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babewiththepower.bsky.social · @babewiththepower.bsky.social@bridge.neodb.net

Rated Death Masks 8/10

If the end of book 3 was where Butcher really started to get his sea legs in writing, book 5 is where Harry Dresden got his. Things really start to get serious in the mythos of the series and some of the somewhat sillier things in the earlier books are discarded and storylines that had pretty much reached the end of the road were put aside. There were plenty of details I'd totally forgotten about, like how Nicodemus first entered the scene and the slow introduction of Thomas began here and there. Most noteworthy, of course, is the bringing together of the Knights of the Sword and Amoracchius, Esperacchius, and Fidelacchius. What great names are those, too!<br/><br/>Considering the last 5 or so books are much more clear to me than the first 5, having been so long ago that I read them, it's really rather great to see in hindsight the events that happened here that were either put there on purpose or put to great use later. Definitely one of the developments in this book that makes me say Dresden gets his sea legs here is the more complex characterizations. I read these books for the characters and Butcher goes from just black and white characters of good guys and bad guys to include the wide spectrum of grey, revealing motivations that might make you change your mind of who are the bad guys and who are the good guys. But don't get me wrong, I still also love me the snark, bad puns, and pop culture references of Harry Dresden most. And, you know, that heart of gold.

#book

Published 2026-08-18 18:00 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere