2011 Book 3: Small Favor
Book 3: Small Favor (The Dresden Files, book ten) by Jim Butcher, read by James Marsters, isbn 97803143390, 432 pages / 12 cds, Roc Fantasy/ Penguin Audio, $44.95
I originally read this book almost a year and a half ago. My how time flies. My review of that reading can be found here. My opinion of the book really hasn't changed at all upon "re-listening" to it. It is still a pretty non-stop adventure, featuring not just two but three all-out near-apocalyptic battles (two at Chicago landmarks, which Butcher seems to increasingly love to do damage to) and in the process introducing perhaps my favorite secondary antagonists in the Dresden series: Tiny and Eldest Brother Gruff. Butcher always impresses me. Anyone who can make the Three Billy-Goats Gruff and their elder brothers this scary and imposing deserves my admiration. Makes one wonder what he could do with the Three Little Pigs (and exactly which Fey Court would the Pigs belong to? Summer? But I digress....)
I said in my original review, and I still feel: of all the Dresden books this one feels the least like a good jumping-on point for new readers. This is not a bad thing, but I think it is a fair warning. If I had to hand someone an out-of-sequence Dresden File as their first exposure to the series, I don't think it would be this one because of the density of character interactions and the huge cast of characters with which to become familiar.
There is so much going on in this book that there were some moments I'd almost forgotten, including a few off-handed comments that will surely come back and have some bearing on the upcoming 13th installment, GHOST STORY. As I am one of those people who makes an effort to not spoil things for anyone, I won't say more on the subject than this: hind-sight is 20/20 and rereading this gave me an even stronger sense of what might have been going on at the end of CHANGES ... unless Butcher planted these comments specifically to throw off readers' aim in the guessing game.
I "hear" Harry in a certain way when I read the books. It's not Paul Blackthorne's voice, as some might suspect, because I still haven't watched most of the short-lived Dresden Files tv series. It's my own interpretation of how Harry would sound -- and me being me, that interpretation is heavy on the sarcastic inflection. So it threw me off at first that Marsters' defining characteristic for Harry seems not to be heavy sarcasm, but a wistful sort of world-weariness. It's not a defeated tone of voice by any stretch of the imagination, but it is weary, wary, and soft-toned. Which, of course, makes the sarcastic and forceful moments all that much more powerful. It took some getting used to, but I think it's a good choice. I definitely recommend that Dresden fans who are considering rereading the books give them a re-listen instead for a different interpretation. Marsters helped me notice some qualities of Harry's that I'd almost forgotten were there.
I have TURN COAT on cd waiting to be re-listened to as well. Looking forward to that.
I originally read this book almost a year and a half ago. My how time flies. My review of that reading can be found here. My opinion of the book really hasn't changed at all upon "re-listening" to it. It is still a pretty non-stop adventure, featuring not just two but three all-out near-apocalyptic battles (two at Chicago landmarks, which Butcher seems to increasingly love to do damage to) and in the process introducing perhaps my favorite secondary antagonists in the Dresden series: Tiny and Eldest Brother Gruff. Butcher always impresses me. Anyone who can make the Three Billy-Goats Gruff and their elder brothers this scary and imposing deserves my admiration. Makes one wonder what he could do with the Three Little Pigs (and exactly which Fey Court would the Pigs belong to? Summer? But I digress....)
I said in my original review, and I still feel: of all the Dresden books this one feels the least like a good jumping-on point for new readers. This is not a bad thing, but I think it is a fair warning. If I had to hand someone an out-of-sequence Dresden File as their first exposure to the series, I don't think it would be this one because of the density of character interactions and the huge cast of characters with which to become familiar.
There is so much going on in this book that there were some moments I'd almost forgotten, including a few off-handed comments that will surely come back and have some bearing on the upcoming 13th installment, GHOST STORY. As I am one of those people who makes an effort to not spoil things for anyone, I won't say more on the subject than this: hind-sight is 20/20 and rereading this gave me an even stronger sense of what might have been going on at the end of CHANGES ... unless Butcher planted these comments specifically to throw off readers' aim in the guessing game.
I "hear" Harry in a certain way when I read the books. It's not Paul Blackthorne's voice, as some might suspect, because I still haven't watched most of the short-lived Dresden Files tv series. It's my own interpretation of how Harry would sound -- and me being me, that interpretation is heavy on the sarcastic inflection. So it threw me off at first that Marsters' defining characteristic for Harry seems not to be heavy sarcasm, but a wistful sort of world-weariness. It's not a defeated tone of voice by any stretch of the imagination, but it is weary, wary, and soft-toned. Which, of course, makes the sarcastic and forceful moments all that much more powerful. It took some getting used to, but I think it's a good choice. I definitely recommend that Dresden fans who are considering rereading the books give them a re-listen instead for a different interpretation. Marsters helped me notice some qualities of Harry's that I'd almost forgotten were there.
I have TURN COAT on cd waiting to be re-listened to as well. Looking forward to that.