Battle Ground by Jim Butcher: review

3/5 stars on Goodreads

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher

Battle Ground is already seventeenth book in the Dresden Files UF series about Harry Dresden, the only professional wizard in Chicago. There was a long gap between books fifteen and sixteen, which ended with an epic two-part story consisting of Peace Talks and this one.

Battle Ground is a good book, but exhausting. Sooo exhausting. It starts right where the previous book ended, at the same scene, on the eve of a great battle against an ancient goddess. From there it’s basically nonstop war, with the enemy getting bigger and more brutal, forcing Harry to become bigger and more brutal too, which isn’t always good for him. Once the action starts, there are barely any breathers for the reader to rest for a minute or two. I had to put the book aside several times just to be able to go on. There are some sad moments—it is a battle, after all—the biggest taking place surprisingly early in the book, but the narrative doesn’t really pause for them either, to let the reader mourn. The war takes precedence.

I’m not entirely sure it was a good idea to split into two books what could have been one with more brutal editing. Peace Talks especially was full of filler scenes that could’ve been cut, and the epic battle in Battle Ground could’ve been shorter. What turned out to be the main story arc between the two—Thomas’s fate and the new baddie—was completely lost in unnecessary noise, and only became visible as an afterthought in the last chapter, where we learned in one sentence why Thomas had attacked the goblin king in the first place. I’d given Peace Talks four stars originally—most likely because I was so happy there was a new Dresden Files book—but after reading both, I don’t think it deserves more than three stars either.

I’m also not happy with how Murphy was treated in these two books. It was as if the author didn’t know what to do with her now that she and Harry were romantically involved. Physically broken, she was made a bit too dependent on him, and that wasn’t good for her, which she rightly railed against—and was punished for. And I do mean punished, in the meanest and most unnecessary way possible, robbing her off all glory and agency.

Going in, I was sure this would be the last book in the series. But once the dust had settled and Harry had had a chance to take a stock of his life, it turned out there’s more to him yet. The ending put him firmly in a new place in life—the table was definitely cleared for it—though not entirely to his liking. I was ready to give up the series that was once my absolute favourite, but I think I’ll hang on to see how Harry will wriggle his way out of that.

The edition I read had a short story at the end. It was a sweet Christmas story, and nicely cleansing after the book itself. Left me feeling much better.