New fantasy release ‘Troubles’

Payton is having a bad day.

Rejected from yet another job, she sits on the verge of homelessness. Life seems hopeless. Then something unexpected happens.

A chance meeting with a stranger who is determined to turn her bad day into something else. But this mysterious boy keeps secrets.

Her bad day is about to get a whole lot worse.

Troubles is a short paranormal story with a dash of humour.

For the readers of Crystal Wolves, you’ll recognize quite a few characters in this short story. This sits between the events of the first book ‘Moon Madness,’ and the second ‘Blood trail.’ No knowledge of the series is required to enjoy this book. In fact it’s better if you go into this one without reading any of the other stories first.

Here we meet Payton who plays a big role in book two of Crystal Wolves onwards. Pick it up here for only $0.99: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B018UZPLV4?*Version*=1&*entries*=0

And for everyone waiting for the next installment of Crystal Wolves, the third book will be out soon! Keep an eye on this website or sign up to my mailing list below to get updates sent to your email.

http://forms.aweber.com/form/70/1281520670.htm

 

Advertisement

Book Review Wednesday: Let the Right One In (John Ajvide Lindqvist) 4 Stars

Way better than twilight.

So, this is a story about two adolescent kids who meet each other and fall in love. And one of them is a vampire. No-one sparkles. If Edward was this type of vampire, twilight would be a lot cooler. There’d also be a lot more dead people.

Here’s the blurb:

It is autumn 1981 when the inconceivable comes to Blackeberg, a suburb in Sweden. The body of a teenage boy is found, emptied of blood, the murder rumored to be part of a ritual killing. Twelve-year-old Oskar is personally hoping that revenge has come at long last—revenge for the bullying he endures at school, day after day.

But the murder is not the most important thing on his mind. A new girl has moved in next door—a girl who has never seen a Rubik’s Cube before, but who can solve it at once. There is something wrong with her, though, something odd. And she only comes out at night….

The variety of vampire portrayals in books and media is fascinating.  On the one side you have the overly romanticized vampire of twilight. On the extreme other end of things, you have the kind of vampire from the book series ‘The Strain’ (which is also a TV show that I highly recommend). The Strain vampires have no redeeming features whatsoever. The infected turn into these gross things full of worms, and they shoot this strange stinger like something from their throat (usually at people they love), which drains them of blood. Plus, aside from this killing instinct, most have the brainpower of a particularly bright potato.

Eli (our vampire from this book) is somewhere between the two. They’re scary. Eli could break Edward like a twig. But they’re also capable of thoughts, of fear, and of love. Eli is even more interesting than the rest of their kind, because they were turned as a child, and their body and mind is still very much a child’s.

They like playing games, they don’t like hurting people, they make choices they haven’t thought through (very much like a child). You get to know Eli through Oskar’s eyes, and in many ways Eli is younger than Oskar, and in other ways much older. You come to fear them, and also love them, much as Oskar does.

Now some warnings. While this is a very raw, beautiful book, one of the pov characters is a pedophile and thus has some not beautiful thoughts. It’s an interesting contrast with the much more innocent povs of Oskar and Eli. We don’t see the pedophile guy do anything too icky (apart from once later in the book – but he gets just deserts for that).

If you’re a vampire fan, or a fan of raw feeling books, I think you’ll like this one. The characters are anything but two dimensional. Even the guy who’s a pedophile is really quite decent at times. He strangely enough has a very strong moral code. Oskar who is downright innocent in a lot of ways fantasizes about killing people. Eli who has the power to kill and does kill, gets no pleasure out of it, and seems to regard it as a sad fact of life.

It’s these complex characters in their desolate seeming setting that makes this book grip so strongly. Four stars. It lost a star because the pacing seemed a little off to me, but not disastrously so. I really enjoyed reading it. For more reviews on this book go to: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/943402.Let_the_Right_One_In

P.S: There are two films based on this book. They’re pretty much the same except one was made in Sweden, and the other America. Both are awesome. Go watch.

 

Book Review Wednesday: Anna’s Adventures (The Sarah Milton Chronicles)

This one is a short read, but definitely worth it if you liked the humor in the Sarah Milton Chronicle books – which by the way I wholeheartedly recommend. It’s an expansion of events mentioned in the second book which were only mentioned in passing. And it’s really really funny.

Link to my review of the first book: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/book-review-wednesday-reading-the-dead-5-stars/

Link to my review of the second book: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/09/book-review-wednesday-reading-the-dead-fidelis-in-aeternum-4-stars/

The humor of the series reminds me of Buffy. Some may see something different in it, but that’s how I view it. Now I know there are those who hate buffy humor with a passion, in which case this may not be up your street. For my fellow buffy fans who have not read these books, click on the above link to read my review of the first book in this series.

By this paragraph I’m going to assume you guys still reading this have read at least one of the Sarah Milton books and know what I’m talking about. If not prepare for confusion.

Anna gets the front seat in these stories. The first is her point of view of the night the “Fancy Dress Killer” almost killed Sarah. This was mentioned in the first book and detailed pretty explicitly in the second, so not much new here. Still was interesting to see Anna’s side of things though.

The second story is the real prize. This one takes place during Sarah’s dad’s wedding which was mentioned in passing in the second book. It’s kind of like Casper meets Home Alone, and this one was hilarious.

Two criminals have the bright idea to infiltrate the wedding to try and steal money from the house while the guests are busy shedding tears over the vows. Anna just so happens to spot them and takes it upon herself to teach them a lesson.

This was pure unadulterated fun, so don’t expect anything serious from that story and you’ll enjoy it.

For more reviews on this book go to: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20693234-anna-s-adventures

Book Review Wednesday: Changes (Dresden Files book 12) 5 stars

This one is the twelfth book in the series.

Links to my reviews of the previous Dresden Files books:

One: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-storm-front-5-stars/

Two: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/book-review-wednesday-fool-moon-dresden-files-4-stars/

Three: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-grave-peril-4-stars/?preview=true

Four: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-summer-knight-5-stars/

Five: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/book-review-wednesday-death-masks-dresden-files-book-5-5-stars/

Six: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/book-review-wednesday-blood-rites-dresden-files-five-stars/

Seven: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/book-review-wednesday-dead-beat-dresden-files-5-stars/

Eight: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/09/24/book-review-wednesday-proven-guilty-dresden-files-book-8-5-stars/

Ninth: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/10/29/book-review-wednesday-white-knight-dresden-files-book-9-5-stars/

Tenth: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/11/19/book-review-wednesday-small-favor-dresden-files-book-10-5-stars/

Eleventh: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/12/10/book-review-wednesday-turn-coat-dresden-files-book-11-5-stars/

I’m going to assume by this point you know what this series is about. So here’s the blurb for this particular book:

Long ago, Susan Rodriguez was Harry Dresden’s lover—until she was attacked by his enemies, leaving her torn between her own humanity and the bloodlust of the vampiric Red Court. Susan then disappeared to South America, where she could fight both her savage gift and those who cursed her with it.

Now Arianna Ortega, Duchess of the Red Court, has discovered a secret Susan has long kept, and she plans to use it—against Harry. To prevail this time, he may have no choice but to embrace the raging fury of his own untapped dark power. Because Harry’s not fighting to save the world…

He’s fighting to save his child.

Yup, you read that right. Harry Dresden has a kid. Everything changes. I do feel for these action hero guys. It seems like they hardly ever have a kid the traditional way. Instead it’s a baby ending up on your doorstep, or an until then unknown child being kidnapped by their enemies. Poor Dresden gets landed with the second option. There is quite a bit of wondering on his part of what could’ve happened if he’d known about her before this, and had the option to be around for all those moments he missed out on.

Given his protective instinct over The Archive recently, and his slight pining over Michael’s family life, I think he would’ve made a great father.

There are big, seemingly impossible stakes in this book, but Harry has even more reason to fight given it’s his daughter’s life on the line. He gives up a lot, and has to make some big deals with nasty people in order to give him, and his daughter a fighting chance. He loses a lot too. There’s this moment at the end when someone close to him dies (I won’t say who.) It was the only way to save the day, but what it must have cost him is indescribable.

There’s some neat banding together of characters in this one, as all Harry’s friends who can fight come to do so. Mouse of course is one of them, and has some great moments. As usual there’s lots and lots of action, but in this book there’s more tension than usual since the odds seem so insurmountable. And at the very very end there’s a twist that came out of nowhere. I didn’t see it coming, and usually I do.

My verdict. One of my very favorite books in this series so far. Definitely five stars.

For more reviews on this book check out: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6585201-changes

Book Review Wednesday: Proven Guilty (Dresden Files book 8) 5 stars

This one is the eighth book in the series.

Links to my reviews of the previous Dresden Files books:

One: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-storm-front-5-stars/

Two: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/book-review-wednesday-fool-moon-dresden-files-4-stars/

Three: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-grave-peril-4-stars/?preview=true

Four: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-summer-knight-5-stars/

Five: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/book-review-wednesday-death-masks-dresden-files-book-5-5-stars/

Six: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/book-review-wednesday-blood-rites-dresden-files-five-stars/

Seven: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/09/10/book-review-wednesday-dead-beat-dresden-files-5-stars/

I’m going to assume by this point you know what this series is about. So here’s the blurb for this particular book:

There’s no love lost between Harry Dresden, the only wizard in the Chicago phone book, and the White Council of Wizards, who find him brash and undisciplined. But war with the vampires has thinned their ranks, so the Council has drafted Harry as a Warden and assigned him to look into rumors of black magic in the Windy City.

As Harry adjusts to his new role, another problem arrives in the form of the tattooed and pierced daughter of an old friend, all grown-up and already in trouble. Her boyfriend is the only suspect in what looks like a supernatural assault straight out of a horror film. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in Chicago, but it’s all in a day’s work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob….

Another good sequel. Definately five stars from me. In this one we get another minor character fleshed out. This one is the teenage daughter of Michael who we’ve seen in previous books. We also get a deeper look into their family. It’s really cute to see all their kids grow up over the course of the books, even if most of them stay in the background.

While there are other problems to deal with, like that pesky fallen angel stuck in his head, most of this book revolves around dark magic. This is really neat because though we’ve heard about dark magic and how addictive it can be, and how kids aren’t taught not to use it but are punished once they use it anyway (totally unfair), this really delves deep into that moral dilemma and the damage dark magic causes both to caster and castee.

Dresden undergoes a lot of growth in this book. Most of the previous books have been pretty cut and dry. You find something bad, epic fight scenes, and you destroy said bad thing. This book still has plenty in the way of creepy monsters to kill and bad magic to stop, but once that’s done the source of all the badness requires a lot more thought. And with Dresden working for the council now he’s got a whole heck of a lot of thinking to do to try and solve it.

Our new character is pretty neat. In a lot of ways she’s your average slightly whiny teenager who thinks the world is against her, but beneath that she has a lot of heart. She has a lot of character growth over this one book, so I’m looking forward to seeing how she grows over the next books. From previous books we’ve already learnt what an honorable guy her father is, but this book gives her mother a chance to shine as well. She is one scary lady when her children are in danger.

The characters are really fleshed out in this book. The action is at a high, and the book seems a lot deeper than some of the previous ones. I think the only thing I didn’t like that much about this book was how much Dresden was attracted to Michael’s daughter. It’s a little creepy given how young she is. On the plus side he thinks it’s a little creepy too and doesn’t allow himself to pursue those feelings in any way.

For more reviews on this book check out:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91474.Proven_Guilty

Book Review Wednesday: Dead Beat (Dresden Files) 5 stars

This one is the seventh book in the series.

Links to my reviews of the previous Dresden Files books:

One: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-storm-front-5-stars/

Two: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/book-review-wednesday-fool-moon-dresden-files-4-stars/

Three: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-grave-peril-4-stars/?preview=true

Four: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-summer-knight-5-stars/

Five: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/08/13/book-review-wednesday-death-masks-dresden-files-book-5-5-stars/

Six: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/08/27/book-review-wednesday-blood-rites-dresden-files-five-stars/

I’m going to assume by this point you know what this series is about. So here’s the blurb for this particular book:

 There’s an entire world that exists alongside the everyday life of mankind. There are powers, nations, monsters, wars, feuds, alliances – everything. Wizards are part of it. So are a lot of other things you’ve heard about in stories, and even more you’ve never heard of…Vampires. Werewolves. Faeries. Demons. Monsters. It’s all real.

Harry Dresden knows full well that such creatures exist. Paranormal investigations are his stock-in-trade, and Chicago is his beat as he tries to bring law and order to a world that exists on the edges of imagination. Luckily Harry’s not alone in this struggle. And though most inhabitants of the Windy City don’t believe in magic, there’s a department that’s been set up within the Chicago PD to deal with “strange” cases: the Special Investigations department.

Karrin Murphy is the head of SI and a good friend of Harry’s. So when a deadly vampire threatens to destroy Murphy’s reputation unless Harry helps her, he has no choice. The vampire wants the Word of Kemmler and all the power that comes with it – but first Harry has to determine what the Word of Kemmler is. Now Harry is in a race against time – and six necromancers – to find the Word before Chicago experiences a Halloween night to wake the dead.

I’m finding that as the books go on, the writing gets better. This one was definitely a five star book for me, so no exception to that rule.

We spend a lot more time with medical examiner Waldo Butters, who was introduced in previous books. He finds himself right in the middle of trouble this time, poor guy, He’s a very different character to our usual ones, and his interactions with the other guys is interesting. He’s a little guy with a big heart who is not made for all the scary stuff Harry deals with every day, so of course he ends up with a bunch of really frightening zombies and their crazy leader chasing him around.

This book is a little like a previous one in the series where we meet werewolves. It ended up that there were a lot of different kinds of werewolves, and we met pretty much every type. In this book it’s necromancers. So you’ve got the old fashioned dull brained zombies listening to their leader, all the way to ghosts. A few different groups of necromancers fight over this book that contains the code they need to perform this ritual that will kill hundreds and hundreds of people.

Cue Harry sticking his nose in and making a whole bunch of big powerful enemies as usual. Lots of action and puns commence.

I really recommend this book and the series. It’s definitely getting even better as the series goes on. The writing in this one is full of energy and humor, even more so than I’ve come to expect from the author.

For more reviews on this book go to: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17683.Dead_Beat

 

Book Review Wednesday: The Mothman Prophecies by John A Keel (4 stars)

This book’s a little difficult to categorize. Some would be in uproar if you called it fiction, and others would be in uproar if you call it non-fiction because that suggests that it’s fact. What it is comes down to a journalist’s interpretations of years of interviews with people who claim to have had a paranormal experience, plus some experiences of his own.

I knew I had to read this book after watching the movie which claims to have been based on true events. The film by the way was nicely put together, and is one of my favorites. Watch the trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ4RHPFaVBE

Now here’s where it gets iffy, because the book is very very different from the film. What the film basically did was take the scariest elements of years of different accounts, shake them up, tweak them a little and put them together in a spooky race against time plot. It’s a really good movie, and it’s a good book, but don’t expect to be reading the book version of the movie and vice versa.

Here’s the blurb:

West Virginia, 1966. For thirteen months the town of Point Pleasant is gripped by a real-life nightmare that culminates in a strategy that makes headlines around the world. Strange occurrences and sightings, including a bizarre winged apparition that becomes known as the Mothman, trouble this ordinary American community. Mysterious lights are seen moving across the sky. Domestic animals are found slaughtered and mutilated. And journalist John Keel, arriving to investigate the freakish events, soon finds himself an integral part of an eerie and unfathomable mystery…

There’s a lot of talk about the validity of this book. Not just the interviews, because there’s always a bit of question in witness statements, particularly when we don’t want to believe them. And to be honest, a lot of them are pretty out there. But the main controversy comes from the author’s own experiences. There are times when he claims to have got pretty face to face with spooky goings on, but has no evidence other than his own word. You would have thought being a journalist he would’ve got something, even if what he says is true and paranormal goings on disrupt recording equipment.

While I’m not sure what to conclude about the validity of what he’s writing about (aliens, separate dimensions, lots of mysterious events), this is a good book to read if you’re interested in that sort of thing. I definitely found it enjoyable and would recommend it to those with an open mind. Just go into it viewing it as some interesting ideas that may or may not be true, instead of expecting gospel.

For more reviews on this book go to the following link:  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/567682.The_Mothman_Prophecies?from_search=true

Book Review Wednesday: Death Masks – Dresden Files book 5 (5 stars)

Links to my reviews of the previous Dresden Files books:

One: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-storm-front-5-stars/

Two: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/book-review-wednesday-fool-moon-dresden-files-4-stars/

Three: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-grave-peril-4-stars/?preview=true

Four: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-summer-knight-5-stars/

 

At this point I’m going to assume you know the basic premise of the Dresden Files books and leap forward to the blurb for this particular book:

Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But now he’s getting more than he bargained for.

A duel with the Red Court of Vampires’ champion, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards…
Professional hit men using Harry for target practice…

The missing Shroud of Turin…

A handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified…

Not to mention the return of Harry’s ex-girlfriend Susan, who’s still struggling with her semivampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life.

Some days, it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you’re charging.

We get more Michael in this book, this time in his true role : going after fallen angels. Michael is one of three knights of the cross (as in the one Jesus died on), who we met earlier in the series.  He’s just about the most decent guy you’ll ever meet. And we get to meet his fellow knights, one of whom is agnostic. It’s an interesting take on it.

As well as old enemies, we meet some new ones. Enter fallen angels. Scary, scary, scary things. They basically tempt humans into joining with them, and then take over their body. There’s a bit more to it than that, but I don’t want to give too much away. They’re our major bad guy, with the red court vampires doing their best to join in.

There’s also a new good / neutral character: The Archive who I won’t give too much away about other than to say it’s a bit of a surprise when you get to see what she’s like. She comes with her personal bodyguard Kincaid who is one of those people, I at least loved on sight and was terrified of at the same time. All the new characters play big roles in the next books. It’s great to see the larger mysteries unfold throughout the series.

The plot was action packed with very high stakes. To say that the guys he’s going up against in this book are heavy hitters is an understatement. And worse, they have brains and use them! I think the enemies: the fallen angels, are by far the most formidable enemies introduced in the series so far.

These books are brain candy which is why I love them. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and yet Harry always seems to pull through and get out the other side somehow. This was a five star one for me. Enjoyed every minute of it, and I’m not sure I have anything bad to say about it.

For more reviews on this book check out the following link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91479.Death_Masks

Book Review Wednesday: Dresden Files: Summer Knight (5 stars)

This is book four of the Dresden Files series. For my reviews on books one, two and three, check out the following links: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-storm-front-5-stars/ and: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/book-review-wednesday-fool-moon-dresden-files-4-stars/ and: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/16/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-grave-peril-4-stars/?preview=true

I’m really enjoying this series, and I think this one is my favorite since the first book. The bad guys are at their biggest and scariest, and everyone seems to be gunning for poor Dresden. The plot is awesome, the action is awesome, and the lines are really funny.

Here’s the blurb:

HARRY DRESDEN — WIZARD

Lost items found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates.
No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment

Ever since his girlfriend left town to deal with her newly acquired taste for blood, Harry Dresden has been down and out in Chicago. He can’t pay his rent. He’s alienating his friends. He can’t even recall the last time he took a shower.

The only professional wizard in the phone book has become a desperate man.

And just when it seems things can’t get any worse, in saunters the Winter Queen of Faerie. She has an offer Harry can’t refuse if he wants to free himself of the supernatural hold his faerie godmother has over him–and hopefully end his run of bad luck. All he has to do is find out who murdered the Summer Queen’s right-hand man, the Summer Knight, and clear the Winter Queen’s name.

It seems simple enough, but Harry knows better than to get caught in the middle of faerie politics. Until he finds out that the fate of the entire world rests on his solving this case. No pressure or anything…

After the events of the last book Dresden is at his lowest. Then of course he finds himself in the middle of a war that will determine the fate of the world, not to mention that other war he set off in the last book that everyone is still all angry about. Not a good time for Dresden, but it makes for an action packed book.

We finally get to see the White Council in this book – something that’s been mentioned for a while. Plus we meet our old friend Morgan: enforcer for the White Council, who is just as pigheaded as ever. The Council doesn’t disappoint. Wizard politics is scary!

While the plot is great, the characters really make this book. We get to see Toot Toot the fairy and his friends. They’re awesome and so cute. They have adorable military rank names like Caption and Star Jump, salute by slapping themselves on the forehead, and carry around random scavenged things as weapons.

The bad guys are definitely bad. The vampires fit into this category, as do some of the White Council, plus we have the faeries. The faerie queens are great; scary, but different enough from each other to be interesting.  They’re tricky things, and it seems like all of them could be hiding something. There’s also an interesting parallel between some of them and various myths that I noticed, as well as stories (like Alice in Wonderland – there’s the Summer and Winter queens for one thing, and the epic faerie battle takes place on a giant chess board). The world the author has been building in the previous books really gets shown off here. I’m fascinated with all the links to various other myths and stories he’s made possible. Did anyone who read this book or the previous one notice the link to Peter Pan? The ghostly realm the faeries live in is called the Nevernever. Sound like Neverland to you? And there are all kinds of worlds there, so it’s plausible one of them could have lost boys, pirate ships and mermaids.

We also meet changelings in this book which we haven’t come across yet. There’s a female changeling who is not stunningly beautiful like a lot of the females we’ve met so far in this series. She turned out to be one of my favorites and plays a big role in the finale.

So, plot = great, characters = great, world = great, action = great. Five stars. Nothing bad to say about this one. For more reviews on this book, go to the following link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91478.Summer_Knight

Book Review Wednesday: Dresden Files: Grave Peril (4 stars)

This is the third book in the Dresden series. For my review on books one and two go here: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/06/25/book-review-wednesday-dresden-files-storm-front-5-stars/ and here: https://samaustinwriter.wordpress.com/2014/07/02/book-review-wednesday-fool-moon-dresden-files-4-stars/

At this point I’m going to assume you know the basic idea of the Dresden books. If not, check out my review of the first book.

Here’s the blurb:

Harry Dresden – Wizard
Lost Items Found. Paranormal Investigations. Consulting. Advice. Reasonable Rates. No Love Potions, Endless Purses, or Other Entertainment.

Harry Dresden has faced some pretty terrifying foes during his career. Giant scorpions. Oversexed vampires. Psychotic werewolves. It comes with the territory when you’re the only professional wizard in the Chicago-area phone book.

But in all Harry’s years of supernatural sleuthing, he’s never faced anything like this: The spirit world has gone postal. All over Chicago, ghosts are causing trouble – and not just of the door-slamming, boo-shouting variety. These ghosts are tormented, violent, and deadly. Someone – or something – is purposely stirring them up to wreak unearthly havoc. But why? And why do so many of the victims have ties to Harry? If Harry doesn’t figure it out soon, he could wind up a ghost himself….

 This book has a really strong start. We’re thrown head first into action. There’s a big creepy ghost, and lots of little babies lives are at stake. And a new character is introduced who is pretty awesome. Michael’s very moral and follows his values, and is totally modest about it all. He’s just a really nice guy, like the nicest guy ever. No ulterior motives. Not a single ounce of selfishness.

The plot as usual is awesome. Lots of action, and just enough twistyness. The characters again are awesome (see Michael above). His fiery very pregnant wife is also very awesome, and doesn’t like Dresden one bit. We also meet a priest who seems decent enough, and a vampire who I really liked despite y’know, him being a vampire. The bad guys all have their motives, even if some are really petty (hey that’s humans / vampires for you). And we finally meet Dresden’s fairy godmother  who I found scarier than all the other bad guys put together.

All in all a good book that you should read. The only thing that stopped it being five stars for me was the women. Sure, they seem pretty badass, but it seemed like in the end they all needed rescuing. I get that Dresden’s the main character, but do so many female characters have to get in over their heads so he can begrudgingly save the day?

So four stars, a good book. Go read, unless you haven’t read the first or second, in which case go read them. Dresden has his old fashioned attitudes toward women (though he does respect them) in the other books, this one just had an overabundance of damsels in distress. Though to be fair, they did kick a lot of ass before they got in distress.

In case you want to read more reviews of this book before you make up your mind, follow the link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/91476.Grave_Peril