Notify me of new posts via email. What to expect The series is the gold-standard of detective urban fantasy. Be aware The series really needs to be read in order. All adulation to those who use obscene amounts of power, while still acting responsibly to oppose tyranny, But on a personal note, Felix would like to point out that Dresden just talk too much.
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Sign me up. Harry Dresden is a bit problematic, and the books have a little bit of an age problem. I have at this point re-listened to most of the books in the series at least once, some more than once ahem, Dead Beat.
The books are a lot of fun to listen to, and again James Marsters is brilliant in his acting. He really IS Harry Dresden. Lastly, I will simply leave with a ranking post of the series from least enjoyed, to most enjoyed of the series. The later books are difficult to rank, simply because most of them are really just that good, but I have done my best here to list them as I saw fit. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account.
You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account. Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. Final Notes on the Dresden Series: Overall the series was great fun to read.
Ghost Story 13 Death Masks 5 Fool Moon 2 Blood Rites 6 White Night 9 Storm Front 1 9. Proven Guilty 8 8. Turncoat 11 7. Skin Game 15 6. Changes 12 5. Cold Days 14 4. Grave Peril 3 3. Summer Night 4 2. Small Favor 10 1. And boy does this story have weaknesses. Let's go through them: 1. Way, way too much going on. Characters appear and disappear almost at random; major villains from other books pop in to say hi and are never Entire review hidden because of spoilers.
Characters appear and disappear almost at random; major villains from other books pop in to say hi and are never heard from again. This just cheapens prior books and is unnecessary--the scene in Graceland is especially bad this way. The main villain of the book is boring. Essentially she is a kaiju with no personality whatsoever; the Fomor were actually scary, but she is just not interesting, perhaps because she is too powerful.
Harry comes out of the book more or less in one piece when she should by all rights be dead or at least grievously injured, requiring much more recovery time.
He goes from underpowered in the last few books, the Winter Mantle being nerfed, to ridiculously overpowered in this one, because otherwise he wouldn't be able to win. His power level seems to be whatever Butcher thinks the story requires, rather than what actually makes sense for his character at any given time. Now we get to the big, gigantic, problems, all having to do with characters: 4. Marcone and Namshiel. This came out of nowhere and absolutely ruins Marcone's character, probably permanently.
The whole point of his character is that he is a mortal that has managed to accrue power in the supernatural world by sheer intelligence and grit. If he suddenly has magical powers and is, by all appearances, nearly as powerful a wizard as Dresden, he just become another magical power.
I know Butcher probably thought this would be an awesome scene, but I found it extremely disappointing. We finally get an explanation of Nemesis, and it makes even less sense than the concept did in Cold Days. This is another thing that is ruining the series; Butcher already had an extremely compelling arc villain in the Black Counsel and the Outsiders. Nemesis simply complicates things unnecessarily and leads to unanserable questions--how many people can he yeah, Nemesis is an actual person possess at one time?
If his plan is to shatter the accords, why take this overly convoluted route that ended up totally failing? I could go on and on about thi; it's become my least favorite aspect about the plot of this series.
And finally, Murphy's death is, bar none, the worst moment not only of this book but the entire series. She gets randomly killed by a minor character, her death takes up a couple of pages, and lacks any dignity whatsoever.
If she had gone out literally pages earlier in the book, it could theoretically have been powerful and sad. But this And don't give me the "well, sometimes people die this way in war" nonsense; Butcher is a storyteller, he has choices about how to write these books. To kill off the most important character besides Dresden in such a slipshod, almost random and meaningless fashion, has gotten me the closest I've gotten to swwearing off this series. After all of that, I almost feel like changing my rating to one star.
I'll keep it where it is because the battle scenes really are pretty cool most of the time; since that's almost exclusively what this book contains, it at least succeeds in that. I'm only keeping with the series because Mirror Mirror sounds so interesting and I've been waiting so long for it, but I have very little faith that Butcher can pull it off at this point.
For such a slow release, it feels like a rush job that nobody gave him good feedback on. I thank NetGalley for providing me a copy in exchange for an honest, regrettably brutal review.
My heart is still pounding from all the action!!! One Huge Epic Fight! Also, my heart is a little broken now. I was expecting what happened but not the way it happened. Dresden, you have done it again! You make yourself responsible for everyone and you want to keep everyone safe. This time Chicago and its people, human and supernatural lives are all at stake.
The Fodor and Ethniu, the Titan, are coming to destroy it. The White Council, the White Court, the Summer Court, the Winter court, Marcone with his people, the Knights, the werewolves, and every other group I forget are all taking a truce and battling one enemy together. If not, there won't be a next day for many of them. Apocalypse is in the mirror. There were so many things l liked about Battle Ground. I want to tell you but then I'm spoiling it for you.
I like Mab too despite her being utterly terrifying but I can't help but think about what she went through to become what she is now. I love Waldo and Michael. Sanja made me laugh, especially at the end. Jim leaves so many clues as to what is to come and it seems Dresden will need days to figure it out. The adorable Christmas story at the end of the book was perfect.
View all 12 comments. Oct 01, Amanda G. Stevens rated it it was ok Shelves: fiction. When the news came that Peace Talks was being split into two books because the story was just that epic, it sounded like a great idea. But now I've made it through both books, and. Editing should have been the answer. Not two books. Both books contain more filler than is reasonable and more filler than is present in any other book of this series. But that's not why I'm giving Battle Ground two stars.
Where Peace Talks plods with too many scenes of dialogue that lack urgency, Battle Ground run When the news came that Peace Talks was being split into two books because the story was just that epic, it sounded like a great idea. Where Peace Talks plods with too many scenes of dialogue that lack urgency, Battle Ground runs full-out with battle scene after battle scene that, after a while, also lack urgency due to sheer monotony.
Yeah, the titles clue us in to the opposite tones of the two books, but still, each book stalls in its chosen pace, and with tighter revision neither would have and could have been one pace-balanced, extra-long installment.
This book gets two stars for reasons that make me want to give up on the series permanently. Storyworld rule-breaking, deus ex machinations all over the place, insulting and arbitrary dispatch of a primary character, and lack of resolution on the one plot piece that should have been resolved by the end of this book--a piece that now makes no sense to have happened at all other than to give the author one fewer person to keep track of during apocalyptic chaos.
Specifics behind the tag. Murphy has to be out in the fight in order to be killed off, but she's physically disabled and unable to fight due to consequences from previous books, so hey, what if Mab makes her temporarily fine?
Just for this battle, of course. And there we go. Harry needs to be the Biggest Baddest he's ever been in order to defeat the Biggest Baddest villain he's ever faced.
Except he's not actually any bigger or badder than he was last time, so hey, what if the very epic-ness of this fight imbues the air with magic that he can feed on to become his Biggest Baddest self? Just while this fight is on, of course.
I know there were other similar moments of author contrivance that frustrated me, but those two stood out the most. Insulting and arbitrary dispatch of a primary character : I do my best not to question the motives or mindset of an author creating a story, because I am an author myself and because I'm a reader who greatly respects the art of story creation.
But I cannot comment on the death of Karrin Murphy without questioning Butcher himself, because I cannot come up with a single story-acceptable reason for this choice. Murphy has been a bedrock character since Book 1 though developing her as a person took a minute longer than it should have. She has backstory. She has a role only she can fill. She has earned her place alongside monster-fighters despite possessing zero magical ability, and she has earned terrible scars in the process, and her death feels to this reader like the discarding of all of that in favor of a new love interest or two?
And yet. If I'm wrong, if the story does need this for some reason I can't fathom, the least Murphy is owed is a death of honor in proportion to her life. And instead she is shot accidentally by a hysterical bumbling cop whose gun "just goes off" eye roll, so much eye roll. Murphy, the stalwart officer of the law who has loved and challenged the system in which she's called to work, is killed by a cop stereotype. I don't know how Butcher could have done this any more insultingly than he did.
I don't know how no one who read this book between first draft and print run stopped to say, "No, no, not this way. The last scene of the book, in which Mab arranges Harry's future marriage to Lara for the purpose of political alliance, and he doesn't get to say no. Would Mab behave like this? That can be argued, I guess. Did it have to happen half a book after Murphy's death? Certainly not. And then to add insult to insult, we have to be reminded of Molly's one-time or is that current?
In the same chapter. What on earth is going on here, other than male wish-fulfillment wow, our protagonist gets to look forward to sex with a succubus and potentially also with a faerie princess who used to be his teenaged apprentice but has grown up so no one should at all be disturbed by this, nope no worries at all? The scene is an appalling crash-and-burn close to the book; it degrades every character involved including Harry, and if Butcher goes through with it and why would he set it up if he's not planning to go through with it?
There has always been a flavor of wish fulfillment to these books, but it's been restrained enough that I could shrug past it. No longer, not with Murphy lying dead as collateral damage of said wish fulfillment. The plot piece that was supposed to motivate everything but no one including Harry cares about anymore : So after two full books, Thomas's life remains at stake.
I could attempt to accept this if Harry were worried about his utter cluelessness how to save his brother, if Harry missed his brother's physical power and fighting savvy during the Biggest Baddest fight of all time. But in this book, in Harry's mind, Thomas essentially ceases to exist. So why was he tortured and left for dead and frozen in crystal in the first place?
Why did any of that happen? Why wasn't he one of the fighters here instead, battling for the fate of Chicago? I guess this should be hidden as well. I thought that's what had happened. When Harry threw himself over the side of the boat and called to the island, I assumed that of course, Demonreach grabbed Harry and got him to safety, and then grabbed Nemesis and locked her up.
And if Mirror, Mirror is indeed slated as Book 18, how will any of this be dealt with fully as it deserves? Will mourning be put on hold while Harry deals with an alternate universe? Will Thomas be left frozen and alone for another entire book?
Maybe I'll read the next book to see if Butcher brings sense and closure to any of the carelessness wreaked here, but maybe I won't. View all 41 comments. Sep 30, Bradley rated it it was amazing Shelves: shelf , fanboy-goes-squee , urban-fantasy , fantasy.
Words nearly fail me. Even as I read this book, I was stunned into silence. You know, one of those deep, inner-monologue silences that radiate deeply inward so much that I could hear a mental pin drop from forty mental yards. I knew, from the prior book, that we were preparing for WAR. The outsiders were coming. All supernaturals, gods, Fae, and even normal folk were being called to battle.
It is ALL of Chicago on the line. What I didn't expect was for Jim Butcher to pull an all-out Epic Fantasy battle against a freaking Titan, including massive damage to the city, the allies, or to Harry, himself. You know what came to mind? Butcher's Caldera novels. Huge scope, fantastic action, magic, and glory. I mean, it's only the fabric of reality that's at stake. The stakes aren't THAT high. And then expect a novel that doesn't let up.
At all. And even when the main battle is done, that inner silence remains. Let me be honest here: I cried like a little baby during this book. Many times.
I was too shocked. Even now, I'm crying as I write this review. Oct 02, Marie rated it it was ok. I've been a Harry Dresden fan since the first book, and it takes a heck of a lot to destroy an entire series for me, but Jim Butcher has managed to do just that. Something happens in the middle of this book that just gutted the whole series for me.
It was as if all the air and energy went right out of everything, and suddenly I found myself annoyed and tired and bored. It doesn't help that I don't think overall this was one of Butcher's best books. It is basically a short 5-page recap of P Sigh.
But after a while those battle scenes just became repetitive. Sure, each one theoretically had its own little surprise - "Oh, look who just popped up here and did a crazy battle thing" - but in reality, it was the same scene over and over with a slightly different configuration of allies versus enemies. Maybe having to split the book in two meant having to drag these battle scenes out to fill pages. Maybe Butcher is getting stale. Or bored. Maybe if it wasn't , I'd feel differently. Maybe if that event in the middle hadn't happened, I'd feel differently.
Will I read the next book? Maybe, eventually. Will I look forward to it, watch social media for publication dates, pre-order the hardback version, start it as soon as it arrives, finish it in a day? If you haven't read the book yet, stop reading the review now. Murphy gets shot and dies. In a totally stupid way, for no good reason other than to fuel Harry's grief and determination.
It didn't have to happen, and I've gotten tired of the way Butcher is making the women in Harry's life disposable accessories - Susan, Anastasia, and now Murph. Karrin Murphy was, increasingly, the real hero of this series. Maybe Butcher didn't know that. Maybe he knew and was jealous.
I dunno, but I do know that Murph shouldn't have died. She was the anchor to humanity here - not supernatural, not wizard, not anything but a damned fine human being fighting for her world. She didn't become a Knight of the Cross though she took care of one of the Swords briefly.
She didn't do magic. She just stood for what was right and didn't let the monsters win. She was us. And Butcher killed her off. Mab would still have made the demand of Harry that she did; he'd have hated it more and found it even more complicated, but that was manageable. And when Murphy died, so did my interest in Harry Dresden and his world. Like I said, I may read more books in the series eventually, but I'm not waiting for them.
This was quite literally a non-stop action sequence. Normally, I'm all about that kind of thing, but I'm just not sure how much I liked it this time around. This hurts me because I'm usually the first one to yell, Bring on the mindless explosions! So I can't believe I'm saying this, but I prefer it when Butcher takes a breath and writes about his characters a little more.
I just finished the short stories about Bigfoot and I loved it. The pacing was just breakneck, and I was exhausted by This was quite literally a non-stop action sequence. The pacing was just breakneck, and I was exhausted by the time I finished. I mean, the vast majority of page time is taken up with descriptions of people twisting and leaping while shooting bazookas or throwing spells.
And when I say long , I mean it. Just when you think it's finally over? It's not. There's more. I'm too invested to stop now, but I'm praying to the gods that Butcher puts an end to this soon. Honestly, I'd like to see one of my favorite long-running series go out on a high note. And I'm going to say something that is probably kind of controversial, so if you don't feel the same, just know that I respect your opinion and we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Over the years, I've grown to dislike Karen Murphy more and more. She's the equivalent of that squeaky little kid that has to annoyingly insert itself into every conversation with the adults. Stop it, already! Go eat your graham crackers and shut the fuck up.
Anyway, I suddenly realized upon listening to this book that this particular feeling has been growing exponentially with each passing story. Maybe that's because she seems to be getting more and more page time as the years go by?
I don't know. Which brings me to this: I really hate Karen and Harry as a couple. The complete lack of chemistry between those two made the love scenes in this book almost unbearable to watch with my mind's eye. What actually made the love scenes unbearable was the fact that he was sloughing the white, wrinkled, wet, and intensely gross dead skin off of her arm before they got busy.
As for me, I'll never forget that particular sex scene, because although it was pretty much fade to black, I can still feel the chunky bile rising in my throat at the thought of how bad her fucking skin would reek after being wrapped in plaster for months.
Have you ever smelled that? I have. It's nauseating and I don't want that aroma anywhere near my lady boner. It was more of a well, I'm glad he gave such a long-running character a good death and I hope to hell that she stays fucking dead feeling.
I honestly would rather see Harry with the soul-sucking vampire, than have Murphy rise from the dead due to some Ex Machina deal with fairies or whatever other contrived plot might see her come back. Please no. She was the worst character in the entire series and I'm thrilled I won't have to read about her anymore. I know, I know! That sounds so mean. And yet There were a couple of BIG reveals there at the end that made me smile so much.
So, for all of my whining, I'll be back for the next installment. View all 19 comments. Oct 10, Spencer Orey rated it it was amazing.
All that tension building in Peace Talks really pays off. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a page battle before. This one is a wild nonstop battle ride, with some harrowing twists. It kept me up late reading. It's more intensely emotional than Peace Talks in every way, plus some great humor.
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