Book Review: Peace Talks by Jim Butcher

Peace Talks

by Jim Butcher

I’ve seen mixed reactions to this book. It’s been five or more years since Butcher released a book in the Dresden Files series. I follow a couple forums and a number of people did a re-read of the previous books before Peace Talks came out. This makes some of the criticism more understandable. I only went to Wikipedia and read through the book summaries to refresh my memory.

I’ve seen some people say that this book is way too much of a re-hash of things we’ve seen before. I’m wondering if it wasn’t planned that way – to bring people up to speed and set up the next book, which is coming out in the fall, more than anything. If that’s the case, then I think it served its purpose well. Which also means that if you are new to the series, you don’t really HAVE to go back and read the others. You may want to eventually, but you can start here.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting caught up with Butcher’s characters. Harry Dresden is still the wise-cracking wizard detective, very aware of his own inadequacies, but he has grown in some ways.

“Then I ran my tongue thoughtfully over my teeth and closed it. Honestly, it’s really kind of startling how many problems that avoids. I should think about doing it more often.”

He still has some growing to do too.

“I felt awkward. I was never much good at parties.”

There are peace talks about to be joined that will take place in Chicago and require Harry’s presence as a member of the security team, complicated by the fact that his brother is under a kind of arrest, for murder, and Harry’s own status as a member of the White Council is in question.

So many characters from the former books come into play.

Butters, oh Butters, our polka-loving, Jedi blade-wielding, medical examiner.

Michael, former Knight of the Cross, whose stalwart presence always tries to lead Harry back to the most righteous path. (I hear a deep, resonant, measured and careful voice, in my head when Michael is speaking.)

I like Butcher’s unique way of describing things that’s culturally relevant and, as it is from Harry’s perspective, provides real insight into Harry’s mentality.

“When it got fully dark, Marcone’s castle looked like it was holding a flashlight under its chin.”

From horrible monsters and magic to more mundane, but no less important, concerns of family and home, it is lovely reading about Harry’s life again.

A thoroughly enjoyable interlude and adventure.

But for those who haven’t read it yet, if the cliff hanger is going to bother you, you might want to wait until closer to the next book to read it.