World Famous Comics: Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, Book 8)
Proven Guilty (The Dresden Files, Book 8)
By: Jim Butcher Publisher: Roc Average Rating: Binding: Mass Market Paperback Label: Roc Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 496 Publication Date: February 06, 2007
Product Description: The White Council of Wizards has drafted Harry Dresden as a Warden and assigned him to look into rumors of black magic in Chicago. Malevolent entities that feed on fear are loose in the Windy City, but it's all in a day's work for a wizard, his faithful dog, and a talking skull named Bob...
In The Magic World Of Humans Misusing Magic Is A Life Ending Choice I don't want to give away to much about this book but it has Harry on different sides with the White Council(Group of Powerful Magicians who control how humans do magic in the world.) The basic is that in this book because of the war between the white council and the vampire's red council Harry is made a Warden(Basically a Sheriff of the magic world.) and has to uphold the laws of the council including punishing humans who use magic for malicious intent or dark personal gain. After Harry sees the council kill a young man for misusing his magic Harry considers his position as warden and his views on the white council. Later it gets even more hard on Harry as one of his friends daughter who can use magic breaks the rule about using dark magic and is sentenced to death. Now Harry has to try and save his friends daughter from the sentence and still continue his duties as a warden for the council. Like the rest of this series I thought this book was incredible and the storyline and how Harry always finds some way either through deception,trickery,magic,or just his stubborn morale code to win the day. If you are interested in this series you don't really have start from the first book you can just start reading this one but of course starting from the first book will give you more information and details on the characters and whats going on with the series itself. So I say to people if you liked the Harry Potter books but want something a little more darker and serious this series is for you...
An amazing novel Proven Guilty was another great installment in the Dresden Files. Combined with the last book and the next two, this series has taken a turn for the better. After the first book, I felt that this series had lots of potential if Butcher could improve his writing technique, and he has. I finished each of the last three books in a day. After receiving the first nine from a friend, I was compelled to purchase Small Favor for myself. These novels are great.
I do agree with another reveiwer who feels that the basic plot is a little predictable. Harry gets involved in a case, Harry gets beat up, Harry somehow survives, Harry thinks he figures it out, Harry gets beat up, Harry arrises victorius. However, Butcher creates new and exciting plots to carry out this sequence. He also creates detailed characters that are fun to follow throughout the series. Nicodemus is my favorite villain. The history Butcher puts into his characters is what has sold me on this series. Additionally, I enjoy the intrigue between Summer, Winter and Harry Dresden.
I enjoyed this novel, and I highly recommend it.
The wizard in the yellow pages I read a lot of vampire, werewolf, mage and monster books. This is one of the two very best authors. I buy them new in hardback and I have an in to a used bookstore but I cannot wait. If you like the monsters, read this. He is not rich. He makes his money by listing himself in the yellow pages as a wizard for hire. He does not do love spells or money attractions. You will thank me for this suggestion.
Love this series! These books are great! If you love science fiction you will love these books. The author is funny, witty and holds your interest from cover to cover. I ordered the complete set and read through it in a week! I hope they bring the television series back to SciFi. It is more entertaining a series that SciFi brought back, Dr. Who, or as I call it "the doctor's non habit forming sleep remedy"! I'm going to reread them soon since I enjoyed them so much! I'm sure there were things I missed on the first go around. I'm also looking forward to the next book in the series.
Enter the sidekick Proven Guilty is book 8 in Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series, and serves as something of a sequel to the events of Summer Knight (The Dresden Files, Book 4). The book finds everyone's favorite down on his luck wizard Harry Dresden investigating a new source of black magic in Chicago, only to find himself the target of vampires, movie monsters and faerie intrigue.
There's something very familiar and comforting about cracking open a new Dresden book. You know that no matter what surprises Butcher comes up with, you're going to get a fast paced adventure with plenty of witty observations, pop culture references, and way too much attention paid to what everyone is wearing and/or eating. You also know that Harry's going to come out the other side, but not always ahead or in one piece.
Butcher does really well with character development this time around, finally addressing the Harry/Murphy angle, shaking things up with Thomas, making Harry more involved in White Council affairs, and totally redefining Harry's relationship to Michael the knight and his family. These developments all make for interesting reading (more so than the main story, to be honest) and bode well for future volumes in the series.
I also noticed something of a darker tone, particularly in Harry's dialogue. Butcher has apparently given Harry permission to drop the F-bomb, which seems like an odd habit to start 8 books into the series. I have no problem with the term (to paraphrase Tesla in Clive Barker's Everville, sometimes it's the only word that really works), but going from "zero to sixty" so to speak is a bit jarring.
All told, Proven Guilty is just the kind of book I've come to expect from this series. It's a fun roller coaster ride with just enough meaningful character development to keep me engaged and eager to grab the next installment.