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4.25 AVERAGE
4.25 AVERAGE
adventurous
funny
sad
medium-paced
I am in choc. I don't know how to rate it. I devoured it and hated it at the same time. If you are to turn around the series as much, why not just finish it? At the same time, we would say that Butcher created a new series with a main character looking a lot like Dresden.
Basically it is raging battles (which I hate and always pass fast) and a lot of endings.
Killing Murphy that way feels like an afterthought. No grand exit, no saving Harry's life one last time. Just drive a bike and try to help. Being killed by a stupid coward. Not a heroes death. Just a way to take the series in another direction. Like a lot of the action in this book.
Scratch the White Council as difficult friends, remove the grandfather, remove Ramirez put them in the 'against ' gang. Marcone begins to look nice, pitch him to the dark side. Remove Thomas quite easily too. Let's go in another direction the next time.
The new and not so new foe, Justine/Nemesis. Feels small after the last ones. We'll see.
Basically it is raging battles (which I hate and always pass fast) and a lot of endings.
Killing Murphy that way feels like an afterthought. No grand exit, no saving Harry's life one last time. Just drive a bike and try to help. Being killed by a stupid coward. Not a heroes death. Just a way to take the series in another direction. Like a lot of the action in this book.
Scratch the White Council as difficult friends, remove the grandfather, remove Ramirez put them in the 'against ' gang. Marcone begins to look nice, pitch him to the dark side. Remove Thomas quite easily too. Let's go in another direction the next time.
The new and not so new foe, Justine/Nemesis. Feels small after the last ones. We'll see.
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It really feels like this and Peace Talks should have been one book.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
reflective
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I couldn't even finish; I read a summary of the rest on a wiki. Murphy's death was just the last straw.
•I think this should have been cut in half and merged with Peace Talks. It was too long, full of a lot of repetitive battle filler, and really just a lot of repetitive moments in general
•It felt like Harry was repeating the same details over and over, in slightly different ways, every 10 pages
•Butcher brought back dozens of characters from all the previous books, but never did anything with them, which never stopped being frustrating
•The way [Redacted]'s death went down felt sloppy and rushed, basically tossing the character aside in a way that absolutely did not do them justice and really felt unrealistic despite being one of the more realistic death's possible in a series full of magic and monsters, which is probably why it felt so unsatisfying
•The amount of times we have to read about how horny the winter mantle makes Harry gets old REAL fast
•The whole book felt like a weird self-insert power fantasy and fell very, very flat as a result
Overall, this was an extremely disappointing read
•It felt like Harry was repeating the same details over and over, in slightly different ways, every 10 pages
•Butcher brought back dozens of characters from all the previous books, but never did anything with them, which never stopped being frustrating
•The way [Redacted]'s death went down felt sloppy and rushed, basically tossing the character aside in a way that absolutely did not do them justice and really felt unrealistic despite being one of the more realistic death's possible in a series full of magic and monsters, which is probably why it felt so unsatisfying
•The amount of times we have to read about how horny the winter mantle makes Harry gets old REAL fast
•The whole book felt like a weird self-insert power fantasy and fell very, very flat as a result
Overall, this was an extremely disappointing read
The only thing holding this from being five stars is that it wasn't unified with Peace Talks. Had that been true, it would have been an easy five stars.
The Dresden Files has long since moved away from the detective mystery novels earlier in the series. Now, the books resemble Marvel movies more than anything. For right now, I am okay with this. Battle Ground does what it does very, very well. Its a bit formulaic, but there were genuine surprises in this book. Jim's prose painted incredibly vivid and tense scenes of war, but was versatile enough to handle emotional moments with maturity and gravity.
The characters, barring one or two, are all at their best here. Those one or two aren't necessarily badly written, but they go through very jarring shifts that didn't feel justified. This is only really a problem at the end of the book.
Sometimes it felt like Butcher was dragging on, but then every new scene felt justified, well set up, well executed, and suitably epic. The universe of TDF greatly expanded here, and I am more excited to read future novels more than I ever have been. Hopefully the next one is a bit smaller stakes though, I need a break after this. Something like Skin Game would be nice.
Overall, if you are iffy on the recent shift in TDF, you probably won't enjoy this. Otherwise, you would obviously really like it and will probably read it anyways.
The Dresden Files has long since moved away from the detective mystery novels earlier in the series. Now, the books resemble Marvel movies more than anything. For right now, I am okay with this. Battle Ground does what it does very, very well. Its a bit formulaic, but there were genuine surprises in this book. Jim's prose painted incredibly vivid and tense scenes of war, but was versatile enough to handle emotional moments with maturity and gravity.
The characters, barring one or two, are all at their best here. Those one or two aren't necessarily badly written, but they go through very jarring shifts that didn't feel justified. This is only really a problem at the end of the book.
Sometimes it felt like Butcher was dragging on, but then every new scene felt justified, well set up, well executed, and suitably epic. The universe of TDF greatly expanded here, and I am more excited to read future novels more than I ever have been. Hopefully the next one is a bit smaller stakes though, I need a break after this. Something like Skin Game would be nice.
Overall, if you are iffy on the recent shift in TDF, you probably won't enjoy this. Otherwise, you would obviously really like it and will probably read it anyways.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
Complicated