Grave Peril

Summary:

The third book in the Dresden Files in which Harry Dresden faces a series of escalating ghost related events leading up to a terribly powerful Nightmare ghost who seems bent on destroying everyone who helped him solve a demonic sorcerer case a few months prior. As the story unfolds, the vampires of Chicago invite him as the local representative of the White Counsil of Wizards to a grand party of the vampire court, but when things go sideways and the ghost attacks give way to a much larger plan, he has to choose between his own life and the life of one he loves.

Review:

This is the third installment in Jim Butcher’s most famous series, the Dresden Files. It follows the debut novel, Storm Front and the second installment, Fool Moon - both of which I’ve read and did enjoy.

This book, in my opinion, is on an entirely new level from a writing and storytelling perspective. You can tell he matured as an author and really began to develop the bigger picture of the series as the story unfolds.

I quite enjoyed the twists and turns following the format he learned from Deborah Chester, which you can read all about in The Fantasy-Fiction Formula, which I’ve read several times.

What I appreciate about Butcher’s writing is that he is very good at creating characters who you connect with and putting them in situations that really tests them (a key to Chester’s framework).

This book also introduces a new character who I absolutely love, Michael Carpenter. Michael is a knight of the Christian faith and carries a sword, which contains one of the nails from the cross of Christ in the hilt. He is quite possibly one of the best depictions I’ve ever read of a righteous person, a masculine man, and a faithful friend. He stands out as one of my favorite characters I’ve ever read, actually.

I’d highly recommend the Dresden Files if you haven’t given them a chance before. The one caveat that I will give is that they tend to have quite a few sensual references in them. The first three books don’t have any explicit scenes, but hint at sexual activity, so if that makes you uncomfortable you’ll either need to skip some pages or forgo reading.

I’m looking forward to reading the fourth book in the series, Summer Knight soon.