It's so weird. I should love this book. It's original, mixes up a lot of different mythologies (which I love), has plenty of intersting characters, most of them women, even. And yet, the more I read the more, sadly, annoyed I get. I told myself to just ignore it. I liked the first one and hoped I've finally found a book by a male author that I can read in relative peace - without having male blindness to privilage or sexism shoved into my face. I gave up on a lot of writers because I didn't want that in my mindless entartainment.
And yes, Atticus is even more of a Gary stu in this one. Puts everyone in their place. He can easily thwart every baddie, all the guys like him and are best palls, or are jealous of him, all the women want him. OK, typical, I can even live with that. It's the 'all women are emotional, illogical, and need a lesson from him' that kind of annoyed me. Kat Kennedy's review puts it better.

I've just read the part after Morrigan's and Brigid's visits so I'm not done yet. Maybe it gets better...

ETA: 3.5. Finished and overly enjoyed the book. Less than the first one but enough to continue with the series. I hope it tests Atticus a little more (he's far too magically strong and he needs some serious challange). Less of the goddesses and more of the witches and Granuaile would be good too, as the former seem to rely on Atticus far too much (the amulet lessons) for goddesses, and the latter felt more fleshed out in the last chapters (though still Atticus was all reason and they- all emotion in the last scenes, but it did not annoy me quite like the scenes with the goddesses).

I still like the mixing of religions, the plots are interesting though in this one it felt like there were too many subplots, harder to keep track of the over all main plot, and this book didn't grab me the same way the first one did. I read it before sleeping so never too much at the same time and yet the first one didn't take me this long.

I am excited for more Norse myths in the next one.