Next on Iron Druid, STEAK!

So, after quite a bit of a wait while he pursued other projects, Kevin Hearne finally released book 8 of the Iron Druid Chronicles. (well, book 8, if you don't include 2 novellas that take place between books. And to be fair, he's still writing faster than George R.R. Martin.)

Staked improves on a few problems that happened in the last volume, namely, by the climax of the book, all three druids are in the same place and working together. While this takes a while, it's well worth the wait.

We'll start with Atticus, who's busy trying to fulfill his job of ridding Poland of vampires for the Zorya coven while also trying to get rid of the oldest vampire, who was one of the progenitors of the Druidic purge by the Romans. Atticus's travels take him to Toronto for another fight with the arcane life leech, Svartleheim (accompanied by Bhrigid) to deal with the Aesir's war with the Dark Elves, and finally Rome for the climax. Along the way, Oberon gets introduced to poutine.

Granuaile starts off in Asgard, removing Loki's brand, moves to Poland to get a cloak to prevent her from being scryed upon, grabs Perun to find a Slavic horse that can predict the outcomes of battle, starts a private war with her stepfather, then winds up in Rome for the climax.

Owen...Gah. Owen gets asked by the Werewolves of Arizona to turn their non-lycanthropic children into druids. He also is the one to find out Fand has escaped from her imprisonment with help from Mannan Mac Lir. He too winds up in Rome for the climax.

And in Rome, we get a rather fun climax, involving Jewish Kabbalists verses Hermetic Kabbalists (wherein animated beards take on animated tonsures), pretty much most of the elder vampire population on Earth, and more than a little heresy against several ancient mythologies.

Mr. Hearne has stated there's one more book in the series, which will hopefully wrap up the prophecy of the sirens and Ragnarok. And not require tracking down another novella to fill in gaps between books.

As I've stated before, I rather enjoy this series. Yes, it gets a little silly, as the battle of the follicles suggests, but much like Simon R. Green, I'm having so much fun reading it that I don't notice the issues.