Book Review: Turn Coat (Book 11 of the Dresden Files) by Jim Butcher (2009)

Turn Coat by Jim Butcher


My rating: 5 of 5 stars
One of the things I like about this series is how the principle character, Harry Dresden, matures. By now, it is not just that he is maturing, he is mentoring others, and this book is about them maturing. We have an old antagonist whose presence provides stress for them, and old friends, who are stressed in the conflicts of the story and we wonder just who they are.

Some themes

1. The training of students. Harry is involved in the training of an apprentice and some others who are learning from him. Earlier in the series Harry had a tendency to hide things from people he cared about. This repeatedly had the effect that the people he cared about stumbled into situations which they did not recognize their peril. By now, his apprentices and students are demanding they be told about the dangers they face in the world, so they can make decisions on if they face the hazard or not. Another model is provided by one of Harry's colleagues who likes to bait Harry's students and lead them into a trap. (Which is something that actually seems like something I occasionally witness.)

2. On proof of guilt and innocence. Another theme that runs through the books is on the nature of guilt, and the difference between perception and fact. For many of the characters, the belief that someone is guilty of an offense is enough to warrent punishment, even to the death. Because even perception threatens the purity of their cause. At one point in the book, Harry, who is known for getting walking where angels fear to tread (if there were angels) walks in on a four way standoff and says "Have you people ever considered talking when you've got a problem?" A statement that can be answered in the negative by many groups, churches, political organizations . . .

3. Will vs. fate. In the Dresden Files series is based on the premise that there is a supernatural work coexisting with our own. But the defining characteristic of humans is that humans have free will, and that makes up for the many abilities that supernatural creatures have. But it is something incomprehensible, because most beings in this world do not have free will. So stereotyping and prejudging abound, where people are judged as having a characteristic based on one event, and nothing, no weight of evidence, or evidence to the contrary can possibly make it different. Again, something that is a common view in the real world.

4. Meaning of love (after all this is Valentine's Day). There are a few levels of this. There is that more chaste type between a person and his/her friends/relations/dependents/companions. There is also the contrast between love and lust (magnified because one class of supernatural beings is a type that feeds on lust. And one member of this class now experiences actual love, which is actually painful to them). And Harry, who is identified in the book as someone who is often viewed as 'weird' (or as a former pastor of mine would say, a freak) as opposed to one of his companions who gets compared to a Greek god, has found love. Which is taken away in a manner cruel. (there is foreshadowing that goes on, but you have to be paying close attention since the object of Harry's affection is not present during the moments of foreshadowing)

These books have been getting better as they go. The relationships are richer, all the characters, main and supporting, grow. And the themes of will, justice, learning and love are explored in complex and deep ways. (even if it is in the context of what is effectively a supernatural gang war)

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Book Review: Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher

Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher

My review

rating: 3 of 5 stars

Academ's Fury is the second book in Codex Alera. The main character is Tavi, a quite ordinary boy who has been admitted to the Academy, where the top agents of Alera are trained. The problem is he is ordinary, in a world where almost everyone has talents caused by tapping into their personal Fury, elementals of earth, air, fire, water, wood or metal. These Furies are what gives humans the ability to survive a world full of more powerful dangers, and Tavi has none of this.



The book focuses on Tavi, his Marat (barbarian) friend Kitai, and his aunt Isana amidst the intrigues of the capital. What makes them special is how ordinary they are. They are surrounded by characters who wield power, political, personal, and through their Fury. Tavi and Kitai have only thier own wits and physical skills.

And their motivations are banal. In a setting where the others talk of status, the rise and fall of empires and rulers, Tavi, Kitai and Isana talk of caring for family, an unbothered future, and living a life without worrying of the doings of the great. They become human, even ordinary people in an extrodinary circumstance.

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Book Review: Small Favor (The Dresden Files, Book 10)

Small Favor by Jim Butcher

My review

rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Tenth book of the Dresden Files. And the principal, Harry Dresden, is a wizard, and a Warden, one of the principle enforcement agents of the wizard world. And he is held in suspicion by his fellow Wardens, his allies the Knights of the Cross. And he is being called in on a favor he owes. To someone who does not wish him well.

As the books have gone on, Harry matures. He is no longer protecting everyone by his silence on approaching danger. The dangers are greater, but now the interaction with his friends and allies has grown richer. The allies begin making significant choices and their personalities, attitudes, and values come into play throughout the plot.

The strength of the characters other than Harry takes away the unreality of the situation. With all the strong powerful beings, it would have been easy to make this a story focusing on a fight between powerful beings. But it becomes a story of people deciding where their loyalties, principles and their duties lie. And these choices had costs, to themselves and to those they were loyal to. And sometimes their loyalties and principals hurt each other. What makes this interesting is seeing the characters struggle with this. And watch them make their choices, some accepting the price, some rejected the great benefits and power offered. Some of these we do not know well, some we have been following for almost the entire series. And this makes this a book I was glad to read.

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Furies of Calderon by Jim Butcher

[Originally written at Goodreads]

A story of a boy Tavi, who is exceptional in his lack of identifyable talents. Where everyone has a semi-magical bond, he does not, and he survives on wits. And he does not have much of those either.

The story is in the backdrop of a insurrection, where one of the principles is one of the reigning governments greatest agents, who is set against a very talented protoge. What worked well was this sense of a insurgency raised by tribes along the frontier of civilization, where the wealthy center is mostly ignorant, and in the end the fight depends on the loyalties and goals of those who live on the frontier and not on the military who come from the center.

The characters are not as well developed as Jim Butcher's Dresden series. Of course, this is the first one. All of them have a tendency to slip into single-mindedness to the point of self-destruction (which is something that Jim seems to like). Maybe, like Dresden, they will learn as their characters become richer.

Dead Beat by Jim Butcher

Yes, one of the other forms of recreation (other than movies and running and working out). Reading.

This is book 7 of The Dresden Files, which is probably better known in its TV form on the SciFi channel. The protagonist is Harry Dresden. A wizard. In our world, which, while there are wizards, vampires, were-wolves, faerie's, undead, etc. most of us reasonable folks don't like to talk about it. Because folks tend to think your rather kookie if you talk about were-wolves, zombies etc walking around the streets of Chicago at night. If you don't think so, try it at work.

Anyway, there is this subculture of our world that is very much aware of this. Because they deal with it everyday. Dresden is a rarity. He hides in plain site. His job is a private investigator. As a wizard. Complete with ad in the yellow pages. He also has problems. Like he has a hard time paying the bills (do you know of any successful P.I. wizards in Chicago?). His romantic life is, well, rough (his friends tease him about not getting dates). And the girl he likes but does not admit it, is a cop he works with occasionally and has just left on a vacation to Hawaii. With another guy.

Harry, well he is the hero, but we don't mythologize him. He is moody. Being in the seedier part of life, he has odd friends. A half-brother who has been disowned by his family, part of which considers Harry a mortal enemy (and one that is a secret ally) (oh, it is a family of vampires) A wizard court, whose strongest member thinks Harry is a betrayer of values and should be eliminated, but is also recruiting Harry to be its enforcer. He has a hard time with asking for help. And in trusting people, even when their goals match his. And he has an overprotective streak, which gets people who are capable in trouble because he does not tell them the stuff he is hiding from them. And a war amongst vampires, that is picking an old city to be a battle ground. Chicago.

Some scenes:
Really good descriptions of what street smarts looks like (I think). I can walk through projects and keep out of trouble. Butcher writes what someone who has to live and work in it sees. He writes descriptions of the dark, dangerous places in the city that one of my marine collegues was thinking of when he commented "where do you live" when I made an offhand comment after slight testosterone marine comment of his. Descriptions of various subcultures that exist in an urban city, away from the glamour and the lights. Zombies going up what has to be Sheridan Ave in Evanston. And, because at one point in the book, our hero needed something that was old, dead, big, very aggressive and a hunter, they thought of Sue. (Hi Jack) Which leads to a very fun and spectacular (I'd say bloody, but most of them were zombies so they were already dead) finish.

Probably not for most. It takes a bit of imagination to take the story. Like most good books, if you get past the Nevernever stuff (what they call all the magic stuff) you can get into the characters well. Several of them, not least our hero, has to struggle with decisions of moral ambiguity. And you have a hard time saying they did the right, or wrong, thing. Even the powerful heros have faults and vulnerabilities (both in terms of abilities, but also in terms of personality), just like we all.