I looked it up. I have waited six years for book sixteen in the Harry Dresden world to be published. I have waited patiently, then less patiently. A few months ago, there was a book by Jim Butcher called (tada!) Spiderman: The Darkest Hours. It wasn’t Harry Dresden, but it was good and it was Jim Butcher. It kept me from madness. This is truly a year in which if books disappeared, my brain would slither out through my ears and I would be officially brainless (as opposed to intermittently brainless).
Peace Talks is as good as I had hoped it would be and it is eerily timely, given COVID-19 and our so-called president sending his own secret service into the streets to beat down protesters. Peace Talks are the least peaceful talks ever attempted. The next book, to be released at the end of September, will really be part two of this duology. I don’t know if it will also be the end of the series. I hope not, but I have a feeling it might be. Because I’m not sure what more Harry Dresden could become beyond what he has already become. He was always powerful, clever, and funny. But now, multiply the earlier Harry by the power of 10 and he’s one seriously magical dude.
I waited for the previous five years for this new episode. This year — year six — I was getting desperate. I couldn’t bear the idea of reading one more political insider story extruded from our dark and creepy White House. I’m pretty sure it has become the opposite of Demonreach — a place where the worst of the worst can safely hide.
I needed magic. I needed Harry. I needed Jim Butcher. Considering you-know-who is threatening Chicago with his secret police, Harry, it’s time to come out of hiding. Chicago won’t survive without your help. Hell, Harry, the WORLD is waiting. In the meantime, I need you.
Peace Talks is satisfying on so many levels. Earlier books ended with more resolution than these past few. Now, each book is an episode in a continuing storyline heading toward a Dresdenesque apocalypse. Jim Butcher extracts Harry from impossible predicaments in which he faces overwhelming odds, then adroitly weaves these events into the storyline, taking Harry and the series into the next book. He wastes nothing. No phenomenon is accidental. Everything is part of a giant jigsaw puzzle, a piece of a picture to be finally revealed.
I love the Dresden universe. My world has more than enough evil to keep an army of wizards busy, but the evil in my reality plane makes fighting them similar to trying to punch a hole in jello. You can’t beat them; they have no substance.
There is one more book to come, though I can’t help hoping for more. Regardless, it is going to be gigantic.
The Dresden Files
Book 1: Storm Front
Book 2: Fool Moon
Book 3: Grave Peril
Book 4: Summer Knight
Book 5: Death Masks
Book 6: Blood Rites
Book 7: Dead Beat
Book 8: Proven Guilty
Book 9: White Night
Book 10: Small Favor
Book 11: Turn Coat
Book 12: Changes
Book 13: Ghost Story
Book 13.5: Side Jobs: Stories From The Dresden Files
Book 14: Cold Days
Book 15: Skin Game
Book 16: Peace Talks (now available!)
Book 17: Battleground (September 29, 2020)
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Categories: Book Review, Literature, Media, Reviews, Sci Fi - Fantasy - Time Travel, Writing
finally, finally finally! Dresden helped me get through the grief of 2016. Now I’ll have an excuse to pull it back out for 2020. Oh, man, that’s the best thing I’ve heard all week.
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ME TOO!!!
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I just finished reading it. Loved it. Love Harry Dresden. Can’t wait to see what happens in the next one!
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I’m just afraid that this is the end of the series, so I went back and reread “Skin Game” and then I’m going to read “Peace Talks” again. I love Harry too. Actually, I love the whole crew, especially Molly. I may wind up going back and rereading the entire series again. I waited six years for this book to finally come out and I need to nurse it along 😀
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Wait, wait, wait… we’re getting TWO (2) Harry Dresden books this year? Going right now to download Peace Talks, and I’ll be back to buy the next one as my birthday present. Yes !
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I think they might have been one huge book originally and the publisher broke it into two. But yes, TWO JIM BUTCHER “Harry Dresden” books in less than three months. Be still my heart! And Peace Talks is GREAT.
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My husband is a big fan of the books, me not so much, tho I did like the tv series. I wonder if hubby knows there is a new book out, I’ll have to let him know.
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I was thrilled that it finally showed up. I was losing hope. Tell him it’s REALLY good, too and I think the one in September will be even better.
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I’ve only read one of the Dresden File books, I’m assuming the first one. It looks like I have a lot of catching up to do 😉
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Harry gets to be a better wizard and Jim Butcher grows as a writer. It’s a great series and I wish I were starting from the beginning!
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My sister really likes the series, though I don’t think she has made it as far as you into it. Someday I’ll push on…
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I have loved this series. It totally takes me out of myself and into another world. Which these days, I urgently NEED.
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He’s a master of titles….
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He is. But he is also a really good writer. His characters have depth and they grow and change … like real people.
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