaile to fight back against the mysterious antagonist which killed all the ancient druids leaving Atticus the lone survivor.
ClackersKrommSam Bro
I loved the earlier Iron Druid books and passed them onto friends in that evangelical way you do when you find something new and great. I was disappointed by this one though. Considering the backdrop is a possible apocalypse nothing much happens. The characters hide a bit, get discovered and have a little fight, then more hiding, more fighting etc. Even the dialogue with Oberon seems forced this time. Also twelve years has passed but really there is no sense of which year this is set in. Given that the first book was written in 2011 (and presumably set then)this must be set in around in 2023 yet no mention of any changes to the world is really made. Presumably the economic crisis is resolved enough that Greece still has a relatively booming tourist industry (Hearne gets bonus points from me for setting the Greek action in a couple of towns I know). I'll continue reading the series to find out what happens but I preferred the earlier ones where the antagonists were small scale local nuisances rather than world affecting gods.
Jmaynard
Once I read the blurb on Trapped, “Atticus O’Sullivan is finally ready to bind his apprentice to the Earth” I had a sense of foreboding. I knew exactly what was going to happen. Atticus would spend the whole book trying to complete the ritual with Granuaile and it wouldn’t actually happen until the very end. I wasn’t wrong. There’s a lot I enjoyed in Trapped. The story is action-packed and fast paced as Hearne throws a myriad of obstacles at Atticus. I appreciated the chase, and also seeing how accomplished Granuaile has become, even before she gets her druidic powers. It was also great to see Atticus finally become proactive and go on the offensive for once. The interplay between the two of them and the continued will they/won’t hey of their potential romance amidst the mayhem, was well done. On the downside, the book was predictable, especially with dragging out the binding. There was a lot of running around, but very little if anything was resolved. This left me somewhat undecided about how to rate the book. I was glad Granuaile finally becomes a druid, but disappointed that everything else that happens was obviously set up for future novels (the Dark Elves, Loki teased again, the vampires). Overall, I enjoyed Trapped but it still felt like a bridge novel - filler between two greater stories. I’m eager to see what happens with the Dark Elves and, eventually, Ragnarok, but hope the next book has a more self-contained plot.
Short Excerpt Teaser
Chapter 1
You know those spastic full-body twitches you get sometimes when you're almost asleep and your muscles want to play a practical joke on your brain? You startle wide awake and immediately get pissed at your nervous system, wondering what the hell that was all about. I've caught myself talking to it before: "Damn it, Dude"-yes, I call my nervous system Dude, and the Dude abides-"I was almost asleep, and now you've slain all the sheep I was gonna count."
What I felt as I walked on the Kaibab Plateau was kind of like that, except it was Gaia doing the spastic full-body twitch. It was more of an uncomfortable shudder that I felt through my tattoos, like when you step barefoot into the garage in winter and your nipples pucker up. But, as with those nervous muscle spasms, I got irritated about it and wondered what the hell was going on. And while I wasn't about to go to sleep, I was about to enjoy the culmination of twelve years of training an apprentice-and, save for the first few months of it and a harrowing episode halfway through, I'd conducted it all in peace. Granuaile was finally ready to become a full Druid, and we'd been searching for a place to bind her to the earth when I felt the tremor. I shot a question to the elemental, Kaibab, in the cocktail of feelings and images they use instead of language: //Confusion / Query: What was that?//
//Confusion / Uncertainty / Fear// came the reply. That chilled me. I'd never heard confusion from an elemental before. The fear, on the other hand, was perfectly normal: Despite their awesome power, elementals are afraid of almost everything, from placer mines to land developers to bark beetles. They can be real scaredy-cats sometimes. But they're never uncertain about what's going on with Gaia. Stopping in my tracks and causing Granuaile and Oberon to turn and look at me quizzically, I asked Kaibab what there was to fear.
//Plane across ocean / Early death / Burning / Burning / Burning//
Well, that confused me too. Kaibab wasn't talking about an airplane. He (or she, if Granuaile had been the one talking to the elemental) meant an entire plane of existence, a plane that was tied to earth somewhere on the other side of the globe. //Query: Which plane?//
//Name unknown / God from plane seeks you / Urgent / Query: Tell him location?//
//Query: Which god?//
The answer to that would tell me what plane was burning. There was a pause, during which time I stalled with Granuaile and Oberon. "Something's up with Kaibab. Hold on." They knew better than to interrupt, and they took this news as an invitation to be on their guard, which was wise. Anything worrisome to the avatar of the environment you currently occupy should rouse you to a caffeinated state of paranoia.
//God's name: Perun// Kaibab finally said.
Almost unconsciously, I sent //Shock// in reply, because it was truly my reaction. The Slavic plane of existence was burning, perhaps even dead? How? Why? I hoped Perun would have the answers. If he sought me in hopes that I had them, we'd both be disappointed. //Yes / Tell Perun location//
I'd also like to know how Perun even knew to ask for me-did someone tell him I'd faked my death twelve years ago? There was another pause, during which I filled in Granuaile and Oberon. Thanks to Immortali-Tea, they hadn't aged any more than I had.
Oberon asked.
Yep, that's the one.
I don't know why, but perhaps you'll get a chance to ask him.
//He comes// Kaibab said. //Fast//
"Okay, incoming," I said out loud.
"Incoming what, Atticus?" Granuaile asked.
"Incoming thunder god. We should move near a tree and get ready to shift away to Tír na nÓg if necessary. And get the fulgurites out." Fulgurites would protect us from lightning strikes; Perun had given them to us when Granuaile was just starting her training, but we hadn't worn them for years, since all the thunder gods thought I was dead.
"You think Perun is going to take a shot at us?" Granuaile asked. She shrugged off her red backpack and unzipped the pouch containing the fulgurites.
"Well, no, but . . . maybe. I don't know what's going on, really. When in doubt, know your way out, I always say."
"I thought you always said, ‘When in doubt, blame the dark elves.' "
"Well, yeah, that too."
Oberon said.
We stood in a meadow of bunch grass and clover. The sky washed us in cerulean blue, and the sun kissed Granuaile's red hair with gold-mine too, I suppose. We had stopped dyeing our hair black because no one was looking for two redheads anymore. And after twelve uncomfortable years of being clean-shaven-my goatee had been distinguishable and damn difficult to dye-I was e...
You know those spastic full-body twitches you get sometimes when you're almost asleep and your muscles want to play a practical joke on your brain? You startle wide awake and immediately get pissed at your nervous system, wondering what the hell that was all about. I've caught myself talking to it before: "Damn it, Dude"-yes, I call my nervous system Dude, and the Dude abides-"I was almost asleep, and now you've slain all the sheep I was gonna count."
What I felt as I walked on the Kaibab Plateau was kind of like that, except it was Gaia doing the spastic full-body twitch. It was more of an uncomfortable shudder that I felt through my tattoos, like when you step barefoot into the garage in winter and your nipples pucker up. But, as with those nervous muscle spasms, I got irritated about it and wondered what the hell was going on. And while I wasn't about to go to sleep, I was about to enjoy the culmination of twelve years of training an apprentice-and, save for the first few months of it and a harrowing episode halfway through, I'd conducted it all in peace. Granuaile was finally ready to become a full Druid, and we'd been searching for a place to bind her to the earth when I felt the tremor. I shot a question to the elemental, Kaibab, in the cocktail of feelings and images they use instead of language: //Confusion / Query: What was that?//
//Confusion / Uncertainty / Fear// came the reply. That chilled me. I'd never heard confusion from an elemental before. The fear, on the other hand, was perfectly normal: Despite their awesome power, elementals are afraid of almost everything, from placer mines to land developers to bark beetles. They can be real scaredy-cats sometimes. But they're never uncertain about what's going on with Gaia. Stopping in my tracks and causing Granuaile and Oberon to turn and look at me quizzically, I asked Kaibab what there was to fear.
//Plane across ocean / Early death / Burning / Burning / Burning//
Well, that confused me too. Kaibab wasn't talking about an airplane. He (or she, if Granuaile had been the one talking to the elemental) meant an entire plane of existence, a plane that was tied to earth somewhere on the other side of the globe. //Query: Which plane?//
//Name unknown / God from plane seeks you / Urgent / Query: Tell him location?//
//Query: Which god?//
The answer to that would tell me what plane was burning. There was a pause, during which time I stalled with Granuaile and Oberon. "Something's up with Kaibab. Hold on." They knew better than to interrupt, and they took this news as an invitation to be on their guard, which was wise. Anything worrisome to the avatar of the environment you currently occupy should rouse you to a caffeinated state of paranoia.
//God's name: Perun// Kaibab finally said.
Almost unconsciously, I sent //Shock// in reply, because it was truly my reaction. The Slavic plane of existence was burning, perhaps even dead? How? Why? I hoped Perun would have the answers. If he sought me in hopes that I had them, we'd both be disappointed. //Yes / Tell Perun location//
I'd also like to know how Perun even knew to ask for me-did someone tell him I'd faked my death twelve years ago? There was another pause, during which I filled in Granuaile and Oberon. Thanks to Immortali-Tea, they hadn't aged any more than I had.
Oberon asked.
Yep, that's the one.
I don't know why, but perhaps you'll get a chance to ask him.
//He comes// Kaibab said. //Fast//
"Okay, incoming," I said out loud.
"Incoming what, Atticus?" Granuaile asked.
"Incoming thunder god. We should move near a tree and get ready to shift away to Tír na nÓg if necessary. And get the fulgurites out." Fulgurites would protect us from lightning strikes; Perun had given them to us when Granuaile was just starting her training, but we hadn't worn them for years, since all the thunder gods thought I was dead.
"You think Perun is going to take a shot at us?" Granuaile asked. She shrugged off her red backpack and unzipped the pouch containing the fulgurites.
"Well, no, but . . . maybe. I don't know what's going on, really. When in doubt, know your way out, I always say."
"I thought you always said, ‘When in doubt, blame the dark elves.' "
"Well, yeah, that too."
Oberon said.
We stood in a meadow of bunch grass and clover. The sky washed us in cerulean blue, and the sun kissed Granuaile's red hair with gold-mine too, I suppose. We had stopped dyeing our hair black because no one was looking for two redheads anymore. And after twelve uncomfortable years of being clean-shaven-my goatee had been distinguishable and damn difficult to dye-I was e...
