Clearing the board

 There was some concern that Jim Butcher was going to end his long running Dresden Files with his new Battle Ground, but by the end, it's more like a musical Rondo, bringing the story back to the beginning, only with some new accoutrements. 

We pick up where Peace Talks left off, in the deep hours of Midsummer Night, as Ethniu and the Formor begin rising from Lake Michigan to repeat what a certain cow did year ago to Chicago. Given the book more or less climaxes at dawn, that's roughly 400 pages of the war for Chicago, as members of the Unseelie Accords combine to battle a Titan bearing the Eye of Balor. (For the record, this has been a recurring artifact in a few fictions I've read since this started. I guess mythology only has so many artifacts to dig up to destroy everything with.) 

It seems appropriate that one of the pop culture quotes that pops up is from Ghostbusters, since some of the battle is similar to that sequel, wherein The Winter Knight manages to get a seething mass of Humanity to rise up under his banner to help take on a varied mix of bad guys, including the return of the Black Court of Vampires (which also has a shout out to the best book in the entire series, Dead Beat.) 

While with the number of major characters dying throughout this battle, it does seem like this could be the end, it does, like I said, wind up feeling much more like resetting everything to new paradigm closer to how this all started. We get a few new plot threads for him to build off of, like whom Marcone is allied with, the true nature of who set this big battle in motion, and Mab's designs on securing particular alliances, as well as some new ideas that could easily fill volumes of their own, like Mab's long lost humanity, The Winter Lady's relationship with her parents, and whether or not Butcher isn't trying to sell us an Anakin Skywalker story over 20+ books. 

As an added bonus, there is a short story set about 6 months after the main event at the end. That one made me laugh and cry in the course of about 10 pages, particularly the idea that Queen Mab watched Frozen at some point.

Given how long we were between books before this two in a year, I wouldn't be surprised if Butcher takes another sabbatical, since this one really didn't end on a cliffhanger. (Really, the only major pressing event is set for a year from the ending. Everything else is background noise.)

So, in the end, it's a fitting ending to a particular chapter of the Files, and an interesting rearranging of pieces for a new chapter.

He's getting almost as bad as George R. R. Martin

Jim Butcher finally released Peace Talks, number 16 in his Dresden Files series. While he's not quite into the decades between releases that George R. R. Martin is, the wait between books is a bit longer than other series authors.

Was it worth the wait? Yeah, mostly.

We open on Harry Dresden raising his daughter among the Dark Elves. (I am not typing out the appropriate Norse name.) He's still Mab's Winter Knight, but upcoming Peace Talks among all the signatories on the Unseelie Accords (To admit the Tree People and the Formor) mean that he's pulling double duty as both Mab's protector and Council Warden. Lara Raith, Queen of the Chicago White Council is owed favors by Mab, so Lara gets 3 favors from Harry, which he isn't happy about, particularly when Harry's Half brother, Thomas, gets caught breaking into the Dark Elves's HQ and killing someone right as the Armstice goes into effect.

Which means Harry has to navigate around the Accords to save his brother without breaking them, since pretty much every party involved wants to kill him.

Ultimately, we get a brief glimpse at the war that's been foreshadowed for several books, and end on another freaking cliffhanger. Not quite as bad as the one where he got shot, but still.....

I mean, I enjoy it, since the past few books have turned into Heist stories, which are always fun and mostly self contained. But we also have a dangling plot thread about the police investigation into events from Skin Game, as we get reintroduced to CPD's Finest, who are looking for evidence to take down Harry and Karin. However, as the supernatural courts begin to meet, they fall by the wayside in favor of saving Thomas. (Note: according to Wiki, we get another book in September. So, two books in one year, one story split in twain.)

Fun read, maybe not as good as the stuff that came before, but still something that sucks me in.

Straight on til morning

While The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher is not a new Dresden File, it's still one heck of a lot of fun. (To be fair here, Butcher's Codex Alera was also quite good, even without a modern wizard narrator.) And hey, I'm not Annie Wilkes; I'm sure waiting a while for a new novel in either series will be fine.

Anyway, setting: We're on an unnamed planet covered in mist, where humanity lives on on giant spires with Habbles (giant platforms) holding residents at various heights up and down the spire. Most of this particular book is set on Spire Albion, starting on Habble Morning (where most of the great houses are as well as the Spire's political head) and on Habble Landing, a double decker platform where most of the commerce in the spire transpires.

Great ships fly on Etheric currents, including Captain Grimm's privateering Predator. When we meet Captain Grimm, he's busy trying to privateer a Spire Aurora merchant ship which turns out to be a dreadnought in disguise. Badly damaged, Grimm gets...um... conscripted into service for the Spirearch. Not before we learn hints of his shady past, however. Seems Grimm got drummed out of the fleet for cowardice, although it's alluded that there's a heck of a lot more to the story. On his way to meet the Spirearch, however, he gets attacked in the ventilation tunnels by some kind of surface creature, which in turn introduces us Master Ferus and his apprentice, Folly. The two are etherealists, two folks who interact with ether in ways that most normal humans don't. They're also slightly mad.

Rounding out the eventual troupe in service to the Spirearch, we have Benedict and his cousin Gwen, as well as Bridget and her feline companion Rowl. Benedict and Gwen are of House Lancaster, which grow the etheric crystals that power pretty much everything in the setting. Bridget is of the lesser house Tagwynn, which grows meat. Rowl is a cat, with his own set of house rules that really don't involve the Human houses. Benedict is Warriorborn (or half-souled in the cat's terms), which seems to convey feline characteristics, greatly increased metabolism, and increased strength, dexterity, and stamina. (For D&D folks, he's a min/maxed twink.)

Spire Aurora ends up sending in a landing of Marines as an expeditionary force to recover certain items as well as cause chaos. While the leader Espinoza seems to be a fairly normal guy, the real leader, Madame Cavandish, is an etherialist who once apprenticed under Ferus. Her lunacy is a strict adherence to polite manners, thus making her likely to destroy people for not offering tea during parlay.

There's a heck of a lot going on, as the party winds up on Habble Landing trying to find the Aurorans as well as the plots of the Auroroans themselves, with the bulk of the book being pretty much about 24 hours of time. We get glimpses of possible future romances between the principles, as well as a vision of a greater evil through Folly's visions.

As stated above, I rather enjoyed this, even if Steampunk isn't my usual thing. But, as usual, Butcher delivers a strong plot, engaging narrative, and characters who are breaking out of the stereotypes they start out in. 

He should have called it Reservoir Wizards....

I'm a bit behind on posting this, but it's been a very busy week.

So, Skin Game, Jim Butcher's newest installment in the ever expanding Dresden Files, has our wizard narrator and Winter Knight, Harry Dresden, working with old foe Nicodemus.

Due to Mab owing Nic a favor, Harry gets dragged into the heist from Hell. Almost literally. The book jacket gives away as much, Nicodemus needs Dresden's help to spring the Holy Grail from Hades' vault. (Yes, THAT Hades. Whose brief appearance is still better than Disney's portrayal. And includes yet another take on Persephone.)

But, before any of that happens, we have almost 2/3 of the book just preparing for the heist. Given that the team is made of several amoral to downright evil people, there gets to be much moral ambiguity in people's actions here. Which I assume helps bring out Harry's struggle with Winter's Mantle, but really just made me wish they'd hurry up and break into the vault. (I mean, it's good reading, but many of the conversations during downtime seem to be Waldo Butters and Karrin Murphy discussing whether or not Harry is the same man he was prior to dying and coming back. That and a few dream sequences.

But once they actually get to the vault, the pace picks up and the entire thing goes off the rails in ways that only Butcher seems to be able to pull off. (Simon R. Green does similar, but he starts off the rails and the question becomes where is this train going to land?)

Like any good heist, there are crosses and double crosses, and not everyone is who they seem to be. There's a large twist towards the end which pretty much comes off as Deus ex Machinae, but even that doesn't really make it a bad read. Like most of the Dresden Files, it's not exactly undying prose, but Butcher spins a good and entertaining yarn that makes for a good few days of reading.

Why are we neck deep in the Unseelie Court?

Oh yeah, because Dresden died two books ago and came back as the Winter Knight at the end of the last book.

Slowly progressing through Cold Days, book 13 in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files. Progress has been slow due to the holidays, work, and a distinct lack of free time recently.

However, it's becoming one of the better books in the very long running series. (I remember back in the day when they were short and paperback. I know, get off my lawn.)

As I mentioned in the opening, two books ago, Harry Dresden died at the end. Then his ghost ran around, only to be resurrected by Queen Mab to serve as her Winter Knight. Which is where this book starts off, treating us to a fairly amusing recovery montage of Mab trying to kill Harry once a day, every day, for 11 months while he goes through Physical Therapy. And, wow does she get creative. Even if not many details are given on every method, more than a few provide a chuckle, like a brief mention of a crocodile with a ticking noise in its stomach.

On the Eve of Harry's birthday (Halloween, natch), Mab throws a party in his honor at Arctis Tor, kind of the fey version of Superman's Fortress of Solitude. We get reintroduced to Maeve, Mab's errant daughter, the Redcap (interestingly, most of the named sidhe are usually treated as a "clan" in other novels involving fairies. For instance, in Cold Days, Cait Sidhe is one actual being. In the October Daye novels, the Cait Sidhe are a breed.), and several other assorted fey folks in the court of Winter..

During a dance with Mab, she offers her first command to her new knight: Kill Maeve. Harry returns to Chicago and starts getting back involved with the several supporting characters involved in the series, trying to figure out how to do just that. As well as figure out how to stop his own private island in the middle of Lake Michigan from blowing up and taking most of the midwest with it.

Add into this several fairies of all shapes and sizes trying to kill him, and you have a fairly fast paced novel filled with intrigue as Harry tries to figure out what the hell is actually going on.

In other series, a character like Harry would be like a sword cutting through a Gordian knot of intrigue. Thankfully, Butcher prefers to allow intrigue equal footing with action, making the reader think through the consequences of Harry's actions as much as Harry does. A tough row to hoe, but fairly deftly handled.

Whil my favorite in the series will probably always be Dead Beat, Cold Days is a welcome book in a fabulous series. For those who haven't read the series, start with Storm Front and keep going. It'll be like buttah.