Battle Ground

The title is apt - this is one long battle scene. Along the way there are too many heartbreaks to name. I love Harry's wry humor and his smart mouth and the way he loves. ( )

Harry Dresden has had some adversaries in the past but now he is the sole chance the members of the accords have to stop the last Titan from destroying Chicago and starting a war with the mortal world. A fun, fast, interesting story that ends several chapters and starts several fresh for future adventures. ( )

Most of the book is a series of boss fights against the Titan and her allies who’ve come to destroy Chicago and then the world. I found them mostly boring because the powers keep getting ramped up and then Harry powers up to match—classic urban fantasy problem—but the hints of secrets surrounding Harry/a larger destiny are nonetheless tempting. There is a big loss among the good guys; Mab gets in a couple of twists to get Harry more on her side; and someone comments in text on the Harry/Marcone UST, so there’s that. ( )

Do not read this book! I repeat DO NOT read this book! If you are a fan of strong female characters this book and really this series is not for you. I should have stopped reading when Susan Rodriguez died so needlessly. I should have stopped reading when Molly Carpenter got screwed over for the umpteenth time. I should have stopped reading when he failed to portray a realistic journey of mental illness for Molly. I should have stopped reading when he crippled Karen Murphy. I should have stopped reading every time Harry thinks about how he’d do anything to protect his corporeal daughter Maggie but neglected to give a single thought for the spirit of intellect Bonea who is just as much his daughter. But I held on to hope. But killing Karen Murphy so carelessly was the end of that hope. I have no doubt that the rest of his female characters will all suffer similar fates in the quest to make the most angsty man-child character in the urban fantasy genre. I will likely be going back over the next few days and writing reviews for all the previous books warning people off them. I read the spoilers about Karen being chosen by Odin to be one of his warriors but honestly I don’t even care enough to read the rest of the story. I am officially rewriting the series in my mind as ending when Harry is shot at the end of Changes. It’s so crazy that we’ll never know what a starborn is or where all those loose ends would be tied up because Harry Dresden died. It is particularly odd that Jim Butcher never wrote anything else after killing off his protagonist. Such a shame. Oh well. More time for stories with actually well rounded characters. ( )

This book surprised me, but not in a good way. I'm a fan of the Dresden Files. I've read and enjoyed all of the books. Harry Dresden has Permanent Resident status in my imagination. When I finished 'Peace Talks', which set up the action for 'Battle Ground' I was glad that I wouldn't have to wait very long to read the next book. So, I'm surprised and disappointed to find that 'Battle Ground' is the first book of 2021 that I'm walking away from.

I'm sure there are many fans who'll enjoy this book. It's well-written and, for a fantasy novel involving the invasion of Chicago by a Titan and her armies of weird creature, it gives a realistic view of what urban warfare is like. But... for me, the heart has gone from this novel and from the series.

Perhaps the best way for me to explain that is just to share my reactions as I listened to the first eight hours and forty minutes of this book before setting it aside.

20%

It seems that this book is what it says on the cover: a 943 minutes-long audiobook about a battle. Fortunately, Jim Butcher is an expert at this stuff.

He opens with an intense, up-close-and-personal, blood-in-the-water, fight between Harry and his crew and a Kraken in Lake Michigan.

Next he slows to set preparations in place, draw up battle lines, do a little bit of apex predator posturing and refresh memories of old friends and bitter enemies.

He lets the fear build as the city is attacked and the powerful huddle together.

Then, finally. he unleashes Dresden, not to take part in some decisive military action but to protect a child.

That's how it's done.

37%

This is good but...

it's like when you get a great dish of pasta and you dive in with gusto. The flavours light you up and you eat and eat until your body mutters 'enough is as good as a feast', and 'variety is the spice of life' and then shouts 'FOR GOD'S SAKE, TAKE A BREATH' and you realise you're less than halfway through the pasta.

After five hours of fighting, I'm wondering how much Battle I can eat.

48%

I'm moving slowly with this because the tone is so funereal. One relentless battle against overwhelming odds set against a background of reflections on the need for sacrifice.

And now we've just had a pointless shooting. It better not do what I think it's going to do or I'll struggle to get through the next eight of hours of this.

55%

Ok. I'm done. Done with this book and done with Harry Dresden. This has been nothing but a dirge from the beginning. Then it became filled with pointless death. One death, in particular, I can't forgive Jim Butcher for, not just because of who he killed but because it was so random and pointless.

I'm sure Harry, at some great personal sacrifice, will win through in the end. I just don't care any more.