I kept putting off writing this review because whenever someone wants a fantasy recommendation, The Dresden Files is the first series I mention… and Peace Talks by Jim Butcher just wasn’t as good as usual. Sure it was nice catching up with some of the characters, like Bigfoot, but some of the catching up was just a mention of seeing someone across the room and realizing years have passed and Ivy the Archive is now a teen. And then there was the awkwardness of Harry acting like a teenage boy with all of his sexual urges because of the Winter’s mantle wanting to be in control of Harry’s sex drive. Although he didn’t have a lot of sex, all of the mentions of thinking about sex started to make me feel like I was reading an Anita Blake novel (and I stopped reading that series awhile back because of all the sex and not a lot of substance when it came to the plot.) Besides all the repetition with thinking about sex, there was a bunch more in regards to mentioning how the Winter’s mantle allows you to ignore the pain of injuries but doesn’t cure it, Murphy with her not wanting to be handled with kid gloves even though she is still recovering from major injuries and is 100% human, and Grandpa McCoy stating over and over that vampires are evil. If you were to take out all the reiteration you could have taken the book down about 75 pages or more and combined books 16 and 17, since Battle Ground is just going to be the complete ending to Peace Talks. And I missed Bob. So as a long time fan of The Dresden Files, of course you are going to read Peace Talks… but maybe wait until right before the end of September when Battle Ground comes out so you can continue the book/story right away. And with all the lead up in Peace Talks I’m hoping/thinking Battle Ground is going to be epic… as long as Harry can stop thinking with his little head. (read less)

I kept putting off writing this review because whenever someone wants a fantasy recommendation, The Dresden Files is the first series I mention… and Peace Talks by Jim Butcher just wasn’t as good as usual. Sure it was nice catching up with some of the characters, like Bigfoot, but some of the catching up was just a mention of seeing someone across the room and realizing years have passed (read more)

This is book sixteen in the Dresden Files series. I'm not sure if I have previously written a review for any of the other books, so this is going to be a little different. The book can be read as a stand-alone story, but obviously there has been so much going on through the previous books, it is best read in order. There isn't a lot of bringing facts and 'how that came to be's written in, which I'm happy about. I hate the waste of space and story when authors do that sort of thing in every book after the first one. I'm not going to say much about the story, because come on, if you are in this at book sixteen, you are pretty much a die hard fan of the series anyways. As usual, Butcher's writing style is just what I like - pretty fast and somewhat of the cuff. Basic on his character and world building, the usual elements of sarcasm, irony, and bull-headedness run pretty rampant. Our MC follows the modeling that was written, including the changes made due to events in previous installments. I enjoy the way Butcher has been able to build a world and characters from multiple backgrounds (ie. all the different types of paranormals, etc) and make them fit together to make the story. Definitely waiting for the next book to be released! (read less)

This is book sixteen in the Dresden Files series. I'm not sure if I have previously written a review for any of the other books, so this is going to be a little different. The book can be read as a stand-alone story, but obviously there has been so much going on through the previous books, it is best read in order. There isn't a lot of bringing facts and 'how that came to be's written (read more)