#CBR12 Book 83: "Battle Ground" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 432 pages

Audio book length: 15 hrs 43 mins

Rating: 4 stars

Spoiler warning! This is book 17 in a long, ongoing series. This really isn't the place to start. In fact, this book doesn't even work on its own, so don't even think to read this review if you're not caught up. Normally, I'd recommend that you start with book 1, but the first three books of The Dresden Files are pretty bad, so you'd be better off starting with book 4, Summer Knight. I highly recommend the audio books, narrated by James Marsters. They're what finally sold me on the series. 

Official book description:

Harry has faced terrible odds before. He has a long history of fighting enemies above his weight class. The Red Court of vampires. The fallen angels of the Order of the Blackened Denarius. The Outsiders.

But this time it’s different. A being more powerful and dangerous on an order of magnitude beyond what the world has seen in a millennium is coming. And she’s bringing an army. The Last Titan has declared war on the city of Chicago, and has come to subjugate humanity, obliterating any who stand in her way.

Harry’s mission is simple but impossible: Save the city by killing a Titan. And the attempt will change Harry’s life, Chicago, and the mortal world forever.

In my review for Peace Talks, I mentioned that it's been six long years since Jim Butcher last published a full Dresden Files novel. This year, we got two, but only because the original manuscript got so long that Butcher decided to split the story in two. There was clearly some rewriting done to make the parts stand a bit on their own, but mostly, this feels like one of the many YA movies that they split in two (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay), where you pretty much start the second film with the very next scene and no time has passed at all. Having now read both books, I think Butcher and his editors should have done a better job of just chopping a lot of unnecessary stuff and make it all a slightly longer, cohesive story.

While Peace Talks felt like a lot of the story lagged, and far too many story strands were left hanging, this book doesn't bother much with long-winded recapping, it throws the reader straight into a massive supernatural battle, where all of Chicago is at risk and losing might mean certain doom for all of humanity. So no pressure then, Harry. 

Butcher makes some choices in this book that I'm not happy about. Some of the things that happen, clearly need to happen for the story to work out in future books, and have been hinted at for a while. That doesn't mean I have to be happy about said developments, and I'm not. For all that I'm fond of action movies, and this book felt like a non-stop action extravaganza, I'm also glad that the readers got a bit more insight into characters like Mab and Marcone, and even Lara. The final chapter, where we get to see a glimpse of Molly and her family was also very nice. 

Six years ago, I was absolutely hooked on this series, now I'm wondering just how long Jim Butcher is going to drag things out before I get a satisfying conclusion to Dresden's journey. This is book 17 and I'm not sure I care all that much where things are going. These books used to be an automatic pre-order for me, now, I think I'll wait until I can get them at the library, or on sale. I still like the character and the writing, mostly, but I've just emotionally moved on in the long years since when I read most of them.

Judging a book by its cover: This is a better cover than the one to Peace Talks, but it still feels very generically urban fantasy AND The Dresden Files. I suspect I like it better because you can actually see what is going on in the image. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR12 Book 64: "Peace Talks" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 352 pages

Audio book length: 12 hrs 52 mins

Rating: 3 stars

Spoiler warning! This is book 16 in a long, ongoing series. This really isn't the place to start. Normally, I'd recommend that you start with book 1, but the first three books of The Dresden Files are pretty bad, so you'd be better off starting with book 4, Summer Knight. I highly recommend the audio books, narrated by James Marsters. They're what finally sold me on the series. 

Official book description:

When the Supernatural nations of the world meet up to negotiate an end to ongoing hostilities, Harry Dresden, Chicago's only professional wizard, joins the White Council's security team to make sure the talks stay civil. But can he succeed, when dark political manipulations threaten the very existence of Chicago--and all he holds dear?

It's been six full years since Butcher published the previous Dresden Files novel, if you don't count the short story collection Brief Cases (and I don't). Unless you're one of the people who still haven't given up on George R.R. Martin or Patrick Rothfuss (which I'm honestly close to doing, just finish the books, guys), that's a very long wait in between installments of an ongoing fantasy series. 

It's certainly long enough that I had to go online and read detailed plot summaries of the last few books in the series because I remembered only the barest hints of what happened in them. This is most definitely not the book you want to pick up if you're a Harry Dresden newbie. 

As the brief book description says, there's going to be a big supernatural peace summit in the middle of Chicago, and Harry Dresden has been selected to be on the White Council's security team, despite the fact that there are clearly a whole bunch of wizards who distrust him and question where his true loyalties lie. Harry doubts that the various parties meeting for the summit can ever find common ground, but he also has bigger worries to deal with, when Thomas Raith is taken down after trying to assassinate the leader of the Svartalves, causing a major supernatural diplomatic incident. Thomas' sister Lara certainly doesn't intend to let her brother be sentenced to death and uses favours owed to her by the Winter Court to get Harry to help her rescue him.

I haven't really looked into why it took Butcher so long to write this book. I know that Peace Talks and Battle Ground (out tomorrow) were originally intended to be one book, that just grew far too big and subsequently was split in two. As a result, this book very much feels like one of the many YA movies they decided to split in two to make more money. There's very few efforts made by Butcher to make this storyline wrap up neatly, and while some things seem a bit more resolved at the end of this book, it's clear that there's a whole lot more coming in the next book, making it impossible for me to rate the book, or even get proper closure to the story.

I listened to the book in audio, because to me, James Marsters is now the voice of The Dresden Files, and it felt very comforting to hear him telling me the story once more. For reasons that aren't entirely clear to me (maybe Butcher just had a weird misogynistic backslide), there's a whole lot more of the rather uncomfortable male gaze that happened all the time in the earliest books in the series. If this isn't explicitly explained to be something that's happening to Harry because he's losing control of his baser urges because of the Winter mantle, I'm going to be pissed. 

I like that Butcher has a number of interesting and different female characters make up part of the supporting cast now, but I really wish we didn't need to feel like Harry is leering at all of them, all the time. I'm a big fan of the further developments between Harry and Murphy and will rage quit the series if something bad (or at least worse than she's already suffered) happens to my girl Karrin. 

It's taken me long enough to get round to this review of a book that came out at the end of July, that the second half, Battle Ground, will be released tomorrow. I hope that the various story strands left dangling come to a slightly more satisfying conclusion, and am very curious to see what Butcher has planned - it sounds like it could have wide-reaching ramifications for the rest of the series.

Judging a book by its cover: These books have very little variety when it comes to cover design. Broody dude with a dark coat, big black hat and a staff, supposed to portray our hero Harry. This cover is even more forgettable than some others earlier in the series, with the cover model crouching down and random debris apparently flying around him. It gives you little to no idea of what the book will be about, except that it's yet another installment in The Dresden Files. 

Crossposted on Cannonball Read. 

#CBR6 Book 57: "Skin Game" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 454 pages
Audio book length: 15hrs and 50 mins
Rating: 5 stars

Standard spoiler warning! This is book 15 in the series. You don't want to start here. If you're not caught up with the series, you may want to skip this review, because while I'm going to try to not spoil this actual book, I can't actually avoid spoilers for some of the previous ones. It took me a long time to get hooked on these books, but they are totally worth the effort. Just skip the first three and start directly with book 4, Summer Knight. You'll thank me, because the first three are a slog to get through.

Are you still here? Spoilers be on your own head then.
Harry has been stuck on Demonreach, his island/supernatural prison for the past year. He's kept busy doing parkour in the tunnels underground, needing the sentient spirit who lives there to help him keeping his headaches from crippling him. Mab shows up and claims he will be dead in three days if he doesn't do her bidding. The parasite inside his head will burst through his skull, take shape and go after everyone he holds dear. That Mab, she's such a motivator.

Seems the Queen of Air and Darkness has loaned out her Winter Knight to pay back a debt. Harry has to help none other than Nicodemus Archleone, head of the Order of the Blackened Denarius, pull off a near-impossible heist. If he agrees, he's pretty sure that Nicodemus will try to kill him during the mission. If he doesn't agree, Mab will let him die, and appoint a new Knight in his place. He doesn't have much of a choice. Now he has to work with some of the slipperiest characters of the supernatural underworld (most of whom would happily kill him as soon as they got the chance) to break into the treasure vault of Hades himself. What could possibly go wrong?

I've been putting off this review, because I'm not sure I can put into words how much I enjoyed this book. Long time readers of my blog and/or reviews will know that it took me quite a long time to jump on the Butcher band wagon, but over the last year or so, I have slowly but surely caught up, and had only a few weeks to wait for the release of this one. Of course, now I'm stuck waiting with the rest.

In my review for Cold Days, the previous book in the series, I said that I couldn't really see how Butcher was going to keep amping up the tension and making the danger levels greater and higher with each book. There's only so much more he can do to Harry, or so you'd think. I certainly didn't see the developments in this book coming (seriously, that's some crazy ass headache explanation), and of course, Harry is not the only character in the book who can experience dangers or high stakes. Sooner or later, Butcher is going to kill off a major character that I have grown to love and then we are going to have a serious problem on our hands. I'm not sure I'll be able to deal rationally. I know these are fictional characters, but they are important to me.

As always, I bought this book as an Audible audio book, because the Dresden Files and James Marsters' narration are now inextricably linked in my head. I listened to maybe the first 25% before I broke down and tracked down an e-book copy, because I just didn't have the patience to listen to the entire audio book to find out what was going to happen next. I'm glad to have the audios, for when I will inevitably revisit the books, but I suspect, from now on, I will want to read the books myself, it's oh so much faster. While I am worried at what being the Winter Knight is turning Harry into, the end of this book made me very very happy. I may have reread that bit in the hospital quite a few times.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 50: "Cold Days" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 614 page
Audio book length: 18 hrs, 47 mins

Dudes, this is book 14 in the series. Do NOT start with this one. Do NOT read this review if you haven't read books 12 and 13, there will be spoilers, because it's pretty much unavoidable when reviewing this book. If you're interested in the series, I would recommend starting with nr 4, Summer Knight. I would also like to heartily endorse the audio books, narrated excellently by James Marsters.



Proceed at your own risk from here-on out. Harry pays for having tried to set up his own demise to get out of his duties as the Winter Knight with some pretty physical therapy sessions at Arctis Tor, Mab's Winter stronghold. She is in turns strangely affectionate and caring, only to turn around and try to murder him creatively. For weeks on end, Harry keeps trying to fend of murder attempts, which forces him to grow strong quickly, both physically and in terms of his magic use. Sarissa, one of the Winter changelings is assigned as his physical therapist, but it's clear that the Winter Queen intends for her to be at Harry's every disposal, should he so wish it. Harry comes to realise that while the former Knight, Lloyd Slate, probably never was a stellar human being, he too easily gave in to all the baser urges that the mantle of the Winter Knight encouraged, which hurried on his moral corruption. Harry keeps fighting the feelings of intense anger, lust and jealousy throughout the book.

After several months of fun with training and murder dodging, Mab reveals her plans for Harry at a birthday party arranged in his honour. Of course, what's a Faerie party without more chances to die? Mab's daughter Maeve does her very best to seduce Harry to her side, when that fails, she tries to have him embroiled in a fight to the death instead. Makes it convenient that Mab's first command to her new knight is to get rid of said daughter, right? Harry has no idea how to go about killing an immortal, nor is he sure that he'd want to follow the order even if he figured out how to go about it. He's none to happy about the assistant Mab has given him either, the psychotic and legendary Cat Sith, who only barely conceals his contempt for the new human plaything Mab has acquired.

Because it's not a fun birthday for Harry unless he has more on his plate than one seemingly impossible task, there's also an issue with Demonreach, the hidden island in Lake Michigan which Harry bonded with (literally) a few books back. Some sort of mystical energy is building there, and it becomes clear that someone is setting up a ritual that could make the island explode, taking most of the Midwest with it if they succeed. Harry needs to figure out who is planning to target the island and stop them, as well as decide what to do about Mab's command, all in the next 24 hours. It's good to have deadlines, right?

By now, I'm pretty much in these books for the long haul. Jim Butcher has me hook, line and sinker and I am intensely attached not just to Harry (who it now seems very sure is going to survive until the end - hey, he's even done a stint as mostly dead), but to the supporting cast of Molly Carpenter, Waldo Butters, Karrin Murphy, Toot Toot the faerie, Thomas Raith, Mouse the dogasaurus, the rest of the Carpenter family and the assorted werewolves. Luckily for me, most of the characters I love show up to support Harry, as they always do, even when some of them have issues with Harry's hiding the fact that he was still alive from them for months. He inspires loyalty and devotion, even when he needs help with some pretty insane situations.

With the amount of challenges and levels of danger that Harry's been facing in the last few books, I'm honestly not sure how Butcher is going to keep amping up the tension. He's going to have to scale it down again for a few of the future books, otherwise I'm honestly sure how much he can keep ratcheting up the tension. The danger levels and stakes seem to get higher with ever book, and there doesn't seem to be that much further he can go now. What was interesting to me, was how long Butcher has clearly been building the plot strands in the series. Like in several of the previous books, so many of the important event in this book called back to previous stories. In this, much of what happens mirrors or plays on events all the way back in book 4, Summer Knight, where we first really got introduced to the various Queens of Faerie and that side of the Dresden Files universe. As I have always preferred the books that involve the faeries more than some of the other challenges Harry has faced, this was right up my alley. As Harry is now the freaking Winter Knight, it seems likely that more of future books will feature more of faerie machinations, and I'm ok with that. I'm now also completely caught up, and have already pre-ordered the audio book of Skin Game, which is out at the end of the month. Then I guess I'll have to wait impatiently for each new instalment like the rest of the fans.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 42: "Songs of Love and Death: All Original Tales of Star-Crossed Love". Edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner R. Dozois

Page count: 468 pages
Overall rating: 3.5 stars

This is an anthology, where all the stories are focused around love and death. I know, extremely surprising, based on the title. I will write a tiny bit about each of the stories, and conclude with my general impression of the anthology as a whole.

Love Hurts by Jim Butcher -  4 stars.
See my write-up here.

The Marrying Maid by Jo Beverley - 3 stars
A young man needs to convince a reluctant woman to marry him in less than three days, or a faerie curse will kill him and everyone in his entire family within the year.

I liked the concept, and that the story was set in the mid-18th Century, which is a lot earlier than a lot of the romance I read is set. It was an interesting concept, it just didn't engage me a whole lot.

Rooftops by Carrie Vaughn - 2 stars
A young playwright has an encounter with a superhero, in a city where they are clearly not all that unusual. She starts to wonder if her seemingly workaholic boyfriend has a secret identity.

I liked the blending of superheroes with the more mundane, but the story didn't really go anywhere exciting. The only other thing I've read by Vaughn is the first Kitty Norville book, which didn't impress me much either. Based on these things, I'm not likely to seek out more of her work anytime soon.

Hurt Me by M.L.N Hanover - 4 stars
A woman buys a purportedly haunted house and all the neighbours start speculating about how long she'll last. Strangely, the woman doesn't seem very bothered by the ghost, and may have had an ulterior motive for buying the house in the first place.

This was a really effective little horror story with a cool twist. When I started reading it, I wasn't too thrilled, but then the story had a quick turn-around, and changed my mind entirely. One of my favourite stories in the anthology.

Demon Lover by Cecilia Holland - 2 stars
Fioretta, a formerly beautiful village girl, crippled and scarred in a fire, accepts the magical aid of a wizard without considering the price she'll have to pay. She finds herself longing for her old life, and the chubby village boy who proposed to her.

I had trouble entirely sympathising with Fioretta's plight, as she was pretty much in a situation of her own making. She wasn't all that hideous or crippled, and there was absolutely an element of TSTL to her character.

The Wayfarer's Advice by Melinda M. Snodgrass - 2 stars
A sci-fi story in which the crew of a small trading vessel find the rescue pod of the ruling princess of the galaxy, after a space battle that appears to have destroyed her entire fleet. The captain and the Infanta obviously have a history, and loved each other when they were still in the military academy, yet she had to marry someone else for political reasons. Now, with everyone believing her dead, they might have a second chance at happiness.

I don't tend to like sci-fi at the best of times, but the science fiction wasn't the main gripe I had with this story. There was just a bit too much convenient coincidence, and I never really liked either of the main characters (although several of the supporting cast, the crew on the trade ship, were cool).

Blue Boots by Robin Hobb - 3.5 stars
Set in the same universe as her Farseer and Wildship Traders trilogies, this story takes place in one of the more remote seven duchies. A young serving maid can't help but become infatuated with the handsome minstrel of the keep, even when there are rumours that the minstrel is in fact involved in some way with the Lady of the Keep. They go on one date, but then he goes with the lady on an extended journey, and the entire keep is abuzz with gossip about how the lady's coming back with an heir for the crippled lord. Heart-broken, the girl is caught in a storm, nearly dies, and loses her memory. Can she ever be reunited with her minstrel lover?

I like Robin Hobb a lot, and it was lovely to revisit her world again, if only for a little while. I did think that it was blatantly obvious that most of the gossip spread around the keep was malicious, and that our young heroine was a bit too prone to doubt her beloved. Still, considering Hobb has the first book of a new trilogy featuring Fitz and the Fool, coming out later in the year, this was a very nice warm-up to get me excited.

The Thing about Cassandra by Neil Gaiman - 4 stars
A man keeps hearing friends and family mentioning his first girlfriend, Cassandra, to him, and thinks back to his teenage years. He's extremely surprised to discover that she's looking for him, and wants to reconnect.

This was a really very strange story, but I liked it a lot, and it still pops into my head even weeks after I finished the anthology. I tend to think that Gaiman's at his very best when he's writing short fiction. I can't wait for his entry in the upcoming Rogues (also edited by George R.R. Martin and Gardner Dozois), which brings back the Marquis de Carabas.

After the Blood by Marjorie M. Liu - 1 star
I'm honestly having trouble remembering what this story was even about, because I skim-read the whole thing. Something about a post-apocalyptic future and danger and a dude who I think was some sort of vampire and a woman with woobly magical powers. His Amish-like family completely shunned him when they realised he'd turned into some supernatural creature.

Suffice to say, I didn't like the story at all, and can't be bothered to even skim through the collection to remember it. Based on this, I'm not going to be reading anything by Majorie M. Liu anytime soon.

You and You Alone by Jacqueline Carey - 4 stars
A prequel of sorts to Carey's Kushiel books, this tells the story of the epic romance between Prince Rolande of Terre D'Ange and Phédre's mentor, Anafiel. Because the framing narrative is set during the first third of Kushiel's Dart, there are some spoilers for that book, and anyone who hasn't read it yet (why haven't you, it's one of the greatest epic fantasy novels ever written!), should probably skip it and read once they've read the first book in the trilogy. I also don't want to give away too much of the plot here, as it is actually all pretty spoilery, but for a huge fan of Carey's Terre D'Ange universe, it was lovely to go back and revisit fairly minor characters and see how their stories fit into the greater whole.

I'm just going to reiterate - if you haven't read Kushiel's Dart, and you claim to like fantasy, you really should rearrange everything on your schedule so you can read it ASAP. You will thank me, I promise you.

His Wolf by Lisa Tuttle - 1.5 stars
A college professor in Texas falls in insta-love with a dude who owns a wolf. Turns out he's a drug dealer with shady connections, who's killed when he tries to give up his drug dealing (cause he loves her too - seriously they spend ONE afternoon together). The woman adopts his wolf.

Yeah, I wasn't too impressed with this. I hate insta-love. I really do. I refuse to believe that characters can built a viable and believable romance based on one casual afternoon together. This story didn't convince me of anything different. It was pretty dumb, in my opinion. Lisa Tuttle, you are unlikely to appear on my reading list.

Courting Trouble by Linnea Sinclair - 4 stars
Another sci-fi story where an intrepid starship captain reunites with her former best friend, who also happens to be a spy. They had a massive falling out when she felt he supported her cheating ex-boyfriend over her. Turns out he totally fancied her and still does. Now he they have to rescue her spaceship from being destroyed.

I'd only ever read Gabriel's Ghost by Linnea Sinclair before, and wasn't exactly blown away. To be fair, it was a monthly pick in Vaginal Fantasy, and the Grand Duchess of the bookclub herself, Felicia Day, admitted that they should have picked a different book in the series, as several of the others are better. Based on that promise, and this story, I think I would absolutely be up for trying some more of Sinclair's books. This was fun, had a convincing romance, a very cool heroine - and I'm always a sucker for a good secret agent hero.

The Demon Dancer by Mary Jo Putney - 1 star
A whole bunch of guys have died in the last twenty-four hours. A police officer with some sort of supernatural gift figures out that the deaths are due to a succubus being in town. She needs to be stopped. He works with the old lady "slayer" to bring her down.

OMG, this story was predictable and dumb. I could tell where the story was going from the first pages, and it didn't make me like it any more. The Guardians of the story clearly had extremely convenient powers for fighting evil, especially our hero. The romance angle was frankly rather skeevy, and the ending, which as I said, I'd seen coming from pretty much page two, just made me want to throw the book away. Mary Jo Putney, I've never read any of your romances, but based on this, you may be blacklisted now.

Under/Above the Water by Tanith Lee - 2 stars
I'm going to be entirely honest, I'm not completely sure I understood what went on in this story. There something about an ancient sunken underwater kingdom, and the betrayed ruler of such, and a heart-broken lady in a boat who witnessed someone drowning herself. The story keeps jumping, and the stories are clearly intertwined somehow, I should probably have read it more carefully.

I'm giving it 2 stars because it was nicely atmospheric, and I suspect I may have liked it more if I'd read it more carefully, and understood it more clearly.

Kaskia by Peter S. Beagle - 2 stars
A guy gets a strange computer from his brother-in-law with a number of keys you can't find on a normal keyboard. He starts interacting with an individual who may or may not be part of the computer, or exist in a universe somewhere else. His obsession with his new online friend starts putting his current relationship in danger.

This story was just wierd, and ended a bit strangely and sadly. I'm not sure I like the implications that were made towards the end of the story.

The Man in the Mirror by Yasmine Galenorn - 2 stars
A young woman moves into an abandoned old house, trying to recover from an abusive former relationship. She discovers that there is a man trapped in the mirrors of the house, the cousin of the man who used to torment her. Frightened at first, the young woman comes to find the man a comforting presence.

This was quite a sad story, and I felt a lot of sympathy for the heroine. I haven't read anything else by Galenorn, but wouldn't rule out trying something, as I didn't hate this story, by any means.

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows by Diana Gabaldon - 3.5 stars
Pilot Jerry MacKenzie is asked by a special operative to train for a secret reconnaissance mission. While practising in the highlands of Scotland just before All Hallow's Eve, his plane crashes, and he passes out after experiencing something inexplicable by a stone circle. He discovers that he is trapped, far away from his wife and son, and desperately tries to return to them.

This story is connected to events in Diana Gabaldon's An Echo in the Bone, book 7 in her Outlander series, and the only one I haven't read yet. I suspect this story will not have resonated very much with people unfamiliar with Gabaldon's universe, but as I know which character Jerry MacKenzie and his wife Dolly are connected to, and understand why this story was told, I found it a lovely expansion of the already existing story. I suspect I may have rated it even higher if I'd read the book it's most closely connected to, but that shall have to wait for later in the year, when I've finished my first Cannonball.

So those are all the stories. I tend to find that anthologies that feature multiple genres, and multiple authors, many of which write about already established characters, can be a bit hit and miss. Because in this case, most of the stories here that were connected to other series, such as those of Butcher, Carey and Gabaldon, were authors whose books I have pretty much all read and love, those stories worked really well for me. I honestly am not sure how those three stories would work for non-fans of the authors' books. As for a lot of the other stories, there were very few I actively hated. I read the entire anthology because it fit into several of my reading challenges, most prominently the Monthly Motif one. I also own this book in a rather gorgeous hardback copy, an anniversary gift from my husband, so it felt wrong to only read selected stories. In future anthologies of this kind, I may only dip in and read the ones that seem relevant to me.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 38: "Side Jobs" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 430 pages
Rating: 4 stars

This is a collection of short stories featuring Harry Dresden, and Jim Butcher introduces each one, explaining which collection it was first included in, or what purpose it was written for. I wouldn't advise anyone who hasn't read up to, and finished, at least book 12, Changes, as the last novella in the book takes place immediately after the events in that book, and it contains several spoilers.

This month's monthly motif is Short and Sweet, to read short story collection or anthologies. Which fit pretty much perfectly for me as I'd been thinking about reading the various Dresden Files short stories, but wanted to make sure I didn't get spoiled by anything in them. Having ascertained that the last story is set right after Changes, I felt safe to dive in. I'm going to summarise each of the stories briefly, with my opinion of it, then give my general thoughts on the collection as a whole.

A Restoration of Faith - a prequel to The Dresden Files of sorts, set before the first book in the series. Harry is still working to gain his PI licence, and has been hired to locate a runaway teenager. In the process, he runs into a vicious bridge troll, displays some of his ability to charm children and meets a young officer of the Chicago PD named Karrin Murphy, who discovers that there are more things out there going bump in the night than she had ever suspected.

It was fun to see Harry Dresden before he became "himself" so to speak. I'm not sure when it was written, but I suspect it was after Butcher had been writing the series for a few years, as Harry the tone is a lot more similar to the later books of the series than the first three (exactly the three I'm the least fond of).

Vignette - very short little story where Harry is pondering his Yellow pages ad and talking to Bob the skull. He muses on who he is, what he does and what he's actually trying to achieve as a wizard with a listing in the phone book.

A cute, but ultimately rather throw-away story.

Something Borrowed - originally included in the wedding-themed supernatural fantasy anthology My Big Fat Supernatural Wedding, this story involves complications during the wedding of Billy and Georgia, Harry's werewolf friends. Harry discovers that the Fae Winter Court handmaiden Jenny Greenteeth has kidnapped the bride and is masquerading as her, intending to kill both Billy and Georgia. Harry and Murphy have to locate the bride and stop the ceremony before Billy kisses his false bride.

I always like it when Harry and Murphy work closely together, because they make a good team. I also really like the presence of the werewolves, even though I found the book with their introduction to be less than thrilling. Once Butcher started fleshing out the supporting cast of the books and extending the world of Dresden's Chicago, the series got increasingly more enjoyable. It was nice to see them included as supporting characters in this story.

It's My Birthday, Too - originally included in the anthology Many Bloody Returns, which seems to collect birthday stories involving vampires, this story is set on Valentine's Day, which also happens to be Thomas Raith's birthday. Harry and his apprentice Molly travel to a mall on the outskirts of town to give Thomas his birthday present. Of course there is trouble, involving Black Court vampires bent on revenge.

I love Thomas, and think he is a very important part of Harry's life. It's not like Harry has a lot of family, and so what little kin he has becomes all the more significant. Here we see Harry once again trying to fight evil without innocent civilians getting hurt, or discovering too much of the supernatural world.

Heorot - first included in the anthology My Big Fat Supernatural Honeymoon, which, you guessed it is supposed to feature honeymoons of some sort, this story finds Harry's bartender friend Mac asking him to help locate a young bride, who's disappeared mere hours after her wedding. Also gone is a cask of mead. Harry initially wonders if the young lady just got cold feet and ran away, but Ms. Gard, Johnny Marcone's formidable security expert, informs him that a big nasty with ties to Norse mythology has abducted the woman and stolen the mead, and that she needs to be rescued promptly, or very bad things will happen to more than just the kidnapping victim.

Anyone who wasn't already sure that Ms. Gard was something quite out of the ordinary, here finds out just how old she may in fact be and who she really works for. I always liked Ms. Gard and very much enjoyed her and Harry fighting monsters together.

Day Off - originally from Blood Lite, a supernatural anthology with light-hearted and humorous stories, this shows us Harry Dresden on one of his rare days off, when he just wants to relax and prepare for a date. Of course, things rarely go smoothly for Harry at the best of times, and all manner of calamities occur, to the amusement of the reader.

This story has a guest appearance by Molly again, and some of the werewolves. It was nice to see that Butcher can occasionally do funny as well as snarky or dark.

Backup - this story is told from Thomas Raith's point of view, and shows how the vampire watches Harry's back, even when our wizard isn't even aware that he needs watching. Thomas is clearly part of some sort of supernatural secret organisation so secret that barely its own members know the identity of others in the group. He discovers that Harry, thinking he's helping a distraught mother rescue her son, is in fact being set up by a dark power intent on performing a dark and dangerous ritual. Thomas needs to make sure the boy is safe, the villainess is stopped and that Harry never even suspects the truth about what is going on.

It was great to get more insight into Thomas' character, and even more fun to see how one of the major supporting characters of the series views our hero. I tend to find that when authors of first person-focused series shifts the POV to supporting characters, like Ilona Andrews has done a couple of times, it's always enjoyable and fleshes out the universe of the series even more.

The Warrior - first appearing in Mean Streets, an anthology featuring supernatural P.Is (of which Harry obviously is one), this story shows us how Harry's good friend (and father of his apprentice Molly) Michael Carpenter is doing after the events of Small Favour. Someone is targeting Harry and the Carpenters, and it seems the reason is that they want to get their hands on the two holy swords Harry has for safe-keeping.

Michael has always been a steadying presence in The Dresden Files and is a genuinely good man. Harry has always seen himself as a lot more morally ambiguous, definitely defined more as within the shades of grey than a straight up good guy. Here he sees that he can have a steadying influence on his old friend occasionally too, and that there are more ways to serve the forces of good than he might have suspected.

Last Call - first appearing in Strange Brew, this story finds Mac, Harry's stoic bartender friend having been viciously beaten in his own bar, a place that's supposed to be neutral territory in all matters supernatural. Harry and Murphy investigate, aided by Molly, and discover that there is some form of wicked enchantment on Mac's micro-brewed beer.

Probably one of the stories in this collection that I least enjoyed, this was still fun and featured my two favourite women in the Dresden Files, Murphy and Molly.

Love Hurts - originally written for the anthology Songs of Love and Death, this short story has Harry and Murphy investigating a string of deaths, all involving couples, dead within the last few weeks. They discover that the common link between the victims is a fun fair outside of Chicago, and that the couples all died because of a malevolent love spell. Can Harry and Murphy avoid the love spell themselves?

The relationship between Harry and Karrin Murphy is a complicated one. There is clearly a spark of attraction between them, that tantalising will they-won't they?, but they don't want to mess up their friendship and professional working relationship. It's bitter-sweet to see a glimpse of what might be if they didn't hold back.

Aftermath - this story was written for this collection, and does, as I mentioned above, take place very shortly after the last pages of book 12. It's another story which gives us a new POV, this time from Karrin Murphy, possibly Harry's best friend in the world. She's trying to figure out what happened to him after they last saw each other, but her attention is divided when Billy Borden, comes to her and explains that his wife Georgia has disappeared, and that she's seven months pregnant. It's clear that dark powers are trying to establish a foothold in Chicago, and they are collecting supernatural creatures for nefarious purposes. Murphy has no magical powers, just her police and martial arts training. When working with Billy to save Georgia, it becomes all the more obvious to her how outclassed she is against supernatural threats without the magical aid of Harry Dresden.

I don't want to say too much about this story, as it's the most spoilery of the bunch, but even when it was sometimes painful to see the insides of her head (because of the context of the story), it was great to see the world through Murphy's eyes. I especially liked her translations from "Martian", the language all men speak and which she understands so well after a lifetime of working with them.

Frequently, I don't get as much out of short stories when they're collected in various themed anthologies. I much prefer reading them like this, where they help expand and give new insight into a fictional universe I'm already familiar with and enjoy. With very few exceptions, these stories were all good and added to my enjoyment of The Dresden Files. I think I'm ready to read the next proper novel now. After all, the new book is out at the end of May.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 32: "Ghost Story" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 608 pages
Rating: 3.5 stars

Spoiler warning! This is book 13 in The Dresden Files, and as such, NOT the place to start reading the series. It's also completely impossible for me to review this book without some spoilers of the previous book and some of the things that happen in this one. If you haven't read the book yet, GO AWAY! Go read something else and come back when you've caught up. 

This is the first book in the series since book 4 that I actually read, and didn't listen to in audio book, because James Marsters doesn't narrate the audio. I love the audio books, but they take me a lot longer to get through. I read this book in about two days. It felt strange, but by now, I can sort of hear Marsters reading in my head, so all the characters sounded the right way.

Harry Dresden is dead, having been shot and fallen into the cold water of Lake Michigan at the end of the previous book. He ends up in some sort of strange afterlife, populated by a lot of old law enforcement types and is given the option to solve his own murder, or bad things will happen to one of the three people he holds dearest. Harry the ghost discovers that while he doesn't remember six months passing, that's how long he's been gone. The events in Mexico created a world wide power vacuum and a lot of very bad people have crawled out of the woodwork trying to establish themselves in the wake of Harry's demise. In Chicago, scary heavies called the Fomors are trying to get a foothold and it's affecting both the living and the dead inhabitants.

As Harry is a ghost, he seeks out Mortimer Lindquist, an ectomancer, who can both see and communicate with ghosts. Mortimer's house is under siege from aggressive spirits and only after Harry helps a former ancestor of Lindquist's to defend it, does Lindquist agree to aid him in contacting his friends. It turns out that Murphy, along with a number of Harry's old friends, such as the werewolves in Will Borden's pack and Waldo Butters, are now doing their best to keep all manner of supernatural nasties, who previously stayed away thanks to Harry's reputation, from invading the city. Only after Harry's old apprentice, Molly Carpenter, who now appears to be living on the streets as a mentally unstable magic vigilante, shows up and uses her wizard's sight to confirm Harry's identity, do the group begin to believe that he's actually there. Since Harry's body was never found, it's clear that both Molly and Murphy had hoped he wasn't really dead, and both women are visibly distressed by the ide of Harry as a ghost.

When Lindquist is abducted, Harry has to add rescuing the ectomancer to his current quest of solving his own murder. He's also very concerned about Molly, whose magical ability has increased spectacularly in the months since his death. It turns out that an old enemy of Harry's is behind Lindquist's kidnapping, and if Harry can't figure out a way to stop this individual, the consequences will be dire for all of Chicago.

It wasn't like this book was ever going to be able to compete with Changes in terms of action and plot development, but it's still pretty significant in terms of giving us a more comprehensive picture of Harry's inner life. Harry spends a LOT of this book thinking about his past, and especially about his actions in the last book. We find out more about his early years, training with Justin DeMorne and the events that led Harry to the point where he is now.

Unfortunately, I think the first third of the book was really rather dull, and dragged way too much. Harry faffing around in the "afterlife waiting room" and Lindquist's house got boring real fast, and it was only when we got to see what Murphy and the others had been up to that I started getting really interested in the story. I would also have been quite happy never seeing the villain of the piece again, I never really cared for the character and didn't think that part of the book was particularly interesting.

I loved seeing the development of the supporting cast of the books, though, even if Harry's death clearly hit all of them incredibly hard. They've clearly refused to be broken, however, and have organised a very impressive supernatural resistance force in his absence. Molly, especially, has come a long way and I'll be interested in seeing how she continues to develop in books to come. Harry does indeed solve his own murder in the end, and I found both the culprit and the motive very interesting. In the end, I don't think I'm spoiling all that much by saying that Harry will not be a ghost for the rest of the series. His new role and title is going to mean some massive adjustments to the wizard. I suspect "mystery of the week" story lines are a thing of the past.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 31: "Changes" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 546 pages
Audio book length: 15 hrs, 28 mins
Rating: 5 stars

Spoiler warning! This is book 12 in The Dresden Files and pretty much every single thing that happens in this book plays on stuff that's been introduced in earlier books. There is NO way for me to review this book without spoiling events from earlier books, and frankly, parts of this one. This book is full of surprises, so if you haven't read the book yet, please skip the review. I would also recommend that you avoid all other reviews, and even the blurb on the back of the book until after you've read it. 

So this is the book where Jim Butcher clearly decides that Harry's life, despite the many dangerous situations he's experienced and the challenges he's faced, was far too harmonious and cushy and decides to turn everything not only upside down, but really shake things up entirely. By the end of the book, there are few things I can think of that haven't been drastically changed in some or several ways.

So it turns out Harry is a father. Susan Rodriguez, his half-vampire ex-girlfriend (who first appeared in book 2, Fool Moon) got pregnant after their last encounter (in book 5, Death Masks). She's kept the existence of their daughter's identity from him, and only contacts him when the girl has been abducted from her foster family by Red Court vampires. Susan and her sidekick Martin show up on his doorstep, and while Harry is deeply hurt and shocked by her news, he is eventually forced to admit that neither he nor Susan have lives where they can raise a little girl. Maggie (named for Harry's mother) has been taken by Duchess Arianna Ortega, who wants revenge on Harry for killing her husband. As Harry and Susan frantically search for their child, they discover that the Red Court vampires, who are allegedly proposing a peace treaty with the White Council of wizards, are in fact planning to use Maggie in a powerful ritual, which will kill anyone of Harry's bloodline.

Over the course of the book, Harry not only has to come to terms with the idea of fatherhood and the knowledge that he may not be able to rescue his little girl in time, but his office is blown up by Red Court vampires (turns out they owned the whole building and has been charging him unreasonably high monthly rent) and his apartment building burns down. Luckily, he'd stashed away most of his magical artifacts in the Nevernever before the FBI came to raid the apartment, but apart from that, he's left with only the leather duster on his back. He's left literally beaten and broken and is forced to reconsider everything he'd previously been willing to do, in order to get the chance to rescue his only child.

With Butcher literally tearing down Dresden's entire life around him, it's so satisfying to see that Harry has friends and family who are willing to risk everything along with him. This is a book that starts with a bang and just keeps on getting more and more extreme. Every time I thought things couldn't get darker, Butcher turned up the dial. This book goes all the way up to 11. I kept being surprised at the twists and turns it took, and the final act reminded me a lot of the final episode of Torchwood: Children of Earth in terms of emotional punch and the way it wrung me out. I must admit that I had, sadly, had the very end of the book spoiled for me  (don't actually read the back covers of future books in the series before you read them, they spoil a LOT), but after all the other stuff that happens in the book, I doubt I would have been surprised either way. In a book where so many other transformative events happen to Harry Dresden, the ending of the book was really rather inevitable. This book, more than any of the previous ones, made me realise why everyone raves so much about The Dresden Files. I suspect there is very little that can happen in future books that would keep me from following this series until the final book now. Brilliantly done, Mr. Butcher.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 26: "Turn Coat" by Jim Butcher

Page count. 545 pages
Audio book length: 14 hrs 37 mins
Rating: 4 stars

This is the eleventh book in the Dresden Files. You don't want to start with this one, there's far too much in the book building on stuff already established. I'd recommend anyone new to the books to start with book 4. The first three were a complete slog to get through for me. The audio book versions, read by James Marsters, are all highly recommended. 

Harry Dresden is extremely surprised when Morgan, the wizard whose probably shown the most animosity towards Harry in the past, shows up at his doorstep and asks for his help. Morgan has been accused of murdering one of the wizards on the senior council. He was found over the murder victim with the murder weapon in his hand, and there was six million dollars wired into his account just before the murder was committed. He knows no one would suspect him of asking Harry for aid, and he also knows that Harry may be the only one who can help him track down the real murderer.

Harry is hesitant to help Morgan at first, after all, the man has tried to kill him several times. He realises that for Morgan to have been framed, there must be a traitor high up in the ranks of the White Council and that's going to have farther reaching consequences than just Morgan being executed for a crime he didn't commit. Of course, by sheltering Morgan from the White Council, Harry is risking his own life, and that of Molly, his apprentice.

The idea that there are a number of supernatural entities and wizards who have set themselves up as an opposing force to the White Council has been slowly building over the course of several of the previous books in the series. Harry has taken to calling them the Black Council. With Morgan being framed for murder, it's clear that the Black Council have people infiltrating the higher ranks of the White Council and it's becoming harder and harder to know who to trust.

As well as trying to keep Morgan hidden from the White Council while he's attempting to clear his name, Harry also has to fight a scary Native American Skinwalker who has arrived in Chicago. When aided by his werewolf friends, the fight with the malevolent shapeshifter takes a terrible toll and later in the book, the creature captures Thomas. Harry has to ally with Lara Wraith to try to get him back.

I like that Butcher gave Morgan a bit more nuance, without changing him too much from the rigid and suspicious man we've met in earlier books. Always one for following the rules, even at great cost to himself, Morgan's outlook is pretty much the direct opposite of Harry's in many ways. It's also made clear to Harry, over the course of the book, how some of his actions the last few years and events in the previous few books might have been interpreted by others. He suffers losses in this book, some not as easily brushed off as others. Things are changing in Harry's world, becoming less black and white and a whole lot more complicated. I hope not all of the changes are permanent, that would make me very sad indeed.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 14: "Small Favour" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 437 pages
Audio book length: 13 hrs 50 mins
Rating: 4 stars

Harry Dresden still owes Queen Mab of the Winter Court two favours, and now she's come to collect one. "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone, head of the Chicago underworld and newly a baron in the terms of the Unseelie Accords, has been kidnapped by forces unknown. Mab demands that Harry act as Winter's Envoy in the matter and find him.

To complicate matters, the Summer Queen is sending warriors to challenge Harry. The Gruffs (yup, like the Billy Goats of the stories) keep showing up, each bigger and more powerful than the last to fight and possibly kill the wizard. Then he discovers who actually nabbed Marcone, and things go from bad to worse. The Order of the Blackened Denarius want to make Marcone an offer he can't refuse, and make him accept one of their cursed coins. Harry needs to find them and stop them before it's too late.

My reviews of these books are probably getting fairly repetitive. I'm still listening to the audio books, James Marsters continues to be a great narrator. By now the world of the Dresden Files is full of recurring supporting characters that I like spending time with. This book has appearances by regulars like Murphy, Molly and Thomas, as well as Captain Luccio of the Wardens and the two holy knights, Michael and Sanya (whose wry sense of humour is great). It's always nice to see Ivy, the little girl who embodies the Archive and her bodyguard Kincaid. Mab is wonderfully terrifying as always, in her brief page time at the beginning and end of the book, and I found the various Gruffs in succession to be a really fun touch. The various "nickelheads", as Harry takes to calling the demonic Denarians really let Butcher cut loose with the gruesome descriptions. They clearly come in all manner of horrible and nearly invincible varieties.

I like that the books appear to take place almost in real time, with the characters changing organically. This book takes place about a year after the last one, and over the course of the book, there are several developments that could have serious consequences further down the line. Harry keeps being completely oblivious to the fairer sex, to Thomas' great dismay, but toward the end, things are looking promising for him on the romantic front.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR6 Book 3: "White Night" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 452 pages
Audio book length: 14 hrs and 13 mins
Rating: 4 stars

Chicago wizard and now a Warden of the White Council, Harry Dresden, gets called in by his friend Sgt. Karrin Murphy (she got demoted after helping Harry out in the last book) to look into a series of mysterious deaths. A lot of women have been found dead around Chicago, in what appears at first glance to be suicides, but Murphy and her team at Special Investigations can tell something is off, and Harry finds magically hidden writing that suggests the women have been killed because of their magical abilities.

As Harry begins to investigate, he starts to understand why he's not heard anything about these mysterious disappearances before. A lot of the dead women were last seen with a tall man wearing a grey cloak (just like the Wardens wear!) and others with a thin, dark-haired, attractive man, fitting the description of Thomas Raith, White Court vampire and Harry's half-brother. The fact that Thomas has been even more distant than usual lately and isn't answering Harry's calls isn't helping.

As well as trying to figure out who the identity of the serial killer, or possibly killers, and trying to clear his brother's name (because Harry is convinced his brother is innocent), Harry is trying to teach his apprentice Molly Carpenter control and self-restraint. She's excellent at hiding herself behind magical veils, and keeps trying to countermand Harry's orders and sneak along on missions she should stay away from.

I'm pretty hooked on this series now, and James Marsters keeps being an excellent narrator. Having now discovered that with the Audible app, I can play the audio books at 1.5 speed, reducing the time I spend listening (my main problem with audio books is that if I was just reading the book myself, it would be so much FASTER), but I still get full enjoyment out of them. The world building is pretty much established, and Harry's no longer a loner, trying to manage everything on his own, and as a result, is much more fun to read about. All long running serials like this become a bit like a good TV show. You don't just tune in to see what happens to the main character, the supporting cast is just as important. Murphy, Thomas and Molly are all great at keeping Harry grounded, and the conversation Murphy has with Harry about his increasingly tenuous control on his anger has been a long time coming.

At this rate, going through one or two of them per month, I have just enough credits saved up to be able to catch up in time for book 15's release in May. Then I can start impatiently waiting for new books with the rest of the world.

Crossposted on Cannonball Read.

#CBR5 Book 145. "Proven Guilty" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 479 pages
Audio book length: 16 hrs, 16 mins
Rating: 4 stars

Harry Dresden is now one of the wardens of the White Council of wizards, and he's about as thrilled about it as many of the wizards on the council are about him being recruited. Harry's asked to look into rumours of black magic in the Chicago area, and his mentor, Ebenezer McCoy, also requests that he enquire with his faerie contacts about why the Fey Courts are refusing to involve themselves in the conflict with the Red Court of vampires, even after the vampires broke into faerie territories in the Nevernever.

Harry still owes Mab, the Winter Queen, two favours, and his dealings with the Fey never really turn out in his favour. Lily, the new Summer Lady (youngest of the three Summer Queens) owes him a favour, but neither she nor Fix, the Summer Knight, can directly answer Harry's questions, or aid him, due to a compulsion laid on them by Titania, the Summer Queen, who's not exactly one of Dresden's biggest fans. Getting the answers McCoy wants isn't going to be easy.

The possible black magic use he's been asked to investigate seems connected with mysterious attacks at a horror movie convention. Molly Carpenter, the teenage daughter of Harry's friend Michael, comes to him for help. Her boyfriend is the chief suspect after a man was viciously attacked in a bathroom, but claims he's innocent. Shortly after Harry arrives at the convention to investigate, a number of people are attacked by a seven foot tall assailant who looks just like the killer in the slasher flick recently screened. An assailant who dissolves into ectoplasm when hit with a power burst from Harry's staff. It becomes clear that the ghostly entities can take physical and deadly form, and they feed on fear. Harry needs  how Molly Carpenter and her friends are connected with the case, who is summoning the monsters, and how he can stop them before more people die.

I'm a sucker for the wicked faeries, and Butcher's faeries are always ambiguous and difficult to trust, no matter what side they're purportedly on. Hence I like the books involving Fay machinations more than the ones about White Council business. Here the two sort of intertwine, but neither are the central issues in the book. It was very nice to meet the Carpenter family again, and as there's always a substantial period between each of the Dresden Files books, Molly has grown up quite a bit since the last time Harry and the readers met her. Just because she's older doesn't necessarily mean that she's all that wise, though, and she clearly has a lot of developing left to do.

Michael is away on a mission for much of the book, but his wife Charity, always so very critical of Harry, plays an important part instead. It becomes clear why she's so very suspicious of Dresden, and worried about his involvement with her family, and she really gets a chance to shine. The book also sees Thomas finally move out of Harry's apartment, having apparently found a job and lodgings elsewhere, although he's being very mysterious about the whole thing. I really like Thomas as a character, and hope that he'll not become relegated back to being a minor supporting character, just because Harry gets his apartment to himself again.

#CBR5 Book 144. "Dead Beat" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 435 pages
Audio book length: 15 hrs, 14 mins
Rating: 4 stars

It's nearly Halloween (Harry's birthday) and Harry Dresden is less than thrilled to discover that his friend Police Lieutenant Karrin Murphy is going off to Hawaii with another man. He's even less thrilled when Mavra, an extremely powerful vampire of the Black Court, who he hoped they'd managed to kill in Blood Rites, turns out not to be dead and is blackmailing him with Murphy's involvement in the case unless he helps her. If Harry doesn't find something called the Word of Kemmler in three days, Mavra will make sure Murphy's career is ruined, and that she may very well face criminal charges because of aid she gave Harry on a mission against the Black Court vampires. Harry obviously can't let that happen, and so he has no choice but to agree to the vampire's demands.

Turns out the Word of Kemmler is a book, the last writings of a very powerful and very dangerous, now dead, necromancer and whoever possesses the book will gain access to terrible powers. Harry's not the only one looking for the Word. Three of Kemmler's former apprentices are in Chicago, wanting the to be the first to find the book and become the most powerful necromancer of them all. While Mavra claimed Harry wasn't allowed to tell anyone about his mission, over the course of the story, he is aided in his quest by his half-brother/current roommate Thomas, and polka obsessed forensic scientist Waldo Butters.

Hordes of zombies, wanton destruction of property, the possibility of Harry possibly getting a date with a cute bookstore clerk, a polka suit, Harry's awesome dog Mouse, evil necromancers, other wizards - some judgemental and disapproving of Harry, others charming and cool - are just some of the elements that make up this book. I'm now well and truly hooked on the series, and so glad I got an Audible account so I can keep listening to Marsters' excellent narration of them. It's nice to see Harry having friends and supporters, as he was a pretty uninteresting character as a loner in the first books. It's also been hinted for a while that Harry likes Murphy a bit more than just as friends, so him finally acknowledging that he was jealous about her going on holiday with someone else is a promising start. I also like that he doesn't spend too long brooding about it, though, but allows himself to flirt a bit with someone else. I can't really say what my favourite bit was in this book, because it would be a massive spoiler - but let's just say that I heartily approve of Harry's way of circumventing the White Council's laws about necromancy, it was a super awesome way to save the day.

#CBR5 Book 132. "Blood Rites" by Jim Butcher

Page count: 439 pages
Audio book length: 13 hrs and 11 mins
Rating: 4 stars

Harry Dresden, Chicago's only consulting wizard, is asked by his White Court vampire friend, and sometime ally, Thomas Raith to help a movie producer who seems to be the target of a death curse. As Thomas has aided Harry in the past, and even saved his life, Harry can't really refuse, but he demands payment both from the client and Thomas, in the form of information about why the vampire has been helping him, sometimes even at the risk of Thomas' own life. But how will Harry react to the truths that Thomas is so reluctant to share?

It turns out that the movie Harry is supposed to act as supernatural security on, and pretend to be an production assistant on, is a porn flick, which everyone of his acquaintances seems to find hilarious. The job quickly turns a lot more dangerous than Harry had expected, with the vicious death curse striking twice a day, affecting anyone close to Genosa, the director. It quickly becomes apparent that Thomas and the rest of the Raith family are more closely connected to the imperilled movie production that Thomas let on, and because Harry's life never seems to be complete unless multiple parties are trying to kill him, the powerful and vengeful Black Court vampire Mavra is determined to end him, one way or another.

One of the central themes in Blood Rites is family - the stress, grief and conflict having one can cause, and the void that not being part of one causes. Karrin Murphy happily agrees to come vampire hunting with Harry, especially if they can schedule it to the Saturday when the Murphy clan are having their annual barbecue in Chicago. She knows her younger sister is bringing her new fiancee, and feels that her mother is constantly disappointed in her, so would rather avoid going than having to face her family. During his work on the movie set, Harry is introduced to two of Thomas' sisters, with the younger, Inari, seemingly completely unaware that her entire family are White Court vampires. All the various family conflicts makes Harry all too aware that he is entirely alone in the world, with no living kin at all.

I'm really glad I stuck with the series now, and thanks again to the amazing Narfna/Ashley for suggesting I try the audio books. James Marsters is a really good narrator, and after the revelations and developments in this book, I'm probably hooked for good. Harry has really grown on me as a character, I was really glad to get more Thomas (yet another urban fantasy character with a messed up family life) and after seeing a little of what's going on in Murphy's immediate family, I'm not sure Harry should be so upset that he doesn't have a lot of close relatives. I'm trying to pace myself a bit with these (I have a limited number of Audible credits, after all), but I suspect I will average a book a month until I'm caught up, and Butcher will be added to the list of authors I hope will write and publish books faster.