Starting to feel I know what to expect with this series. Intrigued by what will happen next in the plot, but not so keen on the expected inevitable showdowns. I wished the encyclopaedia Dumont's Guide to Divinationators was real. Also beginning to need a character list as the numbers are increasing.
Martin (Blandman) - Susan's friend
Waldo Butters - autopsy guy
Ursiel - the Fallen demon from hell (possessed Rasmussen, human Denarian, from the order of the Blackened Denarius)
Shiro Yoshimo old knight with sword
Sanya (Russian) new knight with sword (Esperacchius)
Ulsharavas, ally of the Loa, an oracle spirit
Kincaid and Ivy the Archive ( )

While I enjoyed the thrill ride this book offered, it suffered from the sequel-itis found in many superhero movie sequels--too many villains.

Honestly, you could get a novel out of Harry fighting a duel with a 600-year-old vampire lord. Likewise, Harry finding and keeping thieves from selling the Shroud of Turin would also be a great novel.

Slamming them both together, while making a very wild book, didn't fully do justice to either plotline (or the subplots, which were also thick in there).

Thus, a 4-star got downgraded to a 3-star simply because the signal to noise ratio of action and plot was reduced. ( )

Surprisingly, this has been my favorite Dresden book to date. Despite getting frustrated at Dresden because he is still A.) a Pervert and B.) misogynistic (Which he disguises as being gentlemanly), he is getting better however, as it is not quite pronounced in this story as the last four. I felt like the story was non stop and sometimes I wonder how Dresden gets by with so little sleep. the story despite being predictable in most areas was pretty great.

Mac was back a long with Bob and Murphy, along with some others that I won't spoil. We also meet some new comers who may or may not be the super big bads. I am really starting to like Harry's acceptance of working with people. No more keeping secrets "for their protection" which just ends up getting more people hurt, which is a overused trope a lot of books used. I will admit that while I was listening to James Marsters read Death Masks (He will always be synonymous with Buffy and Now Dresden Files) the sex scene was a bit awkward for me. It's one thing to read a sex scene, it's another thing to listen to someone else read a sex scene. I now know for sure that explicit romance novels must be read and not heard.

I can't wait to see where Dresden is in the next book, I hope he will continue his growth and stop being stupid where females are concerned. ( )

(3.5 / 5)

I’ll be honest—I never really cared about Harry’s relationship with Susan. She was just kind of there, and suddenly they were a couple. Then she was gone, and he was devastated in a way I didn’t really understand, given what we’d seen of their relationship. So when she comes back in this book…I still don’t really care. Besides, the sex scene was far more graphic when I prefer, so it just made me all the more glad she’s not around more.

The rest of the book was sufficiently interesting. The duel hanging over Harry’s head while he tries to solve the mystery of the missing shroud makes it all the more intense, though of course we know he’s going to make it out okay somehow, since he’s the start of the series and by now we know several more have been written after this. So the outcome of the duel wasn’t a huge surprise, but I didn’t know how it would come about, and it all comes together pretty well. I was super excited in general to see Michael again in this book, though his wife, while I can understand how she feels, is starting to annoy me. I really hope that at some point, Butcher will include female characters for more than sex appeal (though Murphy is the exception to that), but so far, I plan to continue the series. If you’re interested in these books, I highly recommend the narration by James Marsters. ( )

JM's been working on his pronunciation, guys, because he managed 'Maori' really well! I'm so proud.

Also the story was entertaining. :) ( )