Minireview: Small Favor, by Jim Butcher

Being book 10 in the Dresden Files series, Small Favor is another fast-paced romp in the life and times of Harry Dresden, professional wizard (assisted by a large side cast of characters, some human, some not so much).

Like all the later Dresden books, you really don’t want to read this before reading the previous books; while earlier books were more or less standalone, the later books have increasing amounts of “metaplot” and interconnectedness. The cast of characters is pretty huge, and at times it becomes a bit difficult to keep track of who is who. The power level also increases, Harry is no longer gifted small fry, he is now a Warden and a heavy hitter – though, as this book demonstrates, he is far from being a master of the art.

This tale, like many previous ones, begins with a strange case the police are somewhat puzzled about – arson, in this case. Harry comes in to take a look, and to his horror soon finds out he’s being given an offer he cannot refuse by Mab, the reputedly-unstable and unmistakably dangerous Winter Queen. Soon some bad guys from the previous books make their (re)appearance, and things heat up until Harry is forced to call in the Archive: a young girl who is also one of the more dangerous creatures around. Cue gunfire and stuff blowing up.

It’s another fun ride. It’s also the first Dresden book that does not properly wrap up the main plot points it introduces, many things here are left somewhat unresolved (especially in the “why did X do Y” department). While this does contribute to the ongoing “big plot”, it does leave the book feeling a small bit incomplete. It’s a very minor fault – I still stayed up until the early morning hours reading this, unable to just put it down and go to bed. […]

Minireview: White Night, by Jim Butcher

Another installment of “Harry has a bad day (or three)”. White Night is the ninth book in the Dresden Files series, and it continues to uphold the “high-quality entertainment” label. I swear, they must dust some crack cocaine on the paper during the printing process, nothing else explains the sheer addictiveness of these things.

This time round, it’s a spate of murders (made to look like suicides), apparently targeting the Chicago supernatural community’s low end of the power scale. After one more low-power mage gets killed, Murphy pulls Harry into the mess – this time unofficially, since officially the cases are clear-cut suicides. Initially puzzled by the whole thing, Harry slowly uncovers clues. Unfortunately, all the clues seem to point towards his vampiric White Court brother, Thomas…

Well, of course things aren’t that simple. The stakes mount, and the end is explosive (to say the least). The power level is generally high here; Harry is now a Warden and is starting to be in the heavyweight leagues of the supernatural community. This of course reflects in the enemies he attracts. We find out some new things about Mouse the Temple Dog, and Molly is starting to grow up and test her limits (not always with the greatest of success).

What can I say… another good book in the Dresden Files series. Sure, it’s pure entertainment, but it’s well-written and keeps up the pace nicely. Now and then, “just entertainment” is just the thing you need. […]

Minireview: Proven Guilty, by Jim Butcher

The Dresden Files series continues to rock in this eighth book, Proven Guilty. I think it’s the biggest book to date (about 500 pages), and there’s a reason for that: this series is getting more and more complex, with various old and new subplots coming and going. Keeping track of who’s who can be tricky at times, thought Butcher does do an admirable job of keeping the reader up to date. There’s a bit of exposition and reviewing of old stuff here and there, probably so that readers jumping into the story at this point might have a chance of following events… but honestly, starting with this book isn’t a good idea. I builds on a lot of old stuff and introduces new complications which probably make little sense without some background.

Here we have Harry struggling with his newfound status as Warden, and with the sometimes nasty obligations that go with the job. There’s trouble with a friend’s family, he’s getting warnings about impending heavy use of black magic, a local horror movie convention has taken a turn for the bloody, and the war against the Red Court isn’t going too well. In other words, situation normal. And then things get really messy.

Don’t want to spoil things here, so I won’t go into the plot too much, but it’s (another) great book in a great series. One of the best so far, I’d say. […]

Minireview: Dead Beat, by Jim Butcher

…and on to the next Dresden Files book, Dead Beat. It’s a bit heftier than most books in the series so far, clocking in at around 450 pages… partly due to a story with lots of supporting characters. The world of these books is getting quite big and complicated, and keeping track of who’s who can be tricky at times.

This book has Harry employed… no, “forced” into hunting down “The Word of Kemmler”, otherwise bad things will happen to a friend. Of course, Harry hasn’t a clue as to what the “Word” even is, let alone where it is. Well, as chance would have it there is a gaggle of very nasty necromancers in town all looking for the very same “Word”, and Harry finds himself drawing fire from all sides. Situation normal, in other words.

Due to previous events, the story contains a lot of Harry being introspective and wondering about the direction he’s going in. Sure, he has gained power, but he has also allied with dark beings and done things that are in the “gray” zone, if not completely black. He has discovered that not everything about his past and people he has trusted has actually been what he has been lead to believe. Also, his newfound relationship with Thomas the vampire is making him seriously rethink parts of his worldview. All this is fine and good, but it does cause some jarring switches in pacing here and there. Also, supporting characters come and go with little warning.

Nevertheless, it’s a good read (hell, all books in this series are) and contains some very nice twists, some of which took me by surprise. The “metaplot” is in full swing here. You do not want to start with this book; you’d just become hopelessly confused. […]

Minireview: Blood Rites, by Jim Butcher

I’ve really liked the Dresden Files series so far – it’s lightweight entertainment, but it’s damn good lightweight entertainment. Also, with each book the world becomes a bit more complex, and there are starting to be quite a few longer-term “metaplot” issues hanging around. I like that.

Blood Rites is the 6th book in the series, and it’s also one of the best so far. It has Harry getting involved in the porn industry – but not in the on-screen sense, “huge staff” jokes aside. A porn director hires him to trace down the cause of a series of nasty & weird accidents that have been targeting women close to him. It looks like a (very nasty) curse, but who would want to sic something like that on a relatively unknown porn producer? One who seems like a decent guy, to boot. Sure, he has a few ex-wives who bear him grudges, and sure, some other parties in the sex industry would like to see him gone… but a major curse? That’s not something you can just whip up based on something you read on the Internet.

Well, of course things are far from simple, and (no surprise) soon various parties are gunning for Harry Dresden. I’m not sure I want to say any more here for fear of spoiling some plot elements… but it’s good stuff. Harry Dresden going undercover as a porn movie assistant is also good for some laughs. […]

Minireview: Death Masks, by Jim Butcher

Death Masks is the fifth installment in the generally excellent and entertaining Dresden Files series. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, this time around.

On the plus side, the “metaplot” (if you will) seems to be slipping into gear; a lot of hints from the earlier books are given flesh here, and the world is becoming more complex and interconnected. Events from the previous book come back to haunt our hero, particularly a certain vampiric war he semi-inadvertently started, together with his almost-vampire ex-girlfriend. The Red Court wants to settle things and gives Harry a choice: duel their representative (to the death), or see his loved ones murdered. In case that wasn’t complication enough, a priest approaches Harry for help in recovering a stolen artifact. Oh, and some major-class demons are loose, too. Not to mention a headless body, which isn’t “loose” as such but is unidentified and possibly connected.

So yeah, it’s a page-turner like the previous books and a fun read. However, there were some niggles here that dropped it to less than perfect in my view. First off, while these books (and this sort of genre) always contains a certain number of “lucky escapes” and fortunate timings that stop the hero from getting splattered all across the room, here I feel there were a bit too many “last minutes saves” to feel believable. Well, as “believable” as a tale about mages, vampires, werewolves, ghosts and what have you will ever be, of course. Second, the artifact relating to one of the central plots here is the actual Shroud of Turin. Which has been stolen, and now somehow appears in Chicago. Well, sure, anything is possible… but really… the Shroud of frigging Turin? In Chicago?

In any case, it’s a fun read despite some small faults and I like how the Susan storyline advanced – lots of future possibilities there. […]

Minireview: Summer Knight, by Jim Butcher

The Dresden Files series just keeps on getting better (at least so far). Summer Knight is easily the best installment I’ve read yet.

Things just keep on getting worse for Harry Dresden. His girlfriend has vanished (on purpose) due to unfortunate events in the previous book, the vampire Red Court has a kill order out on him, and Harry himself is spiraling downwards fast. His friends try to intervene to little avail… until he is pursuaded to take on a new client. Who (to Harry’s horror) turns out to be the Winter Queen of the Faerie. Now, the faerie in these books are far, far from friendly Tinkerbelle territory – these have more in common with Exalted’s brain-sucking LARPers-from-hell and the new WoD’s “True Fae”. In other words: totally alien creatures who mimic humanity when and if it amuses them. And one of the most powerful among them requires help from Harry, and has a offer which is very hard to refuse.

I don’t want to give any other plot details away at this point, other than to say it involves messy Faerie internal politics and lots else besides. The plot twists are numerous and the action continuous. All in all I really liked this one. Some new characters are introduced and some old ones make an appearance, and the ending leaves lots of interesting plot possibilities open.

This series is progressively getting more complex and adding more “mythology” to itself. Will be interesting to see how long Butcher can keep it up, or if things will become repetitive at some point. So far, the books have avoided falling too deep into formula; while there are repeating events in each book, to date they have been varied enough to be interesting. […]

Minireview: Grave Peril, by Jim Butcher

The Dresden Files series continues, with Grave Peril being the third book in the sequence. I’m starting to be a fan, each book so far has been better and more intricate than the last.

This time around, there is a plague of malevolent ghosts raising hell in the area. We’re introduced to Michael, a “Knight of the Cross” and a friend of Dresden’s. Together, they try to make sense of the situation, with some initial close calls. It turns out that a recent previous encounter with a black magician may have something to do with things, and Dresden’s fairy godmother (literally) also makes her appearance. No, she’s not a benevolent force, quite the opposite… she wants to collect on a contract made by Harry in his youth, and Harry isn’t wild about the idea (for reasons that become obvious).To add to the chaos, Bianca the vampire extends Harry an invitation to a party – and since Bianca is likely to want Harry’s head on a platter due to earlier events, Harry would be wise to turn down the invite. Except that… well, it’s complicated.

Like the previous books, it’s quite a rollercoaster and hard to put down once started. Sure, there are some coincidences here that stretch suspension of disbelief a bit, but it doesn’t matter that much; it’s helluva good entertainment and the story contains a lot of twists and turns, some very unexpected.

Good stuff. […]

Minireview: Fool Moon, by Jim Butcher

Fool Moon is the second book in Butcher’s Dresden Files series. Like the first one it’s lightweight entertainment, but as such it’s pretty good – the plot moves along, the characters are fun, and the writing is more assured than in the first book. The plot is also somewhat more complex, with slightly more page count too.

This time around it’s werewolves. This isn’t a plot spoiler as such, since everything from the title to the back cover blurb says “werewolf!”. The trick is… what sort of werewolf, and what does it (he? she?) want? As in the first book, things start out with a body, dead in a fairly gruesome manner. Seriously cash-strapped Harry Dresden is called in (despite the usual objections from the “serious” police crowd), and things go from “random weird case” to “serious threat to Harry’s life”. Amusingly enough, one of the few people on Harry’s side here is the local crime boss, something that Harry is less than thrilled about. Another “case” enters the picture, and it turns out that these events are apparently interlinked. There’s a werewolf on the prowl, but not everything seems to make sense. There is also some hint of “metaplot” here and some (more) hints towards weird events in Harry’s past.

This book has some common elements with the first book, but also contains many new twists and turns. The plotting was more complex and the whole thing was a very fun read. I liked it, even though, as noted, it’s strictly in the “light entertainment” category. There’s nothing bad in that, of course – quality “light entertainment” is often just the thing you need in order to relax. […]