24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Omnibus containing Proven Guilty and White Night, August 15, 2007
This review is from: Wizard Under Fire (Hardcover)
In this omnibus containing books 8 and 9 of the Harry Dresden series, the war between the Wizards and the Red Court of the vampires is really heating up, but that doesn't stop Harry from having problems of his own. In "Proven Guilty," Harry Dresden - now a Warden of the White Council, in charge of the Chicago-Land area - is troubled. He doesn't like the callous way that young wizards who unknowingly break the Council's law are dispatched without giving them a chance to change their ways. But it seems there is nothing he can do about it. He receives a message from the mysterious Gatekeeper, warning him there is Black magic afoot and to be on the lookout for it. As he prepares to find where the Black magic may be, his phone rings - it is Molly, the daughter of his friend Michael, Knight of the Cross. She says she is in jail and needs him to bail her out. Which isn't quite true - it turns out it is her boyfriend Nelson who is in jail; there was an incident at Splattercon!!! (a horror convention) in which an old man was beaten up in a bathroom - Nelson was the only other person in the room. Although he says he did not do the deed, there was no one else there, so the police ran him in. Harry agrees to investigate. Things turn ugly fast when horror movie monsters begin to show up at the convention and maim and kill people. To make matters worse, Harry notices severe psychic trauma on many of the victims.
In "White Night," when Harry Dresden finds out that women of minor magical talent are being murdered in the Chicagoland area - in fact, all around the country - he decides that he must find out who is the culprit, even if it is his own half-brother, Thomas. As a result, he ends up smack-dab in the middle of a fight for the throne of the White Court - the one group of vampires that are currently negotiating for peace with the wizards.
With non-stop action and plenty of twists and turns, Harry Dresden's adventures are sure to please anyone who is a fan of urban fantasy, science fiction and paranormal adventures. Well-written and not even close to running out of steam, this is a series to watch!
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Dresden Files is almost too good., March 10, 2008
This review is from: Wizard Under Fire (Hardcover)
I am not what you would call a reader. For me it's usually like pulling teeth, and most of the 20 or 30 books I had read until I found The Dresden Files, I only finished out of spite. I read Dead Beat, I swear to you, because the cover looked cool, and I felt certain parity with the title at the time. Half way through the book I had bought every other book of the series that was available. When I was finished with those I started in on Codex Alera. Jim Butcher's characters and stories are so relatable, charmingly flawed, and fast paced, which I would have thought impossible before Dead Beat, that I can't put the books down.
In all of The Dresden Files book the story it told entirely form the perspective of Harry Dresden, which makes for more of a mystery than a fantasy. Don't get me wrong, he burn, blows up, crushes, freezes, and generally makes life as rough as possible for the bad guys, but he has to find out who they are and what the consequences would be first. Consequences are very big in the series, and again and again the past comes back to haunt Harry. On top of all of that, it seems that bad guys have some kind of union rule that says they can't start in on a nefarious plan until there are at least 2 or 3 possibly related schemes taking place at the same time.
Proven Guilty and White Night are continuations on a theme, and the theme is: Cramming 10 tons of awesome into around a pound of book. Others have written more in depth synopses of these books; so, I will just offer you a suggestion. If you haven't read any of The Dresden Files Series, start with earlier books than these. Jim Butcher does an excellent job of making sure you have a good idea of who everyone is and what is going on without beating you over the head with old plot, but 8 and 9 books in is a touch deep to start a series. Each book in the series ups the ante a bit. I will say that, for me, it really got going in book 3, Grave Peril. If you have already read all of the others, I don't have to convince you. You're going to buy this one.
If you are looking for something for your young kids to read because they are plum out of Harry Potter books, this is not the series for them. Harry Dresden is a full grown man. Yes he is a bit of a magic geek with a very limited social calendar due to all the impending doom and personal peril, but that doesn't keep him from the occasional passionate moment. Read the books for yourself before you set your children lose on them. They are at the least PG.
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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great purchase, April 25, 2009
This review is from: Wizard Under Fire (Hardcover)
This product was well described and priced very low. I couldn't buy the book locally for the price + shipping i paid over amazon. The book was shipped exceptionally fast and was a great read. If anyone is wondering why use amazon, the answer is clear. Great books at great prices delivered to your door.
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