Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, Book 6) by Jim Butcher
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Book Reviews of Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, Book 6)
Book Review: Fierce, Muscular Misdirection
Summary: 5 Stars
The wizard/vampire war heats up, but Harry Dresden, Chicagoland's only wizard for hire, still needs to make this month's rent. So when Harry's vamp ally, Thomas, lands him a job weeding out a curse on the set of a skin flick, he's happy for the pay. But he doesn't know that randy Thomas is keeping a secret. And not only Thomas: in magic land, it seems that secrets are the currency of the realm.
Jim Butcher's sixth Harry Dresden novel returns us to the taut, epic feel that made us fall in love with the series in the first place. After book five was overstuffed like a Christmas turkey, it's nice to read a fantasy noir in which not one word is wasted, every event makes our narrative world a little bigger, and the delicious tension never lets up. It's like the best of Raymond Chandler and Ursula LeGuin in one book.
One of Jim Butcher's writing virtues is his skill at misdirection. Like a good illusionist, he makes us look at his left hand while he palms a card with his right. At no point does he lie or withhold information, yet he constantly surprises. In this book, not only do we not know who the killer is, we don't even know the intended victim. Yet, when it is revealed, we can spot where the clues have waited for us all along.
Meanwhile, beyond the plot of just this book, we face the reality that great powers fight a war just outside our view. Bits and pieces of this conflict spill into the surface plot. As the two stories become braided, the story escalates. Though there is no war for all of reality in this book as in some past volumes, our story still packs a punch that lets us know that everything our characters hold sacred is on the line.
Harry Dresden is one of the few characters in current fantasy who has enough power to propel a series for nearly ten years. Jim Butcher doesn't seem to be tiring in his ability to produce fierce, muscular stories that join the best of fantasy with the best of noir mystery. And this book is a worthy entry in a series that is already immensely powerful and a very satisfying reading experience.
Book Review: The best Harry Dresden novel yet!
Summary: 5 Stars
No sooner does Harry Dresden escapes from one problem than he jumps into several more. He has agreed to a case Thomas, White Court vampire and incubus, wants him to solve. Various people who work at an independent adult film production company have died with what appears to be dark magic. The film producer thinks that someone is doing this to compromise his work. Now Harry has to work undercover and find the person responsible before more people turn out dead. To make matters worse, the Black Court of vampires want to get rid of him, he has made a deal with a no-nonsense killer, and his mother's past is revealed. And all of this goes on around the same time he reluctantly takes on a pet puppy. There are many twists throughout the novel.
I loved all of the interesting twists and turns in this installment. The reader finally learns some things regarding Harry's family. That is my favorite part of the novel. I also liked the fact that this offering centered is more or less on Thomas. I never thought much of him during past books other than the fact that he seemed like a fun vampire. I enjoyed the twists regarding the aforementioned character. Speaking of characters, there are several new ones in this book. I liked succubus vampire Lara and the other members of the film production. They brought a great deal of entertainment to the plot. Kincaid struck me as an Edward-type character (from Anita Blake) in which you don't know whether he's good or evil. The aforementioned character was in Death Masks, but he was further developed in this one. And I loved the twist regarding Thomas. He has become quite a compelling character. And then of course there are the old favorites, like Murphy and Bob. I also loved the language. The narrative and dialogue get funnier as the series progresses. I like how Butcher adds humor into the mix. Blood Rites is the best Harry Dresden novel to date. This series is right up there amongst my favorites. I look forward to picking up Dead Beat next month.
Book Review: Family Matters
Summary: 5 Stars
Harry Dresden, the only wizard/private detective listed in the Chicago yellow pages runs into some family problems in this, the sixth novel in the Dresden Files series. Rather ironic since Dresden is an orphan and his relationship with his girlfriend Susan has hit a serious snag - her being halfway turned into a vampire has caused a few problems. Still Harry has had to keep on taking on jobs in order to pay the rent. As the story opens Harry has rescued a litter of puppies from the demons who had kidnapped them. The mission seemed to have reached a satisfactory conclusion when he returned the pups, even if one had been inadvertently left behind in Harry's car. After all it shouldn't be all that difficult to send it on its way as soon as he got a minute to spare right? What Harry didn't realize was that the simple body guarding assignment for a film director would lead him in the path of the dysfunctional ruling family of the White Court vampires. Harry had met part of the White Court earlier, the vampire Thomas had aided Harry in the past for reasons that Harry could not quite understand. As if that was not enough Harry's lone ally on the CPD, Det. Murphy had her own family problems that spilled over into Harry's life. Harry's mentor, Ebenezar, the closest known thing Harry had to family even arrived on the scene to lend a hand. Before all questions were answered though Harry's world would change in ways that he never imagined possible.
The DRESDEN FILES are a popular series of urban dark fantasies set in Chicago and featuring Wizard Harry Dresden and his efforts to keep the magical world of the Nevernever from spilling into the mundane world. The overall story arc in this series is quite pronounced so for maximum enjoyment begin reading this at the beginning, STORM FRONT and proceed in order.
Book Review: Worth the wait
Summary: 5 Stars
I started reading this series late, so I was able to read the first five books all in a row. This was the first of the series that I had to wait for, and it was more than worth it.
If you haven't read any of the previous installments, then let me be the first to welcome you to the world of Harry Dresden, wizard for hire. I would strongly recommend that you go back to the beginning and start with "Storm Front" and work your way up from there. Believe me, it's a great ride. If you start with this book you should be able to get up to speed fairly quickly, but you may not understand who some of these characters are. Butcher does give a bit of backstory as he goes, but you'll be so caught up by the story that you may well miss the few details he scatters around.
The important things to know about this series:
Butcher is an above-average writer with an ability to tell a story that is well-plotted, fast-paced, moving, interesting, and more than occasionally funny as heck.
Harry is one of the most interesting characters to come along in quite a while. His backstory is satisfying but still leaves enough unanswered questions to keep the series going for a while. He is also, occasionally, a son of a b***h.
The world of this series is a place full of vampires, werewolves (a few different kinds of each) and lots of other things that go "bump" in the night. It is also full of heroism, honor, daring, and sometimes even love.
These books read like a mixture of Buffy, Sam Spade, and Terry Pratchett. If you don't know who any of them are, then you need to get busy because there is a lot of great entertainment waiting for you. And Jim Butcher's novels are a good place to start.
Book Review: Dark Magic Fun
Summary: 5 Stars
The ride continues for wizard/private investigator Harry Dresden. With his most recent adventure, "Small Favor", blasting its way to the New York Times Bestseller's list, his other adventures continue to grow in popularity. In "Blood Rites", Harry Dresden becomes more than just an intriguing character - he becomes an urban fantasy icon.
Fresh off a case involving demon monkeys chucking flaming poop, Harry is ready for something a bit more upscale than his usual fare. Of course, in usual, twisted fashion, he gets his wish: he's hired to solve a string of accidents on a maverick porn director's latest production.
Just when Harry thought life was getting dull.
Things quickly turn from embarrassing to deadly when Harry discovers he's been sucked into affairs way over his head. Someone has unleashed an entropy curse upon the porn mogul, but it's not attacking him; rather important women in his life. Women are dying, and of course - entropy curses are the worst things to unravel. That's not all, however. Somehow, White Court vampires - succubi - are involved, which of course involves Thomas, a white court vampire acquaintance who's shown an odd affinity for Harry as of late. Hidden there is a family secret that will change Harry forever.
Many urban-fantasies have sprung up in the past several years, but the Dresden Files continues to outshine them all. Harry is a delightfully rough, brusque character of surprising depth, accompanied by a razor sharp wit. Butcher writes with deft and skill, which should guarantee Harry Dresden a long future, indeed.