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Death Masks by Jim Butcher
The Blurb On The Back:
Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.
Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But now he's getting more than he bargained for: a duel with the Red Court of Vampires' champion, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards ... professional hit men using Harry for target practice ... the missing Shroud of Turin ... a handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified ...
Not to mention the return of Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan, who's still struggling with her semi-vampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life.
Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you're charging.
I've got nothing much to add beyond what I've already said in my reviews for Stormfront, Fool Moon and Summer Knight. Butcher seems to be sticking to his tried and tested formula (here's hoping that Grave Peril was a one-off aberration) and it makes for an entertaining read.
Butcher seems to be using this book as a jump-off point for his next big story arc - I like the idea of The Denarians and their link to the 30 pieces of silver and I think that the execution was well handled. I also enjoyed the darker elements of Harry that came through in this book - for the first time the reader could view Harry's actions with a feeling of vague discomfort. This particularly comes through in the scene where he beats the shit out of a man who's just given up his coin and whilst Harry would have you believe that his actions were necessary in order to get the information he needed and that in fact the man deserves it as he's clearly going to return to The Denarians as soon as possible, Butcher lets you see that he's enjoying it a little too much. My one quibble again comes from Butcher's desire to cut corners - I didn't quite believe that Harry, on seeing the coin, would keep it (albeit under 2 feet of concrete). Given that he's seen what it can do and that he knows the Knights have been keeping them in a kind of stasis, it seems weird that he doesn't give it to Michael to put with the others and neither are we offered an explanation for why he doesn't do so. That does leave something of a credibility gap, which I'm hoping will be resolved.
I was much happier with Susan as a character in this book - far from being a character who needs constant rescuing, her membership of St Giles is helping her to keep her vampiric nature under control and she seems to have adapted to having great strength. I'm not sure I like some of the wangst that goes with it and I thought that the sex scene with Harry was pretty much a male fantasy, but on the whole she seems pretty practical, which I approved of. I was also much happier with Johnny Marcone the gangster boss who finally got a humanising backstory and seems less of an omnipotent villain. Butcher's wise to colour him in shades of grey and I like the fact that he doesn't hide his self-interest and also isn't afraid of Harry or the hell he brings.
Sanya, a new character and agnostic Knight of the Cross was an interesting character who I am cautiously optimistic about - taciturn and clearly unimpressed with Harry, I'm hoping he can be used to counter some of the 'coolness' that Butcher gives his main character. I also liked The Archive's bodyguard, Kincaid - particularly his matter-of-fact attitude as he pulls guns out of a golfbag and uses them to blast vampires. I hope to see more of both characters in future books.
Although the whole Shroud of Turin plot element was a load of hokum, it was entertaining to read. The duel with Ortega was dispensed with in a somewhat cursory style and it was v. easy to tell what was going to happen, but it did give Thomas the White Vampire a chance to make an appearance, which was welcome. My biggest WTF moment came right at the end, when Ebeneezer indicates that he's the one responsible for destroying Ortega's base in South America by dropping a Soviet satellite on it because it does make you wonder why, if wizards can do that, they haven't been doing that throughout the war.
The Verdict:
It's an entertaining plot with a somewhat hokey central hook. I was happier with the characterisation of some of the secondary characters and am hopeful for the new ones that we meet. This is clearly a set up for the next story arc and whilst I have some concerns about the way Butcher is handling that, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.
Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But now he's getting more than he bargained for: a duel with the Red Court of Vampires' champion, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards ... professional hit men using Harry for target practice ... the missing Shroud of Turin ... a handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified ...
Not to mention the return of Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan, who's still struggling with her semi-vampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life.
Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you're charging.
I've got nothing much to add beyond what I've already said in my reviews for Stormfront, Fool Moon and Summer Knight. Butcher seems to be sticking to his tried and tested formula (here's hoping that Grave Peril was a one-off aberration) and it makes for an entertaining read.
Butcher seems to be using this book as a jump-off point for his next big story arc - I like the idea of The Denarians and their link to the 30 pieces of silver and I think that the execution was well handled. I also enjoyed the darker elements of Harry that came through in this book - for the first time the reader could view Harry's actions with a feeling of vague discomfort. This particularly comes through in the scene where he beats the shit out of a man who's just given up his coin and whilst Harry would have you believe that his actions were necessary in order to get the information he needed and that in fact the man deserves it as he's clearly going to return to The Denarians as soon as possible, Butcher lets you see that he's enjoying it a little too much. My one quibble again comes from Butcher's desire to cut corners - I didn't quite believe that Harry, on seeing the coin, would keep it (albeit under 2 feet of concrete). Given that he's seen what it can do and that he knows the Knights have been keeping them in a kind of stasis, it seems weird that he doesn't give it to Michael to put with the others and neither are we offered an explanation for why he doesn't do so. That does leave something of a credibility gap, which I'm hoping will be resolved.
I was much happier with Susan as a character in this book - far from being a character who needs constant rescuing, her membership of St Giles is helping her to keep her vampiric nature under control and she seems to have adapted to having great strength. I'm not sure I like some of the wangst that goes with it and I thought that the sex scene with Harry was pretty much a male fantasy, but on the whole she seems pretty practical, which I approved of. I was also much happier with Johnny Marcone the gangster boss who finally got a humanising backstory and seems less of an omnipotent villain. Butcher's wise to colour him in shades of grey and I like the fact that he doesn't hide his self-interest and also isn't afraid of Harry or the hell he brings.
Sanya, a new character and agnostic Knight of the Cross was an interesting character who I am cautiously optimistic about - taciturn and clearly unimpressed with Harry, I'm hoping he can be used to counter some of the 'coolness' that Butcher gives his main character. I also liked The Archive's bodyguard, Kincaid - particularly his matter-of-fact attitude as he pulls guns out of a golfbag and uses them to blast vampires. I hope to see more of both characters in future books.
Although the whole Shroud of Turin plot element was a load of hokum, it was entertaining to read. The duel with Ortega was dispensed with in a somewhat cursory style and it was v. easy to tell what was going to happen, but it did give Thomas the White Vampire a chance to make an appearance, which was welcome. My biggest WTF moment came right at the end, when Ebeneezer indicates that he's the one responsible for destroying Ortega's base in South America by dropping a Soviet satellite on it because it does make you wonder why, if wizards can do that, they haven't been doing that throughout the war.
The Verdict:
It's an entertaining plot with a somewhat hokey central hook. I was happier with the characterisation of some of the secondary characters and am hopeful for the new ones that we meet. This is clearly a set up for the next story arc and whilst I have some concerns about the way Butcher is handling that, I'm looking forward to seeing how it turns out.