A review by redhairedashreads
Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

3.0

 

3 stars - I liked it

It’s been a year since the events in the previous book and apparently Harry has spent that working with Murphy and Michael to take down a sorcerer who had unleashed a demon. Clearly, Harry has made up with Murphy and the team but we never get to see that. Also we are introduced to Michael, a Knight Templar, who has been helping Harry and Murphy fight this sorcerer and now is helping Harry deal with ghosts. Also, Harry and Susan are still together apparently. 

While I did enjoy this book overall, I was also very confused because it felt like I missed a book or short story that had really pertinent information to the overall story. We were constantly getting references to this case and were expected to know what they meant. So here are my other complaints about this book: 

First, Michael is a brand new character but he was just thrown at us like we already knew who he was, which was very confusing. I did enjoy his character though and the brief glimpses of his backstory we got as this story played out. 

Second, Harry’s godmother. This is one of the main plots of this story and it's another situation where we are just abruptly given a character and being told that she wants to capture Harry because of a past promise. There has been no hint of her in previous books but this one presents her like we already know about her. It was again a bit jarring and I am still confused as to why exactly she is trying to get her hands on him. Also, because of the introduction of her, it rewrites some of Harry’s previous discussions on his mother. In the first two books, Harry talks as if he barely knows his mother and her magic, yet in this book he presents his mother as someone who worked with his godmother and assigned her as his godmother. Again it was jarring and contradictory of what we already know of Dresden. 

Third, Susan and Harry’s relationship continues in this one but sadly, Susan continues to be stupid and reckless. When Harry tells her not to do something because the situation is too dangerous for a human, she of course doesn’t listen and ends up in an extremely dangerous situation. While I didn’t mind Susan in the first two books, I found her annoying for the short bit of time she was in this one because of this, especially since she has dated Dresden for a year now and knows how dangerous this world is. 

Basically, this whole story revolves around the case with the sorcerer. Harry is dealing with rampaging ghosts, vampire parties, running from his godmother, and his love life. But while I did enjoy the action of this story and how it will change things for Harry’s future, this still wasn’t what I was expecting from this series. I think this is partially why I struggled a bit with this one and keep putting it down. 

TW: death, torture, rape, drug use, and nonconsensual feedings (vampire);