Two Ravens and One Crow (The Iron Druid Chronicles, #4.5)

3.5
Originally posted at Fantasy Literature:
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/reviews/two-ravens-and-one-crow/

You could think of Two Ravens and One Crow as book 4?? in Kevin Hearne???s IRON DRUID CHRONICLES series. It???s a novella that takes place halfway between book 4, Tricked, and book 5, Trapped. I don???t always read these ???extra??? stories, but I think fans of THE IRON DRUID CHRONICLES will want to read this one because 12 years passes between Tricked and Trapped ???Atticus is training Granuaile to be a druid during this time ???and readers will want to see get a glimpse of what was happening all those years.

Atticus and Granuaile have faked their deaths and are living in a trailer under the false names Sterling Silver and Betty Baker. (If it???s not obvious, these names were supplied by Coyote the Navajo trickster god.) Oberon the Irish Wolfhound is with them, too, of course. Granuaile has been getting mentally and physically prepared for her life as a druid. Kevin Hearne ramps up the sexual tension ??? Atticus and Granuaile are attracted to each other but as teacher and student, they keep a professional relationship.

We don???t see too much of Granuaile and Oberon in Two Ravens and One Crow because along comes the Morrigan to whisk Atticus away for a short trip. She says she wants to fix his tattoos which were damaged in the battle with the giant locusts in Tricked. Since these tattoos are what heal and protect Atticus, he knows this means that the Morrigan has foreseen danger for him. But that???s not all that she wants, of course, and in her lair, Atticus is pretty much at her mercy.

After that, the Morrigan drags Atticus to dinner with Odin and Frigg who have discovered that Atticus isn???t dead after all. This might explain why the Morrigan insisted on fixing his protective tattoos. Dinner is a stuffy six-course tuxedo affair which gets interrupted with all sorts of mayhem including a naked fist fight in the middle of a street in Oslo. You don???t want to miss that.

Two Ravens and One Crow is another fun story by Kevin Hearne and will definitely go at least a little way toward satisfying readers who wish they could see some of those missing 12 years. I hope Hearne will write a few more of these novellas. Two Ravens and One Crow is available on audio, just like the rest of the series, but I chose to purchase it in Kindle format since it???s only $2.99 ??? a lot less than the audio. It took me only a couple of hours to read it.

A must-read for those following the series, but not a good starting introduction to it. Everything I love about the series is here - the humor, the repartee, the pop culture and mythological references, you name it. Atticus even tells the story of how he came to know how to make ImmortaliTea.

Can Atticus and the Morrigan talk Odin into a truce? If so, what will Odin want in return? Read the novella and find out!!