Category: books

White Night

SilentBen1 Comment

Now nine books into The Dresden Files series, the plot thickens.  It appears that someone is targeting witches and the perpetrator is trying to frame Harry for it.  Fortunately very few believe him the likely suspect, but as Harry investigates the case a lot of the evidence seems to start pointing towards his brother.  Not able to believe that possible, Dresden must go to some great lengths to find the real culprits and keep his brother off of the radar (at least until he can confront him on the issue himself).

In this volume, Jim Butcher brings back a lot of past support team including Murphy (as usual), Thomas (as previously noted), Elaine (still maintaining a low profile), Molly (still working on getting her mojo in order), and … Marcone (hey – the devil you know, right?).  The cast of bad guys also includes a number of repeat players, but the angle is far from old hat and Dresden will need to play his cards carefully.  As matters unfold, it becomes apparent that this mission is about more than just saving burgeoning magic-wielders from being whisked away in the night.  It seems that if Harry doesn’t rein things in soon, the result could be a White Court power play that could lead to the extinction of wizard-kind (and as a result, mankind would not be far behind).

Luckily Harry has a number of cards up his sleeve (including but not limited to his status as a Warden, connections within the White Court, a powerful team of loyal wingmen, oh, and there is the shadow of a fallen angel in his head).  As usual, Harry gets a slew of hard knocks and finds himself against several adversaries more powerful than himself.  But that has rarely kept him from Forrest Gumping his way into a victory (or from getting knocked out a half-dozen times on the way there).  I’ve already got book ten queued up and I’m looking forward to what adventures might come next (and after that, and after that, …).

Proven Guilty

SilentBenLeave a comment

In case you haven’t been keeping up, Harry Dresden – the same that has been on watch by the White Council for years – is now a Warden.  It seems the war with the Red Court (a particularly powerful brand of vampires) has hit the wizard justice league pretty hard and run their numbers thin.  So now Harry is charged with protecting the citizenry of Chicago and the surrounding region from supernatural threats … officially (he has been doing so the whole time anyway, now he just has jurisdiction).  But wearing that grey cloak is not a simple charge and as usual there are those who would see him fail.

In Jim Butcher’s eighth volume of The Dresden Files – Proven Guilty – Harry finds himself helping out a friend in need.  But what starts as simply bailing a friend’s daughter’s boyfriend out of jail evolves into a struggle with a number of fairy creatures who look like horror villains and feed on fear and ultimately into a battle in the heart of the Winter Court in the Nevernever.  And all the while, Harry still is struggling with his own inner demons (or more specifically an inner fallen angel) as well as some conniving behavior by some White Court vamps who seem to leech onto the fear-feeding action.  And in the end Harry finds himself facing some tough decisions that may change the rest of his life.

Once again, Butcher places Harry in some thrilling and precarious positions and as usual Harry always seems to have another card up his sleeve.  Harry continues to grow and surprise all the while continuing to be himself without apology.  There is little else I can say besides queue up the next book.

Dead Beat

SilentBenLeave a comment

What is the ultimate weapon against necromancers?  I don’t want to give it away, but it is as tall as a 2-story home, as long as a bus, and eats zombies like they are animal crackers.  To find the whole answer, you will need to read Jim Butcher’s seventh addition to The Dresden Files – Dead Beat.  In this volume, our intrepid Harry finds himself thrown into the middle of a conflict between several wielders of the dead.  And in the midst of dealing with the drama associated, he does not go without being accused of going a little nutty.

As usual, Dresden finds himself dealing with a case he can’t turn down regardless of the risks involved.  Harry also comes to find himself getting tangled up with the wardens again, but in a way entirely different than even he could have suspected.  Plus he has to contend with an annoying roommate in the form of Thomas Raith (his half brother, half incubus), a lead weight around his neck (paranormally squeemish medical examiner Waldo Butters), and a puppy that grew a lot bigger than anticipated (the name Mouse would be more accurate if the u were to change to an o).

As expected, Harry deals with the punches and manages to win the day a number of times against enemies bigger and badder than him.  He also manages to do a good job protecting a number of people who need it along the way.  But if the twists and turns of figuring out who the bad guys are and what they’re up to aren’t enough, Harry finds himself dealing with some unusual internal issues.  And in the end, Harry wins the day, but very few good graces for the path of destruction it took to do so (collateral property damage seems to be one of his strong suits).

Blood Rites

SilentBen2 Comments

Okay – after five books, there are too many different enemies that Harry Dresden has gone against to list.  I wasn’t sure that there could be many more unique supernatural elements with which he could face off.  Enter a troop of purple gorillas flinging flaming, well, I’d imagine you could guess – and this is just in the first few pages!  Through the rest of Blood Rites, Jim Butcher pits our tall, lanky hero up against succubi, black vampires, and … porn stars?

Blood Rites finds Harry relying on some less likely side-kicks including an incubus who turns out to have an interesting secret, a fellow wizard and former mentor, a mercenary, and a fiesty puppy.  He has been avoiding one of his friends – Michael Carpenter, a Knight of the Cross – due to the fact that he had picked up a coin containing a fallen angel and worried how Michael, a hunter of fallen angels, might react.  And he takes on a case where it seems a string of porn stars have been dying in bizarre accidents that may be black magic.  in his downtime, he opts to take on a nest of black vampires camping out in the Chicago slums.  He doesn’t come out of either debachle unscathed (nor do these two incidents add up to all the strife Harry must diffuse/survive).

Six volumes in and Jim Butcher continues to impress and amaze.  There seems to be no winding down for this series and I wouldn’t want to see it end.  The series has always been cohesive and fluid, but it is interesting seeing the greater arc beginning to develop.  Plus the fact that wizards tend to live for centuries, I wouldn’t be surprised to see this series survive its author (though that would be a long way off).  I know I’ve said it before, but I will say again that I can read this series forever.

Death Masks

SilentBenLeave a comment

The tally continues – so far Dresden has help his own against demons, sorcerers, mobsters, vampires, fairies, ghouls, ghosts, and werewolves (not necessarily in that order).  For Jim Butcher’s next trick, he will take on angels (fallen angels to be specific) … while still occasionally dealing with the usual vampires and mobsters, etc.  In Death Masks, Harry finds himself re-teamed up with Michael Carpenter – one of the three Knights of the cross.  And once he has a couple run-ins with some Denarians (fallen angels who partner with human hosts for a corporial form), he finds himself playing backup to all three of the Knights. Read more “Death Masks”