Ghost Story
A Dresden Files Novel, Book 13
Hardcover | Kindle
Written by Jim Butcher
Roc Publishing
Release date: July 26, 2011

Ghost Story, book 13 of the Dresden Files was extraordinary. And that is saying something considering the fact that I have yet to read a book by Jim Butcher that wasn’t great. But how often do you get to see the protagonist of a book as a ghost? I was really scared for Harry Dresden, what with the prior book having ended with him sinking into the water after being shot. That’s not exactly a healthy prospect for Chicago’s only practicing wizard detective.

Our story starts six months after the last book ends. Chicago has changed immensely during Harry’s absence… and certainly not for the better. The supernatural creatures that once avoided the town have converged upon the Windy City after it became known that Dresden had disappeared. His friends have done their best to protect the citizens, but they don’t have the resources that he did, certainly not the sheer power that he wielded. A lot of other things have changed as well, like his inability to communicate with virtually everyone around him. Luckily, Harry manages to gain the assistance of some old, and unlikely, acquaintances. Conspicuously absent were Thomas, Michael, Elaine, Marcone, and the entire White Council, though they were all referenced at one point or another. My heart hurt a little for the way Murphy and Molly were portrayed in this book. Those last few months were unkind to them both, unfortunately.

Death Masks
The Dresden Files, Book 5
By Jim Butcher
Hardcover | Paperback | Kindle
Roc
Released November 3, 2009

Today I present to you a book that has been out for a while, but represents a huge pivotal point in an ongoing series. If you haven’t read The Dresden Files books by Jim Butcher, you are seriously missing out. Butcher blends magic, mystery, and sarcasm in the perfect ratio to produce what I (and many who have read them) consider the best Contemporary Fantasy books available. I have recommended this series to probably a thousand folks in the past eight years and not one has ever returned one or complained they didn’t like it. That said, on to the review of Death Masks, which is Book 5 of the series.

Without giving away plot points, and thereby ruining the story or series for others, let me just say that so much happens in Death Masks that you don’t realize half of what’s happening until you are reminded of it in later volumes. This novel is a major turning point in the series in that it introduces a plethora of new characters that really help to flesh out the world of the protagonist.