Cassie

  Peace Talks had a difficult job. It was the first mainline entry into the series following Skin Game, arguably one of the best books in the series thus far (second only to Changes in my opinion). Whether or not it did this, I'm still not entirely sure. I'll probably need to read Battle Ground to get a full grasp on where this book succeeded or failed. Because for once, this is a Dresden book that doesn't stand on it's own. That alone makes this book stand out from the rest of the series thus far, by extension making it very hard to gauge within the wider context of the series. It just feels incredibly different, breaking at this point, 15 books worth of tradition. 

The standard formula for a Dresden book is, a decent chunk of time has passed since the last one, Dresden's doing something small, a thing happens, Dresden has a shit couple of days, then we get a final chapter which wraps up the book, and sets up what Harry will be doing in his time between books. And arguably, this book does follow that structure to the letter. Except we know the next book is an hour later, not a year. 

This leads to some mild issues in my opinion. The first of which is that a lot of stuff that's set up as part of this story, is left entirely unresolved. This includes the main villain, who's only introduced in the final act of the story. Speaking of the final act, I wasn't all that into it. The big fight Harry has towards the end has really strong emotional beats, but it does also feel like we're retreading ground with that particular relationship being strained, albeit in a much more interesting way this time. 

The pacing also feels a tiny bit off in this one. Not a whole lot really happens. Most of the book is concerned with the political aspects of the world, which, while being incredibly interesting, just doesn't really fit the vibe of the series thus far. Long term, this is probably going to pay off in spades, since it feels like we're seeing the endgame for the series beginning to fall into place. 

It was a lot of fun seeing the White Council return to focus, who've been absent since Changes, as their reunion with Harry has been getting built up for the last two books. And lo and behold, the more things change, the more they stay the same. They're still the same group of sanctimonious assholes who seem to constantly have horse blinders on. I enjoy the White Council's presence, but the lack of nuance that some of them have, is getting to be tiresome after 16 books. I'd expect Merlin to have at least an ounce of good characterization, especially given how often he's an antagonist, but thus far, he's just a total prick, with little to no actual justification for it anymore. When we started the series, it made sense, but for fuck sake, even Morgan came around. MORGAN. And he was the king of dickheads for 11 whole books. 

Ebenezer was a highlight, as per usual, especially getting to watch him and Harry struggle against each other in relation to Maggie. As I said in my review for Brief Cases, I really enjoyed seeing Harry as a dad, and seeing Thomas as an uncle was really cute. 

In terms of plot, this is probably the single most tense book in the series. Any type of tension you can think of, this book has it and then some. From the first few chapters this book constantly feels wired to blow, but you never know which bomb it is that's gonna go off first. Harry is constantly on the verge of getting caught in a major fracas, either at the hands of enemies, or his erstwhile allies in the White Court. It's great. 

Thanks to this, it's yet another page turner, and unlike some of the books in the series, it's a page turner from the word go. 

Overall, I don't have too much to say about the book, as a lot of my feelings are in escrow while I wait to see how some of the dominos fall in the next book. Given the slightly off pacing, but overall enjoyability of the book, I'd rate this a 3.75/5. It's closer in quality to some of the early books, like Death Masks, and, if not for the huge amount of characters, would feel a tiny bit out of place in this era of Dresden. 

Nona the Ninth manages to completely shift the tone of the series, while still maintaining the gripping atmosphere and exciting story of the Locked Tomb, expanding the universe in ways that I hadn't expected it to. Despite being the weakest in the series so far, it was a fantastic read, and I was gutted to have to put it down.

Nona originally started as the opening act to the upcoming Alecto the Ninth, the final book in the series, but Tamsyn was unable to make it work in a satisfying manner, so she decided that it needed to be it's own book. This was definitely the right call, as I can't see this book not being it's own thing, especially with the massive tonal shift that it is from the rest of the series. If you showed someone unfamiliar with the Locked Tomb a sequence from this book alongside a sequence from either of the prior ones, they'd likely not realize that they shared a universe, but despite this, the book doesn't feel out of place, quite the opposite actually. However, I think having two major tonal shifts in one book might have made for an unpleasant read, so I definitely feel like it was the right call.

Nona is an almost saccharine sweet protagonist, but it works fantastically against the bleak backdrop of the planet she and her friends are hiding out on. Her voice is incredibly unique, unlike any that I've encountered in my time reading, likely due to the fact that she's only 6 months old (long story). I found myself genuinely very upset that she wouldn't be a PoV anymore, which makes Tamsyn 3 for 3 in making me sad to say goodbye to a PoV. Nona was an absolute treat, and the way that she viewed the world with such hope was genuinely infectious, making the themes of the story hit all the harder as the book went on, since I was fully immersed in her hope for the world. However, I can see Nona the Ninth being frustrating for some people, since it's the third book in the series where a character is completely in the dark, and has to start actively fighting for their agency in the book.

I really enjoyed the mystery of who Nona really was, trying to spot the various different ticks that Harrow and Gideon had. This added a really fun little mystery backdrop to the story, and the conclusion is in my opinion, absolutely perfect.

The other characters surrounding Nona are equally well realized, most being the result of very careful setup in the last two books. The best of the bunch are absolutely Camilla and Palamedes, though John is a close second to them, thanks in large part to the flashback sequences that we get throughout the book.

Camilla and Palamedes have a fantastic dynamic that's continued on from GtN, and the evolution of their relationship throughout the novel is in my opinion some of the best character work on offer in the series, and we're unlikely to see it topped in Alecto.

John however, is a bastard. And he's great. We get his backstory and motivations, and it finally begins to paint a picture for us of the man who became god, and shows us that he's really just a broken man who misses his home, and has a grudge against cows having friends.
The structure of the book is also of note in my opinion, as the book continues the 5 part structure of the series, but instead of parts, they're days. The story takes place over the course of 5 days, and this gives the book an almost time bomb element that builds tension just by its own existence in a manner that's really exciting. Because of this, Nona is honestly the best paced book of the three we've gotten so far.

That being said, Nona can at times feel like filler. It definitely reads like a section of a different book that's been expanded into it's own thing, though thanks to the extremely strong character work, I don't think that this is an issue overall, just something to keep in mind as you're jumping in following Harrow. This definitely feels more like setup than it's own full fledged book. I would liken how I felt after it ended to how I felt after watching Infinity War for the first time. I was definitely satisfied by it, but it didn't feel conclusive in its own right.

That being said, this book has some of the most emotionally charged scenes in the entire series, making me cry multiple times. Reading the series shows Tamsyn's growth as an author, who's primarily learning the best ways to emotionally maim the reader.

Nona made me very excited to see how Tamsyn will manage to close out the series, and I couldn't recommend the book enough. It's the one I enjoyed the least in the series, but that's by no means an insult to the book. It's still a 5 star read, which makes The Locked Tomb the only series I've read to get a 5 star rating on each book. I cannot recommend these books enough.

Last Argument of Kings is the third and final book in the First Law trilogy. But it really doesn't feel all that final. Boasting an absolutely stellar continuation of a really good trilogy, this books ending fell a little flat for me, as it lacked a lot of the closure that I'd been hoping for, instead leaving the world open for further stories. Despite this, the book manages to deliver consistently character writing, much like the previous two entries, and finally begins to really feel like what you'd expect when you hear the term Grim Dark.

I started this book off the heels of Before They Are Hanged, which had left me a little bit underwhelmed with it's ending but still really excited for where the story was going to take these characters. And I have to say, despite the rough ending of BTAH, this book recovers with startling grace, almost instantly regaining my full interest once again, and actually enhancing my view of BTAH's ending, which still surprises me even now.

The stark difference between this book and The Blade Itself is also really funny to me, as TBI had almost no substance to it's plot, instead being entirely focused, this book is filled to the brim with plot, so much so that it could have been it's own trilogy. Which might make the book sound bloated, and as though it skips over a lot, which was something that I had actually worried about, but I didn't find that to be the case, with Abercrombie showing off how skilled an author he is, by managing to have a breakneck pace that still manages to feel like it's giving the reader the opportunity to stop and smell the roses.

I think the way that he uses those pauses in pace to build tension is absolutely masterful, because it not only affords him the chance to focus more on the characters for a while, but it also lets him build a slight panic in the reader by really emphasizing just how much trouble our characters are really in.

I've touched on it a couple times, but I think that this is his best book in terms of character growth. Or, if I'm being more honest, the lack of it. After all, you have to be realistic about these things. And the fact of the matter is, is that none of these characters truly grow as much as they, or you, would like to believe.

And the thematic resonance of this is beautiful. It finally establishes the tone of the series, that we'd seen echoed throughout Logen and Glokta's stories, one of a man desperate to change, and the other of a man who would like to change, but realized he had to be realistic about the likelihood of it. In many ways, the trilogy wasn't actually about the central events, instead it was the battle between these two ideas. The idea that you could change vs the idea that you are what you are, and you needed to get on with it. So while we see the end of the Northern and Gurkish conflicts, we actually end up seeing a third war come to a close as well. That of these two ideas. The character that most displays this is in fact Bayaz, as he undergoes a phenomenal shift in this book, and I'm very excited to read Age of Madness just for him.

As always, the character voices are fantastic, with every PoV leaping off the page, feeling like they have a defined history that's informed every opinion that they have, and it's strengthened even further in this book, because by this point we actually know almost all of those reasons, with a few more coming to light throughout.

A small criticism that I would have is that I think the final battle slightly overstays its welcome, going on a bit too long. It ends up totaling almost 250 pages, and though the conflict was really engaging, towards the end I felt myself burning out pretty hard on it, and was glad to finally see the battle done. I don't know if that was purposeful by Abercrombie, so that we could relate to the characters who were also extremely exhausted, but it just didn't really click for me as much as I would have liked.

The biggest criticism I have is the ending. I didn't love it. Everyone I'd talked to said that the ending was fantastic, and that it left them with a strong sense of closure. But to me, it read like sequel bait. Every single characters story ends without real closure, which again, is a theme within the books, that closure is a lie we tell ourselves to try and ignore the traumas of the past. But that didn't make it any less satisfying for me to not get proper endings for most characters. I loved the stripping of hope that the ending undertook, with the mask of positivity finally slipping off entirely, but I just wish that we would have gotten actual endings for at least one character. We don't even get a proper ending for Logen, who seemingly dies on the last page.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with the book, and despite my misgivings, would still definitely give it a 5/5, especially following my realization of the conflict of ideas going on in the background. I highly recommend the series, but would warn you that you're not really signing up for a trilogy, you're signing up for a Realm of the Elderlings style universe, where multiple trilogys will make up a greater whole. At the moment that sits at 3 and a short story collection, but likely with more on the way.

Harrow the Ninth is probably the single most mindbending book that I've ever read. From start to finish I felt like I was being gaslit, and that Tamsyn Muir was laughing at me as I second guessed myself into a gibbering mess on the floor. Needless to say, I adored this book.

There's a few quirks straight off the bat that I had heard people complain about before I'd even finished Gideon, so I went in slightly apprehensive. Especially considering the second person perspective that is so incredibly divisive.

I'd like to say that these complaints are warranted, and that people have good reason to feel this way. And to a certain extent they do. If you just hate second person, and think it can never be done well, you'll hate this, but if I'm being honest, anyone who complained about the second person after finishing the book missed the point. The book fundamentally doesn't work without the existence of the second person.

The other main complaint I've seen is that people didn't like the fact that there was a retelling of the events in the first book, but this is an incredibly unfair assessment of those chapters if I'm being honest, and the complaint rings hollow to me after I've finished the book, since it comes across as though the people raising this complaint didn't finish the book.

The pacing complaint that I've seen is a totally valid one, though I personally liked the pacing, even if the book is very slow at points. That's just the style of story that I enjoy, so this one clicked with me.

The characters in this book are stellar, much like they were in Gideon, each one making a splash within a few pages of their introduction. This book is also benefitted by having a much smaller cast than the previous entry, allowing the other characters to absolutely shine off the page. Looking back at it, Gideon definitely suffered to a small extent from character bloat (despite my enjoyment of those characters) and definitely could have used a bit more time with some of them. This is mitigated in both this book and Nona, as now we've seen more of a lot of those characters, so Gideon is very much the prologue of the series that serves as setup.

The Emperor in particular is an absolute delight, acting like that fun uncle that you only used to see at family events, except you're seeing him in a really important position of power, and his chaotic inner gremlin is telling him to fuck around and have fun, but his sensible side (and sensible friends) are steering him narrowly past that path. This creates a lot of really engaging scenes with him, where the fun part is dropped, and he just gets sad, and you see the pain he's been through, paying off setup from early on in GtN.

Then there's Harrow. Harrow had big shoes to fill for me, coming off the back of Gideon, who is now firmly squared away as one of my favourite protagonists in literature. And you know what? She didn't fill them completely. But she was damn close. Harrow in any other series would be the best PoV that you'd get, but here she just has some damn good competition. The fact that Tamsyn was able to craft two distinctly phenomenal protagonists is something worthy of praise on it's own, so I'm not even remotely disappointed by Harrow not living up to the Himbo in chief. She's still an S-tier Protagonist in my opinion.

And then there's the prose. The prose is once again phenomenal in this book, Tamsyn going all out to show off her skills as an author. I was challenged multiple times throughout this book with words that I had never even realized needed defining, but here she is, pulling out the most obscure terms she can, and I love it.

All in all, a hearty recommendation from me, I adore this book. Tamsyn Muir is one of the best modern SFF authors in the game, and I'm so excited to finish the series.

Ah, Gideon the Ninth. What a book. I originally picked this book up a year ago, and made it to the end of Part 3, decided I was going to back to it eventually, and then proceeded to forget to do that. Which is heartbreaking, considering the fact that now that I've read it, it's one of my favourite books.

Tamsyn Muir has crafted one of the most interesting SFF universes that I've experienced in recent memory, and I'm ungodly excited to see more of it down the line. It feels like she was a massive fan of 40k, who decided she wanted an ending to the mythos, so she made her own universe that was similar to it, yet distinct enough to not be a direct rip. She then proceeded to make it gay as shit.

And hoo boy, does this book slap. Spoilers for the rest of this review, I have nothing bad to say about this book. I loved every single facet of it, every character, every line, and if I could go back to not remembering it so that I could have the joy of experiencing it for the first time again, I would.

First things first, Gideon, our protagonist, is probably one of my favourite fantasy protagonists ever put to page. I don't think any author has managed to make the reader understand a PoV character as quickly as Tamsyn does here, because by the end of the first chapter, the reader will have a near perfect understanding of who Gideon is. But by no means is Gideon a shallow character. Quite the opposite actually. Without getting too deep into spoilers, there are truths about herself that Gideon isn't quite ready to admit to herself, and watching her unravel herself from her traumatic childhood is a genuinely beautiful story.

And then there's Harrow. Oh Harrow, my beloved. A character designed for you to loathe, and then love. The smartest woman in any given room, who shows just how stupid she is by ignoring the asset she has in Gideon. Again, I don't want to spoil anything, because you should read the book, but her and Gideon's animosity towards each other is such an entertaining dynamic because of how different the two of them are to each other.

The prose is beautiful in the book, and challenged me quite a bit at points, throwing words at me that I'd never even heard, let alone read, before, so it was quite fun having my vocabulary expanded like that.

The world is probably my favourite aspect of the book. Having the universe be set in our solar system, but so far into the future that the names of the planets as we know them have been lost, is an amazing touch, that adds a surprising amount of weight to the story.

The magic system within the world is also really cool, as there's multiple different forms of necromancy within the universe. For instance, one of the houses style of necromancy comes in the form of freezing the person's aging, allowing people to live forever. Some of the cooler aspects of the magic system are massive spoilers, so I won't go too deep into those, but needless to say, it's fantastic.

But let's get to my one issue. My big, glaring, issue. And that is that Tamsyn Muir has refused to apologize for the sheer agony that the ending of this book put me through. I bawled my fucking eyes out. I don't think I will ever emotionally recover from the beating my heart took from the last 20 pages of this book, so I will be pursuing legal action. It was absolutely fantastic, I couldn't have asked for a better ending.

All in all, read the book, you're doing yourself a massive disservice by not at least experiencing the first in the series, because it really is an absolute treat. If you couldn't tell from the rest of the review, this is a 5 star book, and I'll be recommending it to anyone who'll listen to me.

  Following the excellent Skin Game, the next book on my journey through The Dresden Files was to be Brief Cases, the second short story collection Butcher has released. I didn't go in with high hopes for it, as I found the first collection to be rather middle of the road. Some of the stories in Side Jobs were noteworthy in their quality, or lack thereof, but most were just incredibly forgettable. Others annoyed me, either because they included important reveals that hadn't been in the novels (Gard being a Valkyrie was the most notable of these) or because they just weren't very good. 

So, it was my hope that Butcher might actually be able to do it right the second time, as the one constant for this series has been improvement. So, did Butcher manage to land an anthology this time, or is it better to skip it altogether? Assume spoilers for everything up to and including Skin Game 

A Fistful of Warlocks was fine. It was a generic western story, where a gunslinger (Warden Luccio) walks into town to deal with some criminals that have been on the run. I enjoyed the decision to set this during the Wild West era, showing us Luccio before she got old, or bodyswapped with a psychotic warlock. 

The use of Wyatt Earp as a character feels a tiny bit strange, almost like a Doctor Who episode. Just because you go back to that era, doesn't necessarily mean you need to include a notable name from it too. The appearances from Kemmler and Grevane were fun, however, especially since we seemingly got to see one of Kemmler's many deaths play out on screen. 

3/5 

B is for Bigfoot was a lot of fun. I always enjoy seeing Butcher's take on mythological creatures, since he tends to put these little twists on them that go against the more common depictions of them. Giving Bigfoot an accountant, and having the first story about him focus on his son being bullied in school is a prime example of this. 

I also just found it incredibly pleasant to return to a less jaded, hurt Harry, who was still free of the scars the Red Court War gave him. He's in a relationship with Susan, Karrin doesn't hate him anymore, life is actually reasonably decent for him. And that reflects in his character. The later paranoia that starts forming is completely absent, he's able to take people at face value. 

The villain is another thing that I really appreciated, since thus far, we haven't really seen much of these in the main series, at least not in any meaningful capacity. We get told that they're really dangerous, and should be tread carefully around, but this actually kind of shows why. 

3.5/5 

AAAAWizardry is great. It's an incredibly low stakes story, where Harry is teaching a class about the 4 As in Wizardry to a class of would be Wardens, while telling them a story about a case he worked to help a member of the paranet. We cut between the class, and the case itself, with each cut signifying a different A. 

This is a story with a decent amount of heart, and you could use it to demonstrate to someone exactly the type of character Dresden is. The side characters in it are also established really effectively, each one feeling fully realized very quickly. This one plays to a lot of Butcher's strengths, being fast paced, action heavy, and almost entirely focused on the characters, and how they react to the situation's they've landed in. 

4/5 

I Was a Teenage Bigfoot is the second of the three Bigfoot stories in the anthology, and while not being as strong as the first in my opinion, I still really enjoyed it. It has a more fun opening than the first Bigfoot story, having Bigfoot fuck with a group of him hunters, just to facilitate a meeting with Harry. Once again, Harry finds himself fixing an issue for Bigfoot regarding his son. He's gotten sick, which isn't supposed to happen. 

This leads to Harry deciding to don a full suit, something that is exceedingly rare, but always funny for the image it conjures, as it's so anathema to who Dresden is. He comes to blows with the school repeatedly, who refuse to allow him in, and he has to use all his charm and wit (and a little bit of forzare) just to be allowed to help this kid. Naturally, shenanigans ensue. 

This was a solid story, up until the motivation for the villain was revealed, which I thought was a little too goofy, and took me out of the story. 

3/5 

Curses is a story that was always going to be doomed to fall a little bit flat for me. I don't care about sports in any way shape or form. I care even less about baseball. So when I copped that this story was going to be about a superstition surrounding baseball, most of my interest seeped out of me 

All the parts are in this story to make it really work for me, with the exception of Harry's ogling of Jill, which, weirdly enough, 17 books in, still has yet to grow on me. The primary antagonist of the story is great though. Gwynn is a genuine delight when he's in a scene. The final scene is also very sweet 

2/5 

Even Hand was fantastic. Johnny Marcone has long since been a favourite character of mine, stealing every scene that he's in. I'm also incredibly partial to his goons, Gard and Hendricks, so getting to see more of them will never be a pain point for me. I'd never have guessed that Butcher would let us directly into Marcone's head, so this took me by surprise from the get go. 

Every single line was an absolute joy to read, and shows just how gifted with character voice Butcher really is. I've seen a good few writers struggle to capture multiple distinct voices in first person, and he's certainly not one of them. Marcone's inner monologue instantly has a different texture to it than Harry's, and I'm here for it. 

Seeing his first encounter with the Fomor (and knowing they were active in Chicago even before the events of Changes) was also something I had no expectations of seeing. It also explains why they had already moved on Chicago even before Harry's death became a widely known thing in the supernatural community. They had beef to settle. 

The only downside to this story was that I'm not getting a full Marcone novel anytime soon 

5/5 

Bigfoot on Campus is our final Bigfoot story, and by far and away the strongest of the three. It manages to be just as fun as the last two, while having some serious heart to it. The White Court vampires are always something I'm going to enjoy seeing outside of Chicago, since it means the story doesn't have to be centralized on the Raiths. 

Don't get me wrong, I love the Raiths, but the White Court is constantly built up to be so much more than just them, yet we never actually seem to get the chance to have that realized on the page. But here, we get that, and it's fantastic. We see that not all White Court leaders are built the same, some of them are actually quite pathetic. 

And of course there's River and Irwin, a meeting that we've been waiting for all book at this point, and unsurprisingly, considering Butcher's history with pay off, it lands spectacularly. 

The framing of the story being Dresden telling it to a cop who isn't familiar with him is a really fun one, the little cuts to him actually telling the story serving as nice breaks from the main event. Once again, Butcher showed off his character work, having Dean be an incredibly likable character in what amounts to probably less than a thousand words. 

4/5 

Bombshells was a solid story that faltered towards the middle. Following Molly after the events of Ghost Story, we find her still struggling with the fact that she helped facilitate the death of Harry at the end of Changes. This premise offers a lot of really tantalizing potentials, most of which sort of go unanswered, which is a massive shame, since for the most part, we don't really get to see Molly deal with those feelings in a meaningful way. 

The dealings with the Fomor, and the infiltration into the Svartalf party were mostly mixed. The initial break in was incredibly lackluster, mainly just serving to be an extended Charlie's Angels reference. This was, for the most part, lost on me, since I've never consumed anything relating to Charlie's Angels. The story acting as a sequel to the Marcone story earlier in the book was a nice little treat that I hadn't expected. 

However, I'm incredibly tired of Molly pining for Harry. It's been going on since Proven Guilty, and I'm just finding myself inordinately bored of the whole thing at this point. It's not a pairing I enjoy the implications of, I hate the semi-justification's that even Karrin has been doing in recent books, it's just gross and boring. And even now, having been inside the head of the character who's doing the pining, I don't get why she wants to be with Harry outside of him being tall, hot and a badass. Molly spends a page or two talking about it, without actually saying anything. Contrast this to Dresden thinking about characters he's had romantic interest in, and I get what he sees in them outside of attraction. I know that the next story is another Molly focused one, so if that appears in the next one, a lot of my opinions are likely to remain the same. I hope not, but lord only knows with this “pairing” by now. 

The best part of this story was how it concluded, with us getting to see Molly find out that Harry was still alive. However, this didn't hit as hard as it probably should have, since due to where this book falls in the reading order, I've already seen the payoff for that back in the early stages of Cold Days, which was 2 books ago. This is arguably one of the biggest issues with these 2 short story collections. A lot of the revelations throughout were already referenced in the mainline series, taking the oomph out of these shorter entries. 

3.5/5 

Cold Case was excellent. Following the events of Cold Days, it's another Molly PoV, this time showing her first outing with the mantle of the Winter Lady. A highlight of the last two books has been Harry battling the urges of the Winter Knight's mantle, and this is a fresh flavour of that, which tastes just as sweet. The Winter Lady's mantle encourages Molly to be a lot colder towards people, on top of also having an incredibly pushy libido. Molly constantly thinks about sex. 

Seeing Ramirez again was a complete treat. He was one of the highlights of the back half of the war with the Red Court, even when I'd grown bored of the war as a whole. Seeing him put in a more low stakes situation, where he doesn't necessarily have to be fully locked in was a very fun time. 

I've been wondering what the deal with Cthulhu and the like was in Dresden, since the Necronomicon had been referenced a few times in the early days of the series, so getting some concrete answers on that was a lot of fun. If I had to guess, we'll probably end up seeing that become a more central part of the series overall mythos as it hits it's final entries. 

I really enjoyed the Miksani as well. It's rare that we get to see Faeries of Winter stand up to the queens, since most of the stories that we read about the Fae are based in and around Mab's powerbase. 

The final scene in the hotel was quite sad to read, Butcher sells the distress of a dissociative episode very well. I hope we get more short stories of this new version of Molly, since it was really fun to explore what these changes mean for her. Molly's realization about what she was actually there to collect from them was a powerful moment, where she has to deal with the relative powerlessness that she has, despite the new station she's arisen to, while also still showing the effect that Harry's tutelage had on her. 

4.5/5 

Jury Duty was one of my favourites in the collection. This is a story where Butcher decided to let his inner Spider-man reader show, and it fits so well. Harry gets called up for jury duty, sees an injustice being done, and refuses to let that happen. This story was chiefly focused on Harry just being a decent human being. It was super low stakes, so much so it could have been a cold open to one of the first books in the series. And that's a really good thing. 

This is set just after Skin Game so having something low stakes following that is, in my opinion, a really important thing. Harry needs to return to some degree of normalcy after his multi year absence from society. He also needs this small win, that shows that despite the horrible whispering of the mantle, he is still, fundamentally, a good man. There really isn't too much too say about this story, but despite that, it still remains one of the best in the book 

5/5 

Day One focuses on a PoV I never would have guessed we'd see, that of Waldo Butters, ME, reluctant medic, and now Knight of the Cross, as he gets given his first quest from God. It's a fun little story that lets the reader focus on a character that for the most part, has always been in the background of stories, patching people up. 

At times it can get a tiny bit too self indulgent with the whole Butters being a gamer thing, and the Star Wars metaphor feels a little stretched by the end; but this is a story that pays off Butter's series long arc of overcoming his fear in the face of the supernatural. It adds a fun new monster to the mix, and has a genuinely sweet moment between Dresden and Butters, calling all the way back to Dead Beat. 

4/5 

Zoo Day is probably my favourite of the bunch. This is Harry's first proper day of being a dad. He's bonding with his daughter on a trip to the zoo. But, because it's Harry, naturally something comes up that forces him to leap into action and solve a problem. He comes across a warlock who he thinks he can help before things get bad. Maggie, his daughter encourages him to do so. Dresden worries about being a bad father, but Maggie reacts positively to him throughout. Had that been all this was, it still would have been really solid. 

But about a third of the way through, we get a PoV switch. To Maggie's PoV. This covers everything we'd seen in Harry's PoV, showing that a lot of the fears he has, Maggie also has. She's terrified that Harry is going to reject her out of hand because of the PTSD and Anxiety that have come on because of the traumatic events she experienced in Changes. Butcher's description of this had me crying at one point in the story. 

We also get to see that she's already turned into a monster hunter in her own right, showing that the apple doesn't fall too far from the tree. We get introduced to a monster type that only children can see, and this gives Maggie a little win where she's able to overcome some of her problems. 

And if that's not enough, we then get yet another PoV switch to Mouse, which is just wonderful. We're able to see just how he thinks, and the love he holds for Harry and Maggie. Harry being called “My Friend” by Mouse brought a smile to my face each time it was said. 

This story has nothing but heart, and sets up the future of the series really well. I'm incredibly excited to see more of Dresden as a dad. He's delightfully awkward at it, while refusing to do it by half measure. 

5/5 

Overall, this collection of short stories is a slightly mixed bag. It has a kind of weak first half, but the back half is filled to bursting with incredibly strong offerings that enhance the world of the series significantly. If down the line we end up getting another one of these, I hope that it manages to dodge the pitfalls of this and Side Jobs, while zeroing in on just what this book did well. 

Focusing on PoVs outside of Harry is a must for future short stories, since being given the opportunity to look outside of a walking WMD's PoV is a treat we don't get anywhere near enough of. 

  

 

Wow. Just wow. This book, from the offset, absolutely floored me with it's prose. Prior to this, I'd never tabbed a book, but by the time I'd finished it, it sat with around 50 tabs jutting haphazardly out of it. It is truly one of the most beautifully written books that I've ever read, and for that alone I would recommend it. However, the rest of the book is just as noteworthy.

I'd never read a Hobb book prior to this, which is something I rather find myself regretting now, since it turns out that I've been missing out on some of the best modern fantasy on offer.

Fitz is an incredibly strong protaganist, diverging from the, at the time very popular, beefy muscle man archetype of fantasy protaganists. His stoicism in the face of a rather difficult life is fantastic, and Hobb gets you invested in him by starting the story with the reader meeting him as a child. You very quickly get a strong picture of who Fitz is, and who he has the potential to become.
Being a bastard in the court, his birth causing his father, the heir to the throne to leave, Fitz' is treated incredibly harshly by certain members of the court, with one of his uncles calling for his death at the beginning of the book. He finds solace in those who treat him well, becoming fiercely loyal to them.

His evolution throughout the story is stellar, each ounce of suffering a boon for his character. And ooh boy, does Fitz suffer. This book is certainly tame in comparison to how the series is described, but by no means does that mean that Fitz gets off scot free. Fitz loses a lot throughout this story, and always grows for the loss.

The supporting cast is equally as strong, each member of it being written exceptionally tightly by Hobb, in a manner that allows you to get to grips with them, even though they all keep parts of themselves from Fitz, as he's too young to truly know them. This is a really impressive feat for Hobb to achieve, as the story is being told by Fitz in the future, who presumably knows a lot more about them at the time of him writing his history than we the reader do, but she doesn't try to spoil future developments, and hint at how things might play out.

Burrich is a distinct highlight of a character, acting as one of Fitz' father figures throughout the story, alongside Chade. He's oathbound to Fitz' father, Chivalry, so raises Fitz' so that Fitz' may live up to be the kind of man worthy of the blow that Chivalry's honour took in siring him. Throughout the story, Burrich was a consistently strong character, being my favourite of the extended cast of the book.

The world itself is also really well fleshed out, with a fairly unique ruling system, believable internal strife in the kingdom and politics lying just beneath the surface that make you desperate to learn as much as you can about the world.

The extended lore of the world, specifically about it's folklore, is really intriguing, and I look forward to learning more about it as I dive deeper into the series.

There's also a very intriguing magic system, that has two distinct parts. There's Fitz ability to telepathically bond with animals, that's seen as a base and disgraceful style of magic, misunderstood by people that haven't used it, and there's the more respectable Skill, which allows users to communicate over long distances, siphon from others, use telekinesis etc. Both of these feel completely unique from the other, while also feeling connected in some way.

There's a third, much more mysterious magic system in place, that of Forging, where morals are stripped from people, turning them bloodthirsty and selfish. This is used by the raiders from across the sea to threaten the stability of the kingdom, and is terrifying to read about

I'm extremely excited to continue reading the series, and Hobb's got a lifelong fan in me because of this book. This was a very easy 5 stars for me to hand out.

Thank you to NetGalley and Aconyte for early access to the book for an honest review.
I went into this book not really expecting much from it and came out pleasantly surprised. The Golden City is surprisingly self-contained for a tie in novel that revolves around characters within the games, which I really appreciate, since it means that the book actually manages to feel like a complete story, while still setting up the events of the game that it's tied to. That being said, if you don't have much knowledge on Assassin's Creed, I would recommend against the book, since I don't think there's much here for you.

Having more intimate knowledge of the series, I found myself reading this quite compulsively, finishing it in just 3 days, while also reading other books. Seeing the little hints at plot points for the game this is a prequel to (Valhalla) was really engaging, and the hints towards Mirage's plot were also really enticing, and have me very excited to experience the game now.

The plot was alright. It was set up as a potentially interesting political plot, but had the depth of a burst kiddie pool, with no real twists or turns put into the story. Almost every revelation was something extremely obvious, even without any foreshadowing. Hytham would regularly guess something that was treated as a big reveal, yet was constantly portrayed as fairly inept when it came to running an investigation.

The actually engaging part of the plot was Hytham trying to understand what Basim's goals were. Seeing him try to parse everything Basim said or did for hidden meanings was really engaging, however, I have to point out that this isn't where you're going to get any answers to that mystery. For that you need to play a game, so in the long run, I can see this being a negative for people who haven't played Valhalla. Since I've completed Valhalla, it enhanced my experience though, so I really appreciated it.

As a PoV, Hytham is pretty good, but is definitely held back by the lack of anything going on in the story, since there's no points where he really gets to shine as a character due to the extremely obvious story beats that go on. I feel like if there had been a bit of a murkier air to the investigation, he would have had more opportunity to shine, however for the most part he just fucks up and eventually stumbles to the correct conclusion. Where he shines is in his interpersonal relationships.
You can't help but like Hytham, because he cares a lot about the people around him. Of particular note is Leo, the young emperor that he's tasked to defend with his life. The father/son relationship the pair have is genuinely very cute, and you get to see both of them grow together throughout the story. Watching how that clashed against his oaths was a super compelling aspect of the book, especially with Basim's bits of advice about forming attachments riddled throughout (if YKYK)

The combat scenes are also awesome. The hidden blade is something that will always be fun to have included in combat scenes, since it's such a rare type of weapon in books, but the swordfights are also of note, since the author does a really good job of making you feel like you're experiencing the fights, with really vivid descriptions of not just combat, but how the opponent moves, the noise they make etc. It transports you to the fights every time.

The big criticism I have is that Constantinople is pretty boring in the book, which is a shame, since the Byzantine empire is really cool. This is definitely caused in part by the lack of mystery around the assassination attempts. It doesn't allow the setting to grow any form of atmosphere that's unique to itself, instead the city would be entirely interchangeable if not for the story's reliance on the historical figures of Basil I and Leo.

The pacing of the book is a bit off as well in my opinion, as there are really long stretches where very little happens, with short bursts of progress for the story. This isn't too much of a problem, since the book is relatively short, but it's still of note in my opinion.

All in all, I had a pretty decent time with this book, but it won't be at the top of my list of recommendations for people. I'd wholeheartedly recommend this for people who enjoyed AC Valhalla, as it enhances that game by no end. It's a solid 3.5 stars, you could do far worse for video game tie ins.