White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) by Jim Butcher Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9)
Book Review: "Great as always"
Summary: 5 Stars
Once again Mr Butcher has written an awesome book! while some writers lose their flare for writing, this is not the case here, Butcher just keeps on going, if anything he gets stronger, Thanks Jim for another
great Dresden.
Book Review: Slow start but the climax makes up for it
Summary: 5 Stars
This book was a bit slow to start, with the buildup taking up about 400 pages. But it was well worth it for the climactic showdown in the later chapters.
This installment of The Dresden Files has Harry Dresden, Chicago's only publicly practicing wizard and warden of the White Council trying to stop the apparent suicides off low level practioners in his town. The plot takes an interesting turn when a clue is picked up that links the White Court of vampires to one of the deaths, which invariably leads to his brother Thomas who has been acting strangely since the events in Dead Beat.
Butcher keeps things neat and continues to wrap up loose ends and pick up storyline threads begun in earlier books and expand upon them to a satisfactory conclusion or developement. The relationship between Harry and Murphy does not develop as it somewhat deepens at it's current level, stuck in the "Friends Zone" so to speak. We see insights on Harry's training of his apprentice Molly Carpenter, that yeilds some unexpected benefits. And Lasciel. The Shadow Hell Tart, stuck in his head. She continues to try and tempt Harry to take up the coin to fullfill her mission, or is she really doing that?
The buildup of the story and the expanding of the overall plot and little tidbits on previous characters and books basically show Harry's life at the moment. Not everything Harry is doing has anything to do with the plot of this novel, and that could have been a bad thing, but because of Butcher's care and his solid story telling he can pick and choose threads at will and drop them on us without you losing your place. I never find myself skipping ahead to bypass one subplot after another because they revisit so many interesting stages in Harry's developement. From reading a letter about Shiro's family lineage, to a incidental remark from Warden Luccio that delves into her overall character. We are given glimpses of what is to come and continuous advancement of stories gone by.
I love how Butcher does this while keeping us wanting more of the main plot.
The weakest part of the book however is that the plot is somewhat generic seeming until you get to the end and see how it all pans out. The White Court as the primary antagonist is not very exciting at first, but once we get to final showdown(s) you find why Harry is so unnerved by them. And we see the return of an old enemy, only to lose a close friend.
Butcher's developement as a writer has been one of the great joys of my life for the last few years. While corny as that sounds I don't mind. I love this guys stuff. Wonderfully imagined and impossible to put away. A modern day wizard with an old world sense of responsibility is a good idea that could have turned bad. But Butcher pulls it through.
Good job Mr. Butcher I look forward to your next installment as always. Until then I will enjoy the SciFi TV adaption of The Dresden Files.
Book Review: The Dresden Files series is still #1.
Summary: 5 Stars
Jim Butcher keeps the great writing going on.
He is becoming the best SF/Fan. author.
Congratulations, Jim and Harry and .....
Book Review: One of the best sci-fi/fantasy series
Summary: 5 Stars
I came late to the Dresden books via the TV series. I watched a couple of episodes of the Dresden files, ordered the first four books, read it over the weekend, ordered the next four books, read it over the second weekend, then got the last book last weekend. I agree with some people when they say that the books are much more interesting than the TV show. In fact, I find the TV Dresden pretty whiny now that I've got to know the book version.
What really surprised me about the book series is how the writing got better as the series progressed. The weakest book for me was the first one, probably because I just saw the TV version of Storm Front before I read it. But the books got more interesting and more complex, while at the same time the murder mysteries part of them remained intriguing. I've read several other book series, and none has the same consistency in quality as the Dresden Files.
I think Jim Butcher has created a great alternate universe, with well-rounded characters and very interesting storylines. I honestly can't wait for the rest of the books to come out.
Book Review: Very good continuation of the series with an interesting twist
Summary: 5 Stars
Jim Butcher has done it again!
Harry Dresden continues to evolve and develop into a classic hero in the fantasy genre. The dark edge of Harry takes an interesting twist which was needed to keep the series going without Harry sliding into the darkness too quickly. The developing maturity of Harry is something that has been a while in coming but very welcome by this reader. The other characters also develop a bit but not quite as much as one would like.
The book is very hard to put down due to excellent pacing of the storing, nice plot development and enough red herrings to keep you thinking. The interplay between Murphy and Harry is good (with hopes that something more will happen soon).
My only criticism is that effect on war between the vampires and the White council seems a bit heavy handed to try to balance things out a bit to help the story arc keep going. The introduction of the Black Council is a good bit of foreshadowing for up-coming books.
Summary:
Overall: 4.5 stars
Characters: 5 stars
Action sequences: 4.5 stars
Plot: 4 stars -- a bit convenient for clean up of the vampire court
Pacing: 5 stars