Review: Two Ravens and One Crow by Kevin Hearne

Sep 122012

Two Ravens and One Crow by Kevin Hearne

Book 4.5 – Iron Druid Chronicles

Audiobook purchased from Audible.com

Synopsis from Goodreads: Six years into the training of his beautiful apprentice, Granuaile, a large crow swoops down and transforms into none other than the Morrigan, a goddess who insists that Atticus come with her at once. He must leave his apprentice behind, along with his Irish wolfhound, Oberon—and he must also leave his sword. The Morrigan has always taken extreme pleasure in pronouncing the Druid’s mortal danger and imminent doom, so the fact that she won’t reveal the purpose of their journey makes him very nervous. Of course, any time the Celtic Chooser of the Slain drops in unannounced, it’s never good. When she does let slip that she’ll be saving his life in the near future, Atticus is left to wonder . . . will he soon be giving his legions of enemies something to crow about?

D.G.’s Rating – 3.5 skulls: B

I’m somewhat conflicted by this novella.

Given that 12 years pass between the events in Tricked (Bk 4) and Trapped (Bk 5), this story is a must read and completely necessary in the scheme of things. Set right in the middle of both books time wise, it sets the stage for Ragnarök (the showdown between the Norse gods and some really bad people) and reveals the start of some very interesting alliances between Atticus and some of the gods. We also learn how Atticus and Granuaile are dealing with their teacher/student relationship and hear some very revealing tidbits about Atticus’ past.

I wouldn’t say the book was boring but it didn’t have excitement of previous books, especially because most of the action occurred during a formal dinner, and we hear descriptions of every single course.

I’m still dissatisfied with the development of the personal relationship between Atticus and Granuaile. To clarify, I don’t need a romance in all the books I read and I understand that this series is not about that. However, an author can’t set up a sexual attraction between two characters and expect us to believe it was on hold for 12 years. Two people who are so attracted to each other will not put that attraction out of the way for so long, especially when they live in such close proximity. I would expect either of them to do something dumb that would jeopardize the training – like have a one night stand or Atticus acting jealous over a boyfriend, etc. I had hoped this novella was going to be about a problem of that nature and how they moved past it. However, all we got was a few pages from his point of view that revealed not much change in the status quo.

In a way, this is a problem I have with Mr. Hearne’s characterization, in that his characters seem to be too centered. They always seem to do the right thing and rarely make grave mistakes. They don’t let themselves be tempted by avarice or lust or conquered by selfishness or fear. To be fair, I think the author has learned to give his characters more depth as the series has progressed – I was glad to see Atticus so distraught in the last book when he realized the terrible consequences of his pride – but I think he still has ways to go in that respect.

Luke Daniels did a bang up job with the narration as usual but I don’t know that I’d recommend anybody to pay the current price of this audiobook (which is $9.80 for Audible members.) I think it’s a definite must read but given the price of the audio, the ebook will suffice.

Rating: 3.5 skulls

Series Reading Order:
1. Hounded
2. Hexed
3. Hammered
4. Tricked
4.5. Two Ravens and One Crow
5. Trapped (yet to be released)

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D.G.

I'm a very eclectic reader – I read pretty much everything - so I switch genres after every book. Besides reading, I spend a lot of time with my husband and watching sports (I firmly believe that watching strong men running around in tight outfits is one of life’s simple pleasures.)

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