My sister and I listened to this on Audiobook in the car. I had to return the CDs to the library, but fortunately, they had the Playaway, so we were able to finish this. I loved James Marsters' narration. He doesn't sound a thing like Spike and I'm glad. He showed a wonderful vocal range, and he really gave life to Harry Dresden for me. He's really fantastic at accents and different inflections. He does women voices without them sounding cheesy or falsetto (which is a huge thing for me). I think I will definitely have to listen to more of these on audiobooks. My sister had never read any of this series, and she really liked this. Of course, she loves James Marsters (and Spike), so that was a good way to suck her in.

As far as the book, I really liked it. I think it could probably give this five stars if I wanted to be generous. I think the reason I didn't is because the story doesn't really wrap up to my satisfaction. I would have liked a lot more closure than I got. But it was a good follow-up to Summer Knight. Harry is a hero, but he doesn't ever seem to get that day in the sun or the resolution of his personal and private issues that you would hope for. Susan is back, and that was very cool. I think that her return was pivotal to the storyline, and the storyline in itself has a nice complexity to it in which various elements tie together very well. I can't say I was a huge fan of the Susan relationship, but it's treated well in this book, and there was a surprisingly steamy love scene that I wasn't expecting. I wonder if the author's wife is rubbing off on him (Shannon K. Butcher). I can see that there was genuine love between them, and I can't help hoping that works out in the future.

I think that Harry gains a lot of personal growth in this book, acquiring new allies along the way, and realizing that there are people who really do believe the best of him and trust him to do the right thing. I know I am seriously behind in this series, because I tend to get behind in my reading of series. I actually wasn't lost, even though it had been years since I read Summer Knight, so that was nice. He also develops more nemeses, not like he needs them. Harry really does have a kiss my butt attitude that makes people hate his guts. But those people are usually jerks, so that's okay with me.

I have heard things about Dresden being a sexist. I think listening to this on audio does reveal this flaw in his character. While I am not for sexism, I still like him a lot. I think that his sexism backfires on him because he allows his preconceived notions about women get him in trouble again and again. My hope is he will learn from his mistakes. Here's hoping. But despite this shortcoming and others, I count Harry as one of my favorite characters for many reasons. I think that even though Harry has some really obvious flaws, he's a good guy that I'm very fond of and I always look forward to spending time with him.

Like most of the books in this series, the secondary characters are great. They add so much to the read. The Knights of the Cross (including Michael), Murphy, Susan, Martin, Susan's work companion who is on the surface very mild-mannered but is really kind of like Jack Reacher, Molly (Michael's daughter), his wife who hates Harry, and not to mention some truly despicable bad guys. I loved the Archive and her bodyguard Kincaid.

I am ever a fan of authors with rich imaginations who can put that on the page in a readable fashion, and Jim Butcher has that in spades. The humor is great, and parts of these stories are genuinely scary and thrilling. And the action is top notch. I'm such a geek for urban fantasy and magic noir, this is very up my alley for that type of story.

I have most of these in paperback, but I'm thinking about going back and listening to the first books on audiobook, just for fun.

Overall rating: 4.5/5.0 stars

This was a lot more coherent than the initial book, London Falling, but I don't think this book is very accessible to the average urban fantasy reader. There is still a heavy British vibe to the story, which is a good thing, for the most part. Cornell takes the reader and the characters to some dark, strange places in a London that is familiar but eerily paranormal.

Overall rating: 3.5/5.0 stars.

Reviewed for Bitten by Books. http://bittenbybooks.com.

My first review got sucked into the Review Twilight Zone, so here we go again.

Zatanna is an interesting mix of showmanship, jocular affability and incredible magical aptitude.  Her costume is a shirtwaist and tails, with a top hat, and she brandishes a magical wand.  Her enemies tend to underestimate her abilities, big time. She's more than capable of taking on the practitioners of the darkest of magics, as evidenced in the story arcs of this book.

This book was an improbably successful mix of a light-hearted vibe and kooky magic tricks and a glimpse into the world in which sorcerers practice dark arts and demons trade power for souls.  It shouldn't have worked, but it did.  I think it's because Zatanna successfully straddles that line of fun-loving, cheerful stage magician and truly talented wizard who uses her skills to protect humans from the world of evil sorcery that she is familiar with through past battles and a heartbreaking loss.

I am watching "Young Justice" on Netflix (fantastic show, by the way!), and Zatanna was on an episode I watched today, and it was serendipity that I had read this around the same time.  I think she's a cool character with a skillset that is distinctive compared to some of the more famous DC Comics heroes.  I found Justice League Dark at my library, where she teams with other sorcerers and wizards to combat dark magic, and I'm looking forward to reading more Zatanna graphic novel content.

I'd recommend this to readers who aren't too squeamish about sorcery and magical content.  One of the baddies is really, really bad, and some folks die in terrible ways due to evil magic, so not for the faint of heart.

My review is mostly the same for both volumes of this graphic novel. I didn't take notes while I was reading, so the finer points slipped out of my mind shortly after I read it. However, I did make some specific observations for part two.

One might think, why read a graphic novel version of a prose novel? I was one of those who asked that question. I am eating my words now. I can see why. While I tend to visualize the books I read as movies playing in my head in full color, it's still a pleasure to see how the author's imagery is brought to life as they work with the graphic novel artists and writers.

Harry doesn't quite look like my version in my head, but it's awesome to see how Butcher himself visualizes the character. Harry's "don't care what you think and don't tell me what to do" attitude comes through loud and clear in the graphic version. He's not quite as lanky/thin as I imagined, but his proportions aren't exaggerated into a beefcake version that doesn't hold true to the original. I did like the attention to detail given to Harry's outfit and tricks of the trade. I hadn’t quite gotten a distinction between Harry’s blasting rod and staff until seeing it in the graphic novel.

The climax has energy and excitement through the eyes and hands of the artist. It feels three-dimensional, much like a movie, and it makes me wish that the TV series had been better done and they had spent more money on it, because it would have been so well done if they had. Paul Blackthorne was an excellent choice for Dresden, in my opinion. The imagery of the dark sorcery committed by the villain stays in my head, and it seems very sinister even in graphic novel format.


This isn’t my favorite Dresden novel out of the four I’ve read so far, but it’s a very good start to a series, and I liked this graphic novel enough to pick up the next in the series, Fool Moon, which is probably one of my favorites from the series, although Grave Peril and Summer Knight are also excellent, IMO. It's made me excited to keep reading the books in graphic novel format.

I’d recommend checking this out if you are a fan of the Dresden prose novels. The artwork is well done and bright and the story follows the book very well.

One might think, why read a graphic novel version of a prose novel? I was one of those who asked that question. I am eating my words now. I can see why. While I tend to visualize the books I read as movies playing in my head in full color, it's still a pleasure to see how the author's imagery is brought to life as they work with the graphic novel artists and writers.

Harry doesn't quite look like my version in my head, but it's awesome to see how Butcher himself visualizes the character. Harry's "don't care what you think and don't tell me what to do" attitude comes through loud and clear in the graphic version. He's not quite as lanky/thin as I imagined, but his proportions aren't exaggerated into a beefcake version that doesn't hold true to the original. I did like the attention to detail given to Harry's outfit and tricks of the trade. I hadn’t quite gotten a distinction between Harry’s blasting rod and staff until seeing it in the graphic novel.

The image of Bianca with her human visage shed is terrifying. About as bad as I imagined. I can understand her pathology about wanting to be beautiful, seeing how she really looks vamped out. Susan looks just like I imagined and so does Murphy. Mister isn’t quite what I expected, but Bob stands up to scrutiny. The visual of the frog demon was something else alright, along with the giant scorpion assassin construct.

Overall, the artwork and lettering conveys the storyline very well. The artist did a great job of conveying the sinister and evil nature of the villain, as well as the essential personalities of other characters. Nothing was left out that I could tell, and the storyline seems quite sinister in living color. It’s been a while since I read this, so it was a nice refresher, since I didn’t have time to do a reread before the group read discussion we’re having on the book.

This isn’t my favorite Dresden novel out of the four I’ve read so far, but it’s a very good start to a series, and I liked this graphic novel enough to pick up the next in the series, Fool Moon, which is probably one of my favorites from the series, although Grave Peril and Summer Knight are also excellent, IMO.

I’d recommend checking this out if you are a fan of the Dresden prose novels. The artwork is well done and bright and the story follows the book very well.