Proven Guilty: The Dresden Files, Book 8

I finished the Dresden Files books I got on promo and so now I'm working my way through the rest (at regular price). I'd be hard pressed to say anything too negative about the series because I've been enjoying it a lot. But here are my thoughts, a few days after finishing the latest installment.This book opens with an execution -- of a teenager who'd stumbled into his magical abilities (without proper supervision) and used them to control the minds of others. Despite the severity of the teen's crimes, Harry is upset by the punishment. He can see a bit of himself in the executed boy, I think. And his reaction to this scene will affect his actions throughout the rest of the book.Once again, I'd say this is NOT the place to start the series. While there is (as with previous books), a self-contained mystery, there are many, many events depicted that relate to the overall series arc of war between vampires and wizards, and quite a few recurring characters make appearances (Maeve, Lily, Fix, Charity, Michael, Molly, Murphy, Father Forthill, Lloyd Slate, Thomas, Lasciel, Morgan, Mouse, Mister, Bob the Skull, and several members of the wizards' White Council, just to name a few) and others are referenced (Butters, Kincaid, Nicodemus, the Archive, Billy the werewolf, etc.). Some of these characters get brief re-introductions, but you'd be missing out on a lot of depth by only relying on those introductions (as opposed to reading all the background material from previous books). Even a building (from Fool Moon) is re-used. (If it's been awhile since you've read the earlier ones, try the Wikipedia summaries. They're usually enough to jog my memory. And there are character lists floating around online, too, if you forget who someone is.)The mystery in this volume is introduced early on -- Harry gets a message that there have been incidents of black magic in town and, acting in his capacity as Warden, he should investigate them and figure out what is going on. Further, attendees at a horror convention are being attacked in a violent and gruesome manner and Molly (Michael's and Charity's oldest daughter) asks Harry to help solve those crimes, as well.Once again, Harry has to accept help from others. At various points, Detective Rawlins of the Chicago police department assists him. Murphy, Charity, and Thomas accompany Harry on a particularly dangerous mission. It's not surprising that Murphy and Thomas go along and are prepared to do battle -- they've helped Harry before. But we learn a lot about Charity in this book. I like the trend of meeting a character in a previous book and then learning more about him or her later on. For example, in the last book, it was Butters. This time, it's Charity. We begin to understand her animosity towards Harry (exhibited in previous volumes) and we learn some important information about her past. But everything flows logically. We've gotten hints that she was capable before, but now we see her in action. I hadn't cared a lot for her before (she seemed to be mean with no reason), but now it all makes sense, and I've got a lot more sympathy for her as a character.Harry's driven to protect Michael's family, and his experience at the beginning of this book has an impact on him, throughout, as well. He also still struggles with Lasciel, but sometimes accepts her help -- grudgingly. His relationship with Lasciel is rather like his relationship with John Marcone, especially in the earliest books in the series -- frequent refusals to associate followed by teaming up out of necessity/self-preservation. Harry doesn't grow as a character so much in this book, but it's difficult to show development of a character in EVERY book in a long series, when it's a first-person POV sort of series as this one is. He still has something of a hero complex, but I've often found that first-person POV characters come off like this; it's not unique to these books.As with past books, a new supernatural element is introduced -- the phobophage, a species from the Nevernever that feeds on fear. It fits in well with the self-contained mystery aspect while also expanding our view of the world Jim Butcher has created. I don't know if we'll see these guys again (would be a bit repetitive for them to reappear).The characteristic humor is present, once again. There are some of the standard one-liners, but there's situational humor, as well. In one (very early) scene, Harry is preparing for a ritual. He's bathed, he's meditated, he's gotten his mind just right -- and he's taken two hours to do it. Then the telephone rings and all his preparations are wasted.I don't have much to say about the setting that I haven't already said in past reviews. All the action is, as usual, in Chicago. It's summer but we're not beaten over the head with that fact. We get little reminders periodically (Harry is wearing shorts, or the air conditioning is blasting in a building). The writing style is similar to what has come before, as well. There's a lot of violence in this one, and some references to teen pregnancy and drug use, as well as some 4-letter words. Not an issue for me, and not surprising considering what we've seen in past books, but I thought I'd throw that information out there for anyone who cared.Overall, I think all the individual elements are brought together into a cohesive whole. I found this to be an enjoyable read. Though the ending was not nearly as fun as the ending of Dead Beat, I think this volume marks an important turning point in the series. Looking forward to the next one!

If you like fantasy, horror and .... court drama, this book is for you. The adventure is so exciting, you'll lose your head.

I got this for my brother. He is enjoying the series.I love The Dresden Files Series which is why I'm getting the books for my brother.

In Harry Dresden’s world, the good guys usually win. Winning doesn’t always entail victory, though. Over the course of the previous seven books it can be said that Dresden has only had 4 clean victories by the end of a given novel. The other three are arguably pyrrhic victories, where more was lost than gained. The best example is Grave Peril, which changed the tone and scope of the series going forward. In Proven Guilty, Jim Butcher advances Dresden in significant new directions, proving that after 8 books, there are plenty of new discoveries to be made.I’ve always known that Jim Butcher is a big geek. Proven Guilty provides all the evidence one would ever really need. A story involving fear spirits who take the form of movie monsters is a sufficiently terrifying concept all on its own. The execution is handled well, mixing the more horrific elements with Dresden’s snark and ham-fisted one-liners seamlessly. The build-up in the novel was not so much mishandled as it was slow at times. The previous books in the series were relatively quick reads. This novel had moments of alacrity and moments of languid pacing. It’s a minor nitpick but I felt that Butcher had some chapters that were longer than necessary.Dresden as a character has begun to show the wear and tear of his recent trials. His actions in Dead Beat involving killing two of the villains have left their mark, making Dresden question his assumptions about his own nature and if he’s still a good man. The angst never becomes overbearing or too maudlin, which is a trap many authors fall into. Butcher treats Dresden’s moral decline with grave seriousness. Harry’s journey has been a classic example of breaking the hero. How many evil and unfortunate things can be thrown at the hero before he turns evil or becomes insane?The erstwhile relationship of Karrin and Harry reached another plateau. Butcher drag out the “will they/won’t they” dance well, managing to come up with character-based reasons rather than contrived reasons to keep the two of them apart. Karrin Murphy has been a mainstay of the series and I’ve enjoyed her progression up to this point. When I initially started writing reviews of this series I was not enjoying her character. She has grown into a necessary second to Harry and a suitable audience surrogate in the stories she plays a part of. Another cop character, Rawlins (introduced in Proven Guilty), makes the comment that no good deed goes unpunished. Both Harry and Karrin learn that lesson the hard way by the end of the novel.Being the good, honorable person sucks sometimes. Often such a person is saddled with responsibilities and humiliations that are undeserved. For a character like Karrin, commanding the police unit Dresden often works with is a badge of pride for the character. For Harry, his dissatisfaction with the hidebound, uncompromising nature of the White Council keeps him from being entirely civil. As I’ve mentioned in a previous review of this series, Butcher is devoted to the concept of consequences in the best way. Every decision the characters make has a reaction, sometimes positive, sometimes negative. He makes sure that his main characters live Rawlin’s adage “no good deed goes unpunished”.On the topic of villains and locals, Proven Guilty works on quite a few levels. The idea of spirits who take on the form of fearful movie monsters isn’t a new concept but execution matters just as much as originality. The monsters are frightening less for what form they take and more for the fact that they takes shapes we’ve invented to scare ourselves. As a culture, we like being safely sacred through a film screen or TV screen. It reminds us of certain evolutionary impulses planted so deep in our psyche they may never disappear. The heart of the Winter Sidhe, Arctis Tor, is a snow-covered plain, reminiscent of what lays north of the Wall in Westeros. Butcher created a breathtakingly beautiful and terrifying landscape which Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness, has her fortress. Proven Guilty is not full of world-shattering surprises (unless the reader hasn’t been paying attention). Looking back, Butcher has laid the groundwork for the revelations of Proven Guilty as early as Grave Peril. The envelope for violence continues to be pushed with villains becoming more bloodthirsty and capricious. Butcher is also setting the stage for a massive, violent closure to the War between the White Council and the Vampire Courts. A mean streak is being layered onto Dresden, leaving the impression for the reader that the man who fights the monsters might become the worst monster of all.

Mr. Butcher is a master at building tension and suspense. This is the 8th book of the series and he's unrelenting in making the reader turn the pages faster and faster to see what's happening next. The characters are put in no-win situations over and over, each a larger cliff-hanger then the ones prior, and yet they survive (mostly)!Fun read and highly recommended to all urban fantasy lovers.

WHAT I LIKED :Needless to say just like what i have said about the previous Dresden books remains intact i.e it's still fast-paced,filled with action,unique magical system and even more unique fantasy setting , Witthy , Sarcastic , Humorous . But that's a given when you pick this series what this book adds is that for the first time we see Dresden's darker side start to creep in on the action . Meanwhile despite being recruited into his new role Dresden remains the same rebel against the authority that we have come to know and love .It was nice to see that Dresden having taken up his new job still retains his views on how wrong the world of magic actually is . The book also settled a few scores in terms of Harry's strained relationship with Both Charity and Ebenezer . I also enjoyed that Thomas and Murphy have now taken a constant role in Harry's Affair , consider that Murphy is one heck of an Bad-ass woman and i did miss her in the previous book and Thomas is a fantastic side character who often times even steals Harry's thunder .Meanwhile the ever so dragging question of Harry & Murphy's relationship was also finally handled and put to bed with a surprising if not dissapointing end . The plot in itself was very entertaining and the troublesome scenarios that Harry keeps finding himself caught into is getting more and more messier making me doubt if the author actually hates his protagonist. The whole involvement of the Carpenters in the story was also nicely done add the sidhe court and you get one very good story in the whole series .WHAT I DIDNT LIKE:There's generally an euphoric and adrenaline rushing feeling associated with the finale of every Dresden book , even the bad ones however in this book we had a legal drama to look forward to as the final act of the book and granted that was entertaining it also took away the whole Euphoria experience .There was also a huge cringe-worthy aspect in the book where Harry's lack of ..erm.. Sexual activity made him lust over an underage girl and in the end there was a particular scene regarding that particular underage character that made me just shake my head in dissapointment , some say it was handled well i say it was plain creepyCONCLUSION:Overall although the story was great fun minus the final-sexual-angle it was a very weak follow up to the previous book - Dead Beat , which in my opinion was the best book in the series so far. And granted the events of Dead beat are really hard to top by any author and i did expect nothing to ever reach upto the standards of that ending it did feel that considering how good Dead Beat was this book underwhelmed .Conclusions:Although the book shades in comparision to Dead Beat as a stand-alone if you can tolerate the finale the book is pretty good and one of the finest addition in the series and surely a must read for all Dresden Fans .

Deserved a 5, to be honest, but after Dead Beat (file 6), it's gonna be hard to be back up to to the same level.

Just a great read.

Un libro che, pur nei primi giorni di primavera quando la stanchezza ti colpisce già a metà pomeriggio, ti tiene sveglio fino a notte fonda a leggere, non può che essere un libro ben scritto, che ti è piaciuto e che ha catturato pienamente la tua attenzione.Il fatto che sia l'ottavo della saga di Harry Dresden aggiunge una nota di stupore, visto che non è certo comune che dopo tutto questo tempo e questi libri le storie scorrano ancora così bene.E dopo aver conosciuto Harry e i suoi amici, i suoi nemici, il mondo soprannaturale nel quale si muove, e aver assaggiato l'aumentare dei livelli di potere poco per volta, adesso il paletto viene alzato e benché la storia principale cominci e finisca in questo volume, adesso le trame secondarie rimangono molto più aperte.Se prima l'apertura poteva essere intravista dal lettore attento, o rimanere sotto forma di pensiero abbozzato, e tendenzialmente le grandi questioni irrisolte riguardavano sviluppi futuri delle relazioni tra i personaggi, o dei poteri di Harry, o dei favori in ballo con le fate, adesso le cose cambiano.L'attacco a Harry, l'intera orchestrazione degli eventi di questo libro... la discussione finale con Ebenezar porta alla luce tutte le domande che poco a poco si sono accumulate in questo libro e, nostro malgrado, nei libri precedenti. La macrotrama diventa quasi preponderante in vista dei prossimi volumi, si subodora la cospirazione, si è pronti per passare di livello, aumentare la difficoltà.Del resto Harry è maturato, e dopo essere entrato ufficialmente nel Consiglio come Warden ora abbandona del tutto il suo ruolo di allievo diventando maestro, diventa Ebenezar per un nuovo mago problematico. La crescita è completa, possiamo abbandonare l'adolescenza magica del nostro consulente (che anche a livello lavorativo immagino avrà sempre meno rapporti con la polizia, ormai, per concentrarsi maggiormente sulle questioni del Consiglio) per entrare nell'età adulta.La guerra coi vampiri, il traditore, il complotto, le faide delle fate, i demoni esterni.Sono curioso di vedere come evolverà la storia, e se alcune idee che mi sono fatto sulla spada che ha Harry in custodia si riveleranno esatte.

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