73 of 75 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
I didn't think Butcher could improve after "Dead Beat", April 4, 2007
This review is from: White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) (Hardcover)
Sometimes, it's good to be wrong. Jim Butcher has more than earned hardcover publication for his "Dresden Files" series. In my opinion, "Dresden" is one of the best urban fantasy series around.
What to the casual eye looks like suicides of magical practitioners turns out to be a serial killer using the quote from Exodus, "Suffer Not a Witch to live," as a calling card. There are several practitioners dead and more missing. Worse, it's not just Chicago that's been hit.
When clues start piling up implicating Harry's younger brother, Thomas, who is a vampire of the White Court, Harry has to work hard to clear his brother's name.
"White Night" should have a warning--don't pick this book up unless you have several hours to devour it. Like most of the Dresden Files, I struggled with the impulse to read the book right now--or just a few pages at a time and savor it. Devouring won.
"White Night" is very tightly paced. You have very little time as a reader to contemplate what's going to happen. This is also one of Butcher's more intricate novels. He's definitely improving with each book. Kudos to him, his publisher and many fans would still read him for a long time if he didn't challenge himself--and us. In my opinion, Butcher has reached the point with the mystery and crime portion of the series that regular mystery readers would cross over to him.
Of course, the stable of characters is excellent. I still prefer the novelizations of the Dresden Files to the series--with one notable exception. Bob in the novel now seems 'flat' to me once I have seen Terrence Mann bringing Bob to life.
Overall, this is an excellent book by a writer who ages very well. Kudos to Jim Butcher and the Dresden Files.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Grand Slam, April 3, 2007
This review is from: White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) (Hardcover)
I too obtained both my copy of White Knight AND my copy of the audio book of Summer Knight at I-CON. Those sweet ladies at the Buzzy Multimedia tables must have thought we were all a bit daft because we lined up on Friday before the convention was even official opened. I was able to get both autographed by Jim Butcher. He is as nice as he is smart and he is plenty smart :) Well that was Friday and by Saturday morning I was a bit bleary eyed but happy and then I started listening to Summer Knight. My God does James Marsters "get" Harry and he absolutely rocked with the voices of all the Fae folk.
On to the the review. As with all the Dresden Files books there are some fight/battle scenes that leave me breathless. I can feel the pain, the despair, the exhaustion as well as the on-the-fly tactics in addition to those well laid plans of mice and men. Love the way Jim Butcher not only comes up with characters that are interesting but has them evolve. He doesn't leave us hanging forever to see issues that were addressed a couple of books ago get resolved. I was a bit worried about the whole apprentice thing but Molly has grown on me and I have this feeling that she and Mister will be the best of friends. Good thing too, because although I adore Mouse, Mister seemed to have be sort of w-a-a-y in th background and I have a soft spot for Mister as well.
So if you haven't bought this book yet, hurry up. So what if it is a hard cover. Friends have a way of forgetting to return paper backs but I haven't had one forget about a hard cover ...yet. Plus you know they'll all be coming out in hardcover eventually and won't they look nice on the shelf ? As for by Dresden Files audio books, no one gets those on loan from me. They'll have to pry them out of my cold, dead fingers.
All Hail Jim Butcher !!! Hip, hip hooray !!!
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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dead or Disappeared, September 20, 2007
This review is from: White Night (The Dresden Files, Book 9) (Hardcover)
White Night (2007) is the ninth Urban Fantasy novel in the Dresden Files series, following
Proven Guilty. In the previous volume, Harry fetched Molly Carpenter back from Arctis Tor, with a little help from his friends. He took her back to her family, but she decided to turn herself in to the White Council for violations of the Fourth Law.
At the trial, the Merlin arbitrarily convicted her of using black magic and sentenced her to death. Harry pointed out that the Gatekeeper hadn't yet cast his vote. Then Ebenezar McCoy arrived with survivors of the Warden training group accompanied by Molly's father Michael. Merlin reconsidered his verdict and Molly became Harry's apprentice.
In this novel, Sergeant Murphy has a probable suicide, but she rides a hunch and calls in Harry. He checks out the scene and casts a spell at a particular place on the wall. The notation "EXODUS 22:18" appears and Karrin knows the victim was murdered.
Suddenly, Murphy strikes out with a foot sweep and a young woman -- little more than a girl -- becomes visible and falls to the floor. Harry's apprentice Molly hasn't done as he told her and now she has a few bruises and pains to remind her to obey her master. Not that she is going to pay attention, but one more lesson won't hurt . . . much!
Harry does congratulate her on the invisibility spell, but points out that both he and Sergeant Murphy had noticed a few out-of-place sounds and smells. Molly needs to put in some extra practice, but she is improving. Molly goes home happy, but aching in several places.
In this story, Harry and Murphy find other victims around Chicago and elsewhere. Most of the Chicago victims belong to a witch group known as Ordo Lebes, which Dresden translates in his correspondence course Latin as "Order of the Big Pot". Karrin, however, suggests that a better interpretation would be "Order of the Cauldron". But one victim does not belong to this order.
Harry also discovers that one of the Ordo Lebes is Helen Beckitt, whom he has had problems with in the past. Although she cooperates with Harry and Murphy and doesn't even deny her prison record, Dresden just can't bring himself to trust her. When he discovers that she works for John Marcone, both Harry and Murphy become suspicious of her behavior.
Harry meets another old acquaintance on this case. Elaine had been his first girl, but they had parted after Harry killed their mentor. While the White Council ruled that the killing was in self-defense, Elaine was already gone. Yet she had not forgotten him and even followed his career path as a consulting wizard.
This story also has a minor side plot involving the fallen angel Lasciel. The shadow of Lasciel residing in his mind provides some useful services, such as translation of dead languages, but is still trying to seduce him to the evil side. It occurs to Harry that such seduction can go both ways and he treats "Lash" as an almost trusted friend. Some surprising changes occur.
While Harry doesn't really like being a Warden of the White Council, he hasn't considered it as a handicap. Then a mysterious Grey Cloak is noticed as somehow involved with the dead witches and everybody is afraid to tell Harry. And his brother Thomas is often observed with these victims shortly before their death or disappearances. Being an enforcer for the Council is bad enough without the paranormal community wondering whether you are responsible for these passings.
Highly recommended for Butcher fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of preternatural creatures, paranormal individuals, and strange happenings.
-Arthur W. Jordin
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