Review: Battle Ground

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excerpts from the mental soundtrack of me reading Battle Ground:

I like Murphy.

I like Murphy.

I really like Murphy.

...Oh.

This is intense.

This is really intense.

Whew, that was quite a ride, now we get the wind-down and wrap-up and OH WOW I did not see that coming.


It's a roller-coaster ride, if a roller-coaster ride started with being shot out of a cannon, and also shot at. By a cannon.

Right from Chapter 1, Harry is in big trouble, and he takes a lot of losses and a lot of damage along the way. But throughout, he retains his heart and his dedication to protecting as many people as he can, whatever it costs. Along the way, his complicated and extensive array of enemies, allies, and people who might be one or the other depending on the day and hour flexes and morphs and ebbs and flows and fights and, frequently, dies.

There are what feel like non-stop action sequences almost throughout, but they always mean something to the story; they're not just there to be set-pieces or fill in time. The best comparison I can make is that this is more like a Daniel Craig Bond movie than a Pierce Brosnan Bond movie. More Avengers than Transformers, if you prefer.

The several-year gap between Dresden books has not led to Butcher's writing powers waning, or to him going soft; this is as well-crafted and hard-hitting as any of the previous books (maybe not quite as hard-hitting as Changes, but what is?) It was dark in many places, and grueling, but I was 100% up for it, because of everything that's gone before and who Harry is and what he stands for.

Dresden is back. And, just like every other time, it's personal.

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