The Dresden Files: Who Isn't A Sex Object?

Every day as I go about my life, I’m surrounded by people. If I use the bus there are a gazillion people all crammed together (the one who desperately wants to talk to someone will be found sat next to me, inevitably); most of these I will not want to have sex with (except the hot bus driver. Because I am not dead). When I arrive in town and run to the nearest place selling me something resembling coffee, the chances are I won’t want to molest the queue of people standing between me and the hot beverages (axe murder now, that is highly likely).

I go into work and images of my colleagues in their underwear do not seductively gyrate through my mind (though that has been the topic of one or two truly horrendous nightmares). I deal with clients all day and rarely find myself distracted by endless sexy-time thoughts. An actual whole day can pass with only a few unwanted sex thought intrusions.

This is because I do not wear Dresden Goggles.

Because if Harry Dresden sees a woman, he will lust after her. This includes one of his best friend’s teenaged daughters who he talks about knowing as a child (which only gets more and more skeevy as Molly grows up and that crush grows and grows) this continues even after meeting Molly’s mother who doesn’t like him and is very very skilled with a hammer.

Murphy, the awesome police detective, his police contact since the very first book and co-warrior against all the darkness afflicting Chicago is described in ways that show how pretty she is and how attractive Harry finds her; we’re reminded of this fact every single book she appears in.

Luccio is the captain of the wardens, the wizard police/soldiers/enforces. And originally Harry didn’t lust after her - not being attracted to a woman of her age. Until she swaps bodies with the Corpsetaker (an enemy in a young woman’s body who, yes, Harry found attractive) and she’s on his radar.

Susan Rodriguez begins as a reporter and quickly gets involved with the Red Court of vampires in a series of complicated plots. Yes, Harry thinks she’s attractive and tells us so at length.

Then there’s Elaine - Harry’s fellow apprentice under Justin DuMorne and his first love - and yes, she hits the Dresden sexy radar which we are repeatedly reminded of.

Of course the White Court vampires are the very essence of beauty and lust being incubi and succubi, so Harry constantly lusts after them. And both the Summer and Winter fae are dripping in sexiness (and usually not very many clothes) so Titania, Mab, Lily, Maeve, Aurora, Leanansidhe, Sarissa, all have their beauty and sexiness described at length.

Even side characters - Red Court Vampires (both minor minions and leaders like Bianca), random female victims asking Harry for aid (including a huge number of beautiful women he cannot say no to - and no, it’s not chivalry, it’s refusing to think above the belt). This even includes the female Alphas from the werewolf pack (actually Andi started out being fat and not so attractive to Harry - but then exercise as a werewolf made her lustworthy for Harry by Summer Knight), female Denarians (fallen angels - demons, including noticing the curves of women with bladed snake hair!), and Gard the Valkyrie. Whenever a woman appears her beauty and sexiness will be commented on usually at length.

Review: Cold Days by Jim Butcher, Book 14 of the Dresden Files

Harry Dresden is back from the dead, convalescing in the less-than-tender embrace of the Winter Court and newly empowered as the Winter Knight. Winter Court politics are far from easy – especially when Mab, the Winter Queen, seems to be feuding with Maeve, the Winter Lady. And politics in the Winter court come in the form of constant assassination attempts.

Not that he has time for politics. We learn the true nature of his island, Demonreach and that it’s poised to explode and destroy a significant portion of the US – if not more – unless Harry acts. And he has to choose between killing Mab or Maeve – with the bonus of not knowing how to achieve either.

It’s a good thing he has the new power of the Winter Knight – and, even more, the support and strength of his good friends. But there is a darkness that connects all of Harry’s cases and the Nemesis can corrupt anyone.

And the new power of the Winter Knight comes with a cost – it changes people and Harry can feel its influence slowly eroding who he is and turning him into a monster like his predecessor.

I have been looking forward to this book for so long – counting the days. The minute I got my greasy hands on this book I sat down and started reading. Anyone who came near me was treated to the death glare until they retreated to minimum safe distance. I continued to read until the book was finished and I looked up to realise it was now 5:00am. I then spent an extra 10 minutes staring sadly at my Kindle and trying to figure out how to magically make it continue.

This is what Harry Dresden does to me and my sleep patterns.

Just about everything that makes the series one of my favourites was there. We had some amazingly awesome fight scenes, some excellent action and some truly amazing epic. There is no author I have ever read that comes close to packing the amount of blood-fizzing epic into a book as Jim Butcher does in the Harry Dresden series. I find myself torn between not moving my eyes from the page and just needing to move because to the power and pace of what is written. It may not be as epic as riding a Zombie Tyrannosaurus Rex through downtown Chicago – but leading the Wild Hunter and Father Christmas in an amphibious assault against demons is pretty up there. The pacing is electric, the snark is funny to hilarious and it was a joy to read.

But more than just the glorious epic, is the meta development. After 14 books of epic stories and occasional hints it has come together and the Nemesis has been revealed. And it is tying in everything – the previous Summer Lady, Harry’s very first case, the Shadow Council, the courts of the vampires. The Nemesis has had a hand in every previous book and it’s all coming together in a wonderfully complete, epic tapestry. With that has come a considerable amount of world building including expanding the nature of the Outsiders and filling in the role of the Winter Court. We also have a lot of very shiny major powers being expanded and developed – like the Queens of the Courts. These major, epic figures are expanded and heightened that add such excellent flavour to this awesome world.

The Dresden Files. Season 1, Episode 5: Bad Blood

We begin with a gunfight where 2 glamorous women manage to drive off 3 masked attackers with machine guns – though they lose their bodyguard in the process. One of the women, Bianca, runs on to interrupt Harry’s date (and his date is less than amused by the secrets Harry’s keeping, it seems).

Harry doesn’t want to work for Bianca – especially since she is a vampire. Unfortunately he owes her after she helped him long ago when he was injured – she not only took him in but hid him while Morgan was looking for him in the wake of his uncle’s murder by black magic. She even listens to him angst and complain.

But he really doesn’t trust her and Bob most certainly doesn’t.

She is under attack and Bianca’s worry is that the attack is sanctioned by the High Council who, as we learned last episode, police supernatural activity. The vampires have treaties with the High Council but she doesn’t know if they have been broken. She wants him to approach the High Council and see if it is them behind it.

He needs proof of who did it – and they have the eye from their dead bodyguard allowing Dresden to get an eye-witness testimony with a spell. And it’s Clive – a hitman for the High Council (well based on the fact the attackers wore ski masks and body armour. No, really, the fact they disguised their identity identified them apparently). Next step is to see Morgan, the head of the Wardens of the High Council who says the hit wasn’t sanctioned and they’re at peace with the red court. And he’s upset because Harry interrupted his pudding

Asking too many questions ends up with Harry kidnapped by Clive – who is angry because he says he didn’t try to kill Bianca (if he did she’d be dead, damn it!). Unfortunately Clive is awfully acted  - really melodramatically acted. But we’re spared more bad acting by another gang mercifully putting them all out of our misery with automatic weapons (though Harry’s shoved out of the action so we don’t see anything – boooo, poor special effects budget!)

Harry, in his brilliant decision making skills, then goes to confront the vampires about Clive’s murder.  He decides to believe their protestations of innocence, goes home for more Bob snarking and a visit from the High Council’s Top Dog, Ancient Mai (Asian Dragon Lady stereotype) who is not amused and looking for Bianca – they believe she is involved in Third Eye (a drug for the Undead and presumably its distribution).

Another consult with Bianca (because consulting with the enemy is a great idea) who claims she is being set up – and Harry starts trying to put the pieces together (he gets a pained look on his face when he’s thinking) and after some magic they identify Clive’s killer as a Black Court vampire. Time to interview Arvin – the Black Court vampire. And Bianca has interesting interview techniques but he knows very little and is nearly out of his mind with the Third Eye.

And Bianca knows who is setting her up – Darius, her ex-business partner and ex-boyfriend who she parted with because he wanted to sell Third Eye. Except this is another half baked idea that doesn’t exactly pan out – and Dresden is shot – by Natalie, Bianca’s sidekick. Thankfully because that conversation was going nowhere – it’s about time the bad guy revealed herself because there was no way Dresden was going to find her.

Overdramatic speech time! Yes, there’s a twist in the end, sort of. Fight scene time – Natalie ends up in Mai’s bracelets, Mai arrives, peace wins out.

Ghost Story by Jim Butcher, book 13 of the Dresden Files

This was a heavy book with a plot that tied itself in knots - and my mind with it

Harry is dead. Shot with a high powered rifle, his body falling into Lake Michigan. Dead and gone – and his friends have had to spend the last 6 months without him, grieving and dealing with the world.

And the world is not a happy place. The Red Court is dead, one of the most powerful forces in the supernatural world. The power vacuum begs to be filled and dark powers from across the world are rushing in to fill the void, to raise themselves up to be the next great power. In particular, the fomori are staging a massive come back, hitting talents across the US. And for Chicago, dark times are darker by the lack of Harry Dresden. As a Warden of the White Council, and as a wizard who had faced down some of the greatest and darkest powers of the world, his mere presence made sure Chicago was safe. Now he's dead – and the dark things are coming out to play.

Except there has been a celestial irregularity. Someone broke a rule – allowing Harry to return as a ghost. Ghostly Harry lacks most of his powers and can't affect the real world, but he still has a mission – to find out who killed him.

Except Harry also has to see what Chicago has become in his absence. His friends are fighting a desperate battle, wounded by his loss and the war at Chichen Itza, they are fighting a desperate struggle and he can't abandon them. Dark things on the street are committing atrocities he would never have tolerated before – and he can't let that pass. And vast powers are rising over Chicago, over his city – and he can't stand by and ignore that either – not even to catch his murderer.

Changes by Jim Butcher, book 12 of the Dresden Files

Susan, Harry's old lover who was half changed by the Red Court vampires, is back in town. And she has a revelation for Harry – they have a daughter together. She's been brought up in secret, hidden even from Harry. But the Red Court have found her – her foster family have been slaughtered and the girl has been kidnapped.

Harry, who for so long has lived without family, now has to find and save his daughter from some of the most evil monsters he's ever faced. And he must do it with very little help, just his truest friends – the White Council has been mired in schemes and politics and a virtual coup – certainly none are free to help Harry. To make things worse, the Red Courts' greatest and most powerful leaders have gathered – including beings that were once worshipped as gods and have the power far beyond his own.

Harry is faced with a desperate choice – as more and more of his life is torn apart and to save his daughter, he looks to embrace power he has rejected for so long – and cross lines he refused to cross.

White Night, by Jim Butcher, Book 9 of the Harry Dresden Files

Magical practitioners are dying. Not Wizards, not members of the White Council, but lesser talents are dying not just in Chicago but across the US – their deaths a series of tragic suicides. Harry's looking to find out who and why – and whether his brother is involved or not.

Caught up by White Court machinations he also finds himself further enmeshed in the vampire politics behind the war. To complicate matters, he also has to balance teaching his new apprentice, the machinations of Lasciel, the Fallen Angel that has taken up residence in his mind and the ever-worrying presence of the mob boss, Marcone who always plays his own very dangerous game. Oh, and his ex shows up. Never simple, is it?

Proven Guilty, Book 8 of the Harry Dresden files by Jim Butcher

There are monsters appearing in Chicago. Literal Horror film monsters bursting from the screen, killing people and feeding on their fear (I'm actually kind of curious as to who did this first, since I've seen that plot line in about a dozen places). Harry must find out who is doing this and how – before more people are killed – or left living only to have their psyches mauled in the wake of the attack. It hits even closer to home when he sees that Michael's child Molly is directly involved in the horror and she and her friends are at risk.

The war between the vampires and the White Council continues, further confused because the expected support from the Summer and Winter courts has not arisen – much to everyone's surprise. Harry, as the Wizard most closely linked to the courts, must try to unravel why and secure their help

Harry is settling into his role as a Warden, though clashing with the Merlin over the severity of having to execute young wizards whose main mistake in life has been to grow up with power but no education or training. This only becomes more poignant as he is faced with the task of saving a friend's life – in defiance of this brutal policy.

Review: Dead Beat by Jim Butcher, Book 7 of the Harry Dresden Files

There are some new big bads in town – necromancers, some of the darkest wizards out there, have arrived and they're all looking for the Word of Kemmler. Kemmler, the greatest and most horrendous necromancer that ever lived, left his remaining knowledge in this book – a book that could bring untold power to the most evil of people.

And in addition to the Necromancers, Marva of the Black Court also wants the book – and if Harry doesn't get it for her, she's going to ruin Murphy's life. To further complicate things, Bob the skull has a disturbing past and even more disturbing secrets with Kemmler.

The war between the vampires and the wizards continues with the Wizards suffering a major defeat, the remains of the Warders must turn to people they'd shunned to try and prop up their numbers and can't offer Harry even a tenth of the support he normally could expect.

And to make things even more complicated – the Fallen Angel Lasciel has formed a bond with Harry, a bond she desperately seeks to develop through manipulation, illusion, confusion... or simple helpful bargaining. And while Harry does all he can to resist her – how easy is it to resist such power and knowledge when it could help you save so many lives?

Harry has to juggle all this and prevent a faerie god of the hunt from ripping his head off or all of Chicago may be destroyed. A busy Hallowe'en indeed.

Review: Blood Rites by Jim Butcher, Book 6 of the Harry Dresden Files

The war between the White Council and the Red Court of the vampires continued to rage (in fact, it seems to include all 3 courts of vampires) and Harry Dresden remains at the heart of it as well as maintaining his limited income doing what jobs he can as Chicago's only wizard in the yellow pages.

Harry's life remains excitingly complicated. The Black Court is in town, perhaps the most dangerous and magical of the vampires and his old enemy Mavra is gunning for him with her followers. He has to take the fight to her before they succeed in bringing him down – especially since the Black Court can multiply so quickly and kill so many people. Meanwhile a new job pushed on him by his old almost-friend Thomas of the White Court leads to him trying to protect a porn studio from a powerful and random death curse as well as dropping him neck deep in White Court politics - and those pretty vampires are so much more devious and often more dangerous than their more brutal cousins. To top it all off, he finally learns more about his missing family – and how they're not all as missing as he had previously thought.

And as an added bonus, he also has to figure out how to pay a mercenary before that mercenary extracts his own payment and disturbing revelations about his mentor. Never a quiet life for Harry.

Yet another book in this series that I loved. Harry Dresden continues to grow as a character and managed to avoid annoying me when I thought it was inevitable in so many places in this book. But both his family angst and his working in a porn studio were handled surprisingly well – I wasn't bored and put off by the angst and Harry didn't skeev me out with all the pretty ladies. He still has a habit of over describing women, but the porn studio was actually handled with a level of respect and dignity I didn't expect.

I love how these books manage to have so much going on yet not feel crowded or padded. Too often when a lot is happening I feel there's a lot of extra nonsense getting in the way of the main plot, in this case everything seemed balanced, linked and, above all, relevant to Harry as a person, the meta plot and the world. I think this is the key to why I love the books – there's enough happening to keep them exciting, keep the pace going, keep it interesting and bring it all together without having all the excess waffle that is so common in the genre. The pacing and content balance is just marvellously done. It makes everything – from family angst to his mentor's revelations to the White Court machinations all just fit together really well.

Review: Death Masks by Jim Butcher, Book 5 of the Harry Dresden Files

Why, I do believe we have arrived.

Harry Dresden is dealing with the ongoing fallout of the war between the Wizard's White Council and the Vampire's Red Court. A war he started and where he still very much stands at the eye of the storm. The Red Court noble, Ortega is in town with a proposition for Harry. A duel. A duel between Harry and Ortega to the death. If Harry wins Chicago is declared a neutral zone. If he refuses the duel? His friends will be targeted and killed. Faced with this non-choice, Harry is forced to accept the duel against a vampire centuries his senior. But life is never so simple for Harry. Susan is back in town, still dealing with the affects of being infected with Red Court vampirism she must struggle against her urges and her attraction to Harry as well as forward her own agenda and the agenda of the organisation to which she now belongs.

Worst of all, the Denarians are in town. Not just demons, but servants and vessles of the Fallen themselves. They're in town and they seek to acquire the stolen Shroud of Turin and use it in their nefarious plotting (and yes, I got to use the words “nefarious plotting” in a serious sentence. Yes this amuses me) opposed by Michael and his fellow Fists of God, the Knights of the Cross and yet further complicated by John Marcone, crime boss also being involved.

Never simple, but most certainly epic.

I would say this is the book where everything this series has been promising to be has finally got into action. Every book until now seems to have been an introduction paving the way to this book, though Summer Knight was epic in its own right.

Review: Summer Knight by Jim Butcher, Book 4 of the Harry Dresden Files

Harry Dresden returns in a much more epic tale of battle and mystery in which the fate of Chicago – in fact the whole world, rests.

Epic. I do like me some epic, I does. And we have meta-plot! In the last book, Harry Dresden started a war to protect the woman he loved and to stand up to the cruelty of the Red Court of vampires. Due to his actions the Red Court declared war on the White Council, the ruling body of wizards, a war that now covers every part of the world and concerns the White Council greatly as important wizards fall in battle. The Council has come to town and Harry's detractors are eager to end the war by sacrificing Harry to the vampires.

But there is a way out – the White Council has approached the Summer and Winter courts of the fae to gain allies and free transport through the Nevernever. Harry, as the newly appointed emissary of the Winter Court can secure his life – and the White Council's alliance – by solving a mysterious death. It's only as he investigates, he realises far more is at stake than one death, perhaps more than the war between the wizards and the vampires, for the Summer and Winter courts stand poised for war - and this war could devastate the world. And if that weren't complicated enough, an old flame comes back to haunt him.

Review: Grave Peril by Jim Butcher. Book 3 of the Harry Dresden Files

Harry Dresden returns in another Urban Fantasy Mystery. This time, ghosts are running amok, causing chaos and killing people and similar shenanigans. Harry must go out with his new side-kick, Michael a Knight of the Cross, and stop this sudden tidal wave of deadly ghost activity.

Following the exhausting and dangerous trail finds that someone is tormenting and manipulating these ghosts raising them and encouraging them to spread their havoc – and further, in doing so they are thinning the barrier between the real world and the Nevernever, allowing more and darker spirits to emerge. As if that weren't enough, there is something else out there, a Nightmare that is darker than any ghost they've faced that is hunting Harry and his friends specifically.

Harry must find how they are all connected and what lies behind the ghosts, the Nightmare, the thinning of the Nevernever all the while dodging his faerie godmother who hunts him and seeks to drag him away to be her slave – and even that must be done while negotiating the twisted and convoluted plots of the vampires as Bianca, an old enemy, rises within their ranks.

It's a desperate fight to keep body and soul together – and to protect those he cares about who are being targeted by forces even Harry can't comprehend.

Review: Fool Moon, by Jim Butcher. 2nd Book in the Harry Dresden files

Harry Dresden is back investigating a series of brutal and vicious murders, people torn apart by what looks like wild animals – wolves in fact. There being a somewhat lack of wolves in Chicago, this points us in one direction. Actually it points us in several directions as it turns out there are several variations on the theme of werewolf – and several denizens of the city who may count.

Harry has to sort through the threads, work with the local police hindered by their distrust and the looming presence of both the FBI and an Internal Affairs inquiry and try to avoid working for a notorious mob boss with whom he has been closely linked because of his past activities. Worse for him, his investigations have aroused the anger of those he has investigated – both guilty and innocent – and he faces several more attempts on his life to dance around while still trying to find the truth.

Like Storm Front, I think this book struck a great balance. It has several possible suspects, several different supernatural creatures, any of which could have been the murderers creates a genuine mystery - without being convoluted or confusing. In even a conventional murder mystery that's a difficult balance to strike

I also liked the world building – the bringing together of a variety of werewolf myths from around the world as varying and difficult antagonists and possible suspects in the book - each of which could be the murderer and many of them actively hunting or needing Harry for various reasons. We also see Harry's power continue to be develop and displayed for us – an excellent bit of world building that requires gentle showing rather than bludgeoning telling. And we're reminded that, yes, harry is a severely powerful and extremely dangerous being – while at the same time being very flawed and very human.

In many ways I'm in 2 minds about this review. Not because I didn't like the book – but because I feel I have so little to say that contrasts with what I said about Storm Front. It's another nuanced and well balanced mystery. It has a strong and informed world. The characterisation of Harry seems very real, while at the same time the books are so centred on him that the side-characters feel rather under-done. This is particularly problematic when we consider that these characters are women.

Review: Storm Front by Jim Butcher. Book 1 of the Harry Dresden series

Oh I like this one. And the ooooh means I mean it!

No, I really do. The main character is awkward enough, clumsy enough and generally human enough to appeal. And I like how he is both an awesomely powerful wizard capable of so much, while at the same time being several kinds of dorky and human.

I also love the little tricks of world building like electronics not working near wizards. Little things like that make a world :). Which is big and rich – but I haven't seen it all. Which is good – I'm on the first book and I shouldn't see the whole world in a several book series yet. This is how world building is done – in increments not info dumps, in lots of showing not long lecturous tellings

And I love the magic system, I love the system of imagery and symbolism that makes it up. I like it a loooot :)

But above all I like the story. And I didn't think I would. I'll be honest, the supernatural consultant to the police isn't something I dislike, but it is something that has been done a whooooole lot and it's beginning to feel just a tad tired to me. However Harry Dresden is a police advisor in a Masquerade world that is a little bit of a twist and it was done well enough that it didn't bother me :). I think it also got the right balance for a crime mystery – complicated enough that the detectives don't look like fools for not getting it right away without being so convoluted that the whole thing just didn't make any damn sense at all.

There's a wizard out there and he's killing people. Killing people in big, nasty messy ways. Harry has to find them. He also has to make rent, which is overdue, complete work for one of his few paying clients (being Chicago's only public wizard doesn't pay well – not with most people not believing in magic) and deal with saving himself from the attentions of the same murderous wizard. As an added bonus, the White Council, the wizard ruling body, thinks he's done it and is willing to execute him unless he proves otherwise. On the side he has to deal with a cynical police force that doesn't believe in magic and a curious journalist who very much does.

It's a complicated life, and a fascinating story.