Review: "I want a story where you took part in an historical event - a famous one."
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 25, 2014
I love that Kevin Hearne offers us these tidbits even as we anticipate the next full-length novel in the Iron Druid Chronicles. "The Chapel Perilous" is a short story that first published in editor Shawn Speakman's anthologyUnfettered: Tales by Masters of Fantasy. It's basically Hearne's geekout over T.S. Eliot and the Holy Grail mythos. The framing sequences take place during Granuaile's training period afterTwo Ravens and One Crow: An Iron Druid Chronicles Novella (The Iron Druid Chronicles)but four years beforeTrapped: The Iron Druid Chronicles, Book Five.When Granuaile and Oberon beg Atticus for a story, he narrates an adventure of his circa 537 AD that inadvertently inspired the legend of the Holy Grail. Hearne's storytelling, no surprise, is rollicking and smart and very funny. I love how he seamlessly entwines the Grail legend into his own series world-building. Significant things happen. ***SPOILERS*** we learn how Atticus came up with the ideas for the silver charms on his necklace and the cold iron amulet that would turn him into the Iron Druid. We also meet another smart-alecky animal sidekick, one that predates Oberon by many centuries. Yep, it's another fantastic short read.