Bit of a nitpick, but I believe Thor's lightning is supposed to be real lightning called down from the sky, as opposed to purely magical fire attacks made by Aenghus Og and the German witches. Either way.
Bacchants have a stated immunity to iron. No contradiction there.
Gods Need Prayer Badly is a bit inconsistent in this series. The Morrigan is an even match for Freya, Perrun's on level with Thor. Herne needs to get his story straight.
Brigid is in charge for no reason other than because she's the most powerful, with the Morrigan as the only real contender. Her personality has no bearing on her role as ruler, so I'm not really seeing a contradicton.
Tried reading a Dresden Files book once. Got bored with it. Didn't finish. The tv series was good though. :)
And I will have to disagree on one point. Christians are technically treated better than other religions. Its primary representatives being the Widow MacDonagh and Jesus, who, apart from cryptic unhelpfulness, is far and away the most benevolent deity in the series. ;)
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!
Afraid I have to disagree. The main plot point of the first book is as far as everyone knows the sword Fragarach can cut through anything. That and iron is repeatedly stated to protect you from all magic. The invention of iron is what ended the age of gods and magic. Nowhere in mythology that I know of does it mention the Bacchants being immune to iron. They were the servants of Bacchaus/Dionysus. Yet out of nowhere we are told that they are "immune" to iron. No reason is stated as to why they of all creatures possess this immunity. If it is some blessing Baccus can give his followers I would think gods would have tried to study, duplicate it or something. Othwerwise, why would Baccus not give himself that immunity. It comes out of nowhere for plot's sake when everything else mentions Fragarach and magic being weak to iron as absolutes. So yeah, its a contradiction.
Thor's lighting is a problem I considers and is sometimes found in other media. Is it regular lighting that is magically summoned or magic that takes the form and shape of lighting? Thor's lighting was stated to consistently kill anything it struck including super-fast healers like werewolves who were normally immune to magic. Since real lighting strikes are not always fatal I take it to be magical lighting. At the same time, Brigid's fire was supposed to be normal fire summoned magically and Atticus's amulet protected him. So like the above it stands out a an exception without explanation except for plot's sake.
One point made about the Tuatha is that they are mortal with eternal youth. They can die from injury and poison. Being powerful does not mean much when someone can slip behind you and stab you with a dagger. If she so easily loses her temper that makes her sloppy especially in battle where it would cost her. Atticus already stated that some of the other famous Tuatha like Lugh are dead in battle. So is she is as childish as she came across there I honestly cannot see her surviving as ruler of such a place.
I think we agree on the Gods Need Prayer Badly bit. I would even be willing to accept Perun is on Thor's level on Earth to try and be lenient, but not in Asgard. How many people these days have heard of Perun? Maybe some have a vague idea based off of comics?
One thing I did not have space to add is Hearne whole apparent dislike for Norse mythology irked me since I am a fan of it. Thor is a murderer despite that not being in Norse myth and any stories or differences are handwaved away. Heimdall, who has super-senses, is sneaked up upon. Freya is only "so-so" beautiful while war goddess Morrigan is beyond words. Odin came across as a fool. Thor is condemned for being a murderer, but Leif gets a pass. Maybe things improve in later books, but from what I have heard it does not sound like it.
With Christianity I was not clear enough. Usually, monotheism is shown as the "true" faith with other religions being less powerful creatures who were either created from men's dreams or magical beings pretending to be gods. Hearne is one of the few to have it be the same in its influenced/created by humans to some degree. Of course, by the end of the third book I couldn't be sure if gods were created by human belief, exist on their own and are empowered, or if they were all humans who got enough people to belief they are gods and it became fact.
And these were my main gripes. A few I can ignore to get through a story. Heck, if Hearne bothered to include a bit of an explanation every now and then it wouldn't be so bad. It is the constant contradictions that show up without explanation and come off as forced because the writer wrote himself into a corner that bother me. That and I do find the main character unlikable by the end of Hammered. Freya is taken off to be raped and all he does is feel a bit sorry about it. And then he has the gall to blame it all on Thor despite the band never announcing who they are or going through any channel to challenge Thor to combat. Heck, given Thor's ego in this series it is almost certain he would have come to Earth to fight Leif if he had been challenged. Instead, despite Atticus' claims to the contrary about razing half the plane they raze half of Aesir. They might as well have killed Tyr, Vidar, and Odin while they were at it. It would save them trouble down the line.
On Morrigan vs Freya, I would put that down to Atticus' personal bias. He spent his whole life worshiping the Morrigan, and I believe she intentionally inflames his passions on top of that, so whatever Freya's appeal, she's not going to compare to the Morrigan.
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!
One more thing that you might be able to answer related to the whole iron complaint. IIRC, Atticus states that iron is so anti-magic that magic users do not wear it because it would disrupt their spells and the iron in Atticus' aura would dispel the enchantments on Thor's hammer. The reason Atticus is so famous and difficult to kill is he figured out how to wear iron and bind it to his aura without disrupting his own magic.
If iron is so anti-magic then what is Fragarach or Thor's hammer made from? If they and other weapons and armor of the gods are made from iron and the gods can still use magic does that contradict the idea that iron interferes with magic?
Fragarach is made of iron, or one imagines at least some sort of alloy that's enough iron to make the iron immunity a matter for concern, but not enough to evoke its anti-magic properties.
No idea for Thor's hammer.
Thunderbolt Iron, which is what Atticus' amulet is made of, apparently repels magic better than "native" iron, so there's that as well.
You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!Leave a Comment:
Do not buy the hype
Like the below reviewer I tried this out upon hearing the similarities to the Dresden Files (which is a great series) and glowing reviews. The idea of an already ancient immortal battling other ancient immortals also got around the problem of smart, powerful immortals becoming suddenly stupid and dying like in the Anita Blake series. Despite my high hopes, I could barely get through the first three books.
The main character Atticus starts out as a Pop Cultured Badass, but becomes increasingly unlikeable as the stories go on. By the end of book three, he comes off as immature, arrogant jerk who is willing to commit crimes he condemns in others with little thought and quotes pop culture in an attempt to sound clever when it comes across as annoying. The writer also cannot seem to decide if Atticus is a powerful badass who hates to fight, but can bind and dissolve anything (as long as it doesn't kill, but that hardly slows him down) to someone who is not that powerful.
Contradictions are a another problem rife in the books. The writer makes a rule only to break it without explanation when it gets in the way. Iron protects Atticus from all magic including fire...except lighting. Fragarach can cut through anything including the armor of gods...except a minor creature from Greek mythology with no noted immunity to weapons. Mortal belief shapes and empowers gods...except Thor is a sadistic thug who is only as powerful as lesser known thunder god Perun while in Asgard of all places. Perun himself is a nice guy and any differences are Hand Waved away. Brigid is in charge of a Deadly Decadent Court, but has the emotional maturity and control of a high school girl. Etc, etc. etc.
There are some good things. Many of the basic ideas are still and I find the secondary characters likable. The books themselves are quick reads since they lack the depths of the Dresden files. Christianity is treated the same as other religions which is a nice change. However, I will no longer waste time on this series when there are better ones out there. At best, I may speed read some in the future to see if it improves. But that will be some time from now.