Book Review #11 White Night by Jim Butcher

[amergina]

Book: White Night Author: Jim Butcher 480 Pages Short Thoughts: Ninth book of Butcher's Harry Dresden series. Previously, I read only the first two. However, this book was great even without reading three though eight.

From the cover:

In Chicago, someone has been killing practitioners of magic, those incapable of becoming full-fledged wizards. Shockingly, all the evidence points to Harry Dresden's half-brother, Thomas, as the murderer. Determined to clear his sibling's name, Harry uncovers a conspiracy within the White Council of Wizards that threatens not only him, but his nearest and dearest, too...

The first thing I have to remember when reading Butcher's Dresden books is that they're closer to hardboiled detective than fantasy. Certainly, they are in the urban fantasy milieu, but the feel of the books reminds me more of detective mystery than fantasy. Oh, and for the record, Book!Harry kicks TV!Harry's butt. Srsly. TV!Harry always felt a bit wimpy in comparison to Book!Harry.

I didn't plan to read this book at the time I did... a co-worker handed it to me ('cause I mentioned that I liked Harry Dresden) and I couldn't gracefully refuse, so I just dove in, despite not having read a bunch of the books of the series. I have to give Butcher a hand, he does give new readers enough background that they're not completely lost, but not so much that it felt overwhelming. For example... Harry has a brother? When did that happen? Wait, he's a Warden? HEY. Yet, I got enough detail to figure out what happened, but not so much as I would have gotten if I had actually read the intervening books.

Butcher has a knack for tension and I was engrossed from the start to the end and it read quickly because of that. There were places where I quite literally laughed out loud, such is Butcher's sardonic humor. He tied in characters that I *had* read about in the first two books, and just seamlessly wove a great story. Lots of twists and turns. I have a feeling the payoff would have been better if I had read in sequence, but it was still a great book, well worth the read. I'll probably read again, when I get to that point in the series.

(I'm trying to catch up on my reviews, so these are kind of short. I'm actually reading books 19 and 20, to give an idea of how far behind I am...)

Comments

[rani23.livejournal.com]

I'm right there with you. :) Books 3 through 8 are awesome. :)

[amergina.livejournal.com]

You're biased. ;-)

[rani23.livejournal.com]

That's fair. :)

[amergina.livejournal.com]

I'm sure they're awesome, though. I do like his writing quite a bit. :D