Dead Beat

Well I always feel like I’m missing something when I start these books. It could be because I’m taking my time before picking up the next book or it could be the time frame within the books themselves.

**Possible Spoilers Below**
I tried to be vague on those areas that might be spolierish.

Dead Beat takes place about a year after Blood Rites. Harry has his half-brother Thomas living with him still. Thomas is having trouble adjusting to normal life or what is consider normal. What is a Vampire to do? Harry also has a new pet, Mouse, which he picked up in Blood Rites. I do like the addition of a dog.

When we get started Murphy is going on vacation with Kincaid. Harry’s not happy about this, but he doesn’t stop her and so no Murphy for our story. I was sad to not have Murphy around, but it added a new feel to the story.

We see that Harry has been distancing himself from everyone. He’s not sharing and he needs to talk to someone. Everything he’s dealing with is bottled up inside. One issue he has is the Demon mark he received a few books back. It's starting to affect him. Besides all the other previous issues he has.

Now enter in the bad wizards, necromancy, oh my and the possibilities of one become a god. Ya, Harry’s got his work cut out for himself in stoping this. He also leans some disturbing news about the war with the Red Court and the deaths of hundreds of wizards. The wizards are losing and it doesn’t look good for anyone. Last, we get to see Harry offered a Warden position. He is doing the job of a Warden, but without the pay and benefits it has. Does he take the offer?

The novel is a little slow going until the last 25% or so when we get the big battle scene and the climax of the story. For most of this book Harry is running around looking for the Word, a book. He meets up with some others, the bad guys, who are also looking and away they go to see who will get the Word first and either become a god or stop the show.

Dead Beat was an delightful and entertaining read. It was a bit slow, but still had all the Harry fun that I have come to like and enjoy from the series. If you are an Urban Fantasy fan then I recommend picking up The Dresden Files series.

Rated: 4 Stars

( )

I always enjoy the Dresden Files books, and the series only gets better with each installment. These are like comfort food for me, so it’s nice to have another one to read now and then. I’ve definitely been taking my sweet time reading them, but they’re also fairly self-contained, so it’s not like I’m getting only part of a story. This installment introduces some new characters and puts Harry on a collision course with the wardens. He also rides a resurrected dinosaur to fight evil wizards, so it’s got a lot going for it. ( )

I really like this series because the hero, Harry Dresden, is funny, smart, and is that knight in shining armor, or rather, a knight in a beat up VW Beetle, who always seems to find a way to defeat the bad guys, whether they're vampires, ghouls, or in this case, necromancers. So if I'm looking for something to distract or a feel good book with a feel good ending, then this is a good series. But Butcher also has the ability to really pull at your emotional side -- when Harry learns something about his past, or makes huge sacrifices for friends -- those are the gems that I love in this series. So although I liked this book for it's strong adventure with a good dose of crass humor, it didn't have that same emotional pull that I know he is capable of. So still a good read, but not his best. ( )

First re-read since my first read 13 years ago. After I read this the first time, I remember thinking, if Butcher keeps writing this series, I'll keep reading it - every. single. one. Not only for Harry either. Thomas, Mouse, Mister, Bob, Butters, Ramirez. And Murphy was growing on me.

I felt exactly the same way this read.

One of the better books in this series, although it does still show the usual dresden-isms that keep from loving it yet. Stuff like the lack of any female characters that Harry doesn't want to bone, shoddy worldbuilding and the fact that I still don't know how many and how much people know about the magic stuff. Either have no one know about it, or make it a normal thing, but Butcher seems to want both. Either way, the Zombie T-Rex is pretty cool, and the new myth arc elements are interesting. Perfect in between books for Malazan. ( )