Looking for a Great Fantasy Series? “Iron Druid” Is for You!
According to Kevin Hearne’s account on his own website (http://kevinhearne.com/about), it took him nineteen years from the time he started writing to get his first work published. Partly that’s a revelation about how long it can take to produce great writing; his own evaluation of his first novel, The Road to Cibola, is that it is “an utter piece of trash that will never, ever be published.” I suspect he’s being too hard on himself. However, the difficulty he had publishing once he wrote something truly remarkable is also partly a revelation about how broken traditional publishing can be. Hearne himself points out that twenty-three agents and five out of nine publishers passed on Hounded, the first Iron Druid novel. If you are a fan of the series, as I am, I’m sure you find that as nearly incomprehensible as I do.
The Iron Druid books have quite a bit in common with the series I reviewed last time, Demon Accords: both are urban fantasy, and both are richly imaginative, with fresh takes on several ideas derived from ancient myths. Also, in both cases the story-line starts with the premise that most people aren’t really aware of the supernatural in the world, but in each case people become more aware as the “other world” becomes more threatening. However, in Demon Accords vampires, werewolves, and demons become international news, while in Iron Druid only a few shocked eyewitnesses really know that the world is not what it seems.
Atticus O’Sullivan, the main character in the Iron Druid books, looks like the twenty-something owner of a new age store in Tempe, Arizona. Well, he does own the store, but he’s really more than 2000, sustained by a specially created herbal tea that makes him for all practical purposes immortal. His best friend is also his dog, Oberon, an Irish wolfhound who “talks” (really, he communicates telepathically with Atticus). Why is someone like that living in Tempe? Because there are fewer ancient gods who might cross his path.
Part of the worldview in the Iron Druid books is that anything people believe in strongly enough exists, so any god that was ever worshiped sincerely by enough people is real. You may recall a similar premise in some role-playing games, where gods want worshipers to sustain their divine power. Hearne doesn’t really follow that last part, as the ancient gods in his books can be sustained somewhat through references in literature and retain power to some degree based on their continued existence in pop culture. However, though these gods don’t spend as much time trying to keep their cults alive, they nonetheless have long memories and often carry grudges. That’s why Atticus needs to keep a low profile, though he does in the early part of the series have one fairly constant visitor: Morrigan, the Irish war goddess who from time to time brings him warning of possible threats to his survival. Morrigan seems to be interested in Atticus romantically (and sometimes violently sexually as well), but she has a hard time communicating any kind of tender feelings, a limitation that causes tension between her and Atticus. Generally, you’d think the other Irish gods would be on his side, but Angus has an ancient score to settle and recruits a coven of Polish witches to help him.
Given that the books form a series, it is not surprising that new antagonists would appear over time, partly because Atticus tries to restrain supernatural threats that intrude in his area. When he manages to stop a group of maenads, he makes an enemy of Bacchus, and eventually has to tangle with both Greek and Roman gods (two separate groups in Hearne’s world because each group is created by the popular imagination of a somewhat different culture). Near the same time Atticus brings down the wrath of the Norse gods on him for reasons I won’t go into to avoid spoilers.
Then there are the vampires. Part of the premise in the story is that Atticus is the last druid…for a reason. History tells us that the Romans helped to wipe out the druids, but in the novels the Romans were encouraged to take this course of action by vampires, fearful of druids because the druids could destroy even an ancient vampire quickly and easily. Though in the beginning of the series Atticus has one vamp friend, who is also one of his lawyers (subtle humor?), generally he has to be careful that vampires don’t learn of his whereabouts–not always the easiest thing to do, given that vampires have a worldwide organization, based in Rome, and a fair amount of intelligence gathering infrastructure.
It’s fortunate that Atticus has more to rely on than his trusty wolf hound. His ability to manipulate nature is considerable, and as long as he stand directly on the earth, he can draw power from it. You might see a druid as more of a magic using, stand-behind-the-frontline-fighters kind of figure, but Atticus is not like that at all, partly because of his possession of the mythic sword Fragarach, which can cut through pretty much anything. He also has some supernatural allies. What really distinguishes him, though, is that he has found a way to connect sky iron (from meteorites) to his aura in such a way that it doesn’t interfere with his own magic but protects him from that of some beings, particularly the Irish gods and faeries. (Yes, that’s where the title comes from.)
The adventures of Atticus are always exciting, sometimes touching (since Atticus has a hard time forming a permanent relationship), and occasionally funny. One of my favorite scenes is the one in which Atticus has a beer with Jesus. You will have to read the books to figure out how that incongruous scene comes about, but it illustrates Hearne’s unconventional imagination very well.
Not only is Hearne a gifted writer; he is also an inspiration to his fellow writers. After talking about how much difficulty he had getting published, his advice to them is, “Keep writing and don’t give up!” Sound advice, especially when you consider how much we would have lost as readers if he had given up.
New to the Iron Druid books? Below is the link to the first one. If you like well-written, original fantasy, you will definitely enjoy this book. (There’s also a separate Kevin Hearne page in the store if you want to visit.)
(Image copyrighted by Markus Gann and licensed from http://www.shutterstock.com)
