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Tricked
Archive: 2012 Buddy Reads
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May Buddy Read: Tricked by Kevin Hearne
Thanks, Christine for setting the thread up!
I picked up my copy, but I'm resisting the urge to read in until next week.
Just downloaded the audio!! Woohoo!!
I actually have to hurry up and read Hammered. Since my April plan has already gone to the birds I think I might as well just read that and Divergent and call it a month. lol
That sounds like a great idea, Julianne. I don't know why I bother trying to plan what I'll read in a given month. I usually end up changing half of them anyway.
Ya, I think I need to give myself a break from the monthlies for May. It's just so hard to pass up a challenge.
Hey Christine - When do you want to start...May 1st?
I was thinking May 1. That way I can work it into all my May challenges : )
Then we're set!I'll try to finish all the audios I have going at the same time so I can concentrate on this.
I'm starting another book for another buddy read tonight, and I doubt I'll be able to finish it by the end of tomorrow. So I may not actually start Tricked until May 2. I'm so excited to finally get back to Atticus and Oberon!
I started it yesterday but didn't get through much.
I've got about 40 pages left in my current book (Shadow's Fall which I am loving!). Hopefully, I'll at least get a start on this one tonight.
"Bacon is the Way and the Truth.""I want to be introduced to these people as Snugglepumpkin."
I love Oberon.
I listened to the part of Snugglepumpking in the subway when I was coming home from work yesterday and had to cover my mouth, I was laughing so hard. I'm sure people thought I was crazy.
I'm actually listening to book 2 as a refresher and I just got to the part where Atticus ends up at the widow's house naked. First, she asks him why he's hiding his twigs and berries. Then Hal shows up and freaks out thinking Atticus was getting his groove on with the widow. I was cracking up. If anyone saw me, I'm sure they think I'm nuts. Then again, I work with these people, so they probably already know.
Christine wrote: "I'm actually listening to book 2 as a refresher and I just got to the part where Atticus ends up at the widow's house naked. First, she asks him why he's hiding his twigs and berries. Then Hal sh..."LOL, that was pretty funny.
As for book four, I got as far as Atticus trying to "catch Hel". I'm not quite sure what to make of Coyote yet. He seems to be quite entertaining, but not all together trustworthy. I'm wondering what he's really up to.
I'm listening to book 4 and it seems to me that Luke Daniels has a different voice for Oberon. Similar but not as clear...as if Oberon is speaking with his mouth full.Maybe they had somebody different direct to audiobooks or LD forgot how to do the voice and nobody noticed.
Oh-kay. End of chapter 5. What's the deal with Frank Chischilly?
I haven't gotten all that far. Only about 100 pages into it. I'm enjoying the addition of the Native American magic.
I'm around 3/4 in.Did you get to the part where the birds tell Atticus about the omen? I'm already passed and the betrayal SUCKED. The whole thing really depressed me.
I'm at the point where Granuaile and Atticus are having a convo about his past. FINALLY! Let me know when you get to that part...I really want to discuss it.
I'm about halfway. He's seen the omen from the birds, but no betrayal yet. He's told Granuaile and Oberon about how he first came to North America and his adventures with Bigfoot. I loved the Keyser Soze reference, just because I loved that movie. And as an 80s music fan, I like that he worked in Steve Perry and Jouney, too. But it does make me wonder what other cultural references I've missed or wouldn't get 10 years from now.He's just heading off to meet with Leif...
I had no clue who Keyzer Soze was.
Oh you probably haven't read about the sex discussion in the bar! It was really funny. I was giggling all through.I thought Granuaile was going to kick him in the balls. ;) I was all...Atta Girl!
I just finished it and damn at that preview of Trapped!I'm dying to discuss several things with you, Christine!
Keyzer Soze is from the movie The Usual Suspects (mid-nineties if I recall) and is the movie that made me fall in love with the acting skill of Kevin Spacey. When Granuaile does the little blowing on her fingers "and poof he was gone", it's directly out of the movie. I like when author's put little jokes like that in books, when I get them. But then I wonder, does that then date their books? Does it turn of the people who don't get it?I did get to the sex discussion in the bar. Boy, did Atticus flub that! I was rooting Granuaile along, too. She seems the perfect foil for Atticus. I also got the the stuff with Leif! Geez. First I was a little put out that Atticus was so gruff with Leif and wouldn't even hear him out about possibly helping him. But then what Leif did in return! Wow! Although, I suppose he does get points for listening so well to Atticus' advice. I don't like this side of Leif. And then Atticus talking about his family in Africa. This book is bordering on depressing, but I'm really enjoying it. And I do like the flashes into Atticus' past.
I've still got about 80 or so pages to go.
Oh I liked that it got a bit serious. If I hadn't gotten a reason as to why he was so breezy about his kids, I would have blown a gasket. I mean, surviving your kids must be a difficult thing so I needed to know how he was able to move on. I wished we would have gotten more of an explanation but at least now I know how things went down. I did understand why Atticus was so put off with Leif. I mean, look at all the problems that killing Thor caused so Atticus was right in not wanting to get involved with him anymore. It seems that once he finished one thing with Lief a new one would pop along and he was probably thinking that things would never end.
What did you think about his decision of letting his kids get old? I thought he was right in doing it if they weren't prepared to deal with it but it must have been difficult for the kids too. It's like growing up rich and then having your dad disinherit you in his will and leave you in poverty, without a way to cope. It would take you a long time to get used to the idea or even learn to forgive your father.
I don't know if you have a preview of Trapped in the book your reading but we got it in the audio and I don't know how I feel about it.
Still reading, and now I have to go out for a family dinner. I love my family, but sometimes you just want to read! I will finish it tonight and probably be back to comment tomorrow. Do you think we're safe revealing spoilers at this point?
It's only me and you but if you think somebody may join later, then we should probably use the spoiler tags.
I finished it and am ready to chat. Since it's just us, I think we're safe in talking openly. Those spoiler tags get annoying, so why bother if it's just us? Plus, I can amend the first post to warn people be aware of spoilers.I usually never read the preview chapters at the end of books. I hate getting that glimpse, know I have to wait months (or a year, in some cases) to continue it. I actually got into a debate with a friend once about how a book ended because she read the preview at the end and I didn't and she was confusing that with the actual end of the book. We argued back and forth for a few minutes before we figured it out and we had a good chuckle over it. But I did read this one. I'm not sure how I feel about jumping 12 years into the future and missing all of Granuaile's training. Although, he had told her the first decade would be pretty boring, so maybe he's doing us all a favor?
I also liked the discussion of his children and his ultimate decision regarding them. I think he did make the right decision in the end, but I can see how from their perspective he was just being cruel to them. But at the same time, it raised the question of how he, or any other immortal or long-lived being, has avoided a similar fate. How is he so seemingly well adjusted? Then again, I guess he didn't have Mom and Dad and a village full of sibling to support him in his immaturity. He had to grow up. But how awful that must have been for him. To lose his wife of 200 years and then have his children all turn on him with cruelty and hatred. I think it really added some depth to his character finally show some of the weight he carries on his shoulders from his centuries of life.
Christine wrote: "I'm not sure how I feel about jumping 12 years into the future and missing all of Granuaile's training. "I KNOW! I'm very conflicted about that. If there was one thing I loved about this book was their relationship. I mean, you could really see she could be a woman he could loved and viceversa - he wasn't just into the way she looked but you could see how when she did something he admired he was all like 'wow! you'll be an awesome druid" and stuff like that. So having to miss so much time of their relationship seems wrong! I mean, there's no way they could be in freeze for all that time! This business of 'now that she has black hair, I won't be as much into her' etc. was totally bogus.
I can understand that the author probably wanted them to be on equal footing so he could advance the relationship and probably have her be a bit more of a help in the future books - btw I really liked how she wasn't a TSTL character that disobeyed him because she thought she could also fight - but anyhow. I really hope that he writes a few shorts about the time in between.
I agree. The idea that he wouldn't be attracted to her just because she changed her hair color was pretty lame. Especially since her character has developed so much from the first book. She's turned out to be a lot tougher and smarter than I first thought she might be portrayed. Thank goodness!But I also wondered why the idea of a disguise waited until the end of the book. First, you had Atticus' gruesome, apparently sensational "murder". Then you have Granuaile's apparent murder. Then in the same area where both murders occurred, they wander into a car dealership and pay cash for a brand new SUV. Plus, the police saw them after the one drug store robbery. No one put the two red heads together with the two murders? Or is it just my suspicious mind?
What did you think of the depiction of Coyote? I've only seen him briefly in one or two other series and he's usually portrayed as a prankster that you can't totally trust, but who is ultimately benevolent and helpful. This depiction seemed much darker than I've seen before, and I wonder if it's closer to genuine Coyote myths.
She's turned out to be a lot tougher and smarter than I first thought she might be portrayed.I know! I've really liked how she's developed as a character. She's smart but not too full of herself. I laughed out loud when Atticus and Oberon were peeing over the tracks of the skin walkers and she was "very classy, Sensei."
LOL, you're right! They probably should have changed hair color WAY before that. I mean, it's not as if Arizona is swimming with pale red-heads. :) Although at the beginning when they are concerned about Atticus 'murder', Coyote told them that nobody in the rez would say anything to the Feds. But still!
I know nothing of Native American myths and it seems that lots of tribes have an equivalent of Coyote but he's not exactly the same. I liked him a lot and I liked that he had his own agenda because if you think about it, gods probably put their needs first so they probably want to accomplish whatever it is they want without consequence for human life.
I forgot to post something about your thoughts about his children...but I need to leave work now and then do the laundry :(. I'll post later tonight!
But at the same time, it raised the question of how he, or any other immortal or long-lived being, has avoided a similar fate. How is he so seemingly well adjusted?Totally agree. I wanted to know how he's dealt with that and that was the part I thought it was missing about his discussion with Granueile. I mean, I figure that if he's had to leave bunch of families behind, after a while it gets easier and it's not as if he hadn't had the time to spend time with them. He's a guy who has lived 2k years so most likely he was able to live a normal lifespan with all these families but I wanted him to at least talk about the first time he had to do that because I figured it was the most difficult. Also, I wish he would talk about his first born or in general talk about his past children as people, not as groups. Or at least, I wish he could say WHY he doesn't talk about them.
I've never talked with somebody who has lost a child about their feelings about it so I don't know how a person would handle that but I've talked in depth to a person who lost a beloved spouse and this was done well in this book.
I would have liked to hear more, too. More about just how hard it is to leave someone you love behind or watch them grow old and die while you continue the same as always. But at the same time, I can see the author maybe only wanting to give us a glimpse of that but not a whole lot so that it doesn't drag down the tone of the book. But instead of just talking about the tragedy of his children, it would be nice to hear him talk about the joy of it. The first time he really fell in love. The wonder of his wife being pregnant with their first child. How it felt to welcome that child into the world and raise them into adulthood. I wonder what kind of father Atticus would be? I'm still not sure how I feel about a possible relationship between Atticus and Granuaile. I like both of the characters, but do I necessarily want them "together"? At the same time, I don't want a long drawn out affair of them constantly thinking 'what if'.
And I have to say that there for just a minute, I thought he was going to kill off Oberon! Oberon seems to be such an integral part of the series that I can't imagine him ever killing him off, but just for a minute there I was really worried. And I guess we did get to see a little of Atticus' fatherly, nurturing side there.
I thought he was going to kill Oberon too! But then I thought that Mr. Hearne would get hate mail for the rest of his life. :) Oberon is the character that everybody likes, even those that don't like Atticus. I totally agree with you that the author probably didn't want to drag out the book with sad stuff because this series is supposed to be full of action and quips but that's the problem when you wait until the 4th book for the readers to know about the character's past. If Mr. Hearne had shown us something of Atticus past life since the first book, then he could have done it a little bit at a time, instead of having to do it all at once.
And I agree with you that he should also share the good parts of his life, not only the bad parts. That would also justify WHY he keeps doing it - I mean, having families if he knows that at some point he will lose them. But I guess in his case, that happens with all relationships and it would probably be cowardly to not have the joy for fearing the pain of loss. After all, isn't that the same with everybody? All of us will at some point lose loved ones so it would be wasteful not to be happy today for fearing the loss tomorrow.
I like Granuaile and Atticus as a couple and I think the series is eventually going there. If not, I think Mr. Hearne would have just continued having G. as the apprentice. I'm sure he could have thought of a couple of adventures for them to have while she was training. I was liking the discovery though and that's why I'm so dissapointed that we'll miss 12 years of their relationship.
Yes. I'm going to miss those little moments when Granuaile would surprise Atticus and he'd think to himself "Wow! She's going to make a great Druid." It was cute and nice to see his respect for her growing, but it was also interesting insight into what he thinks is important in a Druid.Hopefully, he'll continue to feed us little bits of Atticus' past as the series continues. If reader's respond positively to it, it should encourage him to do so.
I know! I liked those too. That's why I thought she could be THe woman for him because that's such an important part of him. Finding somebody to share his lover and responsibility for the Earth must be like finding his soul mate.
Maybe the jump ahead in time will actually help me resolve a possible Atticus and Granuaile relationship. (Am I even spelling her name correctly?) I get tired of the centuries old vampire/werewolf/whatever suddenly falling madly in love with the 20 year-old mortal over the space of a week or two. But Atticus and Granuaile have a long-term commitment to one another. If the author does decide to go down that road, I can see more of Atticus' past coming out as he commits more and more to Granuaile....Man, I wish I had the next book right now so I could see what's happened between them in twelve years!
Sorry, Christine...I had a senior moment and forgot to comment after I read your latest post!I also have a problem with the immortal dude falling for a teenager. A woman in her twenties is a different thing though, specially if she's mature for her age and they share the same interests. A younger woman might still have a zest for life and optimism that you may not find in a woman who has been beaten around by life and that may be appealing for a guy who's been around and probably seen everything.
I met my husband when I was 23 (he's 16 years older). He was a widower and had come back to the dating scene in his late 30s. He dated women of all ages and he had been surprised of how bitter some of the women his age were (not saying this is the way with everybody but that was his experience). As a nice guy who had a very happy marriage, he didn't like being treated like crap just because he was a man. They also didn't have his energy (my husband has the stamina of a teenager) so he started dating younger women. Of course they also had their issues (did they ever!)
But I understand your point about them developing a relationship over years if it's going to be meaningful. Also, she needs to get used to the whole long living thing - I'm assuming that Atticus will be sharing his tea with her.
You know, I never thought about it that way, but it does kind of make sense. And funny you should mention the age difference between you and your husband, because my husband is 18 years older than me.I've been listening to the earlier books on audio as a refresher, and today I just got the the scene in book 3 where Oberon goes on about bacon lattes. I was laughing out loud. Thank goodness no one else was in the room to witness it. And the scene where Atticus tells the Hammers of God that "No, I really have found Jesus." I don't think Tricked had any scenes that could quite compare to those two.
The Snugglepumpking bit is really funny in audio. :)LOL about our older husbands. :) I always tell people that for older-younger relationship to work, the older one needs to be young for his age and the younger one needs to be old for hers so you can sort of meet in the middle. :)
BTW...did you read the free short stories in the author's website? The one told from Granuile's perspective was great and gave us an inkling about her.
I also meant to mention that we should agree to buddy read Trapped when it comes out. This is the best buddy read I've had (but then I had to dissect everything.)
I would definitely be up for a buddy read of Trapped. I love picking things a part and getting other views. Plus, I'm actually really excited to get to Trapped now. I'm (still) listening to Hammered on audio and I listened to a scene on Friday where Atticus was remembering a prophecy (the only one not yet to come true from this particular source) and it seems to relate to what was happening in Hammered. And it said that thirteen years after what Atticus was witnessing, "the world would burn". And since we jump ahead twelve years between Tricked and Trapped, I wonder if we're going to get to see this prophecy play out. Or at least be set up. Now I'm really curious....
Oh yes, I think we are definitely jumping to the business of the prophesy and its consequences - I guess Raknarak (sp?) will start then.
Sandra made this comment on my review page and I'm replying here, LOL! Although they tried to show him get emotional about his wife of 200 years, I always have a hard time feeling strong emotions from Atticus. He's just so reasonable. "Clearly I can't give my kids the elixir anymore, so if I have more kids I guess I'll just watch them die" Really?!
I think the author is having a hard time handling the easy going nature of Atticus and the series in general and the loss in Atticus past. I should have expected a man in his position to say 'I won't have any kids' because he wouldn't want to deal with the heartbreak and the decision of not giving them the tea, even if it was the right one.
I like that Atticus is a different sort of long lived person (not brooding or tormented) but I think by this point the author should have shown us HOW he got to be that way. I know it must be a mix of his innate character and things he must have learned along the way. A person like him (in tune with the Earth and all that, so he knows that dying is part of the cycle of life, etc.) must have a different perspective with the loss of loved ones than people that live finite time but I would expect him to be hurt nevertheless.
The problem is that I think the author doesn't want to bring the books down but I think you can still deal with painful subjects and have plots that are witty and funny (see The Gentleman Bastards series). This author just hasn't figured out how to do that.
Yeah I agree, and I liked how you said he should have talked about them as individuals instead of as a group. I think the fact that he had so many children with T was part of it and he even said at one point that it was because of her he gave them the elixir at all. This made it seem like he didn't care for them as much as she did, which I don't think is necessarily the case. Also, I think getting Atticus's perspective on death might help (I don't think he's really given his personal views). Maybe that would help if we learned that he didn't really view death itself as scary, bad, etc.You should watch The Usual Suspects, it's awesome. But I agree pop-culture references are tricky. If they're done well then you shouldn't even really know you missed anything. I remember thinking it was odd he mentioned the guy who cried at the rainbow because this was just a you-tube video and I thought a lot of people would miss that one, especially a even a year from now. Granted he explained it, but still.
I want to like Granuaile but she just doesn't do much for me. She's a little to calm and smart and perfect, she needed to mess something up. I'm not sure how I feel about the 12 year jump. I was just surprised at first. I guess it'll make her more of a participant in the events but I feel like she must be a completely different person now.
OH, and you're right, I noticed Oberon's voice was slightly different as well!
I wonder how much is influenced by the authors gender? My husband loves to boast that he is "half-female" because he has that one X chromosome and thinks he is very in touch with his feminine side. Granted, he is far more so than most men I've known. But even so, and this is a gross generalization, most men think about, process, and express things differently than do most women. So how does that color the author's presentation of emotional issues, how does it affect which issues he even chooses to mention or focus on?When Atticus was talking about his children I think what he said was that he realized that he should stop giving them the tea before Tahira died, but he didn't because he knew it would upset her to lose her children. I didn't get the impression that he never wanted or loved the children. Just that he came to the realization that what they had been doing by giving them the tea was a mistake, but he didn't know how to rectify it while she was alive without hurting her.
I think he talks about his children with distance because he's had over 200 years to reconcile the loss in his mind and accept what happened ultimately was what needed to happen. After over two thousand years, he's hopefully learned it's best not to dwell on things, but to move forward and focus on fond memories rather than dwell on 'what if?' Plus, I also think that he's very good at schooling his emotions. So he could be feeling a lot more under the surface than he chooses to show.
Granuaile is a little too perfect isn't she? But I liked her more in this book than the previous ones.
SOS: Serious Overload of Series
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Trapped (other topics)Shadow's Fall (other topics)
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