Death Masks

The Good: I like Harry Dresden. I like his power and his willingness to get involved when others will not. The constant target on his back should be getting old for readers, but rather if they're like me, they are loving seeing Harry on his toes and overcoming obstacles left and right. I totally loved the way Marcone was worked into Death Masks and hope to see more of him interacting with Harry on that level in the future.

The Bad: Susan returning was a letdown, really. I'm sort of wishing she would just go and have Harry fully move on. The Knights aren't the most enthralling characters either, but their involvement with the missing Shroud of Turin makes sense. ( )

Book Info: Genre: Urban Fantasy
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: Fans of Urban Fantasy

My Thoughts: This is the first of the books in this series in which I’ve seen any significant editing errors, such as a car’s “breaks” and Larry Fowler being called “Jerry” at one point. The formatting is a bit screwed up in my copy, too, but nothing too distracting; mostly it is that almost every use of “Red Court” is italicized and put upon its own line. This is an e-book edition (my backup copy), though, and a fairly old one, but take that with a bucket of salt. Or a pillar, depending upon your proclivities.

This book introduces some of my favorite characters. Butters. Shiro. Sanya. Ivy (the Archive). Kincaid. The Denarians. Yeah, I really like the Denarians, because they are just such wonderful villains. And if you’ve been following my reviews, you know how I feel about villains!

At any rate, this is an important and pivotal book in the series, so be sure not to miss it. The train keeps chugging along...

Disclosure: This is my book, I purchased it for myself in hardcover. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: Harry Dresden, Chicago's only practicing professional wizard, should be happy that business is pretty good for a change. But now he's getting more than he bargained for.

A duel with the Red Court of Vampires' champion, who must kill Harry to end the war between vampires and wizards...

Professional hit men using Harry for target practice...

The missing Shroud of Turin...

A handless and headless corpse the Chicago police need identified...

Not to mention the return of Harry's ex-girlfriend Susan, who's still struggling with her semivampiric nature. And who seems to have a new man in her life.

Some days, it just doesn't pay to get out of bed. No matter how much you're charging. ( )

As usual, loved this book. I love Harry period !! ( )

After the tremendous all-encompassing conflict of the last book, I wondered how Butcher would top it, or if he could.

Well, he did. In Death Masks, instead of end-of-the-world catastrophe, Harry is attacked on all sides. At once, of course. In fact, at chapter eighteen or so, I noted that Harry had yet to sleep! And it had been two days. He'd already been challenged to a duel by a powerful vampire, shot at by the mob, attacked by one of the Fallen (and still his day was to get worse). Oh, and there's a prophecy that if he tries to find what he's been hired to find, he'll die. But if he doesn't, everyone dies.

All that without a nap.

Harry finally slept when it was over. I think he slept for a couple of days.

This story was just as fast paced as the previous ones, if not more so. It grabs you immediately and doesn't let go till the end. Harry was confronted with so many threats that a duel with a vampire warlord actually took a backseat.

On to the next. Can't wait to see how Butcher tops this. ( )

Death Masks is the fifth title in The Dresden Files series which features the only practicing wizard in present-day Chicago, Harry Dresden. In Death Masks, three plot lines bump against each other in a tale in which everyone seems to be out to get Harry one way or another:

* The Red Court's war against The Wizard's Council continues in its vehemence. A duel is set up between the vampire Ortega and Harry at Wrigley Stadium. At stake is Harry's life and perhaps the end of the war itself;
* Harry is hired to recover a relic, nothing less than The Shroud of Turin! Harry and his friends, The Knights of the Sword, set out to track down The Shroud, the thieves, a few demons and, not lose Harry's soul in the process and;
* Harry's erstwhile but very sexy girlfriend returns to Chicago ostensibly just to pick up a few things before leaving for good. Her love for Harry, combined with her sensuality and her newly developed fighting skills create an agonizing temptation for Harry.

There are some things that Jim Butcher does very well, namely create great, believable characters, write with humor and, provide plenty of action in any given plot. What Jim Butcher does not do well is pay attention to details with the result that there are always a couple of continuity errors that distract from the story.

James Marsters has spent years narrating and developing the The Dresden Files characters and is clearly in sync with the writer's intent and style. This audio was recorded out-of-order from the rest of the series (at the same time a later title in the series was recorded) and the result is that James Marsters' narration, from practice and experience far beyond the Buzzy Multimedia years, brings a polished performance to Death Masks. The production quality is cleaner than in the first four titles in The Dresden Files series (Storm Front, Fool Moon, Grave Peril and Summer Knight) as well. Issues like booth noises and mispronunciations have been eliminated. Overall, James Marsters' narration transcends Jim Butcher's writing, creating an experience best suited for audio over the print.

Redacted from the original blog review at dog eared copy, Death Masks. 07/28/2011 ( )