Dead Beat

Quick impression: Good one liners for Thomas. Some of Harry's jokes are getting old. Great character development of Butters (with plenty of encouragement by Harry). And, of course, Sue. This one should have made it into the TV series.



When I first started this book, I thought it would be a continuation of Harry's relationship with Thomas established in [b:Blood Rites|99383|Blood Rites (The Dresden Files, #6)|Jim Butcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1272455867s/99383.jpg|227172] , and given that Thomas is having trouble adjusting to not being wealthy ... well, I thought he was the dead beat in the title. It took me a couple of chapters and re-listening to a few sections before I got it. I suppose that's one drawback to listening to the book instead of reading it.



So, if you like zombies and vampires and sexy demons who play mind games, and of course listening to [a:James Marsters|169487|James Marsters|http://photo.goodreads.com/authors/1252176950p2/169487.jpg], I highly recommend the audible version. I think the last Dresden book I actually read was [b:Storm Front|47212|Storm Front (The Dresden Files, #1)|Jim Butcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1327195767s/47212.jpg|1137060], so I imagine that the print version of Dead Beat is just as fast-paced as the audio.



I see lots of people, six and seven books in, still complaining about Harry's old-fashioned chivalrous attitude towards women. Some find it condescending. I find it endearing. Harry knows that he's old-fashioned and that his attitude isn't PC, but he accepts that flaw in himself and we should too. Hell's Bells, he's finally learned to let Murphy and Susan take care of themselves and let them have his back. The series wouldn't be as good if Harry didn't have some very huge flaws that he works through in each adventure.



Now on to [b:Proven Guilty|91474|Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, #8)|Jim Butcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329103912s/91474.jpg|576222].

There is only one word that describes how awesome this book is. Sue. Anybody who's read it knows what that means, and for anyone who hasn't, you'll have to read it to figure out.

This book includes a zombie dinosaur. I'd say everything else is irrelevant, but the book itself is pretty solid to boot.

This is a great modern or urban fantasy. I've read the first nine books in the series and don't intend to review all of them, so this is a review of the series. There is a formula to the series, and it becomes a bit too apparent about mid-way through the books I've read, but the writing is good enough to overlook it.

The characters are interesting and the action is well paced. Highly recommended to anyone interested in magic set in the modern world.

There is nothing, repeat, nothing like a Harry Dresden novel. God-damn, that was fun, and a highly enjoyable addition to the ever-growing Dresden Files series. Jim Butcher has not missed a step, putting our boy Harry through the usual gamut of high-paced supernatural dangers, bringing back several recurring characters for another appearance and tying back to things that have happened in previous novels, and showing us that while Harry's getting a bit battered and bruised from all that he has experienced, he is still very much the most kickass wizard around.

So let's jump right in with both feet. Harry goes through a ton of crap in pretty much every novel in the series--especially at the end of Blood Rites, when his left hand was horribly burned--and in Dead Beat we see that his personal supply of Cope is getting kind of ragged around its edges. Enough that his friends are starting to worry about him. And it doesn't help in the slightest that the vampire Mavra hits him with a blackmail threat: go get her "the Word of Kemmler", or else she will ruin Murphy's career by revealing the photos of Murphy in battle with Harry from the end of the last book, committing what looks to the uninformed eye like an act of murder. And never mind that who Murphy was actually killing was a Renfield, a vampire servant, and she was damn well defending her own life.

Harry being Harry, chivalrous to a fault when it comes to going out on a limb for his friends and carrying a growing torch for Murphy in particular, naturally sets out to find out exactly what the hell the Word is. And he soon discovers that Kemmler, the most notorious necromancer who ever lived, has written a book of secrets now sought by no fewer than six of his former apprentices. Whoever gets hold of this book can use it to ascend to godhood, and it's up to Harry to stop them all. Trouble is, they're all more powerful than he is--so despite Mavra's prohibition on telling anyone what he's up to, Harry must call in reinforcements. His half-brother Thomas (struggling against his own nature as a vampire of the White Court), a polka-playing mortician named Butters (who kept making me snicker since every time he had a line, I kept hearing the kid named Butters on South Park), a couple of the werewolves from Fool Moon, and even the Wardens, the very enforcers from the White Council who have regularly been out to make Harry's life difficult, all show up to lend a hand. Meanwhile, Harry must contend with Lasciel, the fallen angel imprisoned in the coin he confiscated back in Book Five, [b:Death Masks|91479|Death Masks (The Dresden Files, Book 5)|Jim Butcher|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1221336382s/91479.jpg|2183]. Lasciel is bound and determined to convince Harry to take up her coin and use her power--and she's not above masterful deception to get him to do it.

Great, great stuff all around. As a Murphy fan, it's fun to see Harry finally falling for her, and great fun indeed to see Thomas giving him grief about it too--especially when Thomas accuses him of being shy and Harry retorts, "No I'm not." I can totally see the look of ill-concealed consternation on Harry's face. ;) It's moments like that that make me consistently love this character. Capable of huge scary acts of magic, but the prospect of actually telling a girl he likes her floors him every time.

The Lasciel subplot was fun, especially since I totally didn't see it coming and didn't put it together until Harry did. Lasciel is deliciously ambiguous and makes you wonder whether some part of her may genuinely actually want to help Harry--or whether she is in fact pulling upon her skills as a mistress of deception to set him up for a huge fall later. You just don't know, and I am very much looking forward to seeing what Jim does with this in later books.

Very fun also to see the Wardens show up and actually recruit Harry into their number, grim though the circumstances are. I really liked that Harry finally got some insight about Morgan and can see him now as something more than someone who has an irrational beef with him--and at the same time, that Morgan finally clued in about Harry and has been convinced to give him a bit of a chance. It's progress in Harry's world and it's great stuff to see happening at this point in the series, especially given that in the preview chapter for Proven Guilty, we see Harry participating in Warden duties as well. With all this as well as the news about what's going on in the war between the White Council and the vampire Courts, I even find myself wondering if at some point Harry's destined to become the Merlin of the White Council. Any takers on this bet, folks?

Despite the snickerworthy character name, I also really loved Butters. Especially how at the end the little guy discovered he had some bravery--and came running back to the scene of Harry getting his ass kicked bringing help, i.e., Mouse. Who I also loved, and I giggled and giggled at Jim's word choices in Harry describing his dog as "part woolly mammoth".

And speaking of giggleworthy, this brings me to my favorite part of the whole book: DINOZOMBIE!

I mean, goddamn, what other author is going to think of having his wizard protagonist, who is constrained from raising human corpses as zombies by the laws of his Council, go up against a bunch of necromancers with an army of undead by animating the skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex?!

That, ladies and gentlemen, was a true thing of beauty, especially the part where Harry tells the reader that there's one other thing he suspects we don't know about Tyrannosaurs: "they don't corner well." Bwahahahahaha. It is exactly things like this that keep me coming back for more of Jim Butcher's work. I loved Dinozombie Sue. I loved her so. ^_^

And having read this, I am now ready and raring to go for Proven Guilty. Bring on more Harry!