At the time of this writing, I have not finished reading this book, but I needed to take a break to commit some rage to the page. If anyone knows the whereabouts of author Jim Butcher so that I could have the quick opportunity to kick him in the shins, please let me know. I’ll be in and out before he knows what hit him, the “what” being my tiny feet.
This is going to be a spoiler-tastic review (in fact, I’m going to reference my favorite show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and spoil some of that too) so if you haven’t consumed either property but would like to, I suggest you skip this review. If you’d like to know what has me at def con fuchsia levels of irritation, stick around.
For 16 books (SIXTEEN) we watched the slooooooooow romantic build between Harry Dresden, wizard detective, and Karen Murphy, super rad short feisty skilled adorable lady cop (adjectives Dresden would use, with his casual sexism). They went from investigation-blocking enemies to friends to allies to people making googly eyes at each other. She got kicked off the force, injured to the point that she won’t ever be the same, and still she’s there to fight by Harry’s side.
Finally, in book 16 they get together. Yay. But before you get excited about it, in the very next book, this book, Butcher has her killed off in the lamest most boring way possible. She doesn’t get to die protecting Harry, or in battle, but she gets shot by Randolph, an inept policeman who for the last few books has been out to get them. He is too daft to realize what is happening around him, and blames Chicago falling down around his ears on them, as terrorists. Never mind the literal giants and demons and whatnot fighting in the streets.
(Buffy reference for comparison). WHAT IN THE NAME OF WARREN SHOOTING TARA ARE WE DOING HERE, BUTCHER???
You should have a) gotten them together much sooner or b) made her death matter or c) done both of these things. And yes, they were ill-fated because he’s going to be hundreds of years old, sure fine, you’ve got to deal with that. But this is just ridiculous and pointless.
And the rest of this book? I have listened to six hours of battle scene after battle scene after battle scene, with 7 more hours to go? Snooooooooooooooozefest.
To sum up, I’m too mad to continue on now, but when I do (and I will) I’ll come back around and finish out this review and adjust my 2 out of 5 if it is warranted, but I’m not holding my breath.
