Tag Archives: wizards

Book Review of “Changes” (2011): A Dresden Files Novel by Jim Butcher

changes

© James Pyles

I just finished Jim Butcher’s Changes (2011), book twelve in The Dresden Files series and it is over-the-top great.

Spoiler Alert! If you haven’t read this book yet, are a fan of the series, and want to be surprised STOP READING HERE!

You have been warned.

One of the dangers any series faces is falling into a pattern or formula. After all, as a writer, if you’ve found something that works, you tend to repeat it over and over for the sake of success. Publishers like success too, so they might even encourage such repetition for the sake of profits.

But as we’ve seen in all forms of entertainment, becoming “formulistic” can also mean the death of creativity and the loss of readers.

So Butcher changed all that.

Here’s the “spoilers” part.

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Book Review of “Turn Coat” (2009), a “Dresden Files” Novel

turn coat

© James Pyles

Last night I finished Jim Butcher’s 2009 novel Turn Coat, the 11th book in “The Dresden Files” series.

You’d think that in eleven books, Butcher would turn in a turkey now and then, but he is the gift that keeps on giving. That said, there’s always the danger things will start to get repetitive, especially as the reader becomes more familiar with the Dresden universe.

There is some of that, at least a little. After all (spoiler alert), the climax of this novel occurs on the same piece of magical real estate as the last one.

But there are surprises throughout.

Remember, I said spoiler alert.

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Book Review of the Dresden Files Novel “Small Favor” (2009)

small favor

© James Pyles

I finished Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files novel Small Favor a week or more ago, but I’ve been so busy (largely with granddaughters) that I haven’t had time to write the review before now.

Just when I think everything that can happen to wizard Harry Dresden has happened, something new comes up.

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Review of “Dead Beat” (2006), Book Seven in the Dresden Files Series

dead beat

© James Pyles

Yesterday, I finished book seven in Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files series Dead Beat. Like the rest of the books in this collection, the title is a play on words. This time, Harry Dresden faces the threat of necromancers, users of magic of the dead.

Harry’s life gets increasingly worse with each book and sometimes I marvel that he’s still alive.

Oh, before I go on, since this book was published in 2006, there are spoilers aplenty.

Harry’s detective friend Karrin Murphy goes off to Hawaii on vacation with a man (or being) of great power who Harry doesn’t trust. By now, the readers of this series know that at some point, Harry and Murphy are going to become lovers, but currently, he’s too noble and self-righteous to object to her plans.

He’s contacted by Mavra, his deadly vampire foe, who threatens to reveal certain illegal acts Murphy committed (all performed while helping Harry) and destroy her life if Harry doesn’t find and bring her something called the “Book of Kemmler.”

As it turns out, this book holds the secret to summoning a vast number of the spirits of the dead and focusing the energy in order to turn one necromancer into basically a god.

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Review of “Blood Rites” (2004), Book Six in “The Dresden Files” series

blood rites

© James Pyles

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

Yesterday, I finished Jim Butcher’s novel Blood Rites, the sixth book in The Dresden Files series.

Harry Dresden is the world’s only publicly advertised investigative wizard. He operates out of Chicago and is on contract with the Special Investigations unit of the Chicago P.D. to help solve the really weird crimes that sometimes happen thanks to ghosts, demons, fairies, and vampires.

“Blood Rites” continues the war between Harry (and by inference the White Council) and a group of vampires called the Black Court (vampires that most resemble “Dracula”). However, Harry’s life is always complicated. He is encouraged by his “White Court” vampire associate Thomas to take a job protecting the owner of a porn film company from what amounts to “the evil eye.” Two women associated with the production have already died.

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Review of “Summer Knight” (2002), Book Four of “The Dresden Files” Series

summer knight

© James Pyles

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

After getting a nasty flu bug last Thursday, I had plenty of time to power through Jim Butcher’s fourth installment of “The Dresden Files” series Summer Knight (2002). It’s just as exciting, compelling, and funny as the previous three books which I have also read and reviewed.

Some authors tend to cut back on the quality (probably not on purpose) as a series progresses, but not Butcher. He also seems very keen on adhering to a master plan, in which the elements of this story fitting neatly into what has happened previously. There’s also plenty of new mythos and adventure to be had.

As I tell my fifteen-year-old grandson who is also a fan of “Dresden,” it’s amazing our protagonist manages to stay alive. His life just gets worse and worse with the passage of time.

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Book Review of “Fool Moon” (2001) by Jim Butcher

Fool Moon

© James Pyles

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

If you read my review of Jim Butcher’s novel Storm Front, you know I love not only his writing, but the beginning of his “Dresden Files” series.

Last night, I finished off book two in the series Fool Moon. As you might imagine, the primary “baddies” are werewolves, but it’s not that simple. Nothing is ever simple in the life of the world’s only openly active and investigative wizard Harry Dresden.

We pick up about six months after the first novel when once again, head of the Chicago P.D. Special Investigations unit Karrin Murphy calls Dresden in on a series of particularly gruesome murders, ones that look to have been committed by wolf-like creatures.

The victims again throw Harry in the path of the city’s most dangerous gangland boss “Gentleman” Johnny Marcone.

Murphy is in plenty of hot water with internal affairs after the events of the previous novel and to make matters worse, the FBI have an interest in the “Lobo murders.” Special Agent Phil Denton leads a team of federal investigators which includes Deborah Benn, who upon first meeting Murphy almost shoots her.

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Book Review of “Storm Front” (2000)

storm front

© James Pyles

If you like my work, buy me a virtual cup of coffee at Ko-Fi.

When I was seven years old, I got a bad case of strep throat and was out of school for a whole week. During that time, my sisters bought me my first fantasy and sci-fi novels: the boxed set of Lord of the Rings and the boxed set of the Han Solo adventure novels by Brian Daley. I devoured them all during that week.

My first love as a fan is swords-and-horses fantasy. After Tolkien, I went after C.S. Lewis. After Lewis, it was Lloyd Alexander. After them came Fritz Leiber, Roger Zelazny, Robert Howard, John Norman, Poul Anderson, David Eddings, Weis and Hickman, Terry Brooks, Elizabeth Moon, Glen Cook, and before I knew it I was a dual citizen of the United States and Lankhmar, Narnia, Gor, Cimmeria, Krynn, Amber — you get the picture.

-Jim Butcher from the Acknowledgements section of his 2000 novel Storm Front

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know that I’ve become a fan of Jim Butcher’s Cinder Spires series, having reviewed both The Aeronaut’s Windlass and The Olympian Affair.

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Big Announcement for Saturday the 17th

witch

Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch from the 1939 film “The Wizard of Oz”

This one has been in the works for months, and the story involved has been edited again and again. I think you’ll like the final result. It will become available Saturday. I still can’t talk about it and have no promotional materials to offer, but I can share an excerpt to whet your appetite.

Toto barked at the witch like a maniac, but mercifully, didn’t try to escape Dorothy’s grasp. The broomstick competed with Dorothy’s legs as to which could shake faster and harder. If the monkeys didn’t arrive soon, Glinda would grab Dorothy and send her back home. Dorothy could try to ride the broomstick back to Wicked’s castle, where she knew the monkeys were sure to take her if they’d ever show up. But she’d never ridden a broomstick before. What if she fell – or worse, dropped Toto?

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The Back Door Out of the Wizard’s Saloon

sign

© Sue Vincent

Long centuries ago, when “The Wizard’s Saloon” had first been established, the population of its visitors, many but not all from Britain and the European nations on Earth, were illiterate, or read and spoke languages not native to the proprietor. The sign, a conical wizard’s hat mounted in a frame atop the roof, communicated very well across cultures and species just what sort of proprietorship was within its gray stone walls, and behind the large, oaken door, and stained glass windows.

Kyle Logan, a refugee from the realm of Nightmare, and a minor vassal of Dormammu before that, cautiously gripped the tarnished brass handle and pushed in. He looked human enough, just shy of six-foot tall, tangled brown hair draped over his forehead and ears, sharp green eyes scanning left and right looking for any hint of trouble, dressed in mismatched jacket and trousers (gray and brown didn’t go well together) over a wrinkled black t-shirt. His Air Jordan 13 Retro shoes were the only thing that was new, but only because he had stolen those last, having gotten lucky enough to materialize momentarily in a 1984 Los Angeles shoe store.

“Greetings, stranger.” The figure behind the bar at the other end of the room was almost a head taller than Kyle, but also three times as wide as the skinny youth. Amazingly, the body-length apron over the long-sleeved gingham shirt (because of the bar, Logan couldn’t see below his waist) managed to obscure the man’s abundant girth. “Welcome to the Wizard’s Saloon. Come for lodging or just a drink?”

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