Tricked / Kevin Hearne

2.5 stars out of 5

Druid Atticus O’Sullivan hasn’t stayed alive for more than two millennia without a fair bit of Celtic cunning. So when vengeful thunder gods come Norse by Southwest looking for payback, Atticus, with a little help from the Navajo trickster god Coyote, lets them think that they’ve chopped up his body in the Arizona desert.

But the mischievous Coyote is not above a little sleight of paw, and Atticus soon finds that he’s been duped into battling bloodthirsty desert shapeshifters called skinwalkers. Just when the Druid thinks he’s got a handle on all the duplicity, betrayal comes from an unlikely source. If Atticus survives this time, he vows he won’t be fooled again. Famous last words.

 This book is an improvement over the third one in my opinion, but not as good as the first two books in the series. I was glad to have Oberon the wolfhound back, being his usual goofy self. I was also glad to know a bit more about apprentice Granuaile and to get some background info on Atticus.

I was sorry that Atticus and Leif ended up at odds with one another—I will miss their Shakespeare quote battles and Atticus instructing the unwilling vampire on how to appear more modern, something which Atticus excels at.

For someone who is supposed to be preserving the earth, Atticus spends an awful lot of time haring off on missions determined by others. Some of this was pay back, of course, paying back Coyote for services rendered and dealing with blow-back from the book 3 mission under taken to humour Leif. One would think that a Druid as aged as Atticus would be less focused on honour and more focused on the big picture—keeping the earth healthy and building the relationships that will help him through the next 1000 years.

I still feel that Granuaile is being under-utilized—hopefully this will be rectified in upcoming books. My hope is also that Atticus can settle down again and develop another circle of interesting friends (similar to the first two books). Having an awesome main character is great, but good supporting characters can kick things up a notch, in my opinion.

Still, some good ideas and I will definitely continue on to the next installment.