Series: Book 8 in the The Dresden Files series
Rating: ****
Tags: Fiction, General, Magic, Fantasy, Fantasy Fiction, Wizards, Detective and mystery stories, Dresden; Harry (Fictitious character), Contemporary, Chicago (Ill.), Media Tie-In, Lang:en
Summary
Elevated "into the front rank of urban
fantasy heroes" (SF Site), professional wizard Harry Dresden
is pledged to fight crime, banish evil, and outwit the
masters of dark arts in the shadowy corners of Chicago.
Harry, the only wizard in the Chicago phone book, is drafted
to look into rumors of black magic in the Windy City. And if
that wasn't enough, he must help the daughter of an old
friend, whose boyfriend was the only one in a room where an
old man was attacked. He insists he didn't do it. And what
looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror
film turns out to be-well, something quite close to that, as
Harry discovers that malevolent entities that feed on fear
are loose in Chicago. Harry Dresden, Chicago's only consulting wizard, takes on
phobophages, creatures that feed on fear who attack a horror
film convention, in the diverting eighth installment of
Butcher's increasingly complicated Dresden Files series
(_Dead Beat_, etc.). Harry finds that fighting monsters is
only the prelude to maneuvers amid the warring wizards of the
White Council and the vampire Red Court. Less and less V.I.
Warshawski with witchcraft, Harry aims his deductive powers
at political intrigues rather than crime solving. The body
count from the magical melees, however, would do any
hard-boiled gumshoe proud. Butcher's believable, likable set
of characters go for the jocular much more than the jugular.
Deeper fears do run through the book, and Harry, taking on an
apprentice, has to face up to the consequences of his
all-too-human failings. Look for the series to really take
off with the debut of a two-hour pilot on the Sci-Fi Channel
this summer produced by Nicholas Cage.
(May)
The second Dresden Files hardcover finds Chicago wizard
Harry Dresden assigned an unpleasant task by the White
Council of Wizards. He has to find out where the Winter Fairy
Court stands in the White Council's war against the vampires.
To make matters worse, he has gotten a missive from a
powerful wizard claiming someone is using black magic in
Chicago. It doesn't take long for Harry to pinpoint the
source of the problem. Molly, the daughter of a close friend,
comes to him for help after her boyfriend is accused of
attacking an elderly theater owner at a horror-movie
convention. When another attack occurs and Harry sees the
dangerous type of magic used, he knows he is dealing with a
very serious threat indeed. Butcher is in fine form here, and
with the Sci Fi channel in the process of turning the first
Dresden Files novel,
Storm Front (2000), into a TV movie, expect the
series' audience to grow.
Kristine Huntley
From Publishers Weekly
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