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A review by willrefuge
The Law by Jim Butcher
4.0
7.5 / 10 ✪
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/06/24/the-law-by-jim-butcher-review/
Fresh off a dust-up with your friendly neighborhood Titan, Harry Dresden is back on the case—and back to being more of a small-time wizard for hire. For now.
The client: the owner of a tutoring franchise Sunflower is being sued by her former landlord, over alleged profits that she withheld from him while he was in prison. Seems like a pretty simple case of intimidation, and Harry Dresden’s never much liked a bully. But as with most things in life, this is a bit more complicated. And while the job may seem small-time, it quickly becomes clear that this one is going to be a pain.
See, not every small-time asshole is created equal. In fact, this one should come with a warning label. Trip Gregory, low-level pimp and general scum of the earth, also too stupid for his own good. Trip just spent 8 years on the inside, and he’s come back for his. Maya, his former “employee”, is essentially broke, running a non-profit that helps children from low-income family’s. There is no real money in it—but Gregory doesn’t care. He just wants his, one way or another.
—
This is billed as an ode to the old-fashioned Dresden Files: where Harry would take on an impossible case, and solve it through a combination of gumption, magic, and luck. Except… well, is it though? There’s not a whole lot of investigating. In fact, the first three things Harry tries are intimidation—three times, without doing anything more than a cursory check on who Trip Gregory is. I mean, he hears pimp, and assumes that’s it. All I’m saying is, if you’re in a legal bind, you look for a lawyer. If you need a mystery solved, hire a PI. If you go to a wizard, there’s a good chance that magic is in some way involved. And he doesn’t even consider this at first. There’s a bare amount of investigation done in the middle, with more intimidation thrown in. This is billed as a return to the good old-fashioned Dresden Files, and… in those terms, it kinda falls flat.
I’m not saying the mystery itself it’s interesting. It’s a process, once Harry falls down the rabbit-hole, and there’s the good old “favor for a favor” progression—and that turned out to be my favorite part of the story! Harry Dresden, Wizard for Hire, running the streets, chasing down leads. So it’s a pity that he keeps falling back on trying to hit his problems to make them go away.
Negatives aside, it was a return to the world of the Dresden Files, and a good way to bridge the gap between Battle Ground and Twelve Months. It fills in what you may have missed (or just forgotten) from the previous novel, and sums up the state of affairs moving forward. It also gives a rare glimpse into the mind of Harry dealing with the fallout from a previous book (as a lot of Dresden Files novellas seem to feature POV characters other than the man himself).
Audio Note: Jim Butcher provides an enthusiastic, if… somewhat underwhelming performance. I mean, you can tell he really enjoyed doing the voices, and taking his time with the story and the progression. Establishing the atmosphere and gravity. Setting the tone. And it’s not just that he repeatedly mentions how much he enjoyed doing it—he even sounds like he’s enjoying it. It’s a debut read, and not a bad one; there’ll always be hiccups along the way, especially right out of the gate. It’s just… how do I say this? Well, I’m more pleased that he enjoyed it than I am worried about how he did.
https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2023/06/24/the-law-by-jim-butcher-review/
Fresh off a dust-up with your friendly neighborhood Titan, Harry Dresden is back on the case—and back to being more of a small-time wizard for hire. For now.
The client: the owner of a tutoring franchise Sunflower is being sued by her former landlord, over alleged profits that she withheld from him while he was in prison. Seems like a pretty simple case of intimidation, and Harry Dresden’s never much liked a bully. But as with most things in life, this is a bit more complicated. And while the job may seem small-time, it quickly becomes clear that this one is going to be a pain.
See, not every small-time asshole is created equal. In fact, this one should come with a warning label. Trip Gregory, low-level pimp and general scum of the earth, also too stupid for his own good. Trip just spent 8 years on the inside, and he’s come back for his. Maya, his former “employee”, is essentially broke, running a non-profit that helps children from low-income family’s. There is no real money in it—but Gregory doesn’t care. He just wants his, one way or another.
—
This is billed as an ode to the old-fashioned Dresden Files: where Harry would take on an impossible case, and solve it through a combination of gumption, magic, and luck. Except… well, is it though? There’s not a whole lot of investigating. In fact, the first three things Harry tries are intimidation—three times, without doing anything more than a cursory check on who Trip Gregory is. I mean, he hears pimp, and assumes that’s it. All I’m saying is, if you’re in a legal bind, you look for a lawyer. If you need a mystery solved, hire a PI. If you go to a wizard, there’s a good chance that magic is in some way involved. And he doesn’t even consider this at first. There’s a bare amount of investigation done in the middle, with more intimidation thrown in. This is billed as a return to the good old-fashioned Dresden Files, and… in those terms, it kinda falls flat.
I’m not saying the mystery itself it’s interesting. It’s a process, once Harry falls down the rabbit-hole, and there’s the good old “favor for a favor” progression—and that turned out to be my favorite part of the story! Harry Dresden, Wizard for Hire, running the streets, chasing down leads. So it’s a pity that he keeps falling back on trying to hit his problems to make them go away.
Negatives aside, it was a return to the world of the Dresden Files, and a good way to bridge the gap between Battle Ground and Twelve Months. It fills in what you may have missed (or just forgotten) from the previous novel, and sums up the state of affairs moving forward. It also gives a rare glimpse into the mind of Harry dealing with the fallout from a previous book (as a lot of Dresden Files novellas seem to feature POV characters other than the man himself).
Audio Note: Jim Butcher provides an enthusiastic, if… somewhat underwhelming performance. I mean, you can tell he really enjoyed doing the voices, and taking his time with the story and the progression. Establishing the atmosphere and gravity. Setting the tone. And it’s not just that he repeatedly mentions how much he enjoyed doing it—he even sounds like he’s enjoying it. It’s a debut read, and not a bad one; there’ll always be hiccups along the way, especially right out of the gate. It’s just… how do I say this? Well, I’m more pleased that he enjoyed it than I am worried about how he did.