Book Review: Hexed by Kevin Hearne

 

Goodreads Summary: Atticus Sullivan, last of the Druids, doesn’t care much for witches. Still, he’s about to make nice with the local coven by signing a mutually beneficial nonaggression treaty—when suddenly the witch population in modern-day Tempe, Arizona, quadruples overnight. And the new girls are not just bad, they’re badasses with a dark history on the German side of World War II.
With a fallen angel feasting on local high school students, a horde of Bacchants blowing in from Vegas with their special brand of deadly decadence, and a dangerously sexy Celtic goddess of fire vying for his attention, Atticus is having trouble scheduling the witch hunt. But aided by his magical sword, his neighbor’s rocket-propelled grenade launcher, and his vampire attorney, Atticus is ready to sweep the town and show the witchy women they picked the wrong Druid to hex.

Goodreads Rating: 4.22 stars with over 56,000 ratings

Genre Listing: Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Magic, Mythology, Supernatural, Witches, Vampires

Goodreads Challenge: 47/60

2020 Reading Challenge: #23 Read a book recommended by your local library's website (Find the full challenge here ). Get ready for the 2021 Challenge (here)

Previous reviews on the series: Hounded

Book Review:

Happy New Year's Eve, readers! I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday. I wasn't entirely sure that I was going to finish this book before 2020 ended, but I just made it! I'll do a full review of the books read in 2020 later this weekend. For now, on to talking about Hexed.

So, I kind of cheated for this prompt. My library had recommended Hounded, but I decided it was a series recommendation and picked up Hexed instead since I already read the first book. Truthfully, I just wanted to read it and needed a place for it. Whatever.  As Co-Creator of the challenge,  I do what I want. :)

Hexed picks up a couple of weeks after Hounded ends. Atticus is trying to clean up the mess from his last battle and finds himself facing a new enemy in an unlikely alliance with the local witches. It's effortless to get back into the story, though, for some reason, I had forgotten Atticus's name and, in my head, had been referring to him as "Iron Druid." 

I think what I like most about Hexed is I get Paranormal, Mythology, and Humor. I feel like this series doesn't take itself too seriously. There's always a joke or a snarky comment, even in the most serious action moments. It doesn't ever really feel cheesy, or out of place though, it just feels like Atticus's personality to make light of things. There were many times when I just started cracking up because of some of the dialogue, especially between Atticus and Oberon. 

I think my favorite characters in Hexed were The Widow and Oberon. They're just too pure, and the Widow is just so sassy. She just seems like a fun old lady that would have some great stories. I could not stop laughing at her scene towards the end of the book when Atticus is trying to protect her. It was probably one of the most hilarious book chapters I've read in a while. I really needed the laugh that it provided.

If you've read my blog for any amount of time, you've probably realized that when I read, I get really weird and random pop culture references in my head (See any Wheel of Time review for proof where I let it be unchecked in Tress's twitter thread of our conversation.) I can't help it, and this is how my brain operates most of the time. I don't know if I mentioned this in Hounded, but when The Morgaine is described, the only thing I can picture for her is Yzma from The Emperor's New Groove. I don't know why this is the image my brain conjured up, but it's there to stay. Which made a particular scene with Atticus incredibly terrifying.  I would like some kind of brain bleach, please.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about when I say Yzma:

Anyways, back to the review. I really liked the Mythology and history that was in Hexed. I don't remember if, in Hounded, Atticus gave any great detail about specific points in time, but I enjoyed that we got a glimpse of what he was doing in WWII. I think it just gave great context for how old he actually is. I really hope that there are more glimpses into his history in the rest of the series. 

I absolutely adored Hexed, and I can't wait to read more in the series. I highly recommend it for anyone who likes Urban Fantasy and likes to laugh. The books aren't terribly long; I think Hexed was around 300 pages. It's a quick and fun read, and not hard to stay into the story between books.