The good news is that these chapters don’t run for very long and soon enough you’ll be comfortably back in Atticus’s head, raring to go. Hearne puts a good face on the attempt but all the new characters’ jokes and quirks feel like superficial and last-minute additions to a necessary plot device. Atticus’s voice is charming, witty, and a pleasure to read-and these new characters are, well, not. The least successful are the chapters narrated by a series of characters other than Atticus, as each newcomer explains why they’re out for Thor’s head. In Hammered, though, Hearne also experiments with some new elements in the text-and not all of these are successful. Those of you already familiar with Hounded and Hexed will find the same great qualities to love in Hammered: quick plot twists, battles of strength and wit, and effortless narration of the most complicated action scenes. Some slow or awkward moments, but overall fast-paced Atticus really isn’t the same happy-go-lucky Irish-American that he seemed to be in the first book.

His true age-that is, twenty-one centuries old instead of a mere twenty-one years-is a lot more apparent in Hammered.

Although Atticus’s sharp wit and references to pop culture and literature remain (in fact, I think the amount of references even increases in this book), his long history is revealed to be frequently sad and painful. Hearne is clearly turning this series into a more emotional, complex ride than the light-hearted Hounded suggested at the beginning. The violence and gore are upped in this book, too. There really is no guarantee that the characters you’ve come to know and love will make it through this unscathed-or even alive. Hexed was subtly darker than its predecessor, but Hammered takes the grit to a new level. However, this turns into a bigger challenge than even Atticus could have predicted.

Atticus is bound by an old promise to help his vampire lawyer, Leif, take down the biggest douchebag in the world’s pantheons: good old Thor himself. This novel marks the end of Hearne’s rapid-fire monthly releases, but also marks the beginning of many more adventures for Atticus and Oberon. Hammered is the third book in Kevin Hearne’s The Iron Druid Chronicles. This review contains minor spoilers for Hounded and Hexed.

Hammered by Kevin Hearne