Harry Dresden is up to his neck in foes. This time Dresden's foes are, well, everybody. The vampiric Red Court, who want revenge for the events in Grave Peril; his own White Council of wizards, run by the usual cowardly appeasers and bureaucratic weasels; and last but not least, the Sidhe, the creatures of the fey, whose opposing houses of Summer and Winter keep one another equally balanced so as to avoid too much power in any one set of hands. But the balance has been disrupted. Someone has murdered the Summer Knight, that realm's champion to its queen, Titania. The Winter Queen, Mab, has been blamed, and she makes Harry an offer he pretty much can't refuse: if he helps her to find the Knight's murderer and clear her name, she'll help him. All Harry has to do is help avert an all-out war between Summer and Winter. No problem!

Like usual, spending time with Dresden and his wizard problems turns out to quite fun, and quite enthralling. Butcher - for as much as he known for making escapist noir/urban fantasy - is a craftsmen of character. He's also great at employing action. It's never too gritty and has a lot of humor. It's that careful balance between suspense and wit where both can work that Butcher has a true gift for. Humor in these kinds of fantasy novels can all too easily call attention to itself — The Dresden novels, for the most part, avoid the scourge of postmodernist pretension.

Read for wizards, fey, and Chicago-above-Chicago, hilarious hijinks, and the hardboiled fantasy noir. Stay for the random fight inside a Wal-Mart.

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Hello Fellow Readers!

I finally finished the 4th book in the Dresden Files Series (only a million more to go!). While the last book was setting up this huge story-line for Dresden that I am pretty sure is going to span a couple of books, this book was the first in which we actually get to see what this bigger picture is. While you only get a glimpse of what could go down, it's huge. So, Dresden is still Dresden. He's pissing everyone off and of course, getting himself in over his head. At least he still has his magic and perviness. Dresden is still reeling from the consequences of his actions from with the Red Court and now he's forced to take a case for the Winter Queen.

What I really liked about this book is we finally see Dresden accept help. He is starting to realized he cannot protect and leave everyone in the dark. Lots of allies from the past books are brought into the fold and we get to meet a few new ones. The list of side characters are getting a little long for me to remember who is who, but of course I remember the regulars like Murphy and Bob, but we now have the Alphas, the Queens and the wizard council members. That is a lot of side characters to remember.

The story was pretty good, even with the over-sexualization of female characters, and I feel like Butcher finally has an idea of where this series is heading. ( )

(4.5 / 5)

This book had all of the good of the previous ones in the series with almost none of the not-so-good. The stakes are high, Harry seems stronger and less generally unlucky, and the side characters are interesting and different. I like the way Billy and the werewolves sort of act as disciples of Harry’s, but also come in really handy when he needs help. And the humor…it was one of the things that first interested me in this series, and it seemed doubled in this installment. I chuckled quite a few times, and there was one particular moment during the climax that I had to back up and hear again. It’s one moment that I can say for certain would not have been as funny if I’d read it, rather than listening to it. James Marsters is a great narrator, and that moment in particular was brilliant.

There was a lot less sexual content in this book than previous ones, which I appreciated, though it still seems like most of the women characters, large or small, are just there to be leered at in text. If you’re interested in the series, I highly recommend the narration by James Marsters. ( )

Favorite mispronunciations this time around include gibbering, sigils, and impotent. ( )

It was good to return to the world of Harry Dresden after an extended break. In this installment, harry gets stuck sorting out a war between wizards and vampires... which, come to think of it, never really gets sorted, since Harry gets sidelined by being called to sort out a war between Summer Faeries and Winter Faeries. The fantasy elements here are pretty epic, almost too much for my brain, which leans a little more toward the Urban in urban fantasy. But, as every epic fantasy hero—urban or otherwise—should, Harry manages to figure out how to avoid Death by Faerie and come out the other side. He does seem like a hero who barely has his shit together enough to accomplish his goals, but I suppose that’s why he’s an endearing character. I look forward to more adventures with Harry Dresden, Wizard. ( )