White Night

Jim Butcher's writing just seems to be agreeing with me this spring. For those of you who do not know, I am usually not the kind of person who likes to read books in a series one after the other. I usually get bored and move off to read something else. This time, though, I seem to just be really enjoying the Harry Dresden series of books, and the ninth installment, White Night, is no exception. This novel builds on the character of the previous books and makes me excited for what is to come for Chicago's only Detective Wizard.

One of the major elements of this novel is how Harry is viewed by the rest of the world. In the last book, we found Harry understanding that using power can have a negative outcome, accidental or not. Now, that viewpoint on power is switched from the introspective to the outside world, as people confront Harry to understand that everyone sees him differently than how he sees himself. This is a fascinating theme to explore, especially since we have always seen things from Harry's POV. Harry has been a powerful wizard, and his problem with anger management issues do not endear him to the city. Couple this with his joining the White Council, an organization that the magical community does not always like, and trusts even less, and people often see Dresden as more of a threat than a help. This forces the reader to re-evaluate all of the actions done in the last few books. We have always seen things for Harry's POV, so we do not get the whole story, and this idea of absolute power makes us see him not as a lonely but powerful wizard who lacks close friends, but as a mysterious man who walks around in an intimidating leather duster with a propensity for setting things on fire. This is a cool way to think about our experiences up until this point with Harry, and I am excited to see where this takes his character.

Relationships are explored and get more development in this book. Molly is showing herself to be a good apprentice by the end of the novel. Ramirez also gets a lot of depth here, with him not only showing us another style of magic, but is also possibly the only person to call Harry out on being so reserved when it comes to trusting anyone within the magical community. This all helps to reinforce the theme stated above, which is nice to see.

There are some things that, for me, weakened this novel by the end (don't worry, I'll be vague for spoiler's sake). One of which are some of the events that happen in the novel. Throughout the book, the characters keep mentioning an event that happened with Harry and some young wizards out in the south west. I thought that this was going to be a case where we would have to read a separate short story to find out what they are talking about, but I was wrong. Butcher, thankfully, goes through the event in a detailed flashback. It reinforces the themes stated above, is a riveting action scene, and so on. My problem with it is that this flashback happens right in the middle of an action scene. It seemed so abrupt, I thought I had missed a part or something. Then after the flashback it goes right to where we were in the main plot, making the transition feel clunky.

Another problem is how badly paced the third act was. The story seemed to be adding so many characters to the mix at the final reveal of whodunnit, that the pacing seemed to slow down a little too much for my taste. This made me wonder if these scenes could have been shortened or better written overall with another round of editing.

Also, Thomas' story line was handled poorly compared to the rest of the cast. It seemed a little too convenient with how he was involved with what he was doing, and it just happened to effect Harry and the case. His ending storyline, while funny, did not seem to fit with his character.

Still, I really liked this book. It was very fun and enjoyable with Harry's dry wit, and humor. The character development that is here is excellent and I am excited for where this story goes from here. The extra icing on the Dresden cake for me, though, is how I am still thinking about this book in my daily life almost a week after finishing it. This is rare for me, and if that is not the sign of a good book, I do not know what is. I give it a five out of five.