Let me just start with the part where I LOVE Jim Butcher. This was not always so. I read the first book and thought it was ok, the second was worse, and then he struck gold with the third book. I was working in a bookstore at the time or I might not have made it to book three. I highly recommend starting with book three Grave Peril. His main character is Harry Dresden. Harry is a private investigator who happens to be a wizard. He even advertises as such in the phone book. I love Butcher's sense of humor and I love the mix of mystery and fantasy. I have read the books more times than I can count and am waiting for book 14 to come out this fall. That's right, I said 14. Along the way I discovered that James Marsters, Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, was the narrator of the audio books. So I decided to listen to one. OMG!!! I died and went to heaven. He is wonderful. I could probably listen to him read the phone book. Well maybe not the phone book, but pretty much anything else. So now and again I pop one of the audio books in and listen while I'm driving to and from work. I did that recently with Small Favor.
This is one of my favorite books. I'm trying to balance my enthusiasm with the need to not give too much away, so continue reading at your own peril. The book starts with Harry and the Carpenter family being attacked by agents of the Summer Court. And where Summer is, Winter can't be far behind. Harry owes Mab, Queen of the Winter Court, a favor and Mab decides to call in her marker. She wants him to find someone and if he doesn't he'll end up dead. So you now have some of my favorite recurring characters, Michael Carpenter, Knight of the Cross and the Fairies. Oh, this is going to be good. Most of the other supporting cast is here, Murphy, Thomas, Molly and Mouse. Plus a few surprises that I can't mention, but boy do I want to. As usual, Harry is an underdog caught between a rock and a hard place. There is plenty of action, humor, suspense and magic. Some intriguing character hints. I loved it all.
Listening to the audio books is such a pleasure. I read so quickly that I know I'm not getting every word. Listening forces me to take it slow. Marsters has a wonderful voice and is truly great narrator. I never have any trouble distinguishing between his character voices. I like Harry, but Bob's voice is probably my favorite along with Toot-Toot. He is able to bring all the emotions and carry you along as he goes. And at 12 cd's it lasts awhile. I own all the books on CD except the latest, and I never get tired of them. Marsters has narrated all of the books except the last one. I've converted both my sister and my brother-in-law to fans of the series through the audio books. I converted my mom to a fan through the books. My dad is the stubborn hold out. He just doesn't know what he's missing.
"Side Jobs" is a collection of Harry Dresden short stories that have been published through out the years. They are in chronological story order with a short blurb about how and why the story came about. Plus a notation about where it falls within the book timeline. I had to pull this out because one of the stories deals with what happened to one of the characters in the aftermath of Small Favors. Then I remembered on of the other stories and had to go read that one. After that you might as well just read them all. The collection illustrates how much Butcher has grown as a writer. The earliest stories show you the potential and it's a joy to read stories that just keep getting better. I think it's a great collection, but would caution you to have read a good portion of the series before you pick it up, because spoilers abound. Mostly I just think you need to go read these books right now.
No comments:
Post a Comment