Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, Book 11) by Jim Butcher
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Book Reviews of Turn Coat (The Dresden Files, Book 11)
Book Review: The Hunt for Morgan
Summary: 5 Stars
Turn Coat (2009) is the eleventh fantasy novel in the Dresden Files series, following Small Favor. In the previous volume, Harry broke crystalline things and freed Ivy. The others fled in the chopper, but the Denarians appeared before Harry could escape.
So Harry blasted Tessa with fire and did a kinetic strike on Rosanna before fleeing like mad down toward the docks. Magog followed him, but Elder Brother Gruff took him out. So Harry sent the Gruff out for a donut and left the island.
In this novel, Harry Dresden is a wizard, the only one in the Chicago Yellow Pages. In the past, he has had many run-ins with the White Council, the ruling body of human magic users. Now he is a regional commander of the White Council Wardens.
Donald Morgan is a White Council Warden. He has been Harry's nemesis since the trial for black magic. For Donald, the White Council is paramount.
Molly Carpenter is Harry's apprentice. She was convicted by the White Council of using black magic, but Harry got them to give her another chance. She is on probation -- much like Harry had been -- but any more blunders on her part will probably result in both of them being executed.
Karrin Murphy is a Detective Sergeant in the Chicago Police Department. She had been the Lieutenant over Special Investigations, but one of her joint ventures with Harry had resulted in her demotion. Since SI was where the goofoffs were usually sent, she stayed in the division at a slightly lower level.
Thomas Raith is a White Court Vampire. He is also Harry's half-brother. His mother had an affair with Lord Raith and later delivered Thomas. Harry and Thomas have been trusting each other for some time now (see Backup).
In this story, Morgan is found standing over the body of Senior Councilor LaFortier with the murder weapon in his hand. The Wardens take him into custody, but he escapes and ends up at Harry's door. Morgan asks for Harry to hide him from the other Wardens.
All the Seniors know that there is a traitor within the White Council, but Harry cannot believe that Morgan is the turncoat. Morgan is too strait-laced to betray the Council. So obviously someone has framed him for the murder.
Harry cannot call a doctor to treat Morgan's wounds without alerting the Wardens. So he calls on the services of his friend Butters, the County medical examiner. When Butters tries to argue, Harry tells him to consider it a preventative autopsy.
After Butters has patched up Morgan, Harry goes out to get some medical supplies that he has left with Thomas. On the way back to his place, he discovers that he is being stalked by a skinwalker, a Southwestern American Indian nightmare. The shock of Sighting the creature forces him to abandon the Blue Beetle and walk over to the apartment of his werewolf friends.
The skinwalker follows him to the apartment and attacks his friends. Harry and the werewolves drive away the monster, but not before it kills one and severely damages another. After the ambulance arrives, Harry leaves to attend to Morgan.
On the walk back to his apartment, Harry is intercepted by Murphy. She has retrieved the medical supplies from his impounded car. Harry fills her in on the situation as she takes him home and then she helps set up an IV and antibiotic injection for Morgan.
Morgan and Molly don't get along very well. Harry keeps coming home to find them at each other's throat, with Mouse trying to keep them apart. Harry begins to wonder if Mouse is the only reasonable entity in his place.
Thomas helps Harry move Morgan to a new location. Then Harry receives a call for help from his brother. Harry and Murphy hurry over to the new hideout and foil an attempt to capture Morgan. But Thomas has disappeared.
This tale brings Harry into a direct confrontation with the White Council. Merlin does not believe Morgan is guilty, but is willing to sacrifice his loyal crony to keep from looking weak. Harry finds other allies among the Senior Council, but none are willing to defend Morgan from his accusers.
The only way to protect Morgan is to discover the turncoat that has been betraying the White Council secrets to their enemies. Harry is still persuaded that the traitor is part of the Black Council, but the Senior Councilors officially deny the existence of this opposition.
As usual, Harry is aggressive and sassy. The next installment is Changes. Read and enjoy!
Highly recommended for Butcher fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of magic powers, private investigations, and personal loyalties. For those who have not previously read this series, the initial volume is Storm Front.
-Arthur W. Jordin
Book Review: Turn coat, turning point
Summary: 5 Stars
Morgan has always been a major thorn in Harry Dresden's side. So of course, he appears on Harry's doorstep, half dead and convicted of murder.
But that's only one of the problems facing Jim Butchers wizard PI in the eleventh Dresden Files Book,. The aptly named "Turn Coat is half whodunnit and half magical thriller, with plenty of explosive magic, hard-nosed wizards, deadly conspiracy and plenty of grotesque monsters and vampires. What's more, Butcher pulls some brilliant plot twists out of his hat, including some that are sure to wrench the heart.
An injured Morgan turns up at Harry's door, hunted by Wardens and convicted of murdering Aleron LaFortier for the Red Court. Even worse, it's an airtight case against him.
But Harry can't bring himself to believe that Morgan could ever do something treacherous (even if Morgan is a big bottom-pain). His investigations take him on an unpleasant tightrope to vampire hangouts and the Council HQ, where he learns that LaFortier's death could -- if left unpunished -- lead to a very messy civil war between the weakened wizard factions. In other words, the Black Council is making a move.
And Harry has problems close to him as well -- a price on Morgan's head, the Binder's ectoplasmic hordes, and a chilling immortal monster of Native American legend called a naagloshii (skinwalker). When the naagloshii kidnaps Thomas and trashes the Raith mansion, Harry must find a way not only of saving his brother and Morgan from certain death -- but unveiling the traitor within the Council as well. Hard to do when everyone is very, very mad at you...
"Turn Coat" is definitely a turning point in the Dresden Files series, where the Black Council becomes a widely-known -- though not widely-acknowledged -- reality, and Butcher is clearly setting up a massive conflict. Relationships are shattered, alliances are strained, personalities are changed, a traitor is revealed and the White Council is more openly threatened by the Black Council. A few people even die.
And Butcher does a pretty brilliant job meshing together fantasy, political thrillers and Agatha Christie-style murder mystery. He fills the story with sharp dark-edged noir prose, fun dialogue ("Mission accomplished, my lord of pizza!"), and some literally explosive action scenes (including a pitched battle on a rainy magical island). But despite the dark, grim cast of the plot, Butcher doesn't forget to add some humor to the mix. Where else can you find a spell that uses Silly String?
What's more, he fleshes out the rather mysterious Council, and shows the motivations and sacrifices that it has been built on, as well as its reasons for being so strict and reclusive. The one problem is that the murderer is a bit obvious, and I expected someone a bit more... important.
Harry proves himself to be the right kind of guy simply by wanting to prove Morgan innocent, and by forging ahead with some really risky magic that even the Gatekeeper blanches at. But his quest for justice takes away some people that he cares about as well, leaving some terrible long-term repercussions for his brother Thomas. And Butcher takes great care to show that while Morgan is annoying and self-righteous, he's also strong and honorable. And once he was more like Harry.
"Turn Coat" also fleshes out the Council considerably, showing them more as real people -- the Merlin eats sandwiches, Mai is revoltingly rigid, and there are even bureaucromancers. And "Injun Joe" shows the incredible range of his power, as well as the sadness of his past. Butcher needs to show a bit more of this awesome old wizard, because he rules.
"Turn Coat" is a brilliant turning point for the Dresden Files series, as well as a painful series of lessons for Jim Butcher's wizard anti-hero. And the battle is hardly over yet.
Book Review: The end of the beginning
Summary: 5 Stars
Over the course of the last few books, the Dresden Files has been steadily upping the ante for our pal Harry Dresden. He has become a Warden, picked up an Apprentice, triumphed over Hellfire, captured the attention and respect of an Archangel and shown significant signs of growth as a Wizard.
Harry has grown so much that by Turn Coat, the series has really come full circle in many ways. In Storm Front, Harry was the suspected Warlock who had to prove himself to the Wardens, specifically Morgan. It was Morgan who had to pull Harry's butt out of the fire. Now, ten books later and at roughly the halfway point in the Dresden Files (according to info at his site), it is Morgan who is the suspected Warlock/traitor to the White Council, and it is Harry he comes to to pull his butt out of the fire.
Morgan shows up on Harry's door, looking like death warmed over and barely able to speak, but what he does say is like a bombshell dropping: he is a hunted man, accused of murdering a member of the Senior Council.
So begins the best Dresden Files book yet. Turn Coat is everything I expected, and more, it is everything I hoped for. It has been the worst kept secret of the series that a traitor was lurking in the highest echelon of the White Council, and the unveiling of that traitor is very well done. The highest compliment I can pay to Butcher is that he genuinely kept me guessing until he wanted us to know. The ultimate reveal is handled with complexity and a laudable maturity of authorship.
Many of the usual faces return for Turn Coat. Molly, Mouse, Thomas, Murphy, Morgan, Ebenezar, Luccio, the Alphas and Toot-Toot!! all have feature supporting roles, (though Ramirez is surprisingly absent since the book is so much about the Council) and of course, they are all as excellent as ever.
Other characters we have already met, but know little about, such as The Gatekeeper and Injun Joe, are explored in more detail. I do not know about anyone else, but this book is worth it for Listens-to-Wind alone. He is just an amazing Wizard, and I look forward to seeing him more in later books. Add in some quality Gatekeeper conversations and a real look at what just some of the Senior Council can do in action, and you really have as much Wizard action as ever before. And they are really only a very small fraction of the goodness that is Turn Coat!
Ultimately what I am most impressed by is how much Butcher is willing to change the "status quo". There are some major shakeups in Turn Coat, and somewhat of a change in direction for the series. As Bob the Skull says, Harry has really started playing in the Big Leagues. His power and abilities are increasing, but so are the threats he has to face, as the world around him is getting nastier and more perilous every day.
I compared Grave Peril to the second season of Buffy once, similar in how both characters really grew up all at once. I would compare Turn Coat to the fourth season of Angel: a movement away from the more singular storytelling and the beginning of piecing together the larger tapestry. Both characters somewhat outgrow their PI status, still utilizing the talents but focused more directly on the larger scale. Both face enormous powers behind the scenes as they are caught up in the whirlwind, losing friends and allies along the way, but they shall Not Fade Away.
This one has it all: good philosophical debate, fascinating new insight into some characters we thought we knew, moral and ethical quandaries that exceed mere "black and white" bordering into grey, killer action, quality one-liners and a deepening sense of maturity to the series as a whole.
418 pages has never felt so short.
5 out of 5 stars
Book Review: Harry continues to gain power and suffer losses and add enemies--and allies. TURNCOAT raises the stakes like mad.
Summary: 5 Stars
If you hadn't just totally loved Harry before, you'll love him by the end of TURNCOAT, and you'll wonder at his increasing cunning and wizardly smarts, as well as empathize for the suffering and losses he will endure in this 11th journey with him.
By now, we know that something majorly-major is in store for Harry's destiny. Hints got dropped in previous stories as well as this one. In the last one, we saw an angel take an active interest in empowering/aiding Harry. Now, in TURNCOAT, Harry gains a rather fabulous new weapon in his arsenal (and no, it's not another sword!). Hints about it were scattered in the stunning climax of SMALL FAVOR, and we see it begin to blossom here.
The gist of TURNCOAT is all in the title: Warden Morgan--yeah, the grumpy pain in ye butt who yearned many times to lop off Harry's head--is believed to be a, um, turncoat--a traitor. The other wardens are after him as he is to be executed. (A position Harry knows well from the series first books.) Morgan comes to Harry's door, wounded and with time-limited magic help to block locating him. Harry, who we know already has a huge heart, a heart bigger than his considerable sense of humor and wizardly skills, decides to help Morgan--at his own peril, of course, and as always happens, at the peril of those around him. This leads to a loudly ticking clock (48 hours) during which Harry has to deal with the White Court again, with a dreadful shapeshifting creature of immense antiquity and power, a thug with magical henchmen that are really creepy, with an unexpected love interest, with his continued responsibility for his apprentice Molly, with the paranoid and unmerciful White Council, and with a murder mystery that points to a greater conspiracy in magic-world.
As usual, Butcher is a master of ratcheting up tension, causing whack complications for our Harry, and making him have to really stretch himself to thwart his death and keep those he cares about alive. We mostly stick with Chicago, the NeverNever, and the Edinburgh headquarters of the Council, as usual, but there is a sense of increasing global activity and dangers. To my delight, Toots and the pixie gang is back in play. Love those pizzaphiles.
The word TURNCOAT is important in many ways in this story, which is a credit to Butcher's plotting and characterization skills, which get better with each novel. The ending will make all lovers of Harry a bit sad. Maybe more than a bit. But I shall say no more on that.
I really wish Jim Butcher could write at superhuman speed so the next novel were out in a couple months. It's a long, hard wait for those of us eager to see what Harry will do next...and will become next. He's formidable...and fun!
Big, big thumbs up.
Book Review: Welcome Home, Harry!
Summary: 5 Stars
Harry Dresden is one of those rare characters that feels like an old friend who comes to visit once a year. Every spring, I eagerly anticipate the arrival of the latest Dresden novel. The novel arrives, and I spend about 4 days catching up with Harry, devouring his latest exploits. We stay up late together as he tells his stories. Then, after I have finished reading, Harry has to leave, and I am sad, realizing that I will not see him again for another year. I so glad that author Jim Butcher has written such a memorable, comfortable, enjoyable character, and that he plans 20 total Harry Dresden novels.
TURN COAT is Dresden novel number 11, and it does not disappoint. As usual, Harry is in trouble, deeper than he knows. After years of being unjustly hounded and nearly killed by Warden Morgan, Morgan shows up on Harry's doorstep, needing Harry's help. It seems that the tables are now turned, and the White Council is after Morgan for a crime he did not commit. It is a very, very well planned crime, and every stitch of evidence points directly to Morgan. Ever the fair-minded one, Harry believes Morgan's tale, and promises to protect him and find the real killer. Harry knows that there is treachery within the ranks of the White Council, and Harry must figure out who the TURN COAT is before Morgan, and possibly Harry himself, are put to death.
One of the things that continues to truly impress me is how Harry keeps growing as a character. He forms new relationships, he learns new and more difficult skills, and he changes as a human being. Clearly, Harry still has some secrets, and Jim Butcher is slowly revealing them to us. In TURN COAT, Harry suffers several major losses; all traumatic, but one more devastating that the others, given Harry's history. Harry is such a well-written, likable character, that we truly feel for him and share his grief (and hope that Mr. Butcher has plans to resolve this loss). He also meets a new and valuable colleague in TURN COAT, and I hope that this new associate is here to stay. Many of Harry's old companions and enemies - including Murphy, Thomas, Butters, Billy, Molly, Luccio, Ebenezer, Injun Joe, The Gatekeeper, Lara Raith, Bob - do a turn within TURN COAT, and I was happy to see every one of them. Harry's signature dry wit and sarcastic humor are both present and accounted for, and in several places, I laughed out loud until my sides hurt. This really is Buffy meets Philip Marlow, as one reviewer put it.
I loved every word of TURN COAT. Clearly, the battle is not yet over, and this installment sets up the coming conflict with great flare. I already miss Harry, and can't wait for his visit next year. MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.