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A review by njdarkish
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
3.0
I had heard that the Dresden Files starts to go from decent to actually pretty good at around this point, and I have to say that I generally agree. I feel like this piece is a considerable improvement from the prior two books. The story was more interesting, and where relevant, scary. I very much enjoyed the addition of Michael as a character and I hope to see a lot more of him in future books.
But, this book still has most of the weaknesses of previous books as well. I understand that Harry isn't exactly the most reliable narrator, but even still I can't help but be bothered by how chauvinistic he frequently is, in spite of his claims of being so chivalrous. An example of this is that [medium spoiler] at the end of the book, when Justine is sent to Harry as almost a gift from Thomas, he states that the reason he doesn't sleep with her is because it'd be weird to share her with Thomas. Not that he's in love with Susan, not because it would be the wrong thing to do-- that it would be weird. Some gentleman. [/end spoiler] I guess it's just hard to keep cheering for a character who is honestly so skeezy at times. Also, this book continued to suffer from Butcher's apparent lack of range in synonyms. My wife (who I've listened to the audiobooks with) has expressed a desire to mail him a thesaurus with a bookmark on the page with the word "purr." Every female purrs everything they say, even a werewolf in book 2. It's getting really annoying. Plus, every time a female character comes into a scene (even if they were in the last scene) Butcher/Harry has to take the time to describe every sensual curve (Murphy may be the only character is isn't all sensual curves) and piece of attire. It feels like he's going over a checklist each time a woman enters.
So, as a whole I enjoyed the book, especially James Marsters' audiobook performance, but I hope the series actually shows improvement in writing as I've been hearing it does. A lot of people have said favorable things about the series starting from the next book, so I hope that their words turn out to be true, because I really want this series to reach the potential I feel it has.
But, this book still has most of the weaknesses of previous books as well. I understand that Harry isn't exactly the most reliable narrator, but even still I can't help but be bothered by how chauvinistic he frequently is, in spite of his claims of being so chivalrous. An example of this is that [medium spoiler] at the end of the book, when Justine is sent to Harry as almost a gift from Thomas, he states that the reason he doesn't sleep with her is because it'd be weird to share her with Thomas. Not that he's in love with Susan, not because it would be the wrong thing to do-- that it would be weird. Some gentleman. [/end spoiler] I guess it's just hard to keep cheering for a character who is honestly so skeezy at times. Also, this book continued to suffer from Butcher's apparent lack of range in synonyms. My wife (who I've listened to the audiobooks with) has expressed a desire to mail him a thesaurus with a bookmark on the page with the word "purr." Every female purrs everything they say, even a werewolf in book 2. It's getting really annoying. Plus, every time a female character comes into a scene (even if they were in the last scene) Butcher/Harry has to take the time to describe every sensual curve (Murphy may be the only character is isn't all sensual curves) and piece of attire. It feels like he's going over a checklist each time a woman enters.
So, as a whole I enjoyed the book, especially James Marsters' audiobook performance, but I hope the series actually shows improvement in writing as I've been hearing it does. A lot of people have said favorable things about the series starting from the next book, so I hope that their words turn out to be true, because I really want this series to reach the potential I feel it has.