Five down, one to go (for me at least – Jim Butcher finished his work quite a while ago). My only dilemma now is whether to go out and drop the cash for the hardcover of book six so I can start reading right away, or drop hints all over the place for someone to get me a Nook for my birthday so I can download it for half the price … I guess I can attempt to practice patience – perhaps read something else in the meantime.
So far in this series, we’ve seen Tavi progress from a 15-year-old shepherd’s apprentice to a student, a spy for the crown, a captain of an entire legion and finally the heir to the thrown of the realm. And in that time he has managed to foster peace with factions with whom their realm has been at war for in some cases centuries, defeated foes arguably several times more powerful, and managed to luck his way through some tight spots with little more than quick thinking and good instincts – most of the while doing so without the advantage of the magics that the rest of his kind seem to be able to wield. In this volume, he has finally come into his power (on multiple levels) and is aims to take on challenges even larger than any so far.
While the previous volumes have all had their degrees of suspense and conflict, this one takes things to a new scale. Not only are the battles and struggles massively larger and on multiple fronts, but there are many more nail-biter moments. Many of the main characters seem to play some dangerous gambits which in some cases nearly bring them to deadly ends. But as usual, the suspense pays off with dividends and in the end Butcher sets the stage nicely for the concluding chapter to come (which only drills home my itch to go read it).
I can honestly say that I would love to see this series realized as a series of movies. It would likely be difficult to do full justice to the source material, but I think that it is fare that a broad audience would enjoy. Plus on a practical note, the fact that each book has a built in gap of about 2 years, consistent casting shouldn’t be an issue (easier to manage than the cast of the Harry Potter series who seem to be aging faster than their characters, or the cast of twilight who mostly shouldn’t appear to age at all). But that is just a dream. I’m just as content with the reality of the fiction in the form of written word.