My cover looks different. But it is Book Six of the Dresden Files. After this book the publishing company did away with the numbering system which I disagree with. I enjoy reading the series in order. Relationships change. Characters grow. References to previous cases and stoylines make more sense. As to this book in the Dresden series. It's not my favorite. Book 1 Storm Front was my favorite. I also enjoyed the previous book 5: Death Masks .
I liked how this novel started. Dresden is drawn into a bit of a magical murder mystery as a favor for his 'friend' Thomas - a vampire of the White Court and a snappy dresser. Women in life of Thomas' friend Arthro are dying is very bizarre unlikely ways. Who? Why? How? Dresden quickly determines that someone is throwing killer entropy curses. But who has it out the maverick film maker?
I thought this was a solid interesting plot and had enough steam to hold its own for the whole novel. But Butcher decides (once again) to add a second major stoyline, running simultaneously with Dresden's magic murder mystery. It's Marva the female vampire of Red Court gunning for Dresden with curses of her own. While Book 5 also had two major storylines running through the same timeline, I could handle that once. But twice? This is getting a little irritating. Everyone loves action packed stories, but planning one major battle for noon, and then assuming you'll survive that one, schedule another at dinnertime.... it's a bit much.
I enjoyed the revelations of Dresden's family tree, and the new branch that was added. learning more about Dresden's mother was an added bonus, since his abilities are obviously not from his showman father's side of the family.
Overall, it was a good book, but not one of Butcher's best efforts.
Grade: B-
McDoogle
PS. Your challenge: Find a branch in the backyard. Whittle it into a staff. Use it to scare the mailman on bill days.
I heard a lot of good reports about this series so I purchased the first book from Amazon (as I didn't think it was available in Australia, although I've seen some of the later books in store since). I enjoyed it, but it didn't meet my expectations. I don't think I'd pay full price for any more books, but I'd buy them if I saw them in a second hand shop (although that's highly unlikely).
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that Dresden did not met your expectations, Karen. While I still highly recommend the series, I would have to say that if you didn't enjoy Book #1: Storm Front, you'd probably feel the same about the rest of the series, as the themes, plots, and tone are in the same vein, and I think Book #1 is the best. I like the idea of a wizard for hire, although Butcher seems to veer away from clients dropping by the Chicago office in future novels. I also like the 'Peter Parker'-ness of Dresden. Despite his skill, somethings always seems to go askew. {maybe it's more of a 'Charlie Brown'-ness?}
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