J's Pages

by Jim Butcher

Micro review: "Harry Dresden has PTSD." As would anyone after the events of the previous Dresden Files novel. But is that really what I want to read when I want to escape into a book for a while? Turns out my answer is ambiguous. While I want the characters in this series to have a "happily ever after", I also enjoy that the characters have grown and changed over the span of time. So in the end, I was satisfied with the book even if there was a part of me that would have liked a magic reset somewhere along the way.

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by Jim Butcher

First read in May 2010.

Waiting Room Material
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by Jim Butcher

So I checked out the next Dresden Files book since it was already in the house and I had no good reason not to read it once I finished Peace Talks. As you might guess from the title, Harry goes to war. To put it succinctly, I didn't like it. Somewhere along the line, the Dresden Files stopped being fun. Or at least that's how I'm remembering it. I like action, even with a bit of death and destruction, as long as I get a happy ending and don't have to think too deeply about it afterwards. This book delivered on the former, but lacked the latter. The events in the story, like the ones in Changes, left scars in the characters and milieu of the series. Of course, that's a credit to Mr. Butcher, who is not writing some shallow comic book tale. Also to his credit, I enjoy his writing and the character of Harry Dresden so much that I will be checking out the next book in the series, because I need to know what happens next.

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by Jim Butcher

In this installment of The Dresden Files, the latest big bad, the undersea nation called the Fomor, has requested a convocation with the other powers of the supernatural world. This demands Harry Dresden's attention because, a) it's being held in Chicago, Harry's hometown, b) in his role as a warden of the White Council of Wizards he has to provide security for their Senior Council members, and c) as the Knight for the Winter Court of the Fae he has to attend to the Winter Queen. Since this is a story of The Dresden Files, things don't go according to plan, hijinks ensue, and there is property damage. I found the book enjoyable, as usual, but again I had to struggle to recall the back stories of multiple characters. The cliffhanger ending wasn't particularly satisfying, but I am planning on reading the next volume, so it must have been good enough. Check it out! 

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by Jim Butcher

This one's the first book in The Codex Alera. I had been hesitant to pick this one up, as I was fearing it might just be a reworking of The Dresden Files with different names and a different setting. Thankfully that's not the case.

Furies of Calderon is set in a fantasy word which includes creatures called furies. A fury is an elemental spirit that can control a particular "element"--earth, air, water, fire, metal, and wood. Some humans in the realm of Alera can link up and control one or more of these furies with varying degrees of ability. The story follows a young man, Tavi and his family who discover a plot by some renegade Alerans to assist the savage Marats in attacking the Valley of Calderon. Tavi is one of the people who can't control any furies, but his handicap doesn't prevent him from acting with courage to defend his homeland. 

The story contains other characters' plotlines as well, woven together in an entertaining adventure. Which is good, because some of those plotlines are left open ended and I hate to be wondering what happened next in a mediocre book.  

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by Jim Butcher

This one's a collection of short stories featuring the wizard detective Harry Dresden. They fit into various moments of The Dresden Files' chronology, from a tale of Harry Dresden's training as a private investigator to a story set immediately after the events in the novel Changes. The stories are entertaining, skewing more towards the humor than the crises of the novels. (The last story, "Aftermath", being a notable exception.) It's a good tome for a Harry Dresden fan to have on the shelf for whenever they want a quick foray into Mr. Butcher's fantasy world. 

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by Jim Butcher

I didn't like this one at first, but it grew on me as the story progressed. It's book eleventy-something of The Dresden Files and began with a lot of references to past adventures—people and events I had either forgotten or only hazily recalled. The scenario is that Harry Dresden, the wizard who is currently the Winter Knight sworn to serve the Faerie Queen Mab, has been lent out to an archdemon to help him rob the vault of Hades. Strike two. Harry Dresden has never been a paragon of virtue, but the thought of him making even more compromises with the forces of evil was unpleasant. However, Mr. Butcher managed to surprise me and pull a number of light moments into a dark situation.

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by Jim Butcher

Alas, I've reached the point where I need a scorecard for The Dresden Files. Cold Days picks up the story of Harry Dresden as he is recovering from being mostly dead. He is in the world of the faerie, in the court of the Winter Queen. He has taken on the mantle of the Queen's Winter Knight and the story follows his first assignment. Like the rest of the tales of the series, Harry brings a down-to-earth humor to his adventures in the exotic worlds of the supernatural. This book also refers to a number of those previous adventures, recalling old characters that I had frankly forgotten. Despite that handicap, Cold Days was an enjoyable read.

Waiting room material for a chilly day.
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by Jim Butcher

Harry Dresden has has had to work under difficult circumstances before, but none of them seem quite as challenging as being dead. Ghost Story begins where the story should end--the death of the protagonist. This being an urban fantasy, however, we instead get an adventure with Harry the ghost. After a brief visit to the afterlife, Harry goes back to Earth to try and find his murderer and prevent the forces of evil from preying upon three of his friends. He finds that a number of months have passed and things have gotten rather grim since his last adventure. With typical Harry Dresden determination, creativity, and dumb luck he manages to overcome the handicap of being a spectre and help save the day. At the end, he goes on to his Eternal Reward... well, maybe it would be more accurate to say he goes on to What's Next.

Overall, the story was okay. It wasn't a satisfying sequel to the previous novel, Changes, mainly because it didn't offer a happy ending. After the all out war in that book, I was hankering for a return to "normalcy". That didn't happen. Ghost Story was probably very realistic in that sense. As far as its quality as a Dresden Files novel, it was pretty typical. You've got to love the characters and the mystery unfolds well. For fans of the series, it's worth checking out.

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by Jim Butcher

In this volume of The Dresden Files, Jim Butcher tries to shake things up a bit. On the first page, Harry Dresden finds out he's a father. Of course, the surprise is not as simple as that. He also finds out that his child is six years old and has been kidnapped. This makes the situation more dire than Harry's past adventures. It makes him push harder, suffer more, and cross some lines to try and rescue the kid. In the process, secrets are revealed and some of the familiar elements elements of the series are changed forever. Well, maybe not forever, this being in a fantasy series. But I digress. All in all, it wasn't my favorite Dresden novel, but it did disrupt the status quo and got me wondering what Mr. Butcher is going to do in the next installment.

It was waiting room material, but good waiting room material.
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by Jim Butcher

In the world of The Dresden Files, Harry Dresden is not a popular fellow. At least among the wizarding community, that is. The White Council of Wizards seek to protect the world from dark magic--setting specific rules for magic's use. It strictly enforces those rules, enforced by the Wardens, threatening harsh penalties for those who would violate them. Harry, unfortunately, was orphaned and was originally mentored by a dark wizard. He narrowly missed being executed for his upbringing and although pardoned, has been held in suspicion ever since. A number of wardens watch him carefully, waiting to pounce the moment he screws up. Harry, of course, holds the strict enforcement of the laws in disdain and often dances on the line in his pursuit of true justice. And then one day, one of the veteran Wardens, Morgan, Harry's arch nemesis on the White Council, shows up asking for help. It seems he's been falsely accused of murdering one of the senior members of the Council...

My practice in reading The Dresden Files has been to pick up the next volume ever few months or so. Rather than getting a list and shopping for that novel, I've been snagging a copy at the used book store or at library sales. I usually consult whatever novel is on the shelf to find out the title of the book I want. As a result, I read the book jacket description for this one years ago. I've been looking forward to reading it. At first I was underwhelmed. Even the best series fall into formula after a few novels and Turn Coat was proving that. But as I got further into the book, I began to enjoy it more and more. As much as Harry Dresden is an outcast in his world, he has, over the series, accumulated a diverse group of friends and allies. It was enjoyable seeing some of these come together, one by one, to help out on the case. I don't know if Mr. Butcher has some overall message that he's trying to share in the series, but this spirit of "family" is definitely one of the core themes in the saga. Even in a mere sequel, it was enjoyable to see that played out.

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by Jim Butcher

This time out, Harry Dresden has ticked off Titania, the fae Queen of Summer. She's sent out her agents to kill him. In the meantime, Harry has to find the missing mob boss Marcone and unravel a plot by the Denarians, a group of fallen angels. It's all told in Mr. Butcher's amusing and engaging style.

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by Jim Butcher

I found this volume--nine in the series--more enjoyable than the last few books. The low-level magic practitioners of Chicago are being targeted by a serial killer who is very good at covering his (or her?) tracks. Harry Dresden tries to save the potential victims and find the killer, all while being hampered by the usual roadblocks he tends to encounter. You may want to check it out.

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by Jim Butcher

This eighth novel of The Dresden Files offers the first peek of Harry Dresden's new role as a Warden, an agent of the White Council of Wizards. He still doesn't see eye to eye with his new bosses and is now confronted with a challenge to protect the daughter of one of his friends amidst an invasion of fear-feeding creatures from the spirit realm. I had mixed feelings about the book. One one hand, it seems like the characters and stories are weighted down with too much angst and back story. As I struggled to remember all of the references I was tempted to just abandon the book and go reread one of the earlier tales. On the other hand, you gotta love Mr. Butcher's wit and his ability to write action sequences. So, yeah, I finished the book and will undoubtedly pick up novel #9...

Enjoyable waiting room material
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by Jim Butcher

An enjoyable read, but I've waited so long to write this review that I can't think of anything to say. Oh, yeah, I do recall that the absence of supporting character Karrin Murphy was keenly felt. But don't let that stop you from checking it out.

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by Jim Butcher

When I started this book, I was tempted to think that this was the volume in which The Dresden Files jumped the shark. I mean, really, Mr. Butcher--a puppy? Harry going undercover as a production assistant for a porn movie? It sounds like a sitcom episode on sweeps week. Anyway, the tale did turn out a bit better than I had feared. If this volume is somewhat lacking, it did seem to provide some long term character development.

It works for waiting room material.
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by Jim Butcher
  
Page turning waiting room material
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by Jim Butcher

check it out.
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by Jim Butcher

Enjoyable waiting room material.
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by Jim Butcher

As I read this book instead of The Grapes of Wrath, it occurred to me that The Dresden Files are literary potato chips. I just want to keep reading more and more and it spoils my appetite for more wholesome literature. Anyway, Fool Moon is the second book of this series about a wizard-detective. I have to admit, I enjoyed it more than the original. There's a rash of grisly murders in Chicagoland and Harry Dresden finds out about it belatedly. After the events of Storm Front, Harry's relationship with the Chicago Police Department's Special Investigations unit has cooled somewhat. It's only after the cops have been stymied for a couple months that Lt. Murphy finally seeks his aid. The mystery this time, in case you haven't guessed from the title, is werewolves. It was an entertaining read, though I think Mr. Butcher went a bit overboard in trying to include every werewolf legend he could find.

I put on my shelf anyway.
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