 | |
| Author | Kevin Hearne |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Gene Mollica |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Iron Druid Chronicles |
| Genre | Urban Fantasy |
| Publisher | Del Rey Books |
Publication date | 2011 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | |
| Pages | 320 |
| ISBN | 978-0-345-52249-8 |
| Preceded by | Hounded |
| Followed by | Hammered |
Hexed is the second novel in Kevin Hearne's urban fantasy series, The Iron Druid Chronicles and is the sequel to Hounded . It was released on June 7, 2011. The third book, Hammered , was released on July 5, 2011.
Hexed features the continuing adventures of Atticus O'Sullivan, last of the Druids. In his world, an alternate history where magic, vampires, werewolves, Gods and other supernatural elements exist (albeit in hiding) O'Sullivan is often called upon to quell magical misunderstandings. In the aftermath of his defeat of the Celtic god of love, O'Sullivan has taken up a Druid initiate and hopes that life with his dog Oberon can return to some normalcy. Still wielding the magic sword known as Fragarach, the Answerer, O'Sullivan soon discovers that the notoriety that comes with dispatching a deity often does more harm than good. With two Celtic goddesses vying for his affections and allegiance, as well as two covens of witches hell bent on destroying each other O' Sullivan will need more than a magic sword and a quick wit to fend off evil.
The novel blends elements of mythology and urban fantasy.
Publishers Weekly praised Hearne for cranking "out action and quips at a frenzied pace" and called it a "fun and highly irreverent read." [1] My Bookish Ways says that "Hexed is steeped in magic and wrapped in awesome" and that "it really doesn't get much better than this!" [2]
Kelly Meding, author of Three Days to Dead called Hearne's work “A witty new fantasy series.” [3]
Dianic Wicca, also known as Dianic Witchcraft, is a modern pagan goddess tradition focused on female experience and empowerment. Leadership is by women, who may be ordained as priestesses, or in less formal groups that function as collectives. While some adherents identify as Wiccan, it differs from most traditions of Wicca in that only goddesses are honored.
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian witchcraft, is a tradition in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner (1884–1964), a British civil servant and amateur scholar of magic. The term "Gardnerian" was probably coined by the founder of Cochranian Witchcraft, Robert Cochrane in the 1950s or 60s, who himself left that tradition to found his own.
The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in Wicca and some related forms of Neopaganism. The term Horned God itself predates Wicca, and is an early 20th-century syncretic term for a horned or antlered anthropomorphic god partly based on historical horned deities.
Wicca, also known as "The Craft", is a modern pagan, syncretic, earth-centered religion. Considered a new religious movement by scholars of religion, the path evolved from Western esotericism, developed in England during the first half of the 20th century, and was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired British civil servant. Wicca draws upon ancient pagan and 20th-century hermetic motifs for theological and ritual purposes. Doreen Valiente joined Gardner in the 1950s, further building Wicca's liturgical tradition of beliefs, principles, and practices, disseminated through published books as well as secret written and oral teachings passed along to initiates.
The Wheel of the Year is an annual cycle of seasonal festivals, observed by a range of modern pagans, marking the year's chief solar events and the midpoints between them. British neopagans Gerald Gardner and Ross Nichols crafted the Wheel of the Year in the mid-20th century, combining the four solar events marked by many European peoples, with the four seasonal festivals celebrated by Insular Celtic peoples. Different paths of modern Paganism may vary regarding the precise timing of each celebration, based on such distinctions as the lunar phase and geographic hemisphere.
An athame or athamé is a ceremonial blade, generally with a black handle. It is the main ritual implement or magical tool among several used in ceremonial magic traditions, and by other neopagans, witchcraft, as well as satanic traditions. A black-handled knife called an arthame appears in certain versions of the Key of Solomon, a grimoire dating to the Renaissance.
The Feri Tradition is an American neo-pagan tradition related to Neopagan witchcraft. It was founded in the west coast of the United States between the 1950s and 1960s by Victor Henry Anderson and his wife, Cora Anderson. Practitioners have described it as an ecstatic tradition, rather than a fertility tradition. Strong emphasis is placed on sensual experience and awareness, including sexual mysticism, which is not limited to heterosexual expression.
Alexandrian Wicca or Alexandrian Witchcraft is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the United Kingdom in the 1960s. Alexandrian Wicca is similar in many ways to Gardnerian Wicca, and receives regular mention in books on Wicca as one of the religion's most widely recognised traditions.
The New Reformed Orthodox Order of the Golden Dawn is a Wiccan tradition founded in 1967. Despite its name, has little or nothing to do with the original Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Victor Henry Anderson was an American priest and poet. He was co-founder of the Feri Tradition, a modern Pagan new religious movement established in California during the 1960s. Much of his poetry was religious in nature, being devoted to Feri deities.
Tarot: Witch of the Black Rose is an American comic book, written and drawn by Jim Balent with coloring and lettering by Holly Golightly and published by BroadSword Comics since 2000.
The history of Wicca documents the rise of the Neopagan religion of Wicca and related witchcraft-based Neopagan religions. Wicca originated in the early 20th century, when it developed amongst secretive covens in England who were basing their religious beliefs and practices upon what they read of the historical witch-cult in the works of such writers as Margaret Murray. It was subsequently founded in the 1950s by Gardner, who claimed to have been initiated into the Craft – as Wicca is often known – by the New Forest coven in 1939. Gardner's form of Wicca, the Gardnerian tradition, was spread by both him and his followers like the High Priestesses Doreen Valiente, Patricia Crowther and Eleanor Bone into other parts of the British Isles, and also into other, predominantly English-speaking, countries across the world. In the 1960s, new figures arose in Britain who popularized their own forms of the religion, including Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek and Alex Sanders, and organizations began to be formed to propagate it, such as the Witchcraft Research Association. It was during this decade that the faith was transported to the United States, where it was further adapted into new traditions such as Feri, 1734 and Dianic Wicca in the ensuing decades, and where organizations such as the Covenant of the Goddess were formed.
Wiccan views of divinity are generally theistic, and revolve around a Goddess and a Horned God, thereby being generally dualistic. In traditional Wicca, as expressed in the writings of Gerald Gardner and Doreen Valiente, the emphasis is on the theme of divine gender polarity, and the God and Goddess are regarded as equal and opposite divine cosmic forces. In some newer forms of Wicca, such as feminist or Dianic Wicca, the Goddess is given primacy or even exclusivity. In some forms of traditional witchcraft that share a similar duotheistic theology, the Horned God is given precedence over the Goddess.
In the neopagan religion of Wicca a range of magical tools are used in ritual practice. Each of these tools has different uses and associations and are commonly used at an altar, inside a magic circle.
The Dynion Mwyn tradition is said by its adherents to be derived from Welsh and Pictish religious sources as well as Druidic and witchcraft magical practices.
The Iron Druid Chronicles is a series of urban fantasy novels, novellas, novelettes and short stories, written by Kevin Hearne and published by Del Rey Books. All the books, including short stories, have recorded audiobooks narrated by Luke Daniels and Christopher Ragland
Hounded is the first novel in Kevin Hearne's urban fantasy series, The Iron Druid Chronicles. It was released on May 3, 2011. The sequel, Hexed was released on June 7, 2011.
Tricked is the fourth novel in Kevin Hearne's urban fantasy series, The Iron Druid Chronicles and is the sequel to Hammered. It was released on April 24, 2012.
Trapped is an urban fantasy novel by Kevin Hearne and is the fifth book in his Iron Druid Chronicles series.
Hammered is the third novel in Kevin Hearne's urban fantasy series, The Iron Druid Chronicles and is the sequel to Hexed. It was released on July 5, 2011.
