More than made up for my disappointment in Peace Talks ( )

Well, this just hit the ground running and never stopped, didn't it. Jesus Christ, Jim Butcher. You're breaking my heart here. ( )

Unfortunately, this one lost the humanity that the rest of the series has had. It’s a superheroes vs supervillains comic book without the pictures ( )

First, note that this follows immediately after and depends heavily on its predecessor, Peace Talks. Unlike most The Dresden Files novels, which contain enough re-introduction of people and concepts that one can more or less slip in anywhere and mostly understand what's going on, that might be more difficult with this one. Read Peace Talks (and preferably the series up to this point) first. That said...

Readers of The Dresden Files novels are likely familiar with how each novel's last 50-100 pages tends toward an increasingly intense rollercoaster of progressively of twisty chaos and peril, stubbornly difficult to put aside for pesky little interruptions like sleep.

Nearly all 500+ pages of Battle Ground is like that. 😮

Remember to breathe.

Because, seriously, "no one expects an orbital-drop grizzly." ( )

"Speak for yourself," Murphy said. "I just gave my last grenade to a Valkyrie and ordered her to blow up a kraken. I'm having a ball."

Battle Ground is the seventeenth entry in The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. The title of the book is literal. If you don't enjoy action and battle scenes, you're going to hate this book. Luckily I'm an action junkie and enjoyed every minute of it.

So much happens in this installment that I'm assuming is to set up for the remainder of the series. And I thought Changes changed everything! This is even more fundamental of a shift in the story now that humanity, at least in Chicago, knows some of the truth. The story was also was one heck of an emotional roller coaster beginning to end. I think just about every secondary character, and many of the bad guys, make an appearance in this book. I still can't believe Butcher did that to Muprhy. At least she got to have some fun first. Nor did have any clue as to Marcone and all he's been up to. And Butters being MVP in the battle. Who would've ever expected that from where Butters started? Also, Harry has had the Winter mantle long enough that he's starting to think a little like a fae.

My copy also contained a short story titled Christmas Eve about Harry and Maggie on their first Christmas together. It was heartwarming and adorable.

It feels odd to be caught up on the series after taking my time reading it. Yet now that I'm caught up, it's going to be fun to start speculating and see if I can guess anything that's heading Harry's way next correctly. ( )