So this is going to be an interesting look at a series that I’m going into almost completely cold.
All I really knew before diving in head first was that magic was involved and there’s something to do with a dude that is sort of a detective, that’s it!
How did it end up going?
Everybody gather around, it’s time to find out!
As always, this is your ***SPOILER ALERT***
Sit back and get comfortable because before I get into the review, I want to tell you about the history of this book and how I came to read it.
I’m not 100% sure, but I’d bet we probably got this right around the time it was released.
You see, my Dad was the type that, no matter how long, could read a complete novel in 2 or 3 days.
So when Ma and I would go out to the grocery store or wherever for our routine errands, we’d generally pick up a book for Da along the way.
Sometimes we’d hit up a Dollar Tree or something and get him a stack of books and give them to him to occupy him.
This was one of those “I don’t know if it’s good or not, but it gives him something to read” purchases.
Now, whether he read it or not, I’ll never know.
But when he died, we were going through his stuff and it caught my eye because of the back cover blurb and the author’s name.
As I said in the intro, I have an extremely passing familiarity with this series.
I vaguely recall seeing comic ads and hearing commercials for the TV series that aired on, I wanna say, Sci-Fi in the mid-ish 2000s.
And I remember reading, and loving, Butcher’s Spider-Man novel that came out a couple of years before this, so that made the decision to read it even easier.
With that rough understanding of what this could be, I took the plunge.
Over the course of doing this podcast, you’ve all listened to my Nerd 3rd eye open far wider, and this novel fits right into that.
The best way that I think I can describe this series would be Dungeons And Dragons meets The Blacklist, with a tiny sprinkling of Psych.
Because this is a damn earnest fantasy story, but it has a quippy light-hearted edge that keeps it from being bogged down in oppressive moroseness.
Harry Dresden is a dude saddled with enough grave emotional baggage to sink a ship, but he still has time to make jokes and reference more pop culture franchises than the Griffin Family, on a good day.
There are sword swinging holy rollers, demons with a penchant for pocket change, giant fury filled fae creatures, and spell slingers galore!
And though it runs a hefty 541 pages, none of it really feels wheel spinny or like self-indulgent filler.
I realize I use this phrase a shit ton in these reviews, but Butcher has a great voice that delivers information economically.
For the most part, he gives you enough history on the verse without losing focus or bogging you down in the continuity of the world.
Though I must mention, and this is, admittedly, as much my fault as his, there are a couple of instances where he is forced to do some universe info dumps that had my head spinning a wee bit.
I say it’s my fault because book 10 isn’t really the smartest or best jumping on point for a series, you do get a bit lost in the waves of the canon ocean.
It did take me a little time to grasp all of the well established and deeply involved relationships between Dresden and those in his orbit.
But I’m happy to say I survived it relatively unscathed.
As you, dear reader, well know, this is far from my first run-in with the urban fantasy genre.
While this is far more serious than a Dan Shamble novel, it scratches within an inch of that same itch.
As I eagerly await the next Shamble, this delivers the goods as well as offering up something I didn’t even know I was looking for.
So you can be damn skippy I’m going to be trying to get my hands on those first 9, as well as the subsequent novels and short story collections.
Let us know what you think of this review in the comments below or share this post on Twitter with the Hashtag #TNBBookReview.
Special thanks to @ACFerrell1976 for her continued editorial assistance.
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Happy New Year, Gang!
I got into reading almost the same way as you. Some of my earliest memories are of my dad and grandfather sitting around reading books during the holidays. I became a big reader and was fortunate enough to connect my Kindle to my dads before he passed. After both he and my grandfather passed, I got all of their books and nothing is quite like finding a new one to read and seeing where they listed the date they read it. I still feel especially connected to them through books.
The Dresden Series are amazing! You definitely need to head back to #1! I can’t remember how I heard about them but I am a huge fan!! Thanks for the article!