Eden

I probably liked Summer Knight best of the Dresden Files books so far, largely for the character development that happens and the sense of a wider plot -- of it being more than just a local problem. I can see what other reviews I've read mean by finding this book weaker because of the latter. Harry spends so much time whimpering about how outclassed he is that it goes from a case of the underdog narrowly winning to holy-crap-it's-impossible-that-he-actually-did-that. And Harry spends so much time thinking he's completely outclassed and yet he always comes through okay, battered but alive. It isn't realistic at all -- and even in a fantasy narrative, you have to have some vestiges of realism, perhaps especially in an urban fantasy where you have real-world detail. Sometimes you can put the rules aside, but mostly you can't -- people still have to act like people, so readers can relate to them. It's good that Harry is relatively normal, but he can't be too normal, either, or the idea of him going up against the supposedly hugely powerful Sidhe becomes ridiculous.

Still, those flaws didn't bother me too much. I was very very glad to start seeing some development from Harry in the direction of trusting his friends -- not just trusting them with personal information or whatever, but with trusting them to look after themselves. It was awesome to see Murphy kicking ass even better than Harry, and to read about him giving her some goddamn credit for being tough, for once.

If I were Jim Butcher, I'd probably have kept the Faerie Court stuff back a little longer and focused more on the war with the vampires -- to escalate the level of power Harry's facing more evenly. At the same time, I really liked having a book where these veiled hints from the earlier books come to fruition, and I'm guessing this isn't the end of that, since Harry has two more requests to fulfil before he's free of his deal, and there are all sorts of hints about Lea and Harry's mother.

Also interesting to see the hinted at Elaine, and I was glad the topic of Susan wasn't just dropped, even though she wasn't in the book. I missed Michael, and I want to know more about Thomas already. A lot of my frustration with the books has dissipated and now I just want to read them all ASAP!

I quite enjoyed the second Harry Dresden book. It made a good pageturner. It was fun to sprawl out on my sofa and just relax into reading it. I didn't think it was as fun as Storm Front, largely because things that had been slightly niggling irritations in that book became rather more irritating when I had them thrown at me again -- and again, and again -- in this book.

Mostly, I refer to the chauvinism. Murphy's tirade at the end is absolutely right. He's chauvinistic and his attitudes actively cause danger to the female characters he thinks he's protecting. I like that his subconscious pointed that out, re: Murphy, but at the same time I feel like the rest of the book kind of drowned that out. He calls women strong and capable and whatever and then refuses to trust them to take care of themselves in any way. That's partially why Kim Delaney gets killed. Yeah, part of that is her not explaining why she needs the information -- but that's again justifiable, re: Harry will not give her the information because he's trying to protect her.

He kind of has that attitude a lot, about anyone less capable than him, it's true -- and that's most of the world -- but still, he shows a lot more respect for male characters like Marcone, even Carmichael.

The characterisation of Murphy is also starting to get up my nose. She's supposed to be a capable police officer. She's supposed to know a little about magic, the supernatural, and Harry Dresden. It doesn't make sense for her to be so stupidly stubborn, so distrustful. Yeah, he's an ass and not telling her everything she needs to know, but that should get him yelled at, not arrested as a murderer.

I also didn't like the description of "a redheaded lass who filled out her robe a little too generously". Or the other descriptions that centred around the physical appearance of the female characters. "A little too generously" is a hefty (pun unintended) value judgement: it's an "in the eye of the beholder" thing. And the beholder describes and dismisses her just like that, "that one's a bit overweight", by his (male) standards. I can get behind it being Harry Dresden's character that makes judgements like that, and so on, except that it's getting to happen a little too much for me to be very comfortable with. With all these clearly capable, adult and mature women around, you'd think somehow this would work a change in his character, if Jim Butcher is aware of the way he's writing Harry Dresden.

It's also a little difficult to believe in the danger in these books. It was brought up in my creative writing class a while ago, I think -- you can't have a first person narrator and expect the reader to be on the edge of their seats wondering if he'll survive. Maybe if you make it how he'll survive, but in Fool Moon we already know the answer: he'll throw a load of magic at it, or there'll be a random prop (handcuffs, silver pentacle) to save his ass, and he'll limp away, battered but alive. I hope this gets more subtle/better done later on in the series, because having a good sense of suspense would help a lot.

Another slight irritation was the repetition of information. I know how, say, making potions works -- I read Storm Front. Given the relatively episodic nature of the series, at least so far, I can see why the information has to be repeated -- but I wish it wasn't so dry, wasn't given in exactly the same way as the first time. This too might get better later in the series: I don't know.

This all makes it sound like I didn't like the book very much. I still didn't find it very distinctive, and I'm hoping that stuff comes soon, but there things I like. I like the way the world is slowly being built, pieces clicking into place as needed, rather than everything being explained all at once. I like the way the magic is so normal, something you work using coffee and coke and everyday things. I like the moral ambiguity of Harry Dresden, the way it seems like he could go either way. I like the fact that there are strong women in the story, even if I think they should be better used. I've been assured that all of the detail ties in again later, that things I don't think are relevant yet will be, and I've seen enough that's good to still say "liked it" by giving it three stars, enough that's good that I've already opened up Grave Peril on my ereader.