The Literary Apothecary

Book 8 in The Dresden Files

Recently drafted into the White Council, Harry Dresden is dispatched to investigate rumors of black magic. Dresden soon discovers that there is a lot more in play including possible supernatural assaults and monsters that feed on fear.

I loved everything about this book. It may be my favorite so far.

CAWPILE breakdown:

Characters: 8.5 – I loved seeing the development of some characters and more background info on others. Charity is badass. Yes, Harry still has the male gaze thing but I most often see men complain about that so … I think it gets better in each book – it also helps that the females get stronger.

Atmosphere/Setting: 9 – Not only did we get to see more of Chicago, but we also saw some of Dresden’s magic lands — and the atmosphere shift when we got there was spot on.

Writing Style: 8.5 – I continue to love and enjoy Butcher’s writing stlye. It’s not perfect, but it’s enjoyable to me and develops, grows and getts better in each book.

Plot: 8 – We almost had two plotlines going on here: one at the beginning and one in the second half. They were tied together (especially when you got to the end) to form one semi-loose plot.

Intrigue: 10 – Just as with most Dresden books, the intrigue for me was dialed way up, especially with new places and information being revealed.

Logic/Relationships: 9.5 – In terms of Dresden books, Proven Guilty (in my opinion) did the best with logic and relationships. Everything made sense (especially the fear monsters) and the relationships developed so well. (Some people may bring up a certain situation that happened in this book which I won’t go into detail here because of spoilers but to me – that was Butcher showing the honesty of Harry; it was Dresden’s thoughts that we heard, sure it could have been handled better but it also could have been a lot worse if Dresden wasn’t a man with some morals.)

Enjoyment: 10 – Truly enjoyed this book.

CAWPILE Total: 63.5/7 = 9.0 = 5 stars