Grave Peril Review
Grave Peril
by Jim Butcher
Dresden Files Book 3
I like the new ally characters a whole bunch. Thomas and Michael are both loads of fun and I <3 Charity big time.
Not really that fond of the book as a whole though. It failed to hold my attention to the extent that I set it aside entirely for a little over a week in order to read a collection of really fun Avengers fanfic I found and that was despite the fact that I had stopped on one of the many cliff hangers.
It was almost entirely the structure of the story I think because individual scenes are very good and there is some striking imagery. There are lots of action scenes and cliffhangers and not a whole lot of pauses to get to know the new characters as people and absorb the events thus far before another action beat. Plus, the whole cliffhanger thing has already gotten old and that's before the book itself ends on one. This one is mostly shuffling pieces into place for future stories as near as I can tell.
What happens with Susan is really tragic but since we haven't gotten a lot of time with her as a person instead of a plot point I found myself not really invested in it. It doesn't help that I don't really like what little we've seen of her. She's an idiot and what's worse she's a foolhardy stubborn idiot. She's like a bad clone of Silver Age Lois Lane rushing in to get a scoop and having to be rescued because she does not listen to people who know what they're talking about and take anything like proper precautions. She's extremely lucky that she got off as lightly as she did. Dresden can do better.
I really liked Bob in this one. He gets some good lines and a lot more to do and develops more as a character. I still like TV!Bob better than Book!Bob though. TV!Bob had that whole faithful family retainer vibe going on and having once been human had human reactions and emotions. Book!Bob being a non-human creature just can't match that even though here it looks as though he does consider Dresden a friend despite all the snark.
So, overall, stuff that is important to future events happens here so you can't skip reading this one and even a weak entry in this series still has some good stuff.