Battle Ground by Jim Butcher
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I let this one stew for a day or two before I posted it.
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I brought this review over here because I like to do that when I’m down on a work that I’ve read. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – it’s hard to get into the published world. It takes a lot of work. Then, after all that work, it is out there in the world where people will judge it.
Three stars is the best I can do for this… and that’s strength of writing over time.
I always try to be positive about whatever review I’m writing. I try, but I am also honest about how I feel when I read these books. I am a fan too. I had some feelings about this one… and as you may have guessed they were not all positive.
Massive spoilers ahead. Do not read more if you don’t want to know.
I picked up this book on the Tuesday when it was released. I had read the first three chapters when they were released on line, so working and all the day to day things that got in the way of my reading only slowed me down a little. I finished the book by Thursday night, just after dinner. It was a typical reading speed for me when I read a Dresden Files book.
Positive stuff: if you want a master class on how to ramp the power and stakes of your story up over time, this series is it. The growth of both of those things has been steady, clear and understandable over all the novels. This is apocalyptic stuff (small ‘a’) and it hasn’t happened until book seventeen. It’s fantastic. The steady change over time is a great way to keep things fresh and the feel of the characters genuine for the long haul. The comparison that jumped to my mind immediately was the Monster Hunter series from Larry Correia. It’s a ton of fun and there are clear cut good guys and bad guys. The hero of the story saves the entire world in book one. Where do you go from there? What can you do in book two to make the stakes feel real? Dresden stops a drug dealer in book one and solves a murder case, but somehow it still feels like saving the world. I can only hope to emulate this in my own work.
The rest: Some of the speed of my finish was because I skimmed a few of the battle scenes. This book is a war novel. There is a war and there are eight times I can think of that the author used the same description. I get it. These are beyond human size / comprehension monsters and you pop and squish and go all Jackson Pollack when they catch you. There was a lot of that and I think there could have been less of it. I say that as somebody who writes military science fiction stories too – it’s not that I dislike the battle scenes, I don’t. They’re the core of this book. There’s a huge amount of fighting. The last book was the set up punches, this book was the right cross to the jaw. Sometimes the imagination is better than a description. Consider that a quibble.
Most of the time when I finish one of these novels I’m hungry for more. This time, not so much. I’m disappointed and angry. My excitement for the rest of the story is diminished.
Getting booted from the White Council. Not something I saw coming. Long ago (and may books earlier in the series) I predicted that Harry would become the Merlin. Shows you how well predictions tend to work out. The problem with getting booted is that is breaks the rules that have been set up in the series. IF they really thought that Harry broke rule #1 and used magic specifically against humans the penalty was always immediate execution, right? I mean Morgan and the sword thing just doesn’t matter anymore? Harry is not only guilty of this, but he’s got a track record of doing this in the past… and the council just says, “careful or next time we’ll get really angry…”. They’re a toothless bureaucracy at best if this is how it stands. Worst case is that the author has let the rules of his own world bend / break. I doubt this, but it’s something I noticed. I expect that this is a set up for something that happens in the next set of books, but it was a jarring bit of world building that seemed out of place. Sure I can justify it, but I shouldn’t be thinking about it.
I’ve been a fan of the author for a long time. He’s gone and landed himself in the same category as Joss Whedon now. Some will consider that high praise, but I don’t. Wash died, but it was the end of the series and the Dresden files is not over. And what did Butcher do?
He fucking shot Murph.
NO NO NO NO. NO.
From an intellectual point of view I understand. It’s war. War IS death, destruction and chaos. It is not pretty or organized nor does it make any sense at all. People die all the time in just as sad a manner. Not from some heroic action, but from the panic and terror of others.
I get it.
I hate it.
I know enough about myself at this point to understand that I tend to prefer classic heroics and happy endings. IF I want gritty, senseless death I’ll watch the fucking news. This is NOT why I come to these books. I don’t want gritty reality, I want escapism. This book took that away. Yes, it’s a world where there are supernatural forces at work. Murph will likely come back in much the same way that Valeria did in the 1982 Conan movie. She will be a glittering warrior that will save Harry from beyond at some point – but it’s not the same. There’s just too much of this kind of crap in the world and I don’t want it in my fiction too.
Disappointed and not enthusiastic for more just now.