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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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:
Yes
This book was so good. I cried more than I care to admit. This book also made me so mad.
That character death mid book would have made me mad, sure, but they did her so dirty. She just killed a giant with a freakin rocket launcher! And Rudy with his poor trigger control... Seriously?! It was well telegraphed that he would end up shooting someone, but I kinda expected Butters. Not, this.
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
fast-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:
Yes
adventurous
dark
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, War, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Cursing, Gore, Grief, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Sexual content, Medical content, Death of parent, Pregnancy
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
I think this book is the one with the longest fight sequences in the whole series. It took me a while to get through. There have been chapters where I had to stop and read something else in the meantime, but overall I loved the book. At the end there are enough questions open, that I can’t wait to get my hand on another one. There’s no release date scheduled yet, but one can hope.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Wow. I have no idea how he’ll top this. The entire book was basically every climactic fight from every previous Dresden Files book all at once.
Not really 4 stars, but the short story at the end was good enough to make me round it round it up.
TL;DR Peace Talks and Battle Ground are parts 1 and 2 of the "Infinity War" of the Dresden universe (at least we didn't have to wait a year between the installments).
All the words... I met Jim Butcher at ComicCon shortly after Dead Beat came out back in 2005 or 2006 and I got a chance to talk to him for a few minutes because his line was short compared to Robert Jordan sitting next to him. I remember asking him if he was worried about the "power up" problem wherein the character has just defeated an enemy of X power and so in the next story he must deal with an enemy who is X+1 or 2X power so the main character keeps getting stronger and stronger and the consequences of the stories have to keep getting larger and larger to the point where the character is constantly saving the world from one book to the next. He didn't think so, he felt at that point that he knew where the overall story was going and that that wouldn't be a problem.
I think with these last several books, we've definitely gotten to that level where the "fate of world" is resting squarely on Harry's shoulders all the time (though Skin Game was nice in that it felt more like a traditional heist story, even with potential world shattering consequences). I find it a bit disappointing because I enjoyed the smaller, less massively consequential stories. Harry just a being the hometown wizard trying to good. Your basic Phillip Marlowe detective with a wizard staff, a talking skull, and some skeletons in the closet.
I'm also saving some trouble with this whole "starborn" thing, it feels like we're moving into "The Chosen One" trope territory.
Also, while I'm venting, when Harry is all guilting out about how everything is his fault and how he is guilty of for all these deaths and everyone is reassuring him that it's not his fault and that these things would have happened anyway... it is literally all his fault, and it can all be traced back to when he tried to back out on his bargain with the Leanansidhe back in Grave Peril. He failed to honor his deal and she took Amoracchius. The efforts to recover the sword result in Susan Rodriguez being turned into a vampire which more or less directly leads to the war with the Red Court and all the death and destruction that follows...
TL;DR Peace Talks and Battle Ground are parts 1 and 2 of the "Infinity War" of the Dresden universe (at least we didn't have to wait a year between the installments).
All the words... I met Jim Butcher at ComicCon shortly after Dead Beat came out back in 2005 or 2006 and I got a chance to talk to him for a few minutes because his line was short compared to Robert Jordan sitting next to him. I remember asking him if he was worried about the "power up" problem wherein the character has just defeated an enemy of X power and so in the next story he must deal with an enemy who is X+1 or 2X power so the main character keeps getting stronger and stronger and the consequences of the stories have to keep getting larger and larger to the point where the character is constantly saving the world from one book to the next. He didn't think so, he felt at that point that he knew where the overall story was going and that that wouldn't be a problem.
I think with these last several books, we've definitely gotten to that level where the "fate of world" is resting squarely on Harry's shoulders all the time (though Skin Game was nice in that it felt more like a traditional heist story, even with potential world shattering consequences). I find it a bit disappointing because I enjoyed the smaller, less massively consequential stories. Harry just a being the hometown wizard trying to good. Your basic Phillip Marlowe detective with a wizard staff, a talking skull, and some skeletons in the closet.
I'm also saving some trouble with this whole "starborn" thing, it feels like we're moving into "The Chosen One" trope territory.
Also, while I'm venting, when Harry is all guilting out about how everything is his fault and how he is guilty of for all these deaths and everyone is reassuring him that it's not his fault and that these things would have happened anyway... it is literally all his fault, and it can all be traced back to when he tried to back out on his bargain with the Leanansidhe back in Grave Peril. He failed to honor his deal and she took Amoracchius. The efforts to recover the sword result in Susan Rodriguez being turned into a vampire which more or less directly leads to the war with the Red Court and all the death and destruction that follows...
I love the Dresden files and Jim Butcher really took me on the rollercoaster ride I expected. As always it was so hard to put down