The Barnes & Noble Review
Move over, Gandalf and Merlin, here comes Harry Dresden, a Chicago-based wizard with a decidedly twisted sense of humor who uses his extraordinary magical abilities to solve supernatural-related crimes in the Windy City. In the eighth installment of Jim Butcher's Dresden Files (Dead Beat, Blood Rites, et al.), the sardonic practitioner of magic has his hands full when infamous motion picture monstrosities start coming to life at a horror movie convention!
After years of being vilified by the White Council of Wizards, Dresden has reluctantly become part of the "establishment" -- he is now a Warden for the Council. The wizards' ongoing war with the vampiric Red Court isn't going well, and Dresden is dutifully doing his part in the conflict. When he's tasked to find out why the Sidhe haven't yet joined the wizards in their battle against the vampires, Dresden's investigation is complicated by a phone call from a friend's 17-year-old daughter, who, while working a horror convention aptly called Splattercon, witnesses brutal killings that Dresden suspects were committed by a phobophage (a spiritual entity that feeds on fear) -- but the gruesome clues lead him to some unlikely suspects….
Put Tolkien's staff-wielding Gandalf in a blender with Stuart M. Kaminsky's tenacious Chicago detective Abe Lieberman, and throw in a heaping helping of offbeat humor à la Paul Di Filippo or Cory Doctorow, and you've got yourself Harry Dresden, the hard-boiled, magic-slinging detective featured in Butcher's action-packed supernatural saga. Readers who enjoy a diversity of genres in their escapist literature should definitely check out this utterly readable amalgam of mystery, fantasy, and horror. Paul Goat Allen
Motherhood is often presented as a beautiful, tender experience: new mommies cradle their babies and coo, bedrooms are given a fresh coat of paint and decorated in celebration, and everyone smiles and sighs happily. The fact is, motherhood is tough, and it takes a lot of energy, moral fortitude, and plain old-fashioned physical strength to […]
Ever since he blew onto the scene in 2000, Jim Butcher’s Harry Dresden has helped to redefine what we think of when we think of urban fantasy. Where would the genre be without the reluctant wizard private investigator from Chicago? For eighteen years, Butcher has delighted fans with the exploits of his snarky, technology-phobic wizard, filling […]