Minireview: Death Masks, by Jim Butcher
Death Masks is the fifth installment in the generally excellent and entertaining Dresden Files series. It’s a bit of a mixed bag, this time around.
On the plus side, the “metaplot” (if you will) seems to be slipping into gear; a lot of hints from the earlier books are given flesh here, and the world is becoming more complex and interconnected. Events from the previous book come back to haunt our hero, particularly a certain vampiric war he semi-inadvertently started, together with his almost-vampire ex-girlfriend. The Red Court wants to settle things and gives Harry a choice: duel their representative (to the death), or see his loved ones murdered. In case that wasn’t complication enough, a priest approaches Harry for help in recovering a stolen artifact. Oh, and some major-class demons are loose, too. Not to mention a headless body, which isn’t “loose” as such but is unidentified and possibly connected.
So yeah, it’s a page-turner like the previous books and a fun read. However, there were some niggles here that dropped it to less than perfect in my view. First off, while these books (and this sort of genre) always contains a certain number of “lucky escapes” and fortunate timings that stop the hero from getting splattered all across the room, here I feel there were a bit too many “last minutes saves” to feel believable. Well, as “believable” as a tale about mages, vampires, werewolves, ghosts and what have you will ever be, of course. Second, the artifact relating to one of the central plots here is the actual Shroud of Turin. Which has been stolen, and now somehow appears in Chicago. Well, sure, anything is possible… but really… the Shroud of frigging Turin? In Chicago?
In any case, it’s a fun read despite some small faults and I like how the Susan storyline advanced – lots of future possibilities there.
Mon, 22 Jun 2009 08:31 Posted in Books
Tags dresden files, jim butcher
