11 November 2008

Book Banter -- Proven Guilty

Title: Proven Guilty (Dresden Files bk. 8)
Author: Jim Butcher
Length: ~370 pages
Genre: urban/paranormal fantasy
Plot Basics: Chicago's resident wizard, Harry Dresden, has managed to tick off the White Council and their Wardens and start the war between the Council and the Red Court vampires. Now, drafted as a Warden, Harry's coming to terms with the magical justice system that doesn't leave much room for redemption. When a horror movie convention starts getting plagued by real attacks, Harry sets off to figure out why, and discovers that the person behind the attacks may be at the mercy of the Council's not-very-lenient justice system.
Banter Points: Word Nerd loves Harry Dresden. She's been having such a great time reading through Butcher's backlist that she's a little disappointed to be almost caught up. Harry's such a great hero, so exceptionally flawed that it's impossible not to love him. The other thing Word Nerd really loves about this series is how nothing Butcher does as a writer is accidental. The stuff that Harry did back in book four has ramifications now in book 8 and beyond.
Bummer Points: Dresden and Murphy. If you've read the series, you understand.
Word Nerd Recommendation: Stop thinking about reading this series. Just go do it.

3 comments:

Stacie Penney said...

I am caught up and do miss having it on the reserve list. See why I was thinking about buying all of them?

And I completely agree about Murphy and Dresdyn.

Tolmek said...

Oh, but you probably aren't as close to caught up as you think. After books 9 and 10, there is the prequel graphic novel "Welcome to the Jungle" that just came out. (It happens before Storm Front.) Then, there are a bunch of short stories in various anthologies out there dealing with events in between some of the books. There's also the novelette about Thomas that just came out: Backup.

Oh, and I was bummed about Harry/Murphy too.

Unknown said...

I admit that I wasn't in love with Dresden at first read; "Storm Front" was good, but it did not make me want to go out and read the next one (even though it was on my bookself). But we watched the short-lived series with friends, and then one day I got sucked into a later book that my fiance left in the bathroom (though for the life of me, I can't remember which one. It had the knights in it), and I am now in hooked beyond reason. Butcher gets so much better as it goes on, and Dresden is by far on my top 5 heroes. It's so gripping. I don't think I slept for days while I caught up on the books we have.

That said, I'm nowhere near caught up as a whole; our book budget has been small, and we only own... six of the books, I think?