Reviews

Proven Guilty by Jim Butcher

d3vilxl3gacy's review against another edition

3.0

Again Dresden shines with his friends. This entry very enjoyable over all and so many extras being part of the main plot was great. I can't help but think the council is being portrayed a bit too moustache twisting evil just because they apparently don't like Dresden but whatever, I've come to realize he's a poster child for unreliable narrator so that has to be some of it. Now if we could just stop being told he hadn't been with a women every couple chapters that would be great. That being said his and Murphy's Jr high relationship is wonderfully cringey to see play out and I felt Thomas's frustration with them in the last scene.

ericb237's review against another edition

adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Pretty fine. World building/broader narrative is far more interesting than the main plotline.

amirav's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.0

kcrawfish's review against another edition

4.0

These do keep getting better and better. Things are heating up. Yay for demons coming back to haunt you, old Fae Friends, and gaining an apprentice. Plus Michael and his family are in this one!! Love to see them.

tgispideys's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

subparcupcake's review against another edition

4.0

September 2014: Just finished a re-read of this, more than two years later, and laughed out loud when I read the review below. It's basically identical to my thoughts on it now, after the re-read. Not my favorite but I LOVED the aftermath chapters. Usually books read differently on re-reads.. I guess this one read the same for me.

March 2012: Another funny and addicting addition to the Dresden Files series. Not my favorite of the lot, but not my least favorite either. I will say this though.. I loved the last few chapters. Really liked the story as a whole, but loved the aftermath chapters. I can't wait to see where the story goes from here! I'll be starting [b:White Night|91475|White Night (The Dresden Files, #9)|Jim Butcher|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1309552288l/91475._SY75_.jpg|1254936] soon. As in now. I have no doubt that it will be just as good, if not better, than this one.

yulia23's review against another edition

4.0

Solid 4/5
Not bad! Fast-paced as usual, interesting, full of adventures and mysteries, more world building. All of running around with the monsters wasn't too interesting though, and got tiresome having Dresden fight them every time.

Summary:

Spoiler

* Dresden gets entangled with another black magic
* Dresden meets Molly (daughter of Michael)
* Scary monsters appear and fear + kill people
* Crane is set up as patsy
* Molly was the one as the dark practitioner + monsters take her away
* Dresden with others rescue Molly from Faerie Winter fortress
* Dresden takes on Molly as apprentice (almost makes a pass at her too, why?)
* lots of bad stuff happening = a large organization in charge of it all??

celtic_oracle's review against another edition

4.0

Bits of the ending seemed just a little too pat, but it didn't stop me from wishing I never had to put the book down.

joshrrei's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

theliteraryapothecary's review against another edition

fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Book 8 in The Dresden Files 

Recently drafted into the White Council, Harry Dresden is dispatched to investigate rumors of black magic. Dresden soon discovers that there is a lot more in play including possible supernatural assaults and monsters that feed on fear. 

I loved everything about this book. It may be my favorite so far. 

CAWPILE breakdown: 

Characters: 8.5 - I loved seeing the development of some characters and more background info on others. Charity is badass. Yes, Harry still has the male gaze thing but I most often see men complain about that so ... I think it gets better in each book - it also helps that the females get stronger. 

Atmosphere/Setting: 9 - Not only did we get to see more of Chicago, but we also saw some of Dresden's magic lands -- and the atmosphere shift when we got there was spot on. 

Writing Style: 8.5 - I continue to love and enjoy Butcher's writing stlye. It's not perfect, but it's enjoyable to me and develops, grows and getts better in each book. 

Plot: 8 - We almost had two plotlines going on here: one at the beginning and one in the second half. They were tied together (especially when you got to the end) to form one semi-loose plot. 

Intrigue: 10 - Just as with most Dresden books, the intrigue for me was dialed way up, especially with new places and information being revealed. 

Logic/Relationships: 9.5 - In terms of Dresden books, Proven Guilty (in my opinion) did the best with logic and relationships. Everything made sense (especially the fear monsters) and the relationships developed so well. (Some people may bring up a certain situation that happened in this book which I won't go into detail here because of spoilers but to me - that was Butcher showing the honesty of Harry; it was Dresden's thoughts that we heard, sure it could have been handled better but it also could have been a lot worse if Dresden wasn't a man with some morals.) 

Enjoyment: 10 - Truly enjoyed this book. 

CAWPILE Total: 63.5/7 = 9.0 = 5 stars