Rating: 
Summary: Best Of The Dresden Files
Review: This is my favorite of the Dresden Files books so far. It is different from the first three in that we deal with the vampires less and the fairies more. We also see more of the White Council than the first three books. It is well written and highly enjoyable.
Rating: 
Summary: Buy one book for yourself and second one for a loaner!
Review: This is one of those books in danger of never coming back if lent out. For anyone who has not read Summer Knight yet, is perfect pre-Halloween reading. There is loads of weirdness and atmosphere. If you are reading this review after Halloween, it is still a great read. It is face paced, well written and suspenseful. One aspect that is particularly strong in Butcher's writing is his skill at creating lush but not overdone descriptions. I had very strong impression of how things looked in Dresden's universe. Butcher has some interesting villains and I adore the hero Dresden. The closest thing to a nit I have is that the hero needed was super overloaded with problems. Luckily, Butcher did a great job of pulling it all together at the end. As far as reading the previous books, I think that may add to the pleasure of reading this book but it is not essential. I have only read on other book in the series and that only slowed me down in one or two passages. I have every intension of reading all the books in the series; it's just a question of finding the time.
Rating:
Summary: It's magic, again, with the other great wizard Harry!
Review: Very very few books that I read in the category of "mind-candy" receive more than 3 stars. Butcher deserved it, and is making me quickly reconsider him as belonging to the mind-candy list at all!
The wait for this one was a tremendously hard one for me. I was lucky enough to receive the "teaser" from Mr. Butcher via E-mail, and then had to wait. Wait. Wait. It hurt. For a fun read, this series - about the only wizard in the Chicago Yellow Pages - leaves nothing to be desired. But this fourth book turned everything on its edge, and was absolutely fabulous. A haggard Harry is trying to cope with everything that went so terribly wrong in the third book - not limited to, but including a very bad turn in his love life, the starting of a wizards-vs-vampires war (oops), and quite a bit of disfavour among the wizard's council. And then of course, the fae come to collect on Harry's debt, old (and once murderous) love interests show up, and before you know it - Harry's hip deep again in trouble.
As always, it's Harry's character that keeps you going (that and his air-spirit-trapped-in-a-crystal-skull sidekick, the oversexed Bob). Harry is such a wonderful guy to follow that you can't help but feel for him, even as his winning chivalry gets him deeper and deeper into mess. The mystery itself in this one - who killed one of the Fairy Court's Knights? - is just as interesting, and the Fairy culture that Butcher wove together is skillfully plotted.
This was superb, and if you liked Anita Blake, or Tanya Huff's "Keeper" series, you'll love Harry Dresden.
'Nathan
Rating:
Summary: Faerie Wars: Bad News for Harry
Review: When we last saw our intrepid hero, wizard Harry Dresden, he had just lost his girlfriend to the vampires, and been threatened by the renewed involvement in his life by his fairy godmother. Since then, things have gotten worse. He's depressed, he isn't working, his friends are avoiding him, and he's about to be evicted from his office. Enter the solution: the Winter Queen of Faerie. If Harry will find out who killed the Summer Queen's right-hand knight, he can rid himself of the magical hold of his fairy godmother and maybe save his girlfriend from becoming a full-fledged vampire. But this means putting himself in harm's way between the two Queens of Faerie and their various minions. Not to mention the fact that the fate of the world rests on the results of his discovery. Once again, we are treated to a madcap tale with oddball characters and strange creatures, twists and turns in plots and motivations, unexpected allies, and even a damel in distress to be rescued at the height of a battle between the two Queens. I call this good cotton candy, and I like cotton candy. When is the next one going to be ready?
Rating:
Summary: The peak of the series?
Review: With "Grave Peril" and "Summer Knight", Butcher solidifies his style and achieves an admirable blend of rapid pace, intelligence, tongue-in-cheek suspense, off-the-wall humor, and high adventure. Occasionally a plot element or bit of dialogue falls flat, but for the most part these books are highly enjoyable page turners. Comparisons to Harry Potter abound, perhaps justifiably. Personally, I find a MUCH stronger resemblance to Harry Harrison's excellent "Stainless Steel Rat" series. Even more so in this volume, because towards the end Harry Dresden manages to pull off a few clever twists a la Jim diGriz, whereas in "Grave Peril" he is mostly riding the ragged edge of disaster. My only apprehension is that this may be as good as it gets. The "Stainless Steel Rat" series peaked with the fourth installment("...Wants You"), tanked after a couple more, and still refuses to die a dignified death. This series may well follow those footsteps. Nonetheless, as with Harry Potter, I definitely look forward to the next release.
Rating:
Summary: Buy one book for yourself and second one for a loaner!
Review: Yup. This is one of those books in danger of never coming back if lent out. For anyone who has not read Summer Knight yet, is perfect pre-Halloween reading. There is loads of weirdness and atmosphere. If you are reading this review after Halloween, it's still a great read. It is face paced, well written and suspenseful. One aspect that is particularly strong in Butcher's writing is his skill at creating lush but not overdone descriptions. I had very strong visions of how things looked in Dresden's universe. Butcher has some really interesting villains and I adore the hero Dresden. The closest thing to a nit I have is that the hero needed was super overloaded with problems. Luckily, Butcher did a great job of pulling it all together at the end. As far as reading all the previous books, I think that may add to the pleasure of reading this book but it is not essential. I have only read on other book in the series and that only slowed me down in one or two passages. I plan on reading all the books in the series; it's just a question of finding the time.
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