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wintermute47 's review for:
Battle Ground
by Jim Butcher
I was really put off by the previous book in The Dresden Files series, 'Peace Talks.' After years of publication delays, the book that was released was essentially the first part of a story which achieved no plot resolution and ended on a cliffhanger. The second part being released within a year made the whole thing feel like a bizarre cash grab, which didn't inspire much confidence for me picking this up.
It was better than I'd expected. The entire book is a long battle sequence, which makes for a gripping read in the moment but which feels like Jim Butcher decided to mash all of his action figures together. We watch Chicago's only professional wizard fight vampires, and fish-men, and giants, and eventually kill a baby god, and it's all very exciting and very frenetic. The last couple of chapters also resolve some of the major dangling elements of the first part, which was fine. The book suffers from some of the same problems as the series as a whole: Harry is as powerful as he needs to be to prevail in any situation, but not so powerful that he doesn't remind us how badly outclassed he is. He has to make common cause with bad guys, which confuses and antagonizes his friends, which feels like it never ultimately goes anywhere.
Not bad in sum, but the series is definitely showing its age a bit.
It was better than I'd expected. The entire book is a long battle sequence, which makes for a gripping read in the moment but which feels like Jim Butcher decided to mash all of his action figures together. We watch Chicago's only professional wizard fight vampires, and fish-men, and giants, and eventually kill a baby god, and it's all very exciting and very frenetic. The last couple of chapters also resolve some of the major dangling elements of the first part, which was fine. The book suffers from some of the same problems as the series as a whole: Harry is as powerful as he needs to be to prevail in any situation, but not so powerful that he doesn't remind us how badly outclassed he is. He has to make common cause with bad guys, which confuses and antagonizes his friends, which feels like it never ultimately goes anywhere.
Not bad in sum, but the series is definitely showing its age a bit.