Looking For a Good Book

All the different supernatural nations have been called together to discuss a treaty.  Queen Mab is holding a casual soiree in advance of the peace talks and Chicago’s only wizard, Harry Dresden, has been called in to work security. Security. Among a large group of supernaturally strong and powerful beings who historically haven’t gotten along.  Yeah.  Who wants a job like that? Sometimes it’s not a choice, though.  Harry has a job to do and he will work it to the best of his ability, even if that means rubbing a few folk the wrong way.

But there is one thing that trumps duty, even for Harry Dresden … family. Harry’s family is no Hallmark Movie family, but he’ll fight against hell itself to protect his family – and it just might come to that.

Reading a new Harry Dresden book is like seeing your best friend from your school days after having lost touch for the past couple of decades. It’s comfortable, and getting familiar with one another again is part of the fun.  Of course it doesn’t take long to remember why we like Harry Dresden so much.  The action heats up quickly and the Dresden charm … or is that sarcasm? … rolls off the page early on. We also get the family/duty conflict right on the first page and we know we’re in for one incredible ride.

We meet a large cast of characters – there’s a meeting of every Supernatural nation remember – and Harry will battle against some of the most vicious beasts he’s ever faced.  And that just gets our feet wet as we wade into this book.  There is SO much going on here that it would be difficult to imagine it could possibly be contained in one 350 page book.  Oh yeah… it can’t.  There’s a bit of a cliff-hanger here and the expectation is that things are only going to get worse.  I can’t tell you exactly why because it would give away too much of the fun in reading this, but if you already know The Dresden Files you can trust that this is likely bigger and badder and better than anything Harry’s faced before.

The sub-plot to the larger story takes the main focus of this book, while at the same time, Butcher is setting up the over-arcing story. You’ll definitely want to pay attention here – don’t let the melee’s distract you!

My only regret is that I didn’t go back and re-read some of the books just prior to this.  There are some things happening here, and people popping in, that I only tangentially remember.  If you are waiting to read this, brush up on your Dresden Files – it will only enhance your enjoyment here.

Looking for a good book?  Harry Dresden is back, in Peace Talks by Jim Butcher, and it’s a big win for all his fans.  But Harry’s going to have to work like never before if he’s hoping to score a big win. Everything we love about the Dresden Files is here – on steroids.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Peace Talks

author: Jim Butcher

series: The Dresden Files #16

publisher: Orbit

ISBN: 0356500918

hardcover, 352 pages