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Death Masks | Rating | |
| A | |||
| Jim Butcher | |||
| Series | Related Books | ||
| The Dresden Files | Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril, Summer Knight, Death Masks, Blood Rites, Dead Beat, Proven Guilty, White Night, Small Favor | ||
Harry is having an eventful day. He's on a talk show, one of those Jerry Springer types, and his magic is playing havoc with all the studio technology. His semi-vampire girlfriend Susan is back in Chicago and appears to be preparing him for The Talk. He is hired by a priest from Rome to recover the Shroud of Turin, which has been stolen out of Italy and may be in town. Mob thugs are shooting at him, angels of the Fallen variety are after him, and, oh yeah, a vampire duke is challenging him to a duel. Yes, "eventful" is one way to put things. "Typical" might be another.
There's not much to say about this story that hasn't been said for previous novels in the series. Harry is wry to the point of self-deprecating, which makes the writing light and witty. I really enjoyed the tone of the book, and some of the humor is truly funny.
The mystery itself is quite interesting. It doesn't have as many curveballs thrown at Harry as some of the others in the series, but it's a definite improvement over the last book. It really does take some lateral thinking to put all the facts together. But all the clues are there, even if the last, crucial one that ties everything together is shown to the reader barely before it's explained in narration. But it is possible to figure things out ahead of time, which in my estimation is a big plus.
There's not much progress made on revealing and respolving Harry's past in this book, but Butcher makes up for it by bringing back old allies. He also introduces new ones, in the form of the other Knights of the Cross, and some new enemies that will definitely be making a return appearance sometime in the future. Harry also is involving his friend and contact Murphy more fully in his cases, which is a relief; keeping her out (or trying to) was a major source of Harry's difficulties in some of the first few books, and it's good to see he's learned somewhat from his mistakes.
The one problem that I identified as I read this book is that the magical underworld seems to be getting rather large. This is good for the stories, because it gives the author room to manuever. But it does strain credibility a little that humanity at large can remain so ignorant of these things. I can't really see how to go about fixing this, though, without severely limiting the contact the mythical and magical aspects of the universe touch upon the real ones. But that would mean no more plant monster attacks in Wal-Mart, or vampires taking over entire towns in South America, and this is obviously not something Butcher is willing to do. It would ruin half the attration of the series.
Despite this minor-but-growing nit, I did love this book, which is par for the course. The same witty wisecracking are back, and there's plenty of action to go around. It's just a great book. You won't be disappointed.
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