(no subject)

[reverancepavane]

I was looking forward to the next Dresden Files novel, White Night by Jim Butcher. For those who have not encountered this series before it describes the adventures of Harry Dresden, a wizard in modern Chicago, but a Chicago were the supernatural exists (albiet not as part of the knowledge of the general public). Very well done (although the first one definitely shows signs of being a first novel, but one with lots of promise), it was the basis of an excellent SciFi Channel TV series. Magic, such as the creation of potions, is very well handled, and I thoroughly enjoyed how his actions generally had consequences that returned to haunt Harry in later books. And that's probably why I didn't enjoy this book as much as the others. In this book Harry generally ends up being on top of the game (although it does contain a direct reference to future problems that Harry will encounter), whereas his character is such that trying to escape the next trap brings out his best. Also the main protagonists were specialists in subtlety, which doesn't really lead to much of the excitement of previous books, such as Harry being chased by giant winged monkeys throwing flaming monkey poo. Besides, I think what really irritates me the most is that my favourite character gets killed in this book. Admittedly they were turning into a bit of a deus ex machina in this book, and they probably wasn't working as well as Mr Butcher intended in the role that they were meant to occupy, but I was still saddened to see them killed off. Their presence did tend to elevate Harry to the level of most of his opponents though. In many senses this book just seems to set the scene for future books. Which I will still eagerly look forward to.