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nicosta_music's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
As much as I am ashamed to admit it, I genuinely enjoyed Grave Peril. It definitely kicked up the stakes from the previous installment of The Dresden Files, and I really enjoyed how it introduced more of the wider world-building within this series.
In terms of Harry Dresden and his misogynistic tendencies, he seemed to chill out a bit in this book when compared to the previous ones. I've come to expect that he'll start out every book by explaining to the reader how much he respects women (he does not, he's actually just a chauvinist as multiple characters tell him so) but after his opening monologue he starts acting relatively normal. Funnily enough, in Grave Peril I actually got more of a sense of author Jim Butcher's own internal misogyny withthe way that he treated Susan as a character. Essentially fridging her for Harry's own character development by turning her into a vampire was not the move in my opinion. I thought she was a really cool counterpart to Harry up until that happened.
More spoilers and trigger warning for the following:I also thought the situation surrounding the implied rape of Harry at the hands of the vampires was a uniquely realistic facet that isn't often found in the action-adventure genre. As a woman, I feel like most action-adventure writing centered around men seems to follow the mentality of "the worst thing the bad guys can do is beat me up or kill me," but the reality for so many women is that the worst thing bad guys can do to us is rape us and force us to live the rest of our lives with that trauma. I've never consumed another piece of media where a man has to face that same reality, especially not in this genre. Not that Jim Butcher deserves feminism points for it, but I just thought it was a sobering addition to Harry's narrative.
Overall, I thought this book was a really interesting addition to The Dresden Files because it started to explore more of Harry's fatal flaw, in that he has a strong sense of justice and is determined to always save everyone no matter the cost to him. I'm excited to see how the themes and world-building that were set up in this book continue to play out across its following installments.
In terms of Harry Dresden and his misogynistic tendencies, he seemed to chill out a bit in this book when compared to the previous ones. I've come to expect that he'll start out every book by explaining to the reader how much he respects women (he does not, he's actually just a chauvinist as multiple characters tell him so) but after his opening monologue he starts acting relatively normal. Funnily enough, in Grave Peril I actually got more of a sense of author Jim Butcher's own internal misogyny with
More spoilers and trigger warning for the following:
Overall, I thought this book was a really interesting addition to The Dresden Files because it started to explore more of Harry's fatal flaw, in that he has a strong sense of justice and is determined to always save everyone no matter the cost to him. I'm excited to see how the themes and world-building that were set up in this book continue to play out across its following installments.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Cursing, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Violence, Vomit, Pregnancy, Confinement, Medical content, Misogyny, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Death, and Blood
Moderate: Rape, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual content, Gun violence, and Body horror
Minor: Death of parent, War, Addiction, and Self harm
yknight's review against another edition
I have a couple problems with the Dresden books that I'm just tired of and won't be continuing the series.
First, the "man gaze" is just too much. Every single scene with any female character present has some description of her hips, legs, or breasts. Nothing graphic most of the time, but I'm tired of it.
Second, these books feel like Butcher is just setting up as many seemingly impossible to escape situations and then Harry magics himself out of it in an unforseen and unforeshadowed way. This book used "oh yeah have you heard of the headless horseman? Moving water makes stuff weak". It's just constantly pulling random stuff out of thin air to solve problems. Also the number of times that Dresden is described as having something happen to him that should outright kill him that he then just shrugs off is irritating.
I've heard the series gets better but it's just not for me.
First, the "man gaze" is just too much. Every single scene with any female character present has some description of her hips, legs, or breasts. Nothing graphic most of the time, but I'm tired of it.
Second, these books feel like Butcher is just setting up as many seemingly impossible to escape situations and then Harry magics himself out of it in an unforseen and unforeshadowed way. This book used "oh yeah have you heard of the headless horseman? Moving water makes stuff weak". It's just constantly pulling random stuff out of thin air to solve problems. Also the number of times that Dresden is described as having something happen to him that should outright kill him that he then just shrugs off is irritating.
I've heard the series gets better but it's just not for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual content
Minor: Pregnancy
nymreads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, and Torture
Moderate: Rape and Mental illness
sexualedward's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Misogyny, Death, Sexual content, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, Cursing, Gun violence, Sexism, Kidnapping, Rape, Fire/Fire injury, and Murder
Minor: Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Cancer, Grief, Stalking, Drug use, Religious bigotry, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Drug abuse, Gore, Pregnancy, War, Alcohol, Blood, Chronic illness, and Death of parent
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